Themes of Struggle, Social Oppression and Money in The Pearl The themes of this novel strongly portray the issues of our present day society. These themes include struggle for existence, social oppression, money and possessions, free will versus determinism, wholeness, man as a part of nature and obsession. All of these themes can be related to in today’s terms. The natives of Mexico struggled just to stay alive. The Indians would have to hunt and fish to get their own food. This is one of the reasons why Kino treasures his canoe because it is the key for them to get food and hunt for pearls. The Indians have to live in little huts that hardly