Question 1 Essay

The author of this novel, “The Pearl” had written the stories including the various animals that have meaning to each one of them. The function of the animals foreshadows or shows the meaning of events that might happened to the characters in the novel.

Oysters are animals that lived in the sea and they contain pearls. “Light filtered down through the water to the bed where the frilly pearl oysters lay fastened to the rubbly bottom…” (Page 11) This shows the economics of the village compared to the oysters. The oysters are like the villagers and the pearls are like the wealth. When the pearl are taken out of the oysters, it’s the same as when the wealth is taken from the villagers. The villagers then just become the poor fishermen.

Scorpions are animals that contain poisons and can give a person a deadly harm. “The scorpion moved delicately down the rope toward the box.” (Page 4) This foreshadows the upcoming events for Kino. Scorpions represent evil and harm. When the scorpion approach Coyotito, Kino already has the feelings that something bad might happen. This animal shows the danger and threat for Kino and his family.

Ants are insects that are really quick and smart. “The ants were busy on the ground, big black ones with shiny bodies, and little dusty quick ants.” (Page 3) The ants represent Kino. He wants to move quickly from the reality itself. Kino wants to change the events that are going to happen naturally to meet his expectation.

The following descriptions of animals show their functions throughout the novel. When the author wrote this novel, he must have thought of the animals and it meanings, so he could wrote it down for the reader to have a critical thinking and more understanding of emotions for the novel.