Facing Adversity in The Pearl

     Quote from The Pearl

     "Juan Tomás nodded gravely. He was the elder, and Kino looked to him for wisdom. "It is hard to know," he said. "We do know that we are cheated from birth to the overcharge on our coffins. But we survive.You have defied not the pearl buyers, but the whole structure, the whole way of life, and I am afraid for you."
 

 Being Inferior 

     I believe this quote is saying that Indians during this time were treated unfair and the Spanish felt the Indians were inferior. However, the Indians have learned to tolerate the lifestyle, so they can survive.

     Symbolizes

 This quote is important to the story because I believe it symbols one of the major themes of the story. The theme would be how inferior the Indians are treated and how important they are considered in society. 

     So far in chapters 1-4 I can tell that the Indians have a very different lifestyle than the Spaniards who are wealthy.  They fear being cheated because they are not educated in the way of reading and writing. They have more of oral type of communication and their emotions are expressed by music. Kino wishes to overcome this social society, and he wants his child to be educated and "know what is in the books."

     A real life example 

This could relate to the time of Kings, lords and peasants.  The lords could be related to the wealthier people who had everything they needed and luxuries. The peasants could be compared to the Indians, because they had to focus on survival and getting necessities like food, clothes, and shelter. Everyone had their own place in society and were told they were needed in that placement and there wasn't opportunities to move up in society.