"The Pearl" is Steinbeck's impeccable parable about wealth and the evil it can bring. When Kino, a Native American pearl diver, finds "the Pearl of the World," he believes his life will magically change. He wants to marry Juana in the church and send his son, Coyotito, to school. Obsessed with his dreams, Kino is blind to the greed, fear, and even violence the pearl inspires in him and his neighbors. Written with haunting simplicity and lyrical clarity, "The Pearl" pits the values of the civilized world against those of the primitive, finding them tragically inadequate.