Deep Water
A piece from Deep Water, a short story by William Douglas. I had not been there long when a big bruiser of a boy came and yelled at me. He said “Hey skinny, how’d you like to be ducked.” With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, swallowed water, and at once I sank to the bottom. It seemed like a long way down. Those nine feet were more like ninety feet. Before I touched bottom, my lungs were ready to burst. Nine feet is a long way down for a kid that does not know how to swim.
When I was first learning how to swim, I, too, went to the Y.M.C.A. to take swimming lessons but, in the middle of the class, someone always lost their lunch in the pool. I also made a connection to the part about him being afraid of the deep end. Whenever I went swimming when I was young, I always stayed away from it because I couldn’t swim. After I was able to swim, my mom and dad got a pool and every summer we swim in it. So, I made a connection that swimming is fun if you know how to do it, like the author said when he learned as an adult. As William Douglas said, he swam 2 miles in a lake. It reminded me of when my dad did the Pewaukee triathlon, but he didn’t have to swim 2 miles.
Swimming two miles is a very big accomplishment. I think that swimming two miles is like killing William Douglas’s fear of drowning. Killing that fear is like a death symbolism which goes with the irony mode of literature. That is also why I think that Deep Water is the irony mode of literature. The irony mode starts out with the world being in chaos. For William, the world of swimming is in chaos because he can’t swim, so he is afraid of drowning. Next the story moves to a major conflict which involves death or loss of sanity. For William, the death was him almost dying because of drowning. Later on in his life, he decides that he is going to finally learn how to swim which conquers his fear of drowning. This conquering is like saying it is dead or doesn’t exist, and that is what I thought of as the death symbolism.
For a kid that does not know how to swim, nine feet is a long way down to the bottom of a pool. How would you save yourself? Swimming is a big part of life for everyone and knowing how to swim is very important for your safety. If you don’t know how to swim, you miss some of the opportunities that a lot of people have and enjoy. If swimming wasn’t a big part of the world or knowing how to swim wasn’t important, no one would give swimming lessons. That’s why swimming lessons open the door for everyone to learn how to swim, have fun and be safe.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
"The Pearl"
The Pearl
This is a piece from the book The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The water was a dark blue, with sunlight flittering on the waves. He could feel the warm breeze go through his long, thick, black hair just as he was about to jump in. He said bye to his wife and their sick child as he plunged into the deep blue ocean over the bed of oysters. There lies “The Pearl of The World”. While two people owned the pearl, only one made the decisions for the pearl. What would you do?
In the beginning, the two main characters Kino and Juana are different than they were at the end. For example, Kino and Juana are happy at the beginning that they can have a child to love, but at the end of the book are enraged because the Europeans killed their son Coyotito. When the book started off, Kino’s thoughts were about his family, but in the middle he was only focused on the pearl. In the beginning, Juana is happy about her family and later on she is sad about her family.
The two characters have changed but they also have influenced the plot line of the story. The tragedy story line begins with the world in chaos. For Kino and Juana, the world is in chaos because their baby, Coyotito, was stung by a scorpion and the doctor of the town won’t help them to heal their baby because they don’t have enough money. Then the story goes to a rise to power when Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world, and now they think that the doctor will help them. Next is the tragic flaw where others are trying to steal the pearl and the pearl dealers say that they won’t give Kino anything for the false pearl. The tragic fall is when Kino and Juana’s house is burned down by the dark ones. Then, they end up leaving the city to go to the capital to get the pearl bought. On the way, the trackers were following them. When they heard Coyotito’s cry, they thought it was a coyote and they fired a gun shot. The shot ended up killing Coyotito, and that was the death symbolism.
Although two people owned the pearl, only a single person made the decisions on what to do with the pearl. In The Pearl, the author made it very clear to understand what the characters looked liked, and the emotions that they expressed. Another thing that the author did well was to show how the Indian people were treated by the white people of the town.
This is a piece from the book The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The water was a dark blue, with sunlight flittering on the waves. He could feel the warm breeze go through his long, thick, black hair just as he was about to jump in. He said bye to his wife and their sick child as he plunged into the deep blue ocean over the bed of oysters. There lies “The Pearl of The World”. While two people owned the pearl, only one made the decisions for the pearl. What would you do?
In the beginning, the two main characters Kino and Juana are different than they were at the end. For example, Kino and Juana are happy at the beginning that they can have a child to love, but at the end of the book are enraged because the Europeans killed their son Coyotito. When the book started off, Kino’s thoughts were about his family, but in the middle he was only focused on the pearl. In the beginning, Juana is happy about her family and later on she is sad about her family.
The two characters have changed but they also have influenced the plot line of the story. The tragedy story line begins with the world in chaos. For Kino and Juana, the world is in chaos because their baby, Coyotito, was stung by a scorpion and the doctor of the town won’t help them to heal their baby because they don’t have enough money. Then the story goes to a rise to power when Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world, and now they think that the doctor will help them. Next is the tragic flaw where others are trying to steal the pearl and the pearl dealers say that they won’t give Kino anything for the false pearl. The tragic fall is when Kino and Juana’s house is burned down by the dark ones. Then, they end up leaving the city to go to the capital to get the pearl bought. On the way, the trackers were following them. When they heard Coyotito’s cry, they thought it was a coyote and they fired a gun shot. The shot ended up killing Coyotito, and that was the death symbolism.
