The Pearl
Lustrous ocean jewel
A novella by John Steinbeck, published in 1947, about a poor Mexican pearl diver who finds an enormous pearl and discovers that his sudden fortune brings destruction rather than salvation.
The story functions as a parable about greed, the corruption of innocence, and the cruel indifference of social systems to the poor.
We read The Pearl in ninth grade.
- oysterPearl-bearing edible mollusk
- nacreIridescent shell coating
- lustrousSoftly bright, reflective
- iridescentShowing shifting spectral colors
- scorpion stingArachnid's venomous puncture
Steinbeck · diver · treasure · moonlight · ocean · shell · precious · gleaming · necklace · Mexican · parable · greed · tragedy · jewel · shimmering · milky · round · strand
- School ClassicsTo Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter
- Nobel LiteratureOne Hundred Years of Solitude, Doctor Zhivago, Waiting for Godot, The Tin Drum, Magic Mountain
- NovellasThe Metamorphosis, Heart of Darkness, A Christmas Carol, Billy Budd, Animal Farm
- Persian GulfPersian Gulf, Bahrain, Kuwait, Dubai, Qatar
- QatarQatar, Doha, Qatar Airways, emir, Al Jazeera
- SteinbeckEast of Eden, Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, Nobel Prize, Pulitzer Prize