Another Question

This is my question: What do you think the theme of "The Pearl" might be? Well, overall I don't agree with the main theme. I believe that the book is saying that your life is set in stone, and you have no right to make it better (as said, but not exactly, by Juan Tomas on p.52). I don't believe that Kino is wrong to want a bettter life for himself and his family. I think it's natural and right for him to want that. But everyone is against him. And as he pulls harder and harder to try to be free of this "theme", he slowly loses everything and goes insane. The book makes sense, if the Pearl of the World was found that might happen, but I don't like the theme that Steinbeck is driving at us. What do you guys think?

Guys, here are the pages where the words are found:
1. bulwark-p.15
2. undulating-p.17
3. obscured-p.17
4. deftly-p.20
5. precipitated-p.23
6. subjugation-p.29
7. dissembling-p.32
8. furtive-p.36
9. diffused-p.39
10. stalwart-p.45
11. benign-p.46
12. legerdemain-p.46
13. gravely-p.52
14. edifice-p.61
15. monotonously-p.67
16.waning-p.67 (I think their was a typo here, it's waning, not wanning.)
17. monolithic-p.73
18. irresolution-p.75
19. petulant-p.77
20. germane-p.81
21. malignant-p.86

Good luck!

If you guys could have any of the Ghosts visit you, which one would you like to meet? I would really like to meet the Ghost of Christmas Present and make merry and have fun, but I'd also like to relive my Past, that is, the good parts! I'd even like to meet the Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come, to see which way my life is heading, and to find out who's behind that cloak. What do you guys think?

If you had to rename the books we've read so far, including "The Pearl", what would you name them? I would rename "A Christmas Carol" "The Transformation" (I'm just giving ideas) I would call "The Old Man and the Sea" "Laws of Nature" (still, just ideas) and I would rename "The Pearl" "From Without to Wealth" (Steph's idea). What do you guys think?

If you could ask Dickens and Hemingway the point of the universe, how do you think they'd answer? I think that Dickens would say that we should be good on this Earth so that we have a good life in heaven or something like that (so that God would be pleased with us, not like bribery though), and Hemingway would probably say that there is no point or that the point of the universe is to survive. Do you think that they would speak differently? Do you agree with what they might say? Why?

L.A Question

The question: Ernest Hemingway's experiences in World War 1 changed him forever. How did those experiences affect his writing?
Ernest Hemingway was a volunteer ambulance driver. He was injured by shrapnel from a bomb, and was sent home. He probably saw horrible things that he could never forget. This affected his writing by making it less happy and more (from my point of view) hopeless. By that I don't mean that he was a bad writer, he was quite famous, but I mean that of the stories that I've read (one), they do not have victorious endings, but instead, endings with defeat. Although that's not really the way to describe it either, because as Santiago says in "The Old Man and the Sea", "Man was not made for defeat. You can destroy a man, but not defeat him." I guess his writing is more about not trying to do more than you can handle, and that you need pride, but you can't live with it either.
Many people remember Hemingway being happier and funnier before the war, but, as war often does, he lost his sense of humor and hapiness after seeing all those horrible things. I think that if Hemingway had not been in the war, his novels would end in victory and he might have a bit of humor here and there as well.