Describe an event which acted as a catalyst that set off a chain reaction of other events. Write on the event and other events which subsequently took place over it.
In the novel, The Pearl written by John Steinbeck, I have detected one important event which eventually acted as a catalyst that set off a chain reaction of other events. The event is the selling of the pearl to the pearl buyers in town.
When the news of the approach of Kino to the pearl buyer’s office came to them, the pearl buyers stiffened and grew alert. They got out papers on the desk and put away all the inferior pearls in the desk to show that they could be at work when Kino appeared. This really shows that they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Besides, the offices were clustered together in one narrow street and they were barred at windows with wooden slats cut out the light from entering the office.
As Kino arrived at the office, the first pearl buyer, a stout man greeted him while his right hand practiced legerdemain with a coin. After a moment, Kino brought out the leather bag, slowly took from it the soft piece of deerskin and let the pearl roll into the black velvet tray. Kino then observed the buyer’s face but surprisingly, he did not show any reactions. After inspecting it, the buyer said that the pearl is too large and clumsy which only museum will take it as a collection of sea-shells. He offered him a thousand pesos.
Upon hearing it, Kino grew daggers. He smelt a rat and he claimed that the pearl was worth fifty thousand pesos. As the situation became topsy-turvy, the first pearl buyer asked the servant to bring in the other three pearl buyers. The second pearl buyer took the pearl up, rolled it quickly and then cast it back into the tray. He then insisted to be excluded in the discussion as he said the pearl is merely a monstrosity.
The third pearl buyer, a man with a shy soft voice, examined the pearl under magnification with a glass from his pocket and he laughed softly. He said that the pearl is soft, chalky and it will lose it colour in a few months. Meanwhile, the fourth pearl buyer offered him five hundred pesos for the pearl. Kino then realized that the pearl buyers were going one up on him as they have been doing it to Kino’s race for donkey’s years. Therefore, Kino decided to sell the pearl to the capital, not to the pearl buyers even though the pearl buyer offered him fifteen hundred pesos.
After he insisted on not selling the pearl to the pearl buyers, Kino’s personality has changed thoroughly. From a loving and affectionate man, he becomes a sadistic killer. Apart from that, an incident where Kino beat his wife shows that he is no longer a fond husband. When Juana tried to get rid of the pearl, Kino tracked her quietly. As she was about to throw the pearl, Kino leaped at her, caught her arm and wrenched the pearl from her. He then struck her in the face with a clenched fist and when Juana fell among the boulders, he kicked her in the side. This event really shows how tyrannical Kino can be just because of the pearl.
Next, Kino killed a stranger when out of the blue the stranger attacked him when he was going back home. After this incident, Kino and Juana knew that their old peaceful life was gone forever. They were going to lead a dog’s life as refugees from there on. After that, as they were about to escape by sea, Kino found out that his canoe was punctured. Later, their house was burnt down. Kino and his family then hid in his own flesh and blood’s house, Juan Tomas. All in all, the killing of the stranger has really put Kino’s family in a hot soup.
In the last chapter of The Pearl, Kino’s family was hunted by three trackers, two on foot and one on horseback. When they were in the cave, Kino told Juana that he wanted to get the rifle from one of the trackers as two of them were fast asleep. Kino crept silently down the mountain and inched towards the enemy. When he was about only twenty feet to his enemy, suddenly, a little murmuring cry came from above. One of the sleepers woke up and the watcher released a shot towards the cave.
Kino then grew extremely tyrannical. As mad as a hornet, he swung and crunched hollowly the great knife through the neck and deep into the tracker’s chest. He grasped the rifle and struck the head of the seated man like a melon. He then threw the lever of the rifle and fired the third man between his eyes. After that, he stood numb and silent as he realized that his apple of his eyes, Coyotito has died. In the end, Kino threw the pearl back into the sea where it belongs.
In a nutshell, the event of selling of the pearl to the pearl buyers in town has acted as a catalyst to other events in this novel. It is only just because of the pearl, Coyotito died in the end. So, we have to think before we act as the saying goes “look before you leap”.
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