The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay Example for Free

The Pearl by John Steinbeck Essay This Essay will discuss the use of symbols in the novel The Pearl by John Steinbeck. In this novel there are many themes explored. These include the destructiveness of greed, how love can give someone great courage and strength, knowledge is power, but a power which can be abused, and how a dream is good until it starts to destroy the things of value in a person’s life. The destructiveness of greed is shown when the doctor comes to Kinos house and heals Coyotito after Kino has found The Pearl. When Coyotito had been bitten by the scorpion, his father and mother take Kino to the doctor in order to get a treatment. But the doctor refuses to heal Coyotito because Kino is poor. Later On, after Kino owns the pearl, the doctor automatically comes to Kinos house and offers a treatment for Coyotito. After he treats Coyotito, he pretends that he does not know that Kino has found a pearl and asks Kino about the medical expenses. You have a pearl? A good pearl? The doctor asks with curiosity. The reality is that the doctor cares more about Kinos pearl more than giving people treatments. The doctor does this because he values materialistic things more than he cares about others. Although the doctor has a lot of money and he has an abundance of everything he needs and wants in his life, he still wants more and his is dissatisfied. Obviously, the greed had already controlled the doctors mind and the way he acts towards people. Another example of the destructiveness of greed is seen in Kino As Kino tried to find a way to gain wealth and status through the pearl. During this, Kino transforms from a happy, comfortable father to an unhappy criminal. In this quick transition Kino displays the way the ambition of success and greed can destroy innocence. Kino’s desire to gain wealth changes the way we see the pearl. When we first visualize the pearl we see it as a natural beauty and good luck. As the story continues we start seeing it as a symbol of human destruction. Therefore, Kino’s greed leads him to behave violently towards his wife and it also leads to his son’s death. During his mission he loses sight of his cultural traditions and his society. His dreams start to destroy him. This leads the theme of how a dream is good, until it begins to destroy the things of value in a person’s life. Because Kino believes The Pearl will help him achieve all the dreams he has in store for his son Coyotito Kino does not want to give up the pearl. Juana, who is smart enough to figure out that the pearl is going to cause trouble, asks Kino to throw the pearl away multiple times. And even tries to get rid of it herself. Juana says, This pearl is evil. This pearl is like a sin. It will destroy us all! † Even though Juana warns Kino that the pearl will bring great misfortunes to the family and asks him to throw the pearl away, Kino decides not to listen or take the advice his wife is giving because Kinos mind is already overtaken by his dreams he wishes of achieving with The Pearl. He is blinded by the dream of: Juana and Coyotito and himself standing and kneeling at the high alter in the new white clothes holding a Winchester carbine and ‘’Coyotito sitting at a little desk in a school. It is now clear to us that he is slowly starting to become greedy and that his selfish thoughts are suddenly starting to control his actions and what he says. After Kino has found the pearl of the world, everyone is eager to own it and they all begin to start thinking of their own dreams and what they can achieve if they had a pearl like Kino’s, Every man suddenly becomes related to Kino, and Kinos pearl [goes] into the dreams, the schemes mans enemy. And so, the narrator says, For it is said humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. In the scene where people try to steal Kinos pearl after the pearl is found, they do whatever they can possibly do in order to steal the pearl. Jealousy has grown in the heart of these people and jealousy has turned them into greedy, selfish people. But in the end Kino was only trying to help his family. This relates to the theme of how love can give someone great courage and strength. Kino loves Juana and Coyotito and he wishes to provide them a luxurious and comfortable life style. Through Juanas character we can see the she was chosen to be shown as an â€Å"iron lady† figure. Being a decent wife and the woman behind his man, Juana chose to remain quiet on their long mission. She shares the joy and sorrow with Kino and Coyotito. When Kino acts offensively towards her, she quietly bears the emotional and physical pain she’s being put through. She pledges her loyalty and faithfulness to Kino and her son Coyotito. Her love for Coyotito gave her courage to suck out the venom from her sons shoulder when he was bitten by the scorpion. When Kino is ready to set off to the ocean, Juana insists in following him because she wants to prepare poultice. The traditional cure made of seaweeds. Compared to Kino, her idea of family love is far safer than Kinos ideas of family values. But Kino’s lack of knowledge stops him from being able to provide a luxurious lifestyle for his family. This is linked to the theme of how knowledge is power. Kino believed that if he could afford to give Coyotito an education, Coyotito would move up in social status and he and Juana’s lives would have improved also. â€Å"And my son will make numbers and these things will make us free because he will know-he will know and through him we will know,† Because of his simple lifestyle and their lower social status in life Kino felt powerless against the doctor. Because of his status Kino could not question the doctor’s procedures or his motives. â€Å"Kino felt the rage and hate melting towards fear. He did not know, and perhaps this doctor did. And he could not take the chance of pitting his certain ignorance against this man’s possible knowledge,† Kino knew that if he had a higher social status he wouldn’t have been manipulated. In conclusion there are many symbols in this novel. The symbols are shown through the use of different themes. The symbols help us to realize the main idea of this novel; that materialistic things can change a civilized man.

