JOHN STEINBECK (1902 –

1968)
KINO, JUANA AND COYOTITO
THEMES
THEMES
THEMES
 INQUIRY QUESTIONS
• HOW MIGHT WEALTH AND GREED AFFECT THE BEHAVIOR OF
HUMAN BEINGS?

• WHAT MIGHT BE THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF

COLONIALISM?

• BASED ON YOUR EXPERIENCES AND LITERATURE YOU HAVE

READ SO FAR, DO YOU THINK THE COURSE OF PEOPLE’S LIVES
IS THE RESULT OF FATE OR HUMAN ACTION?
 AGREE OR DISAGREE?
• HUMAN WISHES TEND TO BE IN VAIN.
• NATURE SHOULD BE LEFT UNDISTURBED.
• WHEN THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS IS DISTURBED, THE RESULT IS
DISASTROUS.
• THOSE WHO LACK EDUCATION ARE OFTEN TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF.
• PARENTS MAKE SELFISH CHOICES FOR THEIR CHILDREN.
• POWER GENERALLY CORRUPTS THOSE WHO HAVE IT.
• EVIL BREEDS MORE EVIL.
• FAMILY MEMBERS GENERALLY UNDERSTAND AND LOOK OUT FOR EACH
OTHER.
• GREED CAN MAKE A PERSON UNRECOGNIZABLE TO THOSE WHO LOVE THEM.
• PLAYING WITH FATE YIELDS POSITIVE CONSEQUENCES.
 PAGANISM
PAGANISM IS THE ANCESTRAL RELIGION OF THE WHOLE OF HUMANITY.
THE MEANING OF PAGANISM IS SPIRITUAL BELIEFS AND PRACTICES OTHER THAN THOSE OF
JUDAISM, ISLAM, OR CHRISTIANITY.
PAGANS VIEW THE WORLD AS A PLACE OF JOY AND LIFE, NOT OF SIN AND SUFFERING.
PAGANS BELIEVE THAT NATURE IS SACRED AND THAT THE NATURAL CYCLES OF BIRTH,
GROWTH AND DEATH OBSERVED IN THE WORLD AROUND US CARRY PROFOUNDLY
SPIRITUAL MEANINGS.
PAGAN BELIEFS AND ACTIVITIES DO NOT BELONG TO ANY OF THE MAIN RELIGIONS OF THE
WORLD AND TAKE NATURE AND A BELIEF IN MANY GODS AS A BASIS.
PAGANISM WAS CONCERNED WITH SUCCESS, AND THE GODS WERE BELIEVED TO GIVE
VICTORY IN WAR, GOOD HARVESTS, SUCCESS IN LOVE AND MARRIAGE, AND SONS AND
DAUGHTERS.
PAGAN TRADITIONS AND EXPRESSIONS VARY WIDELY AND CAN INVOLVE COMMUNAL
OUTDOOR RITUALS, SOLITARY MEDITATION OR CONTEMPLATION, OR THE USE OF SYMBOLS.
PAGAN SYMBOLS
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 1

‘Kino could never remember seeing them closed when he

awakened.’
‘His people had once been great makers of songs so that
everything they saw or thought or did or heard became a
song. But no new songs were added.’
‘ The song of the Family came now from behind Kino.’
‘It was a morning like other mornings and yet perfect
among mornings.’
‘Kino could see these things without looking at them.’
‘
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 1

‘This is safety, this is warmth, this is the Whole.’

‘Those were other songs, their pigs were other pigs, their
wives were not Juana.’
‘Kino sighed with satisfaction and that was conversation.’
‘Juana repeated an ancient magic, and she muttered a Hail
Mary.’
‘Kino had wondered often at the iron in his patient, fragile
wife.’
‘A memorable thing to want the doctor.’
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 1

‘The thing had become a neighbourhood affair.’

