Ujian Setara 2009

What moral values did you learn after reading the novel 'The Pearl' by John Steinbeck? Support your answer with close reference to the text.

The novel that I have studied is 'The Pearl', written by John Steinbeck. After reading this novel, I have learnt several moral values that are applicable in our daily lives.

Firstly, I have learnt to become a person with ceaseless determination. In this novel, determination is greatly shown through the actions of Kino. Kino and Juana lead a very simple but happy life with their first born, Coyotito. However, everything starts to go wrong after poor little Coyotito is bitten by a detrimental scorpion. Juana gives a suggestion that they shall go seek treatment from the local doctor and so, Kino, together with Juana, brings Coyotito to go meet the doctor. To their dismay, they are rejected by the greedy and heartless doctor as they have only "eight small misshapen seed pearls" (page 11) to offer. Kino does not give up easily and thus, he goes pearl diving in hopes of finding a superb pearl that will be enough for them to pay for the treatment. Luckily, he stumbles upon a pearl of the size of a seagull's egg. This goes to show that Kino is so determined to acquire treatment for poor little Coyotito that he is willing to meet the doctor who humiliates him in front of everyone and is also willing to dive into the deep sea in search of the marvellous pearl. I truly admire that quality of his and will try to be as determined as he is in my daily life as great determination brings about endless results.

Besides that, I have learnt to be protective over my family. Kino shows his protective side when he and his family are being tracked by the trackers. When they are heading north in order to sell the stunning pearl, they realise that they are being tracked. To protect his beloved wife and son from danger, he decides to ambush the trackers in order to kill them as they are a threat to his family. Firstly, he ambushes the tracker who owns a rifle as he possesses the biggest threat while the other two trackers are soundly asleep. After much action, Kino successfully kills the three trackers. This goes to show that Kino is willing to take away lives of others in order to protect and restore peace for his family. In life, I should be like Kino and always protect my family under any circumstances.

Other than that, I have learnt to be brave in everything I do. When Kino sees that the scorpion is about to sting Coyotito, he acts quickly by crushing the scorpion into paste, using only his bare hands. Kino does not even bother to stop for a minute to think of the what will happen to himself. Not only that, Kino is brave enough to face the attackers that are trying to steal the pearl away from him. For instance, on his way back to his house, he hears someone coming at him and instinctively, he uses his knife to strike that person. In my opinion, Kino is a very brave person as he dares to do things people normally will not do. I shall be like Kino by facing all the challenges in life bravely and not by running away.

In a nutshell, there are a lot of moral values from this novel that are applicable in our daily lives. I have learnt to become a more determined person, to protect my family from any danger and also be brave when facing all sorts of challenges.

By : Fion Jauw