Metaphors In The Pearl

In s
story , it is the precious stone itself that serves afor the greed
and avarice that naturally accompany the discovery and revelation of sudden wealth in the hands
of desperately poor people.  Kino and his wife Juana hope to use the proceeds from the sale of
the pearl they found to both secure financial resources needed to have their infant son Coyotito
treated for his sickness from the scorpion bit, and to elevate their social status among their
community.  Whether this constitutes greed or simply a determined effort at helping his family
find a better life is worthy of debate, but The Pearl clearly is
intended to act as warning against avarice and greed.  Since finding the pearl, Kino becomes
entangled in a number of menacing confrontations and, very soon, his previously peaceable nature
becomes supplanted by a more threatening, defensive posture that merely wants to preserve the
pearl until it can be sold.  It is one such confrontation where Steinbeck employs ato describe
the descent of hisfrom peaceable, happy father into angry, defenseless and ultimately murderous
protector of the pearl.  It is in Chapter Five where one finds Steinbecks use of a metaphor in
comparing Kinos canoe, which had originally belonged to his grandfather and, consequently, holds
a personal and spiritual value that transcends its otherwise questionable condition.  Reflecting
on his having killed one of the men who had intended to rob  him of the pearl, Kino subsequently
notes the condition of the canoe, through the hull of which somebody had poked a sizable
hole:

The killing of a man was not so evil as the
killing of a boat. For a boat does not have sons, and a boat cannot protect itself, and a
wounded boat does not heal. There was sorrow in Kino's rage, but this last thing had tightened
him beyond breaking. He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to
preserve himself and his family.

Kino has become that
which he has previously eschewed: a violent murderous member of the lowest echelon of society. 
He has incorporated the pearl into his very being, protecting and revering at the expense of his
values and worth as a human being.  As Steinbecks protagonist notes following the egregious acts
that have taken place in the interest of possessing this valuable deposit of calcium carbonate
formed from the shell of a mollusk, a crustacean, a bottom-feeder: "This pearl has become
my soul," said Kino. "If I give it up I shall lose my soul. Go thou also with
God."