Always Wanting What is Not (Reaction #7)

                        

After being discovered Mexico was colonized by the British and the Spaniards during the colonial era. Pearls became a currency for the people, men would go out in their boats and dive down into the water in search of clams that held the perfect pearl.  “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck tells a story of a young family, just beginning with next to nothing, besides a little hut to live in. After finding a perfect pearl the whole village hears of it. Although it seems like it will give the family a perfect life, it just turns everything bad. Evil consumes the family that only wanted more and more, until finally they realize the pearl is nothing but a curse.

In the novel Steinbeck makes a point of personifying the town that the protagonist live in. “A town is a thing like a colonial animal. A town has a nervous system and a head and shoulders and feet,” I appreciated this. It made the town feel whole, like they were all one person and they all cared about each other. It seems that this doesn’t really happen anymore, I barely know the people down the block, let alone my whole town. The whole town supported Kino when he went to sell his Pearl, and they all grieved for him when they thought he was dead. They were all in the same boat, their land was being taken over by colonizers and people that were cheating them of their money and they only had each other. Ones happiness was everyone's happiness, and ones sorrow was everyone's sorrow.

Since the whole town knew about Kinos newest fortune, they worried about him, none of them wanted his riches to go to his head. There was a lot of foreshadowing,  the readers know that Kino would turn crazy with power from his new found fortune, he believed everyone was out to get him and his pearl, he trusted no one. They had to run away from the town, the one thing that had supported his family for his whole life, because of a Pearl that he wouldn't get rid of.  In the end the one thing that he believed would make his life so much better, actually made it a nightmare.

The novel reminds its readers that always wanting more is not always a good thing. When you have too much you are punished. It reminded me of a poem that I used for poem in a pocket day in elementary school. It went like this:

As a rule man is a fool,

When its hot, he wants it cool.

When its cool. he wants it hot.

Always wanting what is not.

The poem tells its readers that mankind is never happy with what they have, although they think they might want something, once they have it they want something else.  Once they had found the amazing pearl they thought of what they would do with it. Kino wanted to sell it for 50 thousand pesos, he wanted to be able to actually marry his wife, afford clothing for his child, and a good education for him. Its sad that in the end they get none of this, but the whole message was that they should yearn for more and more.

    Steinbeck created this novel to teach his readers a lesson, be happy with what you have,  and don't be greedy. The one thing I would have changed about the novel is how in the end they lose the one thing that mattered most to both Kino and Juana, and it wasn’t the pearl. If only they had gotten rid of the Pearl Sooner, Juana knew it would cause nothing but trouble to the family, she was trying to avoid the death of her precious.

Revenge is Sweet like Apples(Poetry reaction #6)

      

Anger can cause some people to do very irrational things. When some people are angry at another person, especially when they feel they have wronged them, they may want to take revenge on that person. In William Blake's poem “A Poison Tree” he shows his readers someone trying to deal with their foe. This poem intrigued me by its title, and how unordinary the title was. A poisonous tree what could that possibly mean? After reading the poem I realized how nicely it was written, and how dark it really is.

I felt kind of connected while reading the poem, Blake wrote a poem about something everyone's been through, feeling angry, and wanting revenge. I always find that the darker poems really lure people in, it makes them think more then another poem do, like poems about war or about just going to the store.  There are so many themes people could write about, but I believe the two most read topics are love and hatred, at least for myself. They are usually about emotions everyone experiences throughout their life. Its easier to get the point and connect with the speaker because the reader has gone through that emotion before themselves.

Blake starts off with showing the readers a contrast between being angry with a friend, and being angry with an enemy. When two friends fight they make up, because they care about each other, but when someone and the person they dislike fight, it just adds to how much they dislike the person. Its easy to tell that the speakers foe is probably a stealer, the speaker knew this, and he set up a trap for him. It shares the message that you have to think ahead of your opponent. Be one step in front of the other guy. The speaker knew that if he grew a tree of fruit that looks so delicious, his foe would take it. He created a poison apple that his foe had no idea about, and he was finally able to get back at him for whatever he did.  My mother always comes home complaining someone drank her soda that she left in the fridge at work, I tell her to put something in it and leave it there. Someone is bound to drink it. Its just not fair when people get pushed around for so long, they get fed up with everything. Revenge seems like a good idea when your brain is fogged up with so much anger.

    The poem is so eerie, it starts off pleasant, talking about how fights between friends never last, they forgive and forget, but then it talks about how when foes fight is is not forgotten. It leads to revenge, or taking action. Theres no way to forget being wronged by someone you hate so much, you just start to hate them more and more. Although the poem does have a really  great flow, it comes off the tongue so nicely because of its rhyme scheme, and then it ends abruptly with death(spoilers).  It was an exciting poem, you kinda root for the speaker, he’s finally able to get rid of his enemy once and for all, he won't be able to bother him anymore.

Sometimes you just Need to Reread It (Reaction #6)

“The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne is set in the 1640’s Massachusetts Bay colony. During the time the novel was set in adultery was  looked down upon, of course it still is but it does not involve a whole town, like it used to. I had first read this novel in 10th grade, and I was very confused by everything that happened in it. Reading it over, now that i'm older I realize how much symbolism is in it, the meteor, Pearl, even the scarlet letter itself. Hawthorne’s novel is definitely for an older audience, with a dictionary close by, once you truly understand the book you can enjoy it much more!

One of the main things that really confused me when I first reading the novel was the significance of the meteor. While reading it I realized it had actually somehow traced out the letter A in the red sky, much like what Hester had on her chest.  I believe this signifies that Mr. Dimmesdale needed to accept his own punishment for adultery, he was suffering in secrecy, while Hester had to do it all by herself. Right after Pearl had asked him if he would stay on the stage all night until the morning and his answer was no, the meteor appeared, like a sign, from a higher power, a supernatural power.  Mr.Dimmesdale needed to show the town that he was the father of Pearl, but he wasn’t because he didn't want to ruin his reputation.

Pearl becomes the a personified Scarlet letter for both Hester and Mr.Dimmesdale. Hester is reminded everyday that she committed a sin, adultery, by not only the red letter that finds home on her chest, but by her own daughter. Pearl also becomes Mr.Dimmesdale's scarlet letter, although they aren’t usually around each other, any time they are, she reminds him of the wrongdoing he committed. Although Mr.Dimmesdale held in his secret for so long, eventually he does show the rest of the town his own scarlet letter, then finally he is accepted by Pearl, his scarlet letter.  

    While re-reading this novel I realized how much It reminded me of other novels I have already read. The first one that came into mind was the Crucible, which was about the Salem Witch Trials. It just seemed like the characters in the novel liked to relate everything to magic, and witches, and the devil. In the Salem witch trials they did this too, they believed that witches were real and anything they couldn’t explain was witchery. Upon more research I found that Hawthorne was actually related to John Hathorne, a judge during the trials. Hawthorne was probably fascinated by the fact that he was related to a man that was such an influence during the time that he believed he could write a novel that could have been set during that time.

    One thing I like about these reactions is that we are able to dive deeper into novels, we are able to focus on things that we usually don't.  I was very hesitant to read this book again, I disliked it so much the first time. Although I felt that I should give it justice and re-read it. So many other people have read it and they said they enjoyed it a lot. I thought they were crazy but I see where they are coming from now. For the first time, I have actually re-read a book, I have never done it before because I always think I wont be surprised with what I read, because I knew everything that was going to happen, but re-reading a book can be very beneficial and enjoyable, especially when its been such a long time since the last time you read it.