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Thursday, July 26, 2012

The Pearl - Journal Entry 1


When the author began the book, he described the way Kino woke up and his morning routine. I found it strange when he pointed out that Kino looked at his wife last of all things.  Was this some kind of foreshadowing for further problems in their relationship? But family was obviously really important in this culture and society since Kino was always speaking of the song of the family. I knew something would disturb the peace of the song of the family because that’s just predictable. The scorpion is what disturbed this peace which is when we learned that Coyotito is a baby boy. I wondered why the author kept us guessing at what he was. I didn’t know if he was a child or a dog until this point.

I noticed the motif of light/dark. Light was mentioned three times in the beginning with sunrise, Juana’s morning fire, and the sun was compared to an explosion of fire. When the people were asking for help from the doctor and he rejected them, the author mentioned their shadows which are darkness. Is this a motif symbolizing good things and bad things or is it more of the emotion side like happiness and sadness, which don’t necessarily mean the same thing.

I liked when the author compared the town and the way it worked to an animal. Was this done for a reason or was it just to help the reader understand? News spread through the nervous system. When Kino became the enemy after finding the pearl, the town swelled up due to infection. The author also said humans are never satisfied. I figured this was foreshadowing for Kino wanting more and more after finding the pearl.

I couldn’t figure out what the coin the pearl buyer was playing with was a symbol for. I know he was smooth and fluid when tossing it around but when he saw the pearl, he dropped it. Why? Was this just supposed to show his shock? Was this showing how the pearl is uncontrollable like how he lost control of the coin? Whichever it was, I never figured it out and I guess it wasn’t important enough to change my understanding of the book.

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