In John Stienbaeck's novela The Pearl teaches that being greedy can destroy you. In the story Kino finds a great pearl and is overpowered with greed. Because he hangs onto the pearl and refuses to listen to his family he kills a man, loses his home, and runs away with his family and the pearl. His child ends up killed and Kino finally lets go of the pearl. Because Kino was too greedy he lost everything except his wife but still destroyed the person he once was. "It will destroy us all!..."  Jauna knew the pearl was evil and would only bring evil to them. Kino became greedy and refused to listen. "This pearl has become my soul..." The pearl destroyed who Kino was and because of Kinos greediness he hangs on to it.