pearl
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A scorpion and a pearl may seem to be two very odd objects to have such a powerful meaning, but after reading The Pearl and researching them both I have realized the symbolic meaning of each of them. John Steinbeck wrote the pearl with many thoughts in mind when he included a scorpion and a pearl as meaningful symbols. Depending on the person we all may see the pearl and the scorpion representing different things. Because the pearl is an object worth a lot of money it often represented greed in this story, and the scorpion represented wickedness.
After researching the pearl I found that because pearls are worth so much money, Steinbeck was smart to think they would be a great symbol for representing greed. Although they are vague, the pearl had many more symbols then just greed. That is another reason why Steinbeck chose the pearl as a symbol. After thinking about the book for a while the pearl's symbolic meanings began to diffuse and I found myself with many answers for why the author chose the pearl for a symbol. In the beginning, when the pearl was first found, it was seen as a symbol of something that contradicts the horrible scorpion sting incident. Something terrible happened and then all of the sudden something wonderful happened...