August 20, 2012 (Culture)

     Culture is the way a group of people acts and what makes them different from everyone else. The things that make up culture are beliefs, art, dance, music, religion, traditions/ holidays, clothing, and food. I think that culture is extrinsic because it is the other members of the group that affect you. If you were born in Brazil and grew up in the United States with an American family and in an American community, you probably wouldn't display any aspects of Brazilian culture.

August 17, 2012 (The Runaway)

3 facts about the painting:

• both the police officer and the boy are sitting on stools
• the man behind the counter is smoking
• the boy's feet don't touch the floor

3 claims about the painting:

• the policeman is trying to convince the boy to return home
• the boy is the runaway

ANALYSIS:

• Norman Rockwell was trying to portray himself running away as a child, an experience he had 

The Pearl Journal #2

     As Kino becomes more and more protective of the pearl, it seems he is no longer trying to take care of his son like a good father, but is trying to pave a road for his son materially. It seems his wife is doing all the good parenting (watching the baby, singing him to sleep, calling the doctor, etc.) while Kino is just trying to protect his precious pearl. I think he allows himself to do this because of greed and because he convinces himself that he is doing something good for his son by keeping the pearl safe. He also makes a shift from being peaceful in his village and enjoying the music/ rhythm of life to being suspicious of anyone and anything who might separate him from his pearl. I think we can also point to his greed for the pearl as the reason for this shift.

     I think that Kino shows he is foolish, headstrong, and again greedy as he gets his pearl appraised. 1000 pesos is a very large sum of money, and used to be large to him before he got such a big head. Now it seems he is even sticking out in comparison to his neighbors now. Juan Tomas seems to be a very smart man, giving Kino good advice and explaining to him what he should do. Kino would not have such a problem if he listened to Juan Tomas about getting the pearl appraised and about going to the capital. Once Kino beats Juana, his wife who has always loved him, the mother of his child, things go downhill for him very fast. He has very obviously changed drastically as a result of picking up that pearl. He has now turned himself against everyone and everyone against himself. At the beginning, I would not have believed such a gentle and caring man could be so violent and hateful.

     The last chapter was by far my favorite chapter because it shows their true colors. Kino and Juana are devastated by the loss of their only son and throw away the only thing that had value to them (and the real reason he was killed in the first place)- the pearl. I was very glad that they threw it away and the trouble was over, but it seemed like a very sad way to end the book. The thing that they had lost so much for, including their only son (who they had wanted it for) was safely in the sea. It leaves the reader with an eerie sort of satisfaction- not that the baby died, but that everything was going to go back to normal.

The Pearl Journal #1

     At the beginning of The Pearl, when Kino first woke up, I thought that he was very odd. For one thing, he saw his wife's eyes wide open and didn't say anything to her, which isn't really normal. Instead, he says he's never really seen them closed, and they just get up separately, which I think is weird. They don't really have any dialogue at all. For another thing, he stares at ants, trying to observe them and figure out what they are doing, which is also a little odd. Also, he beats the scorpion to the ground, which really didn't accomplish anything. If I was him, I would have sucked the venom from him immediately instead of taking out my anger first.

     I do think that Kino is happy in his own territory, even though he doesn't know a lot about the world  in general. He knows the familiar beat of the drum and is very familiar with his routine (and the routine of those around him), but he marvels at small things like ants. Steinbeck also points out that for the natives, there is no way of knowing if what you are seeing is really existing or not. I begin to notice that the sentences are very simple and rudimentary, and the dialogue is simple and to the point. It kind of seems like the language was written by a middle school student for a while. I think the reason for this is that Kino is a simple guy who lives in a simple village, and this theme is kind of represented by the simple language.

     I think they are pretty confused about what religion they are and what they believe. When a scorpion appears, his wife chants some ancient prayers. When he goes out to the sea to look for a pearl, she calls out to a monotheistic god, polytheistic god, basically whoever will listen. I think they are trying to stay with their native beliefs but are embracing some new ones desperately. However, when they find out the worth of the pearl, it is like they are not really natives, but are very cultured. He now wishes for his son to be educated, for them to be married in a church, and for him to get some fancy new weapons. It seems like the wealth has gone to his head and he has forgotten his roots. Maybe the pearl will make him become evil. This story seems to be setting up the moral that greed is the root of evil and begets destruction.

   

Pygmalion Journal #2

     When Higgins and Pickering come in to see Mrs. Higgins in the last act, it seems as if they are actually worried about Eliza's well-being, and may be dynamic characters after all, changing from cold, heartless, and selfish to caring and worried about others. But my expectations were put in their place when Higgins continues to treat her as a lower being or a slave, calling her the "worthless creature we picked out of the mud" and "this thing", and insisting he has "created her". I realized he has not changed at all from the beginning when he took her in.

     I was surprised when Alfred Doolittle came in, furious about being turned into a middle-class moralist. This was normally something that poor people of the time would embrace wholeheartedly, yet  he is furious about his apparent bad luck. I think this encounter between Doolittle and Higgins shows us a glimpse at how the real world works; as a middle- class man, he has more stress, responsibilities, and people asking him for handouts. I think this shows how the middle and upper classes work even in this day and age.

     I was confused, however, at why the author made it unclear whether Eliza would come back to Higgins or go her own way. She made her feelings clear about him, saying that she thought he was horrible and worthless, once even threatening to go and work for his major competitor and rival. In the last act, they insulted each other every which way until I could no longer see any reason why either one of them would want to see the other again. But I did like the ending being questionable because it leaves the reader in the position to figure out what actually happened.

Pygmalion Journal #1

     At the beginning of Pygmalion, they don't use the characters' names, but roles in the story so far (GENTLEMAN, NOTE TAKER, FLOWER GIRL, etc). I suppose this is because we have no need to know, for instance, Eliza Doolittle's name; her role in the story at that point is just to be the poor flower girl. I found the MOTHER going to such lengths to find out how Eliza knew her son's name was very interesting. I think it is because she's a snobby old upper class lady who wanted to make sure her son wasn't associating with riffraff like a poor, uneducated flower girl. I think at that point, many of us can associate with Freddy because people (not necessarily our mothers) put labels on us based on class, etc. and try to dictate who we can hang out with based on that. I also find it strange that the woman protagonist is introduced as "not romantic at all" and Higgins seems to have no concern for romance, as a romance seems to be the general pattern for stories such as this.

     When Eliza first comes to ask for Higgins's help and her father drops by, I think Higgins is further characterized as uninterested in anyone but himself. When Eliza came by, he was disappointed because he already had tapes of people with her accent. When Alfred Doolittle came by, he was excited to let him in and meet him because he wanted to hear a new accent. He only seems to care about his work in linguistics and how people can be of service to him, not how he can be of service to other people. This is strange because he is not the traditional male protagonist, who is generally heroic and unselfish.

     I like the addition of Colonel Pickering to Higgins's one-man-team because as a gentleman, he is a strong  character foil to Higgins. I wonder why they put up with one another, seeing that they're so opposite, but the friendship seems to be purely in the interest of linguistics. It makes me glad that Pickering is there when Higgins picks on Eliza and he is there to comfort her. I think if he wasn't there, readers would focus too much on the treatment of Eliza, and not on the real major issues of the book because they would be so shocked at her abuse.