FOSTERING AND PRESERVING THE STRENGTH AND DIGNITY OF A MAN WITH REFERENCE TO JUANA IN JOHN STEINBECK’S THE PEARL

John Steinbeck was a prolific and popular writer who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962. His strength as an artist lies as much in converting the topical into universal. Steinbeck's women characters are stronger than their male counterparts. They try to be perfect counterparts to their men by making active contribution to their domestic, social, economic and political life. Undoubtedly, their prime concern is their duty towards their family, but they are not blind to the happenings around. A living example of it is Ma Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and Juana in The Pearl (1947). For instance, one may perceive both the angel and the tigress in Ma Joad and Juana. This paper aims to study on how Juana as a representative of womankind plays the role of fostering and preserving the strength and dignity of his man, Kino in the novella The Pearl.