Thida's Blog, Mic's Blog: The Pearl

“Juana took Coyotito out of his hanging box and cleaned him and hammocked him in her shawl in a loop that placed him close to her breast” Steinbeck, J. (1948. p.3). In the Pearl, Steinbeck depicts the principal roles that Juana, Kino’s wife, performs throughout the story, namely a mother’s role and a role of a wife.

From the first to the last page of the book, Juana provides her family, particularly Coyotito, the best care. She devotes her life to saving her son when he was stung by a scorpion. She sucks the venom out of the puncture without thinking about her own survival. As the story continues, we can see that she attempts all the possible way to cure her only child. This can be explained in the scene where she hopelessly finds brown seaweed to put on the swollen shoulder. Later, in the story, she and her husband risk their lives to the capital to sell the pearl in the hopes of providing education and better life for their next generation. Unfortunately, all their dreams never come true due to the death of her son. Juana becomes severely depressed. Apart from that role, Juana performs her role as a wife impressively. She holds great reverence toward Kino by having breakfast after him and being his constant straggler. She not only does household chores but also assists her husband in finding the pearl. She remains faithful and supportive even when Kino punches and kicks her. She neither complains nor blames Kino for the tragedies happened to their lives.

Even though Juana has competently performed her roles, such acts are not positively valued. This is probably because of the gender inequality existing in that society. Steinbeck clearly illustrates that Juana voice is not heard or taken in to consideration. When she insists Kino to throw away the pearl in order to restore their old peace and serenity, she was savagely beaten. If her roles had been valued, she would have had the rights as much as her husband does; she would have had breakfast at the same time and walked side by side with Kino. Sadly, she is viewed to be inferior. She has never been asked to comment on Kino’s decisions or asked for her opinions in any circumstances.

Reading the Pearl reminded me of a movie I have watched, entitled “Madame Bovary”. In the story, the female protagonist has distinctive personality from Juana. Madame Bovary is a trophy wife of Charles Bovary. She receives passionate love from her husband, yet she is unfaithful and commits adultery. She secretly has romantic affairs with several men and embezzles her husband hard-earned money to please them. In contrast to Juana who is a protective and devoted mother, Madame Bovary never takes care of her daughter. She is very carefree with her role as a mother. More seriously, because of her affairs, her daughter was orphaned as a baby who will suffer from poverty at a very young age.

In conclusion, both the story and the movie leave moral lessons to be learnt. They display the different characteristics of women in marriage lives. By reading the novel or watching the movie, we can clearly tell what kind of personality is appreciated. I strongly believe that Juana’s personality in the Pearl is deeply admired, for the fact that she never forgets her roles, thus, playing them properly.