Kino and Chris Comparison

After reading the book The Pearl (Steinbeck) and watching the move The Pursuit of Happyness, it is obvious the main characters, Kino and Chris, face similar situations. The book follows a poor native Mexican man who finds a pearl meant to bring happiness, but instead brings despair. The movie follows a common man in San Francisco whose life takes a turn for the worst and how he keeps fighting through the challenges he faces. Kino and Chris have many similarities for people who live in different worlds but are very different.
Kino, a native, is a hard working pearl diver. Though he is an honest man he has a dark side. When he finds a pearl of great size he is challenged with adversity causing struggles for his family. When people come to steal the object he is forced to defend himself ending in the death of a man. His wife, Juana, tries to rid them of the evil thing and in return he beats her. Enough peril in their life causes them to run. When chased Kino kills three men and in result of the struggle his infant boy, Coyotito, is killed. Kino was faced with oppression and instead of fighting through he fought with it resulting in tragedy.
Chris is faced with a similar situation. He is a low middle class man living with his child and wife in the city of San Francisco. He and his wife both work hard to provide for themselves yet cannot catch a break. It isn’t long until they are evicted from their apartment. Though she has a child the wife cannot take any more and leaves Chris and Christopher alone for New York. With nowhere left to go the boys sleep in a shelter, but Chris does not give up. He continues to fight through. He applies for an internship where he eventually earns a job as a stockbroker. In the end he is able to work and is paid substantial money, enough for a house and a comfortable life for him and his son.
Chris and Kino can be considered similar. They both live in difficult areas, areas that are thought to be the slums. They are far from the rich sector and are faced with a situation that has the potential of changing their lives for the better. They both are fathers caring for their families, whom they love dearly. Everything depends on their actions and ability to overcome obstacles. Overall Chris posses this ability more than Kino does. He is able to think and consider how his actions will play out in the grand scheme of things but Kino can only see what is right in front of him.
As you can see the men have faced difficult situations. They have both lived in the slums, but the difference is their characters. Kino does not posses the grit needed to keep fighting through adversity. When things get tougher His actions just make things worse than before. Chris is the complete opposite. He is able to keep going mainly due to the fact he is doing everything he can in order to give his son a decent life. Kino did care for his son, he and Juana’s dream were to send Coyotito to school but he was blinded by the fortune and didn’t see how the pearl was destroying his life instead of making it better.