The Pearl

From the author of Of Mice and Men, this parable explores the theme of wealth and its consequences. When Kino, an Indian pearl-diver, discovers 'the Pearl of the world,' he envisions a transformed life: a church wedding with Juana and an education for their son, Coyotito. However, his dreams blind him to the greed, fear, and violence the pearl incites in himself and his community. Written with haunting simplicity, the narrative contrasts the values of civilization with those of the primitive, revealing the inadequacies of both. John Steinbeck (1902-68), a celebrated American author, won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for literature. He served as a war correspondent during World War II, with his journalism compiled in Once There Was a War (1958). His notable works include The Grapes of Wrath (1939), East of Eden (1952), and the tragic novella Of Mice and Men (1937). Steinbeck's complete works are available in Penguin Modern Classics. If you appreciate this parable, you might also enjoy Steinbeck's The Winter of Our Discontent, also published by Penguin Modern Classics. 'There is no more impressive writer on either side of the Atlantic' - Time and Tide.