Vincent D. DeocampoIII-A BSITEWorld Literature

Author John Steinbeck

Type of work Novella

Genre Parable, Allegory

Time and Place written 1944-1945, California, USA

First Publication 1945 (in serial form) “The Pearl of the World” 1947 (in book form)

Narrator describes the inner thoughts and feelings of

various characters

Point of View third-person, omniscient narration provides analysis and commentary on the

story

Tone narrator tells Kino’s story to teach a moral

lesson

Tense Past

Setting (Time) Unclear, possibly late nineteenth or early

twentieth century

Setting (Place) A Mexican coastal village called La Paz,

probably on the Baja Peninsula

Greed as a destructive force The roles of fate and agency in shaping

human life Colonial society’s oppression of

native cultures

Nature imagery Kino’s songs

The pearl The scorpion Kino’s canoe