‘They were the students of expressions of young
women.’
‘Rage and terror went together.’
‘The glaring sun threw the shadows of the people blackly
on the white wall.’
‘I’m a doctor, not a veterinary.’
‘He shut the gate quickly out of shame.’
The neighbours departed so the public shaming of Kino
wouldn’t be in their eyes.’
DESCRIBE THE RHYTHM OF THE FAMILY
SONG.
DESCRIBE THE SONG OF EVIL.
 MEANING

Ceaseless turning of twigs and bits of wood... P.3

Little reflected stars p.3
Explosion of fire p.4
Detachment of God p.5
They poured p.7
The eyes of a lioness p.9
The blinding plaza p.9
Great experts in financial analysis p.11
Read the age of Kino’s blanket p.11
Little brown pennies p.11
Puffy little hammocks p.13
Civilized living p.13
Opened the door a trifle p.14
As ugly and gray as little ulcers p.14
They melted away p.14
 CHAPTER 1 VOCABULARY

CEASELESS ALMS PROCESSION

RIGIDITY SCURRYING PULQUE
AVARICE SPARINGLY GRINDING STONE
DETACHMENT DESPISE FOE
INDIGENE MISSHAPEN REASSURING
HEALER KNUCKLE TRIFLE
PROTAGONIST V.S. ANTAGONIST
JUAN TOMAS AND APOLONIA
 THE DOCTOR
How does the doctor’s attitude
contradict his profession? How
does his greed distort his human
values?
PEARL BUYERS

Why are the pearl buyers

referred to as "fatherly"
and "benevolent"? How
does this contradict their
real purposes? Are they
also victimized?
 MONOPOLY

How does
monoply contrast
with free market
economy?
 THE 4 BEGGARS
How are the
beggars
portrayed as a
reference
book?
A PRIEST How does the
priest function
as a travesty of
religion?
 A SCORPION
Watch: A scorpion bite
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZCQHPGT78o
TRACKERS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGxKkBC6L2k http://www.bajainsider.com/article/history-pearling-la-paz

A PEARL
 WHERE ARE PEARLS FOUND IN THE WORLD?
 PERSIAN GULF  VENEZUELA
 THE RED SEA  FIJI
 PERU
 CHINA  ECUADOR
 PANAMA
 JAPAN  EAST INDIES
 KOREA  SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN

 AFRICA
 AUSTRALIA
 THE RIVERS OF CHINA, MANCHURIA AND SIBERIA (FRESH WATER PEARLS)
 IN THE SEAS OF EUROPE (HUNGARY, NORWAY, SWEDEN, SCOTLAND, AUSTRIA,
FRANCE)
WORLD PEARL MAP
 CANOES

‘’A canoe is a bulwark

against starvation.’’
 Sail

Mast

Keel

PARTS OF A CANOE
CANOES TODAY
PEARL DIVING
KINO, THE PEARL DIVER
WOMEN WAITING FOR THEIR HUSBANDS
FINDING A PEARL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdUteWP3Tkc
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 2
The sea bottom was rich. P.15

The uncertain air magnified some things and blotted out others. P.16

The canoe is a bulwark against starvation. P.16

Juana had sucked out the posion in time but she had not sucked out her
worry over her first born. P.17

This was the bed that had raised the King of Spain to be a great power in
Europe, had helped to pay for his wars, and had decorated the churches
for his soul’s sake. P.17-18
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 2
The pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on
the back by God or the gods or both. P.18

The beat of the song was his pounding heart and it ate the oxygen from his
held breath. P.19

It is not good to want a thing too much. P.20

In this Gulf of uncertain light there were more illusions than realities. P.20
 MEANING

Plastered buildings hugging the beach

Canoes preserved for generations
The morning was young
The hazy mirage
Optical exactness
Telescopically defined
Ruffles like skirts
Secret little inner song
To tear the luck out of the god’s hands
As large as a sea-gull’s egg
 CHAPTER 2 VOCABULARY

PLASTERED RELUCTANT
MAST DEFTLY
MIRAGE TRIUMPHANT
BULWARK INCANDESCENCE
POULTICE OBSCURED
UNSUBSTANTIAL UNDULATING
HAZE PERCEPTIBLE
BRUSH HOUSES
A STONE HOUSE WITH A COURTYARD
A TYPICAL MEXICAN HOUSE WITH A COURTYARD

