The Pearl-ch.4

 

"This pearl is like fool's

gold. It is too large. Who

would buy it? There is no

market for such things. It

is a curiousity only,"

(encounter, pg 115)

Kino decided to sell his pearl and when everyone heard this news they quit their job to see what will happen. But when Kino show his pearl to the pearl buyers, they were only willing to offer one thousand pesos for it. Kino felt like he was cheated because this pearl worth at least fifteen times more. So he went to ask other pearl buyers but they either don't want to pay for it or was only willing to pay around five hundred pesos, because they think this pearl is too big that it is not worthy. Kino got mad and he decide to go to the city himself to sell the pearl, but that night, someone came and attack Kino. Juana begged Kino to give up on the pearl, but he insist to keep it for their great future.

We can see how close is the connection between the unit of the town and the society and how it control each person because news spread quickly among the people. Kino became the target of pearl buyers and other people because of the great pearl he possess. To them, this pearl not just symbolize riches and great wealth, but also power. Kino is trying to move up from the society by this pearl and we knew from the previous chapter that Kino's amibiton can be an obsticle to his achievement, but in this chapter we also understand that the town is another great force that pull Kino down. Kino was wounded because of this pearl and the peaceful life that they originally had was broken up into pieces. It seems like in order to bring peace back was to leave everything the same, to be normal as it had always been in years. With the push from the the top and the pull from the bottom, can Kino ever be possible to break through the original level of the society and get what he wanted?  Or is the goal too high for him to reach that on the contrary he will just get bruise severely?