Response to Deep Waters

                                   

It was dark; scary the water was tumbling over me. Looking for the bottom of the pool after being dunked there was one clever move up my sleeve. While sinking to the bottom I was going to push off the bottom tile to try to get myself up to the surface, but I had one problem it was slower than what my situation was calling for. In the short story "Deep Waters" by William O. Douglas there are two life lessons. One always use whatever your common sense tells you to do. Second never be afraid of what you can accomplish.

             In the short story "Deep Waters" by William O. Douglas he talks about how his childhood was, as in what he did during his childhood. He was just a boy learning to swim at the Y.M.C.A. When he was just about 10 or 12 at the Y.M.C.A. he was alone and was waiting for other people to get into the pool. Then about an 18 year old boy came by and suddenly he was dunked. He only wishes he could take that moment back because some of his greatest fears happened to occur at that time.  

In general to be dunked means to be thrown or pushed under water; it's just second nature for us to not like being dunked. However everyone needs to overcome that fear that’s a life lesson the story brought to everyone. If you're afraid of something and won't try it you'll always be afraid of something. There have always been a couple of old sayings "You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don't take." In other words William did the right thing by going in the water even thought he had nearly died under water, but because of his vital mistake and because his courage that brought him to a higher level of overcoming that fear.

Now after being a reader of William’s short story, it makes you want to explore and find new fears to overcome, because  the number one most important lesson and word phrasing in the story was never be afraid of what you haven't tried. Then the next one was never be afraid of what you can accomplish. If anybody hasn't tried something it is second nature to be scared which is why his story was to tell us what he wishes he could take back and redo. There's an old saying "Don't repeat the past" and that is what he is telling us, don't be afraid and don't repeat your same mistakes.

  

The Pearl

                                                                The Pearl                                     by    Alex Clement

After finishing the book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck most people would have found the life lesson to the book. So far with all the symbolism and the chart fitting the tragedy plotline, you would come to see what the book is trying to tell you, and now with the whole point of the book Kino finding the Pearl. Was it worth all the madness, but while this Pearl is causing chaos people looking for jobs, other people are dying you might think what was John Steinbeck's purpose to the book?

            John Steinbeck rights with such enthusiasm, when you read the book you notice to things he does. When the book starts off kind of slow he progresses into a faster tempo, as an example he starts off the book with Kino as a brave man fearless, but later on Kino wises up he takes things slower gets rid of the aggressive attitude. Then John Steinbeck has another twist to this book right away when he has Kino all aggressive he has another character that his more passive and wise Juana. Juana was the smart one of their two team group at the beginning, but that's when he makes his turning point when Kino starts to become wiser and more passive Juana becomes kind of more active and less caring at the end than Kino. The next character was the baby Coyotito, now the baby plays a big role with the Pearl even though it doesn't seem like it in the book. How Kino and Juana are changing in the book the baby has the same attitude the same looks doesn’t really change. The Pearl was causing Kino stress as the baby was causing Juana stress, but when Juana changed in the book the baby played a different role it was almost like the baby was its own independent parent, which caused them later on in the book to then grow apart.

            There were some miner errors in the book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck his usage of boring and very confusing words was very challenging to overcome. Multiple times in the book there was a typo error or there was even a grammar error on words. Many times he would forget to add an S, or ES. Most people would have noticed, but overall the book was outstanding when you overcome the errors I would recommend this book to anybody. 

            In the book there were many ups and downs, from the beginning to the end. The book fits the tragedy plotline, the world started in chaos then they had a rise to power. When Kino found the Pearl he assumed he was going to be rich and have all the money and power or his family, but there was some errors to his plan which lead to a tragic flaw. Kino had the pearl and was assuming that he would be rich and would be able to support his family; until he didn’t realize that with his control of the Pearl and that he found the Pearl he was putting his family in great risk. Which ended up leading to the tragic fall, when the buyers of the Pearl couldn’t take that Kino wasn’t selling the Pearl yet they had become inpatient as in their ways of either stealing the Pearl or killing Kino to get the Pearl. In the book also there is a doctor this doctor is out for the Pearl he fails on purpose healing the baby and then he finally heals the baby so it could seem like they were close.

Overall the book by John Steinbeck was phenomenal, and I really enjoyed reading it as I hope our next class novel would be like the book The Pearl, as I also hope that more people would like to read the book as well.            

Final Reflection for The Pearl

         After finishing the book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck I found a life lesson in the book for me and the way the book was written.  The lesson was you can't turn your back on anyone because at the time no matter how mad you are you never know when they're going to be there for you. At the end when Coyote dies Juana and Kino are there, when Kino throws the Pearl in the Gulf Juana is there. Then to get through the long journey climbing through mountains going through long paths struggling to find water Juana and Kino fight through the whole thing together. Then when I was reading for clues I noticed that John Steinbeck knows how to make things realistic but he has his moments where there are dry spots in the book and also very exciting parts.

           John Steinbeck has a way of writing that can be boring when you are reading some parts that could be really exciting he kind of kills his ideas. In chapter four how they bring the baby to the doctor because they think something is wrong, the doctor had no interest until he found out that Kino had the Pearl. When John Steinbeck wrote that he didn’t put that jumpy word or act into it. But then again it makes his exciting parts double the excitement and you want to keep reading. As in the last chapter they are going across a plain dry land Juana, Kino, and Coyote are traveling and they reach a mountain, when they go to climb the mountain they have no energy. When they finally get to the top they're all dying for water. When Kino keeps walking he finds a pool of water to stop their thirst. In that point of the book John Steinbeck was a very good writer because they couldn't afford to be thirsty nor did they have time to stop moving. John Steinbeck also has a way with words that show the book out, as in bad usage of words, but overall I did like the book and I would recommend it to a friend.   

Will the Pearl destroy them

While I'm reading the book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck I have came to a chapter in the book that has sort of brought out the book's real purpose. When Kino got the Pearl their whole life has changed. Most of the people they meet now they can't even trust, every single person is trying to get the Pearl from Kino. When they brought the baby to the doctor the doctor had a plan to steal the Pearl along with the rest of the people. So the question is, is this pearl putting them in great risk?

Reflection for The Pearl

        So far while I am reading the book The Pearl, by John Steinbeck I have become to observe his style of writing and I have started to like it. One reason the vocabulary in the book isn't an elementary book level even though the book is under a hundred pages. Although I started to like his style of writing it also has bored me, he has a lot of dead parts in the book that bring up the exciting parts but brings down the book overall. There was many exciting parts like when the baby needed the doctor to help him but the doctor was all for himself. He wanted to steal the pearl and become rich and have it all. Then the baby suddenly became sick when they went to him, so then the doctor fixed the baby to try to somehow become almost friends.