"The Pearl": 1st chapter

As its short, simple sentences and heavily symbolic moral overtones make evident, "The Pearl" is based on the form of biblical parable, and the simple natural beauty of the opening scene recalls the beauty and innocence of the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve's fall. Though the comparison is not made explicitly, it is nevertheless an apt one--like Adam and Eve, Kino and Juana make choices later in the story that cause them to …

…to their native language in a more sympathetic moment. While the servant possesses the capacity to move--linguistically and otherwise--between two disparate worlds, the colonial doctor possesses neither the linguistic ability nor the desire to do so. Though Kino desires to cross between the two worlds too, he is unable to do so. This powerlessness renders his indignation at the doctor's refusal to treat Coyotito irrelevant, since he has no productive means to express this indignation.