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/2788569/spanish-style-courtyard
https://www.hgtv.com/design/ultimate-house-hunt/2019-ultimate-house-hunt/global-homes/Spanish- Colonial-Villa-In-Mexico
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 3
A town is something like a colonial animal. P.23

How news travels through a town is a mystery not easily to be solved. P.23

There is no almsgiver in the world like a poor man who is suddenly lucky.
P.24

There was a price below which they dared not go. P.24

The essence of pearl mixed with essence of men and a curious dark residue
was precipitated. P.25

The news stirred up something infinitely black and evil in the town. P.25
 QUOTES: CHAPTER3
Kino was already making a hard skin for himself against the world. P.31

The music of the pearl merged with the music of the family so that one
beautified the other. P.25

The music of the pearl rose like a chorus of trumpets in his ears. P.26

These things will make us free because he will know and through him we will
know. P.27

He had never said so many words together in his life and sddenly he was
afraid of his talking. P.27
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 3

Time would now date from Kino’s pearl. P.28

Kino looed at his neighbours to see who might have brought this song in. P.29

The gods do not love men’s plans and the gods do not love success unless it
comes by accident. P.30

He was trapped as his people were always trapped until they were could be sure
that the things in the books were really in the books. P.32
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 3
To see whether riches turned their heads, as riches turn all people’s heads. P.34

Sickness is only second to hunger as the enemy of poor people. P.35

He must break out of the pot that holds us in. P.39

Its warm lucence promised a poultice against illness and a wall against insult.
P40

They were in some way one thing and one purpose, she smiled with him. P.40
 MEANING
Like a colonial animal
The nerves of the town were pulsing and vibrating
Give a semblance of competition
The town swelled and puffed
Kino’s face shone with prophecy
The little flames danced
Like the purring of a kitten
The trap was set
Luck brings bitter friends
Scattered the old women like chickens
Kino’s brain burned
The words gallopped and played on the book
Sprang like an angry cat
This pearl is like a sin
It’s music of promise and delight
 CHAPTER 3 VOCABULARY
JUDICIOUS SEMBLANCE GALLOP
ALMSGIVER HARPOON SCOWL
CAPITAL ALTAR VENOM
POISON SACS DISPARAGEMENT MERGE
REBEL RESIDUE DAMPNESS
BENEDICTION ESSENCE MOAN
TRANSFIGURED SUBJUGATION THROB
CARESSING SALIVA STIR
SCUTTLE SHRUG INTERVAL
CLAMOR
 THEMES

Good v.s. Evil

Man as part of the nature
Social Opression

Money&Greed
Appearance v.s. Reality
SONGS

The Song of the Undersea

DESCRIBE THE MUSIC OF THE
PEARL
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 4
The best and happiest pearl buyer was he who bought for the owest price. P.42

This was the morning of mornings of their lives, comparable only to the day when the
baby had been born. P.43

It would be a shame if the pearl destroyed him. P.43

This day was the last day of his raggedness. P.44

It would be almost a sign of unfriendship. P.44

There is a great deal to be seen in the tilt of a hat of a man. P.44

Each man and woman is like a soldier sent by God to guard some part of the castle of
the Universe. P.46
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 4
Since the first strangers came with argument and authority and gunpowder. P.44

Kino’s people had learned only one defense. P.44

He felt the creeping of fate, the circling of wolves, the hover of vultures. P.50

They knew they had played too hard; they would be disciplined for their failure.
P.51-52

He had lost one world and had not gained another. P.53

What I have to fear but starvation? P.53

‘I’m a man!’ p.56

 MEANING
Every unit communicates to the whole
This was extravagant
To take the tithe of the first fruits of luck
The evil limbs of greed and hatred and coldness
The houses belched people
The doorways spewed out children
Steady and cruel and unwining like a hawk’s eyes
The dealer’s hand had vbecome a personality
This pearl is like fool’s gold
A little gray hopelessness
 CHAPTER 4 VOCABULARY
BIDDING
EXTRAVAGANT
COMPARABLE
VIGOR
SOLEMN
LEGERDEMAIN
BENIGN
PERPLEXED
CLAMBER
CONTEMPTOUSLY
MONSTROSITY
BROODING
OOZE DOWN
 CONFLICTS
INTERNAL CONFLICT: (MAN VS HIMSELF) EXTERNAL CONFLICT: (MAN V.S. MAN)
KINO HAS A CONFLICT BETWEEN KINO V.S. DOCTOR
THE HOPES AND PROMISES OF KINO V.S. PEARL BUYERS
THE PEARL AND THE DANGERS KINO V.S. TRACKERS
OF KEEPING THE PEARL KINO V.S. JUANA

