Oppression in The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay Example
In the past 5 centuries, colonization was a major part of the world. It allowed countries to claim land outside of their borders with conquerors. Although it may have seemed like a good idea, it wasn’t most of the time. When countries were trying to claim land, they often interfered with the Natives and their way of life by making them inferior. In The Pearl, the author John Steinback uses the oppression of the natives and the thought of superiority of the ruling class to contribute to greediness/lack of morals in order to show evil.
In The Pearl, the author showed the oppression and the thought of superiority in the story by showing the upper class disrespecting and ridiculing the lower class. (Page 11) The doctor (upper class) says, “I am a doctor, not a veterinary.” This is implying that the doctor is racist and thinks of Kino’s race as animals. While humans are animals though, it is disrespectful/rude to call another human one or a group of humans animals as it is usually used to downplay other people. (Page 12) Another example of disrespect is when the doctor tells his servant to tell the “patients” that he has a serious case. This is rude because the doctor is basically saying that the case of Kino’s child isn’t serious. While I’m sure there are more serious cases than a scorpion sting (still bad), the doctor was lying and since he didn’t say that it is more serious, he’s implying that a scorpion sting is not serious.
In The Pearl, the author showed the greed of the upper class by trying to take the Pearl that Kino found that was worth a lot of money. (Page 30) The doctor said, "I was not in when you came this morning. But now, at the first chance, I have come to see the baby." This is implying that he only wants the pearl (or the money from selling it) because he only wanted to treat them if they had money, not out of saving someone’s life. While he did treat the child, he thought he was gonna get money from Kino. (Page 52) Another example of greed is when the pearl buyers try to rip him off by telling him it was too large and not worth a lot of money. The pearl was the size of a seagull’s egg. They offered at most 1500 pesos. This converts to about $73.75. This is showing a different level of greed.
In the Pearl, the upper class does have somewhat of a good perspective. For example, an example of disrespect is when the doctor tells his servant to tell the “patients” that he has a serious case. While he’s basically saying that the case isn’t serious, he is a doctor and doctors should be paid accurately by patients. Even if the doctor knows the patient can’t pay, he should do what’s morally right. “ ‘I will offer five hundred pesos, and perhaps I can sell it to my client for six hundred.’ " After all they are appraisers just trying to make a profit, but they should be honest with the price for someone in need. The lack of morals, the greediness, and the thought of superiority just show that the upper class is evil and the lower class is oppressed (This story).
