1. The Pearl
John Steinbeck

2. Novel The Pearl is a novel published in 1947
by American author John Steinbeck.
The novel tells the story of a pearl diver
named Kino, and explores man's nature
as well as greed and evil.
Steinbeck got the inspiration for his
book from the Mexican folk tale called
“El Mechudo,” from La Paz, Mexico.

3. About the Author *John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer.
*He was born February 27, 1902 and died December 20, 1968.
*JS was born in the Salinas Valley of Salinas, CAL.
*He is best known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novels The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden, and Of Mice and Men.
*Steinbeck is the author of twenty-seven books, including sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories.
*He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.

4. Steinbeck’s Writing Style
Steinbeck often experimented with different writing styles: novel, short story, play format, and documentary.
JS really rallies for the lower class, the unfortunate one whose “destiny” is poverty which he/she cannot escape. Therefore, many characters in his books are based on the poor people.
Steinbeck's strongest writing talent is in his use of characterization.
He uses an omniscient narration/ point of view in his writings, aka “omniscient narrator.”

5. Writing Con’t…
Steinbeck provides foreshadowing that might go unnoticed if the reader is not paying attention.
His descriptions/characters are rich and detailed, and he utilizes adjectives to give a description to everything.
His use of dialect between characters draws
a picture of how the characters
speak instead of just what they say.
Steinbeck's greatest utensil in
his writings is the diction.

6. The Legend of El Mechudo
“Mechudo” in Spanish
is a nickname for a man
with bushy or long hair.
The legend/myth stems out of Baja, California where the road Punta El Mechudo in San Juan de la Costa passes through San Evaristo.
The area is also referred to as La Paz Bay.
(La Paz, Mexico)

7. P e a r l i n g
18th and 19th centuries: La Paz Bay was one of the world's great pearling regions.
Early 20th century: Many of the oyster beds were discovered & harvested.
Early years of 20th century: Pearls became difficult to find, and pearlers had to travel greater distances to find richer, untouched oyster beds.

8. The way pearlers traveled to the oyster beds was usually in small sail-driven canoes.
At the time, the custom was
to set aside the first pearl,
(regardless of size or quality)
as a donation to the Church,
more specifically as an
offering, to the Virgin Mary.
The people of this time and region were particularly superstitious, therefore this custom was one which
was taken very seriously.