“The loss of the pearl was a punishment visited on those who tried to leave their station. And the Father made it clear that each man and woman is like a soldier sent by God to guard some part of the castle of the Universe. And some are in the ramparts and some far deep in the darkness of the walls. But each one must remain faithful to his post and must not go running about else the castle is in danger from the assaults of Hell.”

I absolutely love Steinbeck’s writing. The way he describes environments and the human condition that which resides within those settings is amazing. A story of the have-nots versus the haves, of the descent humanity endeavors in the face of greed and hope. An all too realistic depiction of it, I would say, that has held up very well from the 1940s til now.

”He had said, ‘I am a man,’ and that meant certain things to Juana. It meant that he was half insane and half god. It meant that Kino would drive his strength against a mountain and plunge his strength against the sea. Juana, in her woman's soul, knew that the mountain would stand while the man broke himself; that the sea would surge while the man drowned in it. And yet it was this thing that made him a man, half insane and half god.”