57 pages 1 hour read

John Steinbeck

The Pearl

Fiction | Novella | YA | Published in 1947

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Introduction

Teacher Introduction

The Pearl

  • Genre: Fiction; historical classic
  • Originally Published: 1947
  • Reading Level/Interest: Lexile 1010L; grades 9-12; college/adult
  • Structure/Length: 6 chapters; approx. 96 pages; approx. 2 hours, 35 minutes on audio
  • Protagonist and Central Conflict: Kino, a young man in Mexico, dives for pearls for a living near his town of La Paz. One day he finds a valuable pearl; he and wife Juana rejoice, believing their newfound wealth means a better life, starting with a doctor for their ailing child. Ironically, the pearl brings only conflict and tragedy, and Kino eventually throws it back into the sea.
  • Potential Sensitivity Issues: Poverty; colonialism; violence; racism and prejudice

John Steinbeck, Author

  • Bio: Born in 1902 in California; raised near the Pacific Coast; attended Stanford University to study literature but left before earning a degree; worked as a manual laborer and New York City reporter; met success with writing in 1935 with Tortilla Flat; traveled throughout the western US during the Great Depression, which influenced his writing; known for his treatment of social and economic issues through the plights of his characters; earned the Nobel Prize for Literature (1962) for body of work
  • Other Works: Of Mice and Men (1937); The Grapes of Wrath (1939); East of Eden (1952)
  • Awards: The Pulitzer Prize for The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

Related Titles

By John Steinbeck