God, glory and gold. These are the three Gs of European colonization, and the same three Gs that would lead to the destruction of entire civilizations of indigenous peoples and their forced submission to European ethnic and socio-economic forces for hundreds of years. Among these forces was the power of Spain and that nation's role in destruction and hegemony over the indigenous Mexicans; the campaign of colonial domination resulted in the downfall and dehumanization of millions of people. It is the story of Western civilization and indeed that depicted in the short story The Pearl by John Steinbeck, with the story of Kino and his people pitted against the oppressive members of his community. But beyond literally illustrating this story, Steinbeck uses different literary elements to express the complex but destructive consequences of ethnocentric oppression. Thus, in the short story The Pearl, Steinbeck uses elements such as imagery and symbolism to demonstrate ethnocentric constructs that work against indigenous Mexicans. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At the heart of Kino's record of ethnocentric constructions and oppression of indigenous peoples is the way in which Steinbeck uses imagery to convey the submissiveness and general attitude of Kino's inhabitants toward the dominant Spanish. In chapter three, following the doctor's malicious encounter with Coyotito as a "patient" after Kino finds the pearl, a scene is described where "in the estuary a school of small fish flashed and broke the waters to escape to a school of large fish. fish that came to eat them. The scene then describes how the small fish made "rustling sounds" as they escaped the more prominent "splashes" of the larger fish, with an apparent aura of distant chaos to the people in their brush. Although the noise may be distant, it is indeed still perceptible among the villagers as the "massacre" continues in the estuary. In doing so, Steinbeck uses sound and visual elements, with the size of the fish and their sounds more or less prominent, to illustrate a common and central theme of the story. Big fish are the hunters, the oppressors, and with their deliberate will, they can easily overpower small fish with seemingly natural speech. This is the parallel and the difficult situation that the residents of Kino also face. They are hunted, overpowered and weak, just like small fish, and just as larger fish cause ripples and cause sounds and images of distant, seemingly irrelevant chaos, these are the same hunting sounds, of predator and prey than Kino. faces. This point is only further illustrated by another example on the same page, where: "The moisture came from the Gulf and was deposited on the bushes and cacti and on the small trees in the form of salty drops. And the night mice slithered across the ground and the little night hawks silently chased them away. (Steinbeck 33) This also illustrates the fundamental way in which Steinbeck uses imagery to highlight the oppression of Kino's people. Even though night seems to fall peacefully and even beautifully over the village, little mice hide to survive while hunting. Despite the current situation and the immediate peace of what we see in Kino Village, there is a dark predator. There are prey, and these prey are more than small and large fish, weak mice and valiant hawks. The prey is also thepeople of Kino. The oppressive forces that fight against the people of Kino, however, are much more than predators of a seemingly silent nature. They are the ones who degrade Kino by stalking him and deceiving him about his pearl. Among the forces of oppression against the people of Kino is the doctor, who carries the general consensus that he is a selfish and generally unpleasant man. Kino, it seems from the beginning, is in conflict with the doctor. Even after Coyotito is bitten by a scorpion and needs medical attention from the man, he remarks, "Have I got anything better than treating the 'little Indians' insect bites?" I’m a doctor, not a veterinarian” (Steinbeck 11). This quote alone shows this man's attitude towards the natives. Not only is he self-centered, but he has no respect for the lives and health of the native people, almost as if he doesn't even consider them human beings. However, this rejection of any reasonable importance of Kino and his people only exists when Kino is without wealth, and without his pearl. As news of Kino's great discovery spreads throughout the city, not only do more and more people become interested in Kino, but many (like the doctor) begin to see how they can personally benefit from him. In fact, immediately after the doctor received the news, he said that Kino "is a client of mine" and "looked at his elderly patient and saw himself sitting in a restaurant in Paris and a waiter was 'open a bottle of wine'. (Steinbeck 22). This quote itself demonstrates the doctor's now avid and renewed opinion of Kino and his family. While at first they were poor and seemingly worthless, with a new surge of wealth imminent, they have become patients and indeed the doctor takes an interest in them, not because he genuinely cares about their health or even of their lives, but because he sees what he sees beyond his elderly patient – ​​a life of luxury and enjoying the personal luck of a stranger. It is, however, essential to understand that the doctor is indeed not a miraculous example of hatred and greed towards the natives, but rather a powerful force that only dictates and represents the hateful and greedy notions against the people of Kino . It represents the humiliation, degradation and subhuman idealisms present among the elite of the community. It demonstrates not only a fundamental tendency toward selfishness and appropriation, but also ethnocentric and economic structures set up against native people in the hopes of suppressing and ultimately alienating them. However, the doctor also constitutes a predominant inverse to these constructions in the time of Kino's impending wealth. It represents deception, exploitation and appropriation. He is willing to reform his ideologies, at least half-heartedly, in order to enjoy cinema and even resort to extreme means, putting his life in danger, to get what he wants. He first considers the inhabitants of Kino as animals, not even deserving of basic medical care, with resources exploitable with the pearl of Kino as a means of justifying and financing his own luxury. He's not just a lazy, selfish doctor. He is the structure and society itself, all seeking to antagonize Kino and his people. However, overall, the ultimate form of oppression and historical constructions against Kino and his people lies beyond the crude naturalistic parallels of a distant but near world. scene of predators and prey, and even beyond the greedy and symbolic role of the community doctor. The ultimate facilitator of both oppressive imagery and ethnocentric symbolism lies within Kino's own gem. Imaging.