Although two people owned the pearl, only a single person made the decisions on what to do with the pearl. In The Pearl, the author made it very clear to understand what the characters looked liked, and the emotions that they expressed. Another thing that the author did well was to show how the Indian people were treated by the white people of the town.
"The Pearl"
The Pearl
This is a piece from the book The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The water was a dark blue, with sunlight flittering on the waves. He could feel the warm breeze go through his long, thick, black hair just as he was about to jump in. He said bye to his wife and their sick child as he plunged into the deep blue ocean over the bed of oysters. There lies “The Pearl of The World”. While two people owned the pearl, only one made the decisions for the pearl. What would you do?
In the beginning, the two main characters Kino and Juana are different than they were at the end. For example, Kino and Juana are happy at the beginning that they can have a child to love, but at the end of the book are enraged because the Europeans killed their son Coyotito. When the book started off, Kino’s thoughts were about his family, but in the middle he was only focused on the pearl. In the beginning, Juana is happy about her family and later on she is sad about her family.
The two characters have changed but they also have influenced the plot line of the story. The tragedy story line begins with the world in chaos. For Kino and Juana, the world is in chaos because their baby, Coyotito, was stung by a scorpion and the doctor of the town won’t help them to heal their baby because they don’t have enough money. Then the story goes to a rise to power when Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world, and now they think that the doctor will help them. Next is the tragic flaw where others are trying to steal the pearl and the pearl dealers say that they won’t give Kino anything for the false pearl. The tragic fall is when Kino and Juana’s house is burned down by the dark ones. Then, they end up leaving the city to go to the capital to get the pearl bought. On the way, the trackers were following them. When they heard Coyotito’s cry, they thought it was a coyote and they fired a gun shot. The shot ended up killing Coyotito, and that was the death symbolism.
Although two people owned the pearl, only a single person made the decisions on what to do with the pearl. In The Pearl, the author made it very clear to understand what the characters looked liked, and the emotions that they expressed. Another thing that the author did well was to show how the Indian people were treated by the white people of the town.
This is a piece from the book The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The water was a dark blue, with sunlight flittering on the waves. He could feel the warm breeze go through his long, thick, black hair just as he was about to jump in. He said bye to his wife and their sick child as he plunged into the deep blue ocean over the bed of oysters. There lies “The Pearl of The World”. While two people owned the pearl, only one made the decisions for the pearl. What would you do?
In the beginning, the two main characters Kino and Juana are different than they were at the end. For example, Kino and Juana are happy at the beginning that they can have a child to love, but at the end of the book are enraged because the Europeans killed their son Coyotito. When the book started off, Kino’s thoughts were about his family, but in the middle he was only focused on the pearl. In the beginning, Juana is happy about her family and later on she is sad about her family.
The two characters have changed but they also have influenced the plot line of the story. The tragedy story line begins with the world in chaos. For Kino and Juana, the world is in chaos because their baby, Coyotito, was stung by a scorpion and the doctor of the town won’t help them to heal their baby because they don’t have enough money. Then the story goes to a rise to power when Kino and Juana find the pearl of the world, and now they think that the doctor will help them. Next is the tragic flaw where others are trying to steal the pearl and the pearl dealers say that they won’t give Kino anything for the false pearl. The tragic fall is when Kino and Juana’s house is burned down by the dark ones. Then, they end up leaving the city to go to the capital to get the pearl bought. On the way, the trackers were following them. When they heard Coyotito’s cry, they thought it was a coyote and they fired a gun shot. The shot ended up killing Coyotito, and that was the death symbolism.
Although two people owned the pearl, only a single person made the decisions on what to do with the pearl. In The Pearl, the author made it very clear to understand what the characters looked liked, and the emotions that they expressed. Another thing that the author did well was to show how the Indian people were treated by the white people of the town.
Friday, January 14, 2011
"The Pearl" Final Reflection
The novel "The Pearl" was a very good, and in some parts of the book it was a little hard to understand what the author meant but as I went on to read a little more I understood what the author was trying to say. To me the lesson that John Steinbeck tried to put in here was when you get to attached to an object bad things can happen to things that you love. The object in the book was the great pearl Kino got so attached to it that he made his family go with him to the capital city and he let his family be in danger with trackers following them and in the end he throws the Pearl in the water. The thing that he loved was Coyotito and in the end when he was trying to protect his family from the trackers he ends up just hurting his family because Coyotito ends up getting killed.
Friday, January 7, 2011
"The Pearl" reflection
The novel that I am reading is "The Pearl" by John Steinbeck. So for the book is good and it has a lot of surprises in it which makes it even better. In the book there is a lot of different characters who instantly fall in love with Kino because he found a pearl that could be sold for a lot of money. So now Kino has to hide the pearl from everyone .
"The Pearl"
I believe that Juana thinks that the pearl will bring more people coming into there house trying to steal the pearl. Also Kino might become to greedy with what he wants and he will forget about his family and leave them. She might also think that some one would kill one of them to get to the pearl. Juana might want to have the pearl just so she can run away from Kino and sell the pearl and then she could become rich and powerful.
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