Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary
devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Nature Imagery
Kino’s physical and spiritual existence is intimately
connected with the natural world. He lives in a brush house, and
he makes his living as a pearl diver. Not surprisingly, nature imagery
is an important element of the novella. Kino observes the world
of his garden in the opening scene of Chapter 1 and
the world of the ocean in Chapter 2. Kino
and Juana’s final journey up the mountain takes place on a dark
night full of animal noises and cries.
Steinbeck depicts the natural world as a realm that mirrors
or parallels the human world. Overall, the work’s nature imagery reflects
both the natural world’s idyllic innocence—the innocence Kino possesses
at the beginning of the novella—and the natural world’s darker qualities
of struggle and flight—the struggle and flight Kino experiences
at the novella’s end. The Pearl’s descriptions of
the sea, for instance, subtly emphasize the fact that life in the
sea is a struggle for survival from which only the strongest emerge alive—a
struggle that mirrors the conflict between Kino and the native people
against their colonial rulers. Kino’s two interactions with ants—the
first in Chapter 1, the second in Chapter 6—create
a parallel between Kino’s relationship to nature and the gods’ relationship
to Kino (he towers over the ants in the same way that the gods tower
over him).
Kino’s Songs
Throughout the novel, whenever Kino has a particularly
powerful feeling or instinct, he hears a song in his head that corresponds
to that feeling. When he is happy with his family in Chapter 1,
for instance, he hears the Song of the Family. When he senses malice
or dishonesty, he hears the Song of Evil. These songs point to the
oral nature of Kino’s cultural tradition. The ancient, familiar
songs, presumably handed down from generation to generation, occupy
such a central place in how Kino’s people perceive themselves that
the songs actually give form to their inner feelings. Kino is much
less likely to become aware of the sensation of wariness than he
is to hear the Song of Danger in his head. Similarly, he is much
less likely to take action because of his own conscious judgment
than because he associates the song with a certain kind of urgent
behavior in relation to the outside world. The songs also point
to Steinbeck’s original conception of The Pearl as
a film project; in a motion picture, the songs could be played out
loud for the audience to hear and thus function as recurring motifs
and melodies that would underscore the story’s themes.
