Friday, December 12, 2014

Literature Analysis #3

1. Exposition:The story starts off with a story of  a young family of Mexican Natives by the sea shore living in the Brush. One day the couples' son Coyotito is stung by a scorpion and the family rushes their son to the closest clinic. The clinic refuses to admit them into the clinic because they are very un-wealthy. When the family returns to their village, untreated, Kino and Juana decide to search for pearls in the sea in hopes of a large fortune.
Rising Action:To their surprise they find a very large pearl. The size of the pearl would bring the family great wealth and Kino begins to fantasize about the items the pearl could buy. Although he is told to not boast about his new found wealth and to think about his place within the village, Kino continues to dream. With his new advice Kino decides to bury the pearl in the corner of his house for safe keeping. A doctor from the clinic arrives soon after and treats the couple's son and asks for payment when their son is relieved. Kino explains that they don't have any money yet, but soon will with his great finding. Before going to bed Kino moves the pearl to under his bed and in the middle of the night awakens to digging in the corner of his house. Kino fights off the intruder in a long battle and Juana says that they need to get rid of the pearl immediately because of its evil. The next day Kino and Juana start on their way to town to sell it but are mindful of low-ballers in prices and keep on their way to the capital. The night before they make it to the capital Juana steals the pearl and tries to throw it into the ocean, but is stopped by Kino her beats her half to death. In the middle of the commotion more men are intrigued and want the pearl. A new fight emerges and Kino ends up killing a man and leaving the rest injured. At this time Juana packs up her son and they all try to escape to their canoe, then house but all are destroyed.
Climax: The family then again tries to make its way to the capital and on the way realize they are being followed. Kino tries to defer their trial, however when the trackers are close Kino decides to attack them. Right before the attack Coyotito yells and one of the trackers fires his rifle, killing Coyotito.
Falling action/ Resolution: The couple then carry their son to the sea along with the pearl and put both into the ocean.
The author's purpose of the novel is to show greed and how people are influenced by wealth.

2. The theme of the novel is to not let greed consume you because if greed wouldn't have entered into Kino's mind his son wouldn't have died.

3.The authors tone in the novel is cautious and intrigued by the idea of wealth and emotional attachment to inanimate objects like money and wealth. The tone touches on the idea that money can't buy you everything and that the wealth of relationships are more important than selfish nature, however selfish nature overcomes even the most "church" driven people.

-"Kino looked into his pearl, and Juana cast her eyelashes down and arranged her shawl to cover her face so that her excitement could not be seen. And in the incandescence of the pearl the pictures formed of the things Kino’s mind had considered in the past as impossible.”  Page 65

-"For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And it is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.” Page 9

-"The roosters had been crowing for some time, and early pigs were already beginning their ceaseless turning of twigs and bits of wood to see whether anything to eat had been overlooked." page 

4.
Symbolism- The pearl stood for evil and greed. "It is worth fifty thousand. You know it. You want to cheat me." Page 50

Imagery- The author talks of the great views of the ocean and the nature that surrounds the family. "The starts still shone and the day had drawn only pale wash of light in the lower sky to the east."

Allusion- To the ideas of religion of the Bible in that of gluttony as a sin of greed which both Juana and Kino have. "But the pearls were accidents, and the finding of one was luck, a little pat on the back by God or the gods or both." page 22

Foreshadowing- The illness that falls onto Coyotito shows his later death experience. "This was an impossibility, and if he could think of owning a rifle whole horizons were burst and he could rush on." Page 7

Personification- "This is what the pearl will do." 57

Simile- "The sack sunk into Kino's shoulders like a gravid spider" page 97

Irony- The pearl was supposed to be a token of luck and relief when it was actually a source of evil in the family's life.

Metaphor- The author used metaphors to depict the characters as what they were similar to. "He was an animal now, for hiding, for attacking, and he lived only to preserve himself and his family." page 83

Indirect Characterization- Kino was shown that he was full of greed in the moment he started beating his wife to give him back the pearl.

Direct Characterization- "This pearl has become my soul. . . If I give it up, I shall lose my soul." page 87

Characterization:
1. Two examples of indirect characterization are the fact that you could tell in the way Juana's eyes hid behind a shaw that she was greedy and rejoiced about the idea of wealth. Another example is with Kino in that he stated "This pearl has become my soul." meaning that Kino was taken over by the greed and the wealth of what this fortune could bring. The author also uses direct characterization with ideas of stating the facts of the family's Mexican culture and their low income status on the very first pages. I feel the author uses the direct characterization to set the stage for the novel and how the events actually took place. The author then uses indirect characterization to reflect on the personalities and the underlying greed in Kino and Juana throughout the novel. The indirect characterization also shows how Juana had a change in mind while Kino didn't walk away from the pearl until his son died at the end of the novel. My lasting impression of the characters is that they where able to overcome the thoughts of wealth for their family, but these characters have to be pushed multiple times in order to listen to what the universe is telling them, which in this case meant to get rid of the greed.
2. The author's syntax and diction do not change for the main characters because this novel is a story of a story. In this I mean that the expressions remain the same because the story is being retold from a different perspective rather than first hand. I feel that the diction and the syntax of the novel are complex in that the higher use of vocabulary helps give the novel the images to the reader in order to follow the novel more closely.
3. The protagonist is round and dynamic in that Kino at first wants to find wealth and live in his dreams with greed, but at the end of the novel he realizes that the pearl isn't worth all of its money and wealth because it just brings pain and evil.
4. After reading the novel I felt that I kind of knew the character Kino, but I didn't fully understand him because the novel was a story of a story or legend. I felt that I mostly read about a character because of this idea of the story within a story.  "If this story is a parable, perhaps everyone takes his own meaning from it and reads his own life into it."


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