Steinbeck's characters are not the rich men and women of California's boom days, but are the homeless, the migrant workers, the poor fishermen, and the farmers. His wonderful novellas The Pearl, Cannery Row, The Red Pony, and Of Mice and Men not only introduce readers to a fascinating, realistic cast of characters, make the hills and seacoast of California and Mexico come to life, but also tell intriguing stories of the lives of real people. John Steinbeck is one of the greatest storytellers of the twentieth century.

Teachers are encouraged to guide, help with reading, and yet allow the students to independently respond to the work. The teaching methodologies are based on response strategies that encourage student interaction with the literary work. The brief discussion of the techniques of plot, character development and theme employed by Steinbeck in his deceptively simple story provides an overview of the story as well as an understanding of its simplicity and complexity.

The prereading activities prepare students for what they will read in the novel.

This guide is designed to assist teachers in moving students beyond the surface story of Steinbeck's novella. Becoming a victim of not only the envy and brutality of others but his own aggressive impulses, Kino realizes that the pearl is more trouble than it's worth.Enter promo code TEACH for 15% off. Like the pearl, then, La Paz is symbolic of a much wider system, the injustices of which Kino learns the hard way as his life starts to spiral out of control. Clearly, capitalism comes in for some major flak, with Steinbeck showing La Paz to operate through materialism, avarice, and class-based division (yup, the Frankfurters would be pissed). The Pearl focuses on some key cultural studies topics: Kino's people are culturally coded as 'other' and inferior within the novel's colonial setting, which Steinbeck critiques by depicting the exploitation of Kino and his family by the Scrooges who will stop at nothing to grab Kino's shiny pearl. But it is really so lucky? While Kino is dazzled by the pearl and its promise, it ends up bringing nothing but pain, misery, and, above all, greed. To try to scrounge up the dollars for the doctor, Kino takes to the sea to find a pearl, and-lucky day!-find one he does. The story is a cautionary tale about a fisherman, Kino, who lives a peaceful, rustic life with his wife, Juana, and baby son, Coyotito, on the outskirts of a Mexican town called La Paz-until one dark day, a stray scorpion stings little Coyotito and the family discover the flaws in the healthcare system (that's right, back in 1927). The Pearl is a parable: as Steinbeck notes at the beginning, the story is deliberately simple because its purpose is to get down to basics and make its point through allegory.

The pearl novella