Steinbeck starts his story with the songs that Kino experiences. The songs are simple, and have been heard by people such as him for many centuries. I like how Steinbeck starts the story by introducing a concept that pervades throughout the whole book. I think that without this introduction, a reader would have to waste time later on trying to figure out what he is talking about.
Additionally, what becomes of the seven small pearls that Kino hands the doctor's servant? Maybe I read this wrong, but does the doctor just keep them? I don't recall the servant handing them back to Kino. And then Kino just let's the doctor take the seven pearls which he has worked so hard to get? Granted, they're small pearls, but still, those are his livelihood, pretty much everything he has to live on. I don't think this is an intentional choice by Steinbeck, but it makes me wonder why it happened this way nonetheless.
And finally, I find it interesting that this pearl can change the fate of this entire town; everyone could benefit from Kino's new found wealth, as Steinbeck shows in the beginning of chapter III. Everybody from the lowly beggars all the way to the wealthy doctor can gain from this "Pearl of the World." Because of this good feeling I as a reader get from the good this pearl can do, I, as a reader, have a more intense feeling of hatred toward the stranger who tries to steal it.
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