The Role of Women in the Caholic Church :: essays research papers

Role of Women in the Roman Catholic Church   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Women in the Catholic Church take on many roles, from parishioner to laywoman to nuns. Women parishioners help prepare for the mass. They can be lectors, choir members, CCD instructors, etc. Laywomen â€Å"†¦are the Catholic women traditionally permitted certain ministerial responsibilities (Wessinger, 244).† They work in churches, schools, prisons, etc. Nuns dedicate their lives to religious devotion. They take three vows; poverty, chasity, and obedience. They are to live simple lifestyles. They live their lives teaching others and helping others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1995, at the Fourth World Conference on Women, in Beijing, the pope stated: â€Å"Today I appeal to the whole Church community to be willing to foster feminine participation in every way in its internal life. This is certainly not a new commitment, since it is inspired by the example of Christ himself†¦.nevertheless, he also involved women in the cause of his kingdom; indeed he wanted them to be the first witnesses and heralds of his resurrection. In fact, there are many women who have distinguished themselves in the Church’s history by their holiness and hardworking ingenuity.† The pope also stated that the feminine presence could be seen through, â€Å"†¦theological teaching, the forms of liturgical ministry permitted, including service at the alter, pastoral and administrative councils†¦Ã¢â‚¬  A year later, according to a research project, The Notre Dame Study of Catholic Parish Life, many women have assumed parish responsibilities. â€Å"†¦The following percentages of ministerial activities done by women reveal: alter preparation 85 percent, teaching 80 percent, social caring and justice ministries 85 percent, parish council leadership 52 percent (Wessinger, 246).†. Church practice is - to a large extent - women's practice. Without the unpaid cooperation of women, important pastoral activities would stop. A fair number of women choose to give their time and efforts to the church, rather than take paid employment. Many times these women are over looked.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There are many questions as to why women can not become priests. Women can not receive the Sacrament of Orders and cannot fulfill the function of ministerial priest hood. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, â€Å"Only a baptized man validly receives the sacred ordination.

