However, because John Steinbeck in 1947 is known to have been interested in Hinduism, and because the aforementioned non-teleological thinking does closely parallel Hinduism in its belief that individual units are part of the whole pulsing of life, it seems incongruous to believe that the book ends with a melodramatic gesture symbolic of fatalism. Varied as these criticisms are, the authors of them all agree on one negative point that is, that in the final analysis The Pearl ends with an aura, not of hope, but of failure. John Fontenrose closely relates Steinbeck’s professed non-teleological thinking to the ideas in The Pearl, but he associates it with a defeatist attitude. Although Warren French calls it “the defective pearl” and points to it as representing the decline of Steinbeck as an author, he, nevertheless, in an uncomplimentary criticism, does point out some potential symbolism and describes it as an unfinished allegory. Watt says it is important as a source in studying Steinbeck’s non-teleological thinking. Peter Lisca defends the novel as one of Steinbeck’s best he discusses it as a beautiful myth of the Indian people of La Paz.
Watt, John Fontenrose, and Warren French, however, discard the notion that it is a simple story of good and evil. Such Steinbeck critics as Peter Lisca, F.W. It is a timeless and unforgettable novel of men and women and good and evil. They are, themselves, pearls beyond price. Instead, he found that peace and happiness are not to be purchased.
With the pearl, he hoped to buy peace and happiness for himself, his wife, and their little son. It is the story of a fisherman who found a pearl beyond price, the “Pearl of the World”. The Pearl, published in 1947, is sometimes described, as it is on the cover of the Bantam Pathfinder edition of the book as: An enduring and classical fable sensitively told in simple and beautiful language. Furthermore a topical study of The Pearl is presented to illustrate the archetypal symbols and the memory links which give The Pearl its universal appeal. To support the feasibility of such an attempt, Steinbeck’s writings are briefly surveyed insofar as they represent his development from animism, through primitivism and pantheism, to non-teleological thinking, as supported by the quantum theory, and eventually into a Hinduistic concept of Being.
The purpose of this thesis is to show that John Steinbeck’s, The Pearl, can be read as an allegory reflecting Hinduistic beliefs.