Essay/Term paper: The pearl: prequel

Essay, term paper, research paper:  John Steinbeck's The Pearl

The Pearl: Prequel


It was a dark and stormy night ... no that's not it. It was a
beautiful sunny day ... not it either. Could it be uhh... On that rainy day when
the sea would not quit, the sky growled and men shuttered in their huts. That's
it !! Well now that I seem to temporarily regained my memory Ill tell you the
story of that horrible season of the oyster conference. What's that you don't
know what the oyster conference is! You see it is a time when the oysters of
the world gather together in their respective clans and decide who shall carry
the pearl of power. These pearls are no ordinary pearls. They were not made by
an oyster but were forged by the pillar. This pillar was the giver of power
before the pestilence of man arrived. Now the pillar does not exist due to the
carelessness of man. To keep order among the oysters they gathered all the
pearls forged by the pillar and cursed them so that if man found one in the
leader oyster it would destroy the finder and find its way back to the sea.

This conference I told you about is a great as well as horrible
experience for all the oysters. Triumph and defeat lurks around all corners. The
contending oysters must run the test and those standing at the end must do it
again until one oyster stands. This was the first time in history that more than
three tests had to be run. It came down to Chuck the clan favorite and Tinagel
the outcast. Finally with a little cheating and a lot of dishonesty Chuck took
the pearl to gain its power till the coming year when he would relinquish
control of the pearl. Tintagel knew this fact but was jealous and devised a plan
to steal the pearl by poisoning Chuck. The next few days Tintagel spent
carefully gathering all the equipment and materials he'd need to complete his
plan. Then after his materials were gathered he mixed and organized them in
perfect blend. He had them delivered to Chuck and unknowingly took the poison.
There was but a single fact overlooked by Tintagel and that was the power of the
pearl. Instead of killing Chuck it made him diseased and mentally insane. He
starts to disconnect himself from reality. Oysters begin to fear him. Perturbed
by what he has done Tintagel leaves the colony which means certain death and is
never heard from again. Meanwhile back at the farm ma's killin off da injuns
OOPS there I go again just a sec. KAY.... back to our regularly scheduled story.
Chuck ends up all alone. By the end of his life no goes near him and no one will
until his year is up. What's that another man to pick us up an mutilate us
oysters. We never did a thing to you before. Why. The clan of oysters gather in
their hiding spots but Chuck is just sitting there. The clan tries to warn him
but its too late and a few minutes later his sorry carcass is discarded back to
the sea. The PEARL is missing. The clan soon is discomforted by this knowledge
and wonder if the curse is true. Fast Forward to the end of the Pearl by that
boring guy who people think is great because a few over-educated chuckle heads
say so(john stienbeck). The oysters are still wondering about how to get the
pearl back when Poof there it is in their midst. No one asks any questions and
the pearl is kept buried until Chucks term is finished and his successor is
found. Okay so it wasn't much of a story but hey this is just a start. I got no
moral or even a thrill out of writing it but hey it was defiantly a writing
experience not to be missed. It taught me to stick with it even if you didn't
want to do the project in any remote way. I hope you found my writing style to
your liking and subscribe for future installments of prequels to boring books.