The Pearl John Steinbeck Novel The Pearl is
The Pearl John Steinbeck
Novel • The Pearl is a novel published in 1947 by American author John Steinbeck. • The novel tells the story of a pearl diver named Kino, and explores man's nature as well as greed and evil. • Steinbeck got the inspiration for his book from the Mexican folk tale called “El Mechudo, ” from La Paz, Mexico.
About the Author *John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. *He was born February 27, 1902 and died December 20, 1968. *JS was born in the Salinas Valley of Salinas, CAL. *He is best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men. *Steinbeck is the author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories. *He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
Steinbeck’s Writing Style • Steinbeck often experimented with different writing styles: novel, short story, play format, and documentary. • JS really rallies for the lower class, the unfortunate one whose “destiny” is poverty which he/she cannot escape. Therefore, many characters in his books are based on the poor people. • Steinbeck's strongest writing talent is in his use of characterization. • He uses an omniscient narration/ point of view in his writings, aka “omniscient narrator. ”
Writing Con’t… • Steinbeck provides foreshadowing that might go unnoticed if the reader is not paying attention. • His descriptions/characters are rich and detailed, and he utilizes adjectives to give a description to everything. • His use of dialect between characters draws a picture of how the characters speak instead of just what they say. • Steinbeck's greatest utensil in his writings is the diction.
The Legend of El Mechudo • “Mechudo” in Spanish is a nickname for a man with bushy or long hair. • The legend/myth stems out of Baja, California where the road Punta El Mechudo in San Juan de la Costa passes through San Evaristo. • The area is also referred to as La Paz Bay. (La Paz, Mexico)
Pearling • 18 th and 19 th centuries: La Paz Bay was one of the world's great pearling regions. • Early 20 th century: Many of the oyster beds were discovered & harvested. • Early years of 20 th century: Pearls became difficult to find, and pearlers had to travel greater distances to find richer, untouched oyster beds.
• The way pearlers traveled to the oyster beds was usually in small sail-driven canoes. • At the time, the custom was to set aside the first pearl, (regardless of size or quality) as a donation to the Church, more specifically as an offering, to the Virgin Mary. • The people of this time and region were particularly superstitious, therefore this custom was one which was taken very seriously.
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