For the diver Kino, finding a magnificent pearl means the promise of a better life for his impoverished family. His dream blinds him to the greed and suspicions the pearl arouses in him and his neighbors, and even his loving wife cannot temper his obsession or stem the events leading to the tragedy.
Born in Salinas, California, novelist John Steinbeck was best noted for his portrayal of the proletariat. His writing realistically depicted the economically depressed in the U.S., particularly the itinerant farm laborers of California.
