Kino’s belief that evil is in the night is not unusual, but one of his many foibles is that he sees himself alone in a world of struggle between good and evil. He does his best to keep good coming his way. In his mind he hears the music of his personal struggle. The Song of the Family hums in his mind when things are as they should be. The waves lapping the shore in the morning and the sound of Juana grinding corn or preparing the meal are part of this song. But when the wind shifts or a representative of the oppressing class nears, then he hears the strains of the Song of Evil, “the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody.” Kino listens and reacts to these songs. When the scorpion begins to come down the rope toward the baby, he hears the Song of Evil first. However, when the priest enters he is confused despite hearing the song he heard for the scorpion. He has been taught that the priest is good, so he looks elsewhere for the source of evil. This melodic tool, whatever its source, is one of many tools that Kino has in his possession but that he fails to fully utilize.
Juana is more sophisticated yet more esoteric in her view of good and evil. She is the one who prays for protection against actions. She prays the ancient magic and the new Catholic prayers to ward off the scorpion. She does the same when she wishes for a way to pay the doctor. She sees that the pearl is the source of evil and that men are only evil because of the pearl.
Because Kino chooses to fight alone and Juana chooses to let him, evil wins. The Song of Evil plays loudly in the silence following the deaths on the mountain-one accidental, three brutal. But instead of succumbing to Evil, Juana and Kino together trudge home, past the burnt spot where their house stood. “[T]hey were not walking in single file, Kino ahead and Juana behind, as usual, but side by side.” As they walk together, the Song of the Family revives, becoming “as fierce as a cry.” Kino even offers to let Juana throw the pearl, but she declines. He must silence the cause of his insanity. He throws the pearl and as it settles, the Song of Evil “drifted to a whisper and disappeared.” Evil is banished, but good has not triumphed as is indicated by the bloody package inside Juana’s shawl.
The doctor, the priest, and the pearl buyer do their part to keep the peasants ignorant and docile. They use whatever methods they can to accomplish this-financial instability, religious ceremonies and threats of eternal damnation, or lack of economic choice. When the pearl is discovered, however, each power controller makes the mistake of thinking he knows how to have his way with the finder. Due to this mistake, they alienate Kino from them. In other words, by insisting that he stay ignorant of their ways they foster his resentment and defiance. Kino is ignorant, not mentally deficient. They answer his reticence with force and are met with force.
The doctor uses an overbearing self-confidence to trick Juana and Kino into thinking their child might be still at risk from the sting of the scorpion. Kino suspects the white powder may be fraudulent, but he certainly will not risk his son’s life and deny the doctor. He believes in the doctor because the doctor treats the Europeans who are stronger than the Indians. They are strong in part, he reasons to himself, because of the doctor. What choice does he have but to give way? The priest is not much different. He views the Indians as children and keeps them that way by educating them only enough to be scared of the evil they will face without his help. This is a familiar trope among colonized people. Religious missionaries often used the devil as a tool to bring the conquered into submission. Religious reasoning was also used on slaves to make them submissive. On the one hand, the people learn enough from the priest to blend his prayers with their ancient superstitions. On the other, they are not any better Christians or people for the interaction.
Lastly, the pearl buyers are the best at the charade; they have the Indians at their mercy economically. The pretense of an open market and the price wars they fake lead the Indians to think they are getting a fair deal. In this way, the Indians also believe that they are active participants in the economic order. The Indians are illiterate and cannot know how the modern world works. They are kept ignorant to be exploited.
Kino and his people have lost their ability to function as an effectual group. The only time they come together is to form an audience to be witness to what will happen to Kino. Before European rule, they were able to act as a functional society, going so far as to create songs-which they no longer do. Their social mechanisms have been worn down by the new religious institution and, more crucially, by the new economic system. These two institutions encourage the Indians to behave as individuals who will compete with each other in making ends meet alone. Social and tribal sharing is discouraged at every turn. The narrative dramatizes this by depicting the absence of cordial social interaction amongst the Indians.
Conversely, the pearl buyers act in concert for the benefit of one man and to exert their control over the gullible Indian populace. By this comparison, The Pearl criticizes the market system in a way that is consistent with Steinbeck’s other literary works. Steinbeck maintained that capitalism necessarily leads to monopolies. In the novel Steinbeck also criticized his own theories of the phalanx. In his writing before the war, he believed that only by voluntary cooperation could people live happily and at peace. The war, however, showed him that people are easily tricked, bought, or coerced into working for a group when the alternate choice is to be a part of an oppressed class. The latter group, Kino’s, is unable to pull together because they have been divided by their oppression. They attempted to break the monopoly a few times when they sent individual men to the big city, but those men never returned. They did not try with a group of men who could have defended themselves. Kino will try this route of solitude, and he will be defeated. He should have taken his brother or another man in a canoe to the city. Instead, he went with his wife and child overland and paid an ultimate price.
SETTING
The Pearl is set in and around La Paz, Mexico, a coastal town marked by economic, social, and racial divisions resulting from colonial domination of the local native population. Kino attempts to escape with his family to the capital city and seeks refuge in a cave in the wilderness, but his attempt to flee is thwarted, and he returns to La Paz, where he renders the pearl to the sea.
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