Luís's Reviews > A Pérola

John Steinbeck's writing is as diverse as his literature. Nonetheless, there is a common denominator in the American author's charming writing: the story is always rooted in the orality of the tales and legends that the ancients transmit over time to new generations so that they never forget they came. Here, he is inspired by a traditional Mexican story.
This little parable can be read in one go, as the writing is rich and limpid. The themes dear to the author and familiar to many of these novels are still omnipresent.
Steinbeck portrays misery to raise awareness of unhappy lives, but above all, he denounces pearl fishers' living conditions, which he describes as exploited and enslaved by the merchants of precious stones.
He denounces protests repeatedly against the social divide and the painful and hopeless misery it generates.
Dreams and flourishing imagination bring life to life. But the goals of the poor are systematically trampled on by the most powerful.
Despite a realistic but very pessimistic vision of society, all of Steinbeck's finesse illuminates The Pearl, whose melancholic music is permanently embedded in my memory.