Defying Gender Stereotypes: Juana Eclipsing Kino in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl

Sayed Mohammed Youssef

Abstract


The representation of female characters in the fiction of John Steinbeck has become a topic of scholarly interest as early as his first novel Cup of Gold. His women characters are always drawn as stereotypically far too inferior to men, something that is illustrated through the subordinate, sometimes scandalous, roles assigned to them. This is the reason why Steinbeck has often been stigmatised by a number of critics as a misogynist. Nevertheless, the aim of the present article is to show that Steinbeck defies his usual stereotypical portrayal of women and female roles and takes a lenient, if not sympathetic, stance on women in his novella The Pearl, which can be interpreted as an exception in the Steinbeck canon. This is highlighted right here through examining the character traits of both Juana and Kino in order to show how Kino, the protagonist, does pale in comparison to Juana, whom the author endows with unique wisdom, common sense and resourcefulness juxtaposed to the foolishness, incompetence and acquiescence of Kino. Such qualities as these make of Juana a far stronger and more superior person than her husband in a patriarchal and colonial society in which women have no say.


Keywords


Chastened, evil, patriarchy, stereotype, subjugation, women representation

Full Text:

PDF

References


The moral philosophy of John Steinbeck [Google Books version]. (2005). Retrieved from:http://books.google.com.sa/books/about/The_Moral_Philosophy_of_John_Steinbeck.ht ml?id=- zZNNkSOd7AC&redir_esc=y

Wavering Shadows: A new Jungian perspective in Steinbeck’s The Pearl. (2004). The Steinbeck Review, 1(1), 132-145. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41581954

Looking for humanistic stories: John Steinbeck as field ethnographer. (2004). The Steinbeck Review, 1(2), 63- 77. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583613

Babayev, M. (2009). John steinbeck and sufism. The Steinbeck Review, 6(1), 95-105. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582101

Barden, T. E. (2014). He was translated: Euhemerism in Steinbeck’s work and worldview. The Steinbeck Review, 11(1), 39-45. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582902

Barker, D. K. S. (1995). Passages of descent and initiation: Juana as the “other” hero of The Pearl. In D. V. Coers, p.D. Ruffin, & R. J. DeMott (Eds.) (Eds.), After The Grapes of Wrath: Essays on John Steinbeck in honor of Tetsumaro Hayashi (p.113-124). Ohio: Ohio UP.

Benson, J. J. (Ed.). (1990). The short novels of John Steinbeck: Critical essays with a checklist to Steinbeck criticism [Google Books version]. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com.sa/books/about/The_Short_Novels_of_John_Steinbeck.html?id=h9sujGBX070C&redir_ esc=y

Britch, C., & Lewis, C. (1984). Shadow of the Indian in the fiction of John Steinbeck. MELUS, 11(2), 39-58. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/467070

Bryer, J. R. (Ed.). (1989). Sixteen Modern American Authors: Volume 2, a Survey of Research and Criticism Since 1972. [Google Books version]. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com.sa/books/about/Sixteen_Modern_American_Authors.html?id=Hg8BAR4lX- kC&redir_esc=y

Burkhead, C. (2002). Student companion to John Steinbeck. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Caswell, R. (2005). A musical journey through John Steinbeck’s The Pearl: Emotion, engagement, and comprehension. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 49(1), 62-67. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40009270

Ditsky, J. (2006). John Steinbeck and the American Quest for Anonymity. The Steinbeck Review, 3(2), 23-40. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582015 .