Corrosion is a natural process

Materials corrode due to the deterioration caused by its interaction with its environment. It is the process in which metallic atoms form compound in the presence of water and gases. (Machinery's Handbook 29th edition, â€Å"Corrosion is an irreversible interracial reaction of a material (metal, 2013) ceramic, polymer) with its environment which results in its consumption or dissolution into the material of a component of the environment. Often, but not necessarily, corrosion results in effects detrimental to the usage of the material considered.Exclusively physical or mechanical processes such as melting and evaporation, abrasion or mechanical fracture are not included in the term corrosion. â€Å"( Advances in Corrosion Engineering Lecture 1, 2013) Corrosion and erosion is two different things. Corrosion can't be caused by physical causes unlike erosion, galling or wear. Chemical attack accompanies physical deterioration as described by the terms: corrosion erosion, corrosive wea r, fretting corrosion. Plastics may swell or crack , wood may split or decay, granite may erode, Portland cement may leach away.But the term corrosion is presently restricted to chemical attack of metals. Rusting is only applied to the corrosion of iron or iron base alloys with formation of corrosion products consisting largely of hydrous ferric oxides. Nonferrous metals, therefore, corrode but do not rust. (Corrosion and Corrosion control, 2013) There are three significant reasons of studying corrosion. The first area of significance is economic which includes the objective of reducing material losses resulting from the corrosion of piping, tanks, metal components of machines, ships, bridges, marine structures and so on.The second area is improved safety of operating equipment which may be hindered by corrosion and will lead to dictatorship consequences. The last significance is conservation, applied primarily to metal resources which is limited in this world, and the wastage of th em includes corresponding losses of energy and water reserves associated with the production and fabrication of metal structures. The least important reason is the accompanying conservation of human effort entering the design and rebuilding of corroded metal equipment, otherwise available for socially useful purposes. Corrosion and Corrosion There are five facts in the process of corrosion formation. First, ions are involved and need a medium to move in (usually water). Second, oxygen is involved and needs to be supplied. Third, the metal has to be willing to give up electrons to start the process. Fourth, A new material is formed and this may react again or could be protective of the original metal . Fifth, A series of simple steps are involved and a driving force is needed to achieve them. The most important fact is that interfering with the steps allows the corrosion reaction to be stopped or slowed to a manageable rate. Beginners Guide to Corrosion , 2003) There are two basic ty pes of corrosion namely uniform and localized corrosion. Uniform corrosion occurs veer the majority of the surface of a metal at a steady and often predictable rate. Although it is unsightly its predictability facilitates easy control, the most basic method being to make the material thick enough to function for the lifetime of the component. Localized corrosion can deal a more severe damage than uniform surprisingly short period of use or exposure.There are thirteen types of localized corrosion namely galvanic corrosion, pitting corrosion, selective attack, stray current corrosion, microbial corrosion, intracellular corrosion, concentration cell corrosion, harmonically corrosion, corrosion caused by combined action, corrosion fatigue, fretting corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, and hydrogen damage. (Beginners Guide Cost of corrosion and its control experienced by one pulp to Corrosion, 2003) and paper company was estimated to be 20 million dollars annually.The United States alon e have total combined losses of corrosion estimated conservatively to be about 70 billion dollars annually, or 4. 2% of the gross national product . It has been estimated that about 15% of this total could be avoided if currently available corrosion technology were effectively applied. Studies of the cost of corrosion to Australia, Great Britain, Japan, and other countries have also been carried out. In each country studied, the cost of corrosion is approximately 3-4% of the GNP. Corrosion and Corrosion Control, 2013) Indirect losses are more difficult to assess, but a brief survey of typical losses of this kind compels the conclusion that they also cost several billion of dollars. Indirect losses are divided into five which are shutdown, loss of product, loss of efficiency, contamination of product, overdressing. The shutdown of corroded equipments can cost a lot while repairs is underway. Loss of products occur through corroded pipe systems until repairs are made.

Argumentative Essay On Human Euthanasia - 1433 Words

Human Euthanasia It is a shared understanding that human life must be valued under any circumstance, and it should not be terminated for whatever reasons unless it is a natural occurrence. The value and respect for human life were behind the debate against â€Å"the death row† in many states and countries around the world. In addition, religion places high value in human life, basing on the claim that it is a sin to end one’s life. However, there have been instances where ending the life of another person is the best alternative, especially in medical cases. The idea brought the emergence of euthanasia, where Math and Chaturvedi (2012) explain it as a Greek word that means â€Å"good death.† The purpose of good death is to assist a patient who will†¦show more content†¦Math and Chaturvedi (2012) observe that a common claim on euthanasia is the idea that most patients with chronic illnesses do not want to be a burden to their loved ones. In such instances, the patients co me to consider it as the best alternative. It is regarded as an honor to the â€Å"right of living† through accepting the â€Å"right to die† (Math Chartuvedi, 2012). A CNN report by Ben Tinker claims that in the state of California, one hundred and eleven people died under the right to die law. According to Tinker (2017), the End of Life Option Act took effect on 9th June 2016. It provided that individuals starting from the age of eighteen had the right to request medication that was life-ending from their doctors. The circumstances of such requests were only when the patient was suffering from a terminal illness, and they decided to have a death timetable. As Tinker (2017) reports, the Act enabled two hundred and fifty-eight persons to initiate the process. Such significant figures indicate that people find it okay to end their lives rather than suffer in the struggle to remain alive. It is argued that in doing so, the people preserve their dignity and may even die a â€Å"happy death†, as they know they had to choose how they died. BBC (2014) presented arguments against euthanasia and classified it as ethical, practical, and religious. The moral argument was based on the sanctity of life. It presented that by allowing the society to practice euthanasia, it was an approach toShow MoreRelatedShould Euthanasia Be Legalized?977 Words   |  4 PagesArgumentative Essay: Euthanasia Euthanasia is acknowledged as the practice of intentionally ending a life which liberates an individual from an incurable illness or unbearable misery. Euthanasia is known as mercy killing, perceived as an easy and painless death. Euthanasia is done from the request of a dying patient or that person’s legal representative. This is known as Voluntary Euthanasia. 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