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SYNOPSIS OF THE STORY:

In the town of La Paz, California, a fisherman named Kino and his

wife Juana lived in brush houses on the outskirts of the town, though
they had not been married because they were poor. They went about
their daily duties like any other day, but while working they spotted a
scorpion on the ropes of the hanging box that held their baby Coyotito.
The laughing baby shook the box and the scorpion fell. Despite his
attempts, Kino could not catch the scorpion in time and it stung
Coyotito. They went to the doctor in the town, but they were not
allowed to see him because they had no money.
While diving for pearls in the ocean, Kino finds an unusually large
oyster, and after bringing it up to his boat and opening it, he finds a
pearl as large as a seagull’s egg, and he proclaims that he has found "The
Pearl of the World". While talking to his brother about the pearl, Kino
dreams of buying a rifle, getting married to Juana in a church, and having
his son, Coyotito, go to school so he could have the life Kino didn’t have.
In the evening, word of mouth had reached the doctor, and he visited
Kino’s house. Kino expresses that the baby is nearly well, but the doctor
insists and feeds Coyotito a white capsule, saying he will return in an
hour. An hour later, Coyotito becomes incredibly sick, and the doctor
makes him swallow some ammonia, which soothes the baby’s illness.
Remembering the white capsule, Kino suspected that the doctor
poisoned Coyotito but still agreed to pay the doctor when he sells the
pearl. During the night, when they were sleeping, somebody tries to
steal the pearl, but Kino fends him off and manages to cut the person
with his knife. When trying to sell the pearl, the buyers try to scam Kino
by only offering fifteen hundred for the pearl when Kino insists it’s worth
at least fifty thousand, so Kino decides not to sell it to them and that
they will go to the capital to sell the pearl. In the evening, Kino is
attacked outside his house and gets injured. Juana begs Kino to get rid of
the pearl because she thinks it is evil, but Kino refuses, and they agree to
go to the capital together the next day. But, while Kino was in bed, Juana
took the pearl and attempted to throw it back into the ocean, but Kino
caught up and took the pearl back, injuring Juana in the process. While
walking back home, Kino is once again attacked, and during the fight, he
accidentally kills his attacker. Juana tells Kino that they will be hunted
down for killing a man, so they decide to run away, asking Kino's brother
to help them escape. He agrees and tells the townspeople that they
have surely died. Kino and Juana decide to head to the north, where
they plan to sell the pearl in the cities. They rest near a pool of water
when they see the trackers approaching them, so they hide nearby. Kino
sees an opportunity to steal one of their rifles from them and stealthily
approaches it, but the tracker hears Coyotito's crying and assumes it to
be a coyote, so he raises his gun to shoot it. Kino was about to attack
when the barrel flashed. He managed to kill all the trackers, but when
his mind cleared from the bloodlust, he could hear a cry—a cry of death.
The tracker had shot Coyotito in the head. 
Kino and Juana returned to La Paz. People saw that Kino was
carrying a rifle and Juana was carrying her shawl, which was stained with
dried blood, like a sack. They went to the shore and threw the pearl back
into the ocean.

LESSONS LEARNED?