George, S. K. (1995). Of vice and men: A virtue ethics study of Steinbeck’s “The Pearl”, “East of Eden”, and “The Winter of Our Discontent” (Order No. 9538187). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (304177346). Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/304177346?accountid=142908

George, S. K. (2004). A Taoist interpretation of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. The Steinbeck Review, 1(1), 90-105. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41581951

Gladstein, M. R. (2014). Edenic ironies: Steinbeck’s conflicted vision. The Steinbeck Review, 11(1), 1-13. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/steinbeckreview.11.1.0001

Han, J. J. (2004). I want to make ‘em happy: Utilitarian philosophy in Steinbeck’s fiction. The Steinbeck Review, 1(2), 21-30. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583610

Hart, R. E. (2004). Moral experience in Of Mice and Men: Challenges and reflections. The Steinbeck Review, 1(2), 31-44. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583611

Hawker, L. (Ed.). (2012). Social issues in literature: poverty in John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. Detroit: Greenhaven Press.

Hicks, K. (2012). Steinbeck today. The Steinbeck Review, 9(2), 102-111. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41693926

Jewell, R. (2000). The Nobel Prize: History and canonicity. The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association, 33(1), 97-113. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1315120

Johnson, C. D. (1997). Understanding Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and The Pearl. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Langione, M. (2005). John Steinbeck and the child reader. The Steinbeck Review, 2(2), 9-27. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41581980

Lieber, T. M. (1972). Talismanic patterns in the novels of John Steinbeck. American Literature, 44(2), 262-275. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2924509

Litsey, D. M. (1959). Comparative study of novels. The English Journal, 48(3), 149-151. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/809752

McGrath, K. (2007). Major Steinbeck publications. The Steinbeck Review, 4(2), 119-127. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41582064

Meyer, M. (2005). Diamond in the rough: Steinbeck’s multifaceted pearl. The Steinbeck Review, 2(2), 42-56. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41581982 .

Morris, H. (1963). The Pearl: Realism and allegory. The English Journal, 52(7), 487- 505. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/810771

Mumford, J. (2013). Violence in John Steinbeck. The Steinbeck Review, 10(2), 145-151. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/steinbeckreview.10.2.0145

Sams, E. B. (2014). The haunted tree: Two versions of John Steinbeck’s The Pearl. The Steinbeck Review, 11(2), 189-196. Retrieved from:http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/steinbeckreview.11.2.0189

Schmitz, K, & Diefenthaler, S. (1988). An examination of traditional gender roles among men and women in Mexico and the United States. Journal of Undergraduate Research, 1, 139- 143. Retrieved from: http://murphylibrary.uwlax.edu/digital/jur/1998/schmitz.pdf

Scoville, S. (1967). The “Weltanschauung” of Steinbeck and Hemingway: An analysis of themes. The English Journal, 56(1), 60-66. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/812695

Skipper, E. (2004). Death in the hills: The mountains as a place of refuge and dying for Steinbeck’s Mexican characters. The Steinbeck Review, 1(2), 78-88. Retrieved from: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41583614

Steinbeck, J. (1994). The Pearl. New York, NY: Penguin.

Wagner-Martin, L. (1994). Introduction. In J. Steinbeck, The Pearl (p.ix-xxvi). New York, NY: Penguin.

Wilson, E. (1941). The boys in the back room: Notes on California novelists. San Francisco: the Colt Press.

Zirakzadeh, C. E., & Stow, S. (2013). A political companion to John Steinbeck. Kentucky: Kentucky UP.




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/n

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c)



Share us to:   

 

Online Submission: http://cscanada.org/index.php/sll/submission/wizard

Please send your manuscripts to sll@cscanada.net，or  sll@cscanada.org  for consideration. We look forward to receiving your work.


We only use three mailboxes as follows to deal with issues about paper acceptance, payment and submission of electronic versions of our journals to databases: caooc@hotmail.com; sll@cscanada.net; sll@cscanada.org

 Articles published in Studies in Literature and Language are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY).

 STUDIES IN LITERATURE AND LANGUAGE Editorial Office

Address: 1055 Rue Lucien-L'Allier, Unit #772, Montreal, QC H3G 3C4, Canada.
Telephone: 1-514-558 6138 
Website: Http://www.cscanada.net; Http://www.cscanada.org 
E-mail: office@cscanada.net; office@cscanada.org; caooc@hotmail.com

Copyright © 2010 Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture