The Pearl (John Steinbeck): Contrasting the Villagers and the Townspeople

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Essay: Explore the differences between the townspeople and the villagers and why they exist in The Pearl. In John Steinbeck’s novella, The Pearl, the townspeople and villagers are two distinctly different groups. These distinctions can be observed most significantly in the areas of wealth, power, education and attitudes and values. These differences are inter-related and each creates the perpetuation of the others. The European townspeople of La Paz descend from the European conquerors of Mexico. Some, such as the beggars, are very poor while others, such as the doctor, are very wealthy. In the town people perform jobs that provide goods and services to the population. This creates an uneven distribution of wealth because people do different jobs. They are therefore paid differently. Those more highly educated are more highly paid. We see the extent of the townspeople’s wealth in the home of the doctor. He lives in a plastered house where he is attended to by at least one servant and enjoys such luxuries as a silk dressing gown and “a silver tray with a silver chocolate pot” (p14). By comparison, the indigenous villagers are all very poor. They live in brush huts with few possessions, rely on natural resources for their survival and do not appear to have a formal currency. They co-operate in their endeavours and share their resources. Thus, their wealth is evenly distributed. While the villagers are very poor they are content with their simple life. The townspeople however, reveal their dissatisfaction with their lives through their greed for the pearl. It is this greed that Steinbeck highlights in Chapter Three when he writes “It is said humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more” (p29). The townspeople and the villagers also contrast greatly in the amount of power each has. The townspeople display power over the
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