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The Pearl by John Steinbeck
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That and the Black Pearl by Scott O'dell both use pearls as metaphors.
Too bad they both present the local peasants as so incredibly naive and without cultural context but the reasons for the stories are not about ethnology --or pearls...
BTW if you haven't read the Black Pearl, give it a spin.......it is a good story in spite of its flaws.
Maybe Douglas will comment on this... He has some excellent pages on the Yaqui pearl divers of yore which i recommend you go find on his website. They are well written and accurate depictions. Believe me, those pearl diving peasants on both sides of the Gulf of Cortez had strong tribal memberships and they knew their pearls.