Juana, the faithful wife of Kino, a paltry peasant man, had lived a spiritual life for what had seemed like as long as she could remember. When her son Coyotito fell ill from the bite of a scorpion, she eagerly turned towards the spiritual aspects of life. Beginning to pray for her son's endangered life. The doctor, who had resided in the upper-class section of the town, refused to assistant the child, turning them away when they arrived at the door. Lastly they turned to the sea to seek their fortune. When Juana set sight on the "Pearl of The World." she felt as though all her prayers had been answered, if she could have foreseen the future what she would have seen would have been a mirror image of her reality. Juana's husband was caught in a twisted realm of mirrors, and they were all shattering one by one. In the night he heard a "sound so soft that it might have been simpl

In La Paz the only form of God that the peasants knew was that of the Priest of the church. To the peasants the Priest was so God-like that they were unable to see any faults in his actions. However the reader is able to determine that the Priest is abusing his position in society. In order to receive the sacraments the person requesting the sacrament must "donate" a small amount of money to the church. Whether this is correct or not is a matter of opinion. The church definitely needs funding but the peasants are unable to donate these funds, but, does that make them unable to receive the sacraments should they want to acquire them? The Priest is so set on achieving money and social status that he puts aside the real reason one becomes a Priest- to help, and teach the word of God.

When one is down on their luck, chances are they will turn to superstition in hope to acquire what it is that they would want to achieve. A good example of this would be a good luck charm such as a rabbit's foot. In La Paz the peasants were uneducated and probably had never heard of a superstition. The peasants only reliability, there only scapegoat was God. God had always been their to aid them in there times of need. The first reaction of Juana when seeing the scorpion is a good example of spirituality, rather than attempt to kill the scorpion she began to pray to God for safety.

A hypocrathic oath is said before each medical student is granted a Doctors degree. In the oath they swear to

Some common words found in the essay are:
La Paz, Steinbeck's Pearl, Priest God-like, Soon Juana, Pearl World, Juana Priest, God God, Pearl Steinbeck, , la paz, arrived door, seek fortune, soon juana, receive sacraments, hunger wealth, peasants priest,
Approximate Word count = 997
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)