EXTERNAL CONFLICT: (MAN V.S NATURE) EXTERNAL CONFLICT (MAN V.S. SOCIETY)
A PEARL DIVER V.S. THE SEA THE NATIVES V.S. THE WHITES

EXTERNAL CONFLICT (MAN V.S. SUPERNATURAL)

JUANA V.S. GOD&GODS
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 5
He was half insane and half god. P.58

The quality of a woman, the reason, the caution, the sense of

preservation, could cut through Kino’s manness. P.59

Juana knew that the old life was gone forever. P.59

The killing of a man was not so evil as the killing of a boat. P.60

You can still sell it and buy peace for ourself. P.64

This pearl has become my soul. P.66

 MEANING
Rolled up to his feet
His brain was red with anger
Hissed at her like snake
His senses were dulled by his emotion
Greedy fingers
Like a sheep before the butcher
Arms and legs stirred like those of a crushed bug
The dark ones
Flames tall and furious
Her second best head shawl
The wind cried through the brush houses
The wind screamed over the gulf
Mangroves plunged like frightened cattle
Double embrace
 CHAPTER 5 VOCABULARY
DULLED
SURGE
SLUGGISHLY
SPLINTERED
EXHILARATION
WOUNDED
EDIFICE
TUMBLING
LEAK
LEPROSY
MISFORTUNE
MEXICO
THE AZTEC EMPIRE
 LA PAZ 30.09.1926

http://www.archivohistoricobcs.com.mx/Fotografias/ver/62792
 LA PAZ 1940

http://www.archivohistoricobcs.com.mx/Fotografias/ver/63094
LA PAZ IN THE PAST
LA PAZ IN THE PAST
 Children in la paz, mexico. 1930.

https://www.bcsnoticias.mx/investigadora-estudia-evolucion-
historica-del-paisaje-urbano-y-
natural-de-la-paz/

https://www.bcsnoticias.mx/investigadora-estudia-evolucion-historica-del-paisaje-urbano-y-
natural-de-la-paz/
LA PAZ - HARPER MAGAZINE, OCTOBER 1868, NEW YORK
A brush house
Another brush house with a traditional mexican family.

https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p15150coll2/id/8319
TWO PEARL DIVERS IN LA PAZ 1923.
The canoe called icharuta is used by the native Mexicans of La Paz for pearl fishing and hunting (ca. mid-20th century)
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-canoe-called-icharuta
Pearl divers of Mexico 1900’s. https://www.purepearls.com/pages/pearl-origins-history-of-cultured-pearls
The Passionate Paddler Mexican Canoe
http://passionatepaddler.blogspot.com/2011/02/mexican-canoe.html
Above: La Paz, 1870.
https://colectivopericu.net/2011/07/31/%C2%A1asi-era-la-paz-baja-
california-sur/
Left: A typical tracker. Ranchero de Baja California, La Paz
(1868).
 LA PAZ TODAY

https://www.elsudcaliforniano.com.mx/circulos/conoce-como-se-veia-la-paz-de-1900-a-1959-7882505.html
LA PAZ TODAY
LA PAZ TODAY
LA PAZ TODAY
 THE ESTUARY, NOW THE MARINA

