The description that Steinbeck uses when characterizing
Juana are scattered throughout the novella. On the first page of the work, Juana's dark
eyes are described as having made "little reflected stars". This can mean something
different to everyone, but to me, it makes me think of them as shiny little orbs. Her
hair is black and long, and in the beginning, she "braided it in two braids and tied the
ends with thin green ribbon." Steinbeck also makes it a point to describe her feet,
which are "hard". Obviously, while this woman is physically beautiful, she is also used
to working very hard, and probably does her fair share of manual labor. She is often
described as having a blue shawl on her head, and quite often, she is watching her
husband, Kino. At the end of the novella, her face is described
as:
Her face
was hard and lined and leathery with fatigue and with the tightness with which she
fought fatigue. And her wide eyes stared inward on herself. She was as remote and as
removed as Heaven.
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