Kino dives for oysters from his canoe, attempting to find pearls. Kino and Juana leave the doctors and take Coyotito down near the sea, where Juana uses a seaweed poultice on Coyotito's shoulder, which is now swollen. Kino attempts to catch the scorpion, but Coyotito bumps the rope and the scorpion falls on him. Kino watches as Coyotito sleeps, but sees a scorpion crawl down the rope that holds the hanging box where Coyotito lies. The Pearl, which takes place in La Paz, Mexico, begins with a description of the seemingly idyllic family life of Kino, his wife Juana and their infant son, Coyotito. He had completed The Grapes of Wrath, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was renowned and reviled as a subversive, unpatriotic man who threatened. John Steinbeck wrote The Pearl during the time in which he was at the height of his fame. Juana and Kino, accompanied by their neighbors, go to see the local doctor, who refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino cannot pay. Although Kino kills the scorpion, it still stings Coyotito.

The pearl john steinbeck setting