"The Pearl" is a tragedy and a parable. In this novella, John Steinbeck tells the story of Kino, Juana, and Coyotito: a father, a mother, and a beloved child; they are Steinbeck's Mexican Holy Family: impoverished, forgotten, and marginalized. Steinbeck's short parable explores the complexity of family life, the pervasiveness of greed in the human heart, and the empty promises made by wealth, fame, and the American Dream. As always, Steinbeck seems to be on the side of the poor and the forgotten; he shows the plight of the poor man in Mexico, dreaming of giving his son a proper education, so that one day he could be the savior of their impoverished village. Time and time again, Steinbeck stresses the differences between the village of brush houses where the Holy Family lives and the city of plaster and stone where we find the greedy doctor, the corrupt pearl buyers, and the revered Catholic priest.

According to Steinbeck, the story and its title are meant to recall the parable told by Jesus in the Gospels of the pearl of great price. In Jesus' parable, the man who finds the pearl sells everything he has to purchase the pearl, which is representative of the Kingdom of God. For Steinbeck, however, the Pearl of the World that Kino finds diving in the Gulf of Mexico proves to be not the Kingdom of God, but a cursed and evil token, which brings greed, evil, disunity, and even death to his life and the life of his family.

As always, Steinbeck's characters are believable, complex, and tragically human. When readers of "The Pearl" look at Kino, Juana, and Coyotito, they see themselves. Steinbeck has a beautiful way of drawing his readers into the narrative, in an attempt to expose their own flaws, vulnerabilities, vices, hopes, and dreams; the archetypal and generalized nature of the story also helps in accomplishing this task. Unlike some of his longer and more epic narratives, "The Pearl" is fast-paced, action-packed, and dripping with suspense and emotion.