The Pearl Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1 Summary and Analysis

Kino awakes in the early dawn and his wife, Juana, is already awake beside him. He cannot remember a time when she hadn’t woken up before him. He hears the waves and recognizes the “music of his life” in them. The sounds of the world constitute the music his people have made for hundreds of years, and among those ancient songs in Kino’s mind are his own songs, the Song of the Family and the Song of the Pearl That Might Be. As Juana fixes breakfast for her husband, he stands at the door and looks into the dawn. Juana’s cooking and the sounds that accompany her work in the house make up the Song of the Family for Kino. Behind him, he hears the creaking rope as Juana takes their baby, Coyotito, from the hanging box he sleeps in. She wraps him in her shawl to carry him close to her breast. The sounds are so familiar to Kino that he doesn’t even have to look to know what is happening. As Juana works, she hums an ancient song, and this melody is also part of the Song of the Family along with every other sound they make in their home.

Kino is young and strong, and this is the only life he has ever known. Juana finishes cooking his breakfast, and he squats by the fire to eat it. Their food is simple, as is their home and their life together. They don’t speak because they have been together long enough that there is no need for words. She understands his sighs of satisfaction as he eats breakfast.

Kino notices a tiny movement on the rope over Coyotito’s hanging box. A scorpion works its way down the rope toward the baby, and the Song of Evil drums in Kino’s ears. Juana whispers ancient magic spells and Hail Marys to ward off the evil, as Kino moves toward the box to grab the scorpion. Just before he can get to the scorpion, Coyotito shakes the rope, and the scorpion falls on his shoulder and delivers a painful sting to him. Juana tries to suck the poison out of the baby’s shoulder while Kino pounds the scorpion on the dirt floor of their hut.

The neighbors come to Kino’s hut, having heard Coyotito’s cries. Juan Tomas, Kino’s brother, and Apolonia, Kino’s sister-in-law, are the first to the hut. With the neighbors gathered around, Juana demands that someone get the doctor from town to see Coyotito. She is afraid that the sting might prove fatal if they do not address it immediately. The doctor, however, refuses to come, so Kino and Juana, with the Song of the Family playing in their ears, go to him.

Their neighbors follow them into the city all the way to the doctor’s house. At the gates of the doctor’s lavish home, with its garden fountains and caged birds, Kino feels “rage and terror” because he knows that the doctor is not of his race. The doctor is of the race that has beaten, cheated, and starved Kino’s people for four hundred years, so although Kino and Juana need the doctor’s help for Coyotito, the doctor is still the enemy. Now, the Song of Evil pounds in Kino’s head again.

The fat, wealthy doctor sits in his house dreaming of his days in Paris when he led what he considered a civilized life: keeping a mistress and eating in restaurants. When his servant comes to tell him that one of the Indians needs treatment for his son’s scorpion sting, the doctor refuses to see them because he knows the Indians are poor. He will not help them if they cannot pay, and he knows without asking that they cannot pay him. Kino has only a few seed pearls, which are worth very little. Since they are not sufficient to pay the doctor’s fee, the servant closes the gates in Kino’s face. Kino is deeply humiliated by the incident, and his neighbors, noticing his humiliation, decide to give him some privacy. In anger and frustration, Kino hits his fist against the iron gate and splits his knuckles.