The Pearl, A Naturalistic Allegory

The Pearl is regarded as a successful naturalistic allegory written by John Steinbeck, a famous modern American writer of the 20^th Century. It has become an all-time favorite among the set books of many a high-school literature course. The language of the novel is precise and simple while the plot succinct and attractive, it ruthlessly exposes the evil nature of colonialism and sympathetically depicts the oppressed people represented by Kino. The author's naturalistic ideas are fully expressed in the novel and his naturalistic techniques also effectively help to develop the plot. The structure of the novel is based on the allegorical morality play Everyone of the middle ages to give the story a universal significance of an allegory.The first chapter of the thesis gives a brief introduction to the naturalistic theories and practices in American literature and the main features of Steinbeck's naturalism are expounded. The second chapter introduces the definition of Allegory, the creation of the novel and the comments of various critics. Chapter Three analyzes in detail the social protest put forward by the author against colonialism and his naturalistic ideas. Chapter Four focuses on the naturalistic writing techniques of art employed in the novel. Finally, a conclusion is drawn in the fifth chapter that the Pearl is a successful naturalistic allegory.