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/mexico/la-paz-mexico
THE TOWN SQUARE TODAY
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 6
Some animal thing was moving in him so that he was cautious and wary and
dangerous. P 67
Some ancient thing of the past of his people was alive in him. P 68
The music of the pearl was triumphant in his head. P 68
And she nodded and smiled a little at him, for she knew these things. P 69
He looked into the pearl to find his vision. P 70
There was no escape, except in flight. P 73
Do you think they would let me live? P 74
The music of evil sang loud in Kino’s head. P 75
It is the wise thing, and it is my wish. P 76
He looked then for weakness in her face, for fear or for irresolution, and there was
none. P 76
The pools were places of life because of the water, and places of killing because of
the water, too. P 78
 QUOTES: CHAPTER 6
He will not cry. He knows! p 80
His own brown skin was a better protection for him p 82
She whispered her combination of prayer and magic. p 82
Kino’s own music was in his head, low and pulsing, nearly asleep. p 82
The Song of the Family had become as fierce and sharp and feline as the snarl
of a female puma. p 82
From above came a little murmuring cry. p 84
Some coyote bitch with a litter. p 84
He knew the sound- the keening, moaning, rising hysterical cry. p 85
The waving branches of algae called to it and beckoned it. p 87
The surface of water was a green mirror. p 89
The music of the pearl drifted to a whisper and disappeared. p 89
 MEANING
Some ancient thing stirred in Kino
Nurse the baby
Sat quiet as a stone
As rigid as a tree limb
Settled over the ground like animals
The singing heat lay over this desert country
The empty water bottle did not let that consideration enter
Every time it fell over an escarpment, the thirsty air drank it
A frowning peak
The black, unhuman thing
As sensitive as hounds
 MEANING
Slumped to her knees
Bare stone teeth of the mountains
She peered like an owl
Not germane to the night
Egged like a slow lizard
Kino was a terrible machine now
Scrabbled away like a crab
Like a melon
As cold and deadly as steel
Not walking in a single file
As removed and as remote as heaven
Like well-made wooden dolls
As fierce as a cry
Distorted and insane
 CHAPTER 6 VOCABULARY

FATIGUE IMMUNE GURGLED

PETULANT WHISKED ULCEROUS
RESINUOUS WEARY MALIGNANT
SENTINEL GERMANE AMULET
VEGETATION FELINE TANGLE
GRANITE APPREHENSIVELY GRAPEVINE
MONOLITHIC ESCARPMENT
 FACTS ABOUT MEXICO
• CAPITAL CITY: MEXICO CITY
• POPULATION: 128.000.000
• AREA:1,972,550 SQUARE KM
• LANGUAGE: SPANISH
• RELIGION: CHRISTIANITY
• CURRENCY: PESO
• MAIN INDUSTRIES: MINING, AGRICULTURE, FISHING, PEARL FISHING
• ATTRACTIONS: AZTEC&MAYAN SITES, CULTURAL FESTIVALS,
BEACHES
A MEXICAN FAMILY
A TYPICAL MEXICAN MARKET PLACE
 RELIGION IN MEXICO
Shamanism
SITUATION TODAY
• 87.% CATHOLIC
• 3.2% PROTESTANT
• 3.1% "NONRELIGIOUS"
• 2.7% INDEPENDENT CHRISTIAN
• 2.0% MORMON AND JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
• 1.4% UNAFFILIATED CHRISTIAN
• 0.3% MUSLIM
• 0.3% BUDDHIST, JEWISH, BAHÁ'Í, AND OTHER FAITHS
MEXICAN FOOD
MEXICAN DANCING
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
www.biography.com/.../john-steinbeck-94933...

www.steinbeck.org/.../john-steinbeck-biograph.

www.ptbeach.com/.../The-Pearl-John-Steinbec..

https://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/mexico-.

https://www.cia.gov/library/.../the.../mx.html

www.history.com/topics/mexico

www.mayoclinic.org/.../scorpion-stings/.../con-...

greenglobaltravel.com/.../pearl-diving-bora-bo..

www.borapearl.com/the_farm.asp

pearldrum.com/

northstarcanoes.com/

www.socwork.net › Home › Vol 3, No 1 (2005)

https://www.youtube.com

www.mexperience.com/...of.../spanish-conques...

travel.nationalgeographic.com/.../mexico-guid...

education.nationalgeographic.org/.../gulf-mexi..
Google visuals

Google maps