Kino and Juana’s neighbors often assemble as a unified chorus or procession to follow and support the family. For the most part, they unite only in times of particular excitement and, even then, their primary function is to listen, observe, and spread news. Some townspeople, however, after hearing of Kino’s pearl, peel away from the passive chorus of villagers and turn against Kino, raiding his house, injuring him, and finally lighting his house on fire. These attacks occur at night, when Kino cannot see the faces of his attackers. So, while the neighbors present a unified front in the daylight, at night they attempt to realize their individual desires, in the privacy of darkness.
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The neighbors Character Timeline in The Pearl
The timeline below shows where the character The neighbors appears in The Pearl. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
All the neighbors flock to the brush house at the sound of the baby’s cries. They all know...
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...both wonderful and surprising (because the doctor never visits their neighborhood), spreads quickly through the neighbors. When word gets back that the doctor will not come, Juana decides that the family...
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The neighbors follow at the heels of Kino and Juana as they walk to and arrive at...
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Shame settles over the group of neighbors and beggars that has followed Kino and Juana; they disperse to save Kino from the...
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Chapter 3
...feels the joy that they feel, as Juan Tomas and Apolonia do. In the afternoon, neighbors gather in their brush house and stare in awe at the beautiful pearl, and consider...
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The neighbors echo that Kino will have a rifle.
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The neighbors acknowledge the marvelousness of this moment and imagine how it will be remembered in years...
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The neighbors leave to go to their own houses, and Kino stands outside, feeling alone and unprotected...
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The neighbors speak of the events of the day. A school of fish glitter in the estuary....
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Chapter 4
The fishermen will not look for fish today. All the neighbors talk of the pearl and what they would do if they’d found it. Most of...
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All the neighbors go, as expected, to follow Kino and Juana to the pearl dealers.
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The neighbors whisper to each other as the dealer fingers the pearl, before throwing it back into...
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The neighbors confirm under their breaths that they had been wary of something like this, but comment,...
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In the evening, all the neighbors analyze the event. They consider the possibility that the dealers had spoken and plotted beforehand,...
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Chapter 5
Kino and Juana sit in silence during the day and hear what the neighbors are saying about them outside. Juan Tomas deceives the neighbors with false accounts of Juana...
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