The Pearl

Oppression of the Town

Throughout the novel, what are the many ways Kino and his people are kept down by the people of the town?

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In "The Pearl" Kino and his people are put down in so many ways. Since he and the rest of the villagers are uneducated the townspeople feel that they can take advantage of them. Which is what the pearl buyers tried to do to Kino when he tried to sell the pearl. Plus, since they don't have any money, doctors and nurses refuse to treat the sick ones because the villagers cannot pay them and the doctors and nurses just don't like going to their village. They are looked down upon so badly that the doctor considers them animals and not human because of their race.

In "The Pearl", Kino and his people are opressed in many ways. For example, while Kino and Juana are waiting for the doctor's response on possibly treating Coyotito, the doctor responds to his servant by stating that he is"a doctor, not a veterinary"(Steinbeck 11).This shows the doctor believes Kino and his people are animals because of their race. Another way that Kino and his people are being persecuted is their lack of education. For example, when Kino and his brother Juan Tomas go to the town to sell the pearl, the pearl buyers convince him that his pearl is worthless.Kino tries to convince the buyer that it is worth more, but because of being uneducated, he is turned down.

interesting point--The townspeople also ensure that the villagers stay uneducated so that they can take advantage of Kino's people.

In "The pearl" Kino and his people are oppressed in many ways. One is that the townspeople don't treat them as human beings because of their race. For example when Kino and Juana went to go see the doctor; the doctor refused and insisted that they were "animals". Another is that the townspeople thinks its so easy to control them because of their poor education.For example the priest said that Kino was the named after a great man who "tamed the desert and sweetened the minds of the people....it is in the books" (Steinbeck 35) He says this tricking kino because he knows that Kino and his people didn't know how to read.

In "The Pearl", Kino is put down by the doctor & the pearl buyer. When Kino went to go see the doctor because of Coyotito's scorpion sting, the doctor refuses to see them because they didn't have any money. In addition, when Kino went to go see the pearl buyer, he tried to cheat Kino & said that the pearl is worth less than it really was.

sorry to say but dealers were right the pearl was worthless, at the end it becomes gray and ulcerous and has a twisted distorted music than what kino has heard earlier. this may have been opression but they were right.

In this novel, Steinbeck illustrates how Kino and his people were oppressed. For example, the doctor wouldn't help Kino and Juana with the scorpion sting on Coyotito. Therefore they did not have equality because of their race. Many of the people Kino encountered were all trying to get their hands on the pearl because they were greedy and wanted wealth. For example, the pearl buyers probably planned out that whole scene where Kino is trying to sell the pearl to them because they wanted the pearl. Kino is not sure and they think that it would work because Kino is uneducated. Not only is Kino uneducated, but almost all the people of his race were uneducated because of oppression.

In the story "The Pearl", Kino and his family were brought down because of the life they lived. They didn't have a lot of money and didn't live as well off as the rest so people in their town took advantage of them because of their uneducated minds. For example when Kino wanted to get help on his son's scorpion bite the doctor basically ignored the request because the family didn't live well off and were not up too the doctors standards.

in this novel, "The Pearl" kino and his family face oppression because they don't have big fancy things like everyone else in the town. Coyotito got bit by a scorpion but the doctor is racist and refuses to help the family because their race and they don't have any money. Kino later on in the story find a pearl that is worth a lot of money but the pearl buyers tell him other wise, kino is mad because he know is worth something. He decides to go to the capitol to really get what the pearl is worth but while making this decision he and his family face different situation like the tragic accadent that happened to coyotito. So this family was not treated how they deserve nobody should be oppressed because of their life style or how much money they have.

-Erin Jarvis

In this novel,Steinbeck wrote about how the towns people looked down at kino for being poor and because of his race.Like the pearl buyers offered him so little because they were discriminatory toward kino. The doctor caused all of the oppression to because he did not want to treat kinos son because he thought of them as animals. This caused the oppression kino was in and lead him to do what he did.Kino was determined to prove himself as a man and he was willing to risk it all.The only thing is at the end it ended up costing him his sons life.

-kimberlyn valencia

In the story "The Pearl" by john steinbeck , Kino and his people are kept down by oppression . People on higher levels , doctors , pearl buyers , the government , etc. discriminate against them because of who they are and where they come from . They were even afraid too come into their villages . The higher level people stayed on their side while Kino's stayed on his , but for what reason ? fear of being seen with another race ? They paid no attention too them because they were poor and they weren't "as good" as the higher class people . That is the main reason Kino and his people are discriminated against .

the the story "The Pearl" there are many ways kino and his people are kept down. Since they are not very wealthy him and his people do not have the same equality as everyone else. For example the doctor turned down kino even though he knew the baby would die just because he didn't have any money, but once kino found the pearl the doctor was more than happy to treat the baby. They also didn't treat them right because of there race, they are indian and automatically you think that they are not wealth and you wont treat them like you do to everyone else. So all in all they are not treated right because of there wealth and there race. Kino thinks he should be treated equally and so do I.

- Paul Knezovich

In the novel "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck, Kino is being held down by the people of the town. An example of this is how the doctor refused to help Kino and his sick baby becausehe didn't have any money and was a different race. Kino had luckily found a pearl that would pay the doctor to cure his child. Unfortunately, the doctor only wanted Kino's pearl and didn't even cure the baby. Instead, he made the baby sick to blackmail Kino! The higher class people think so lowly of the villagers and always take advantage of them. Kino is fed up with the oppression, and is now fighting against it.

In regards to Johnathan's post about how the pearl was worthless: His pearl was not worthless it was everything but that and the onoy reason it turned gray and ulcerous at the end of the book was to symbolize how Kino was still being put down by inequality while at first the pearl symbolized his newfound freedom but as people started blackmailing him the pearl started to deteriorate in value and then at the end of the book Juana and Kno throw the pearl back symbolizing how they want their old life back but just like how they want Coyotito back but they looked away and the pearl was gone & coyotito was already dead which was the price kino had to pay for a small little tantalizing taste of equality only to have it snatched out from under him right as he was leaning forward for another helping of equality

In" The Pearl" by John steinback, kino and his people are kept down in varites of ways.For example, the doctor didn't help coyotito because he was a Indian ,and also kino didn't have money.The towns people think they are higher then kino and his people because they have money.The townspeople view the Indians as uneducated people because they weren't like them.so,the pearl buyer thought that they can cheat kino while he was trying to sell the pearl.kino stood up and turned into a man because he is tired of being discriminated.In addition,he went to the capital but was stooped because of the greed of people.kino threw the pearl after coyotito died.

How does stienbeck  to characterize the priest who comes to see kino  and his family

The people of the town put kino and his people down by calling them animals, cheating them out of money, and stealing their things.

Source(s)

The pearl