Juana and Kino from “The Pearl”

The quote, 'Have I nothing better to do than cure insect bites for ?ittle Indians'? I am a doctor, not a veterinary...I, alone in the world am supposed to work for nothing--and I am tired of it." was stated by the Doctor on page 11. This quote reveals the Doctor's ignorant and egotistical personality and how he chooses to patronize Kino and Juana. Kino and Juana are both Indian, so the Doctor decides that they are not worthy of essential care and that they should be treated more like animals instead of the humans that they actually are. The Doctor has no interest in 'wasting his time" by helping out other people, mostly due to the fact that they are Indian. Furthermore, this shows that he has no true passion for what he does. If he choose to be a doctor because he truly felt a passion in this field, then he would be eager to jump in, help, and care for any one at any time, regardless of their race, and if they would be able to pay him a lot. This could mean that he let his greed choose the career for him, a doctor, so that he would be able to get the one thing in life that is important to him, money. This could also show that the Doctor has no true connection of love with anybody. If the Doctor did have that connection, he would have understood how Juana and Kino felt about their baby and how much they cared about him, and been more willing to help them.

Another important quote in this book was when Juana said on page 18, 'It is not good too want a thing too much. It sometimes drives the luck away." I agree with Juana on the fact that it can be bad to want to much. When you want something too much, it can make you hopeful, and you continue to get even more hopeful as time continues. You imagine how much better your life would be with this or that, become obsessed with one thing, and forget about everything else. When this happens and you don't get it, it brings you a great surge of disappointment, and you feel that by wanting it too much made it not happen. The less you want something, the easier it is for you to move on from it, so you feel as though there was no chance at it. If you do get what you want, you expect it to happen again, and then you are wanting for more, and more, and nothing will always go in your favor, so it will bring disappointment to you again.

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