The Pearl - Chapter 3 Essential Questions

At the end of chapter 2, Kino had just brought the "Pearl of the World" to the surface. In chapter 3, the affect of finding the Pearl begin to manifest themselves. Please respond to the following essential questions in a video report:

1. This chapter begins by describing a town as a living organism and then, at the bottom of page 11, it describes the influence of the Pearl on the town. Steinbeck compares the results of a “black distillate” that was like the scorpion. How has the “scorpion” returned to the town and how does this compare and contrast to the entrance of the physical scorpion in chapter 1?
2. How does Steinbeck describe the Pearl in this chapter? What things does Kino see in the Pearl? Are all of these good things? Bad things? Is there any reason to be concerned for Kino (and by default Juana) already based on the things that he sees in the Pearl?
3. On the top of pg. 17, Steinbeck describes the small fish being slaughtered by the school of great fishes and the mice being hunted silently by the night hawks. How does this animal-imagery parallel the events of the story. Draw specific and direct comparisons.
4. On pg. 19, Kino answers the question about who he fears with the simple word: “everyone”. Describe the process by which Kino has entered this “shell of hardness” that has drawn around him. Compare and contrast his and Juana’s life from chapter 1 when he is standing in the doorway of his hut with the music of the family behind him, to the parallel scene from pg 14-15 where Kino is standing in his doorway, having “broken through the horizons into a cold and lonely outside.”

The Pearl - Chapter 2 Essential Questions

At the end of chapter 1, our main characters, Kino and Juana, were rejected and shamed on the doorstep of the Doctor's luxurious home in the stone & plaster village, their baby Coyotito still suffering the affects of scorpion bite. The Doctor wasn't willing to see someone who couldn't pay and, besides, as he put it, he was a doctor and not a veterinarian.
That brings us to chapter 2. Please as a group consider the following 4 questions and then respond as a group to the FlipGrid link below.

1. Already on the bottom of pg. 7 (and referenced multiple times throughout the chapter) we read that the “people of the Gulf” (Kino’s people) didn’t trust their eyes but did trust “the things of the spirit and things of the imagination”. What does this say about Kino’s people and how they view life’s existence?
2. In Chapter 2, we discover Kino’s canoe. What is the big deal about this canoe? Isn’t it just a boat?
3. This chapter speaks of the “Song of the Pearl that Might Be”. Describe what the emotions of that song are like and try to associate it with emotions or situations that you have found yourself in (for good or for bad, trivial or spiritual). How might constantly living with this song effect Kino and his people. Be specific.
4. Multiple times in this chapter, we’ve read references of “luck”, praying to “God or the gods or both”, “making the magic of prayer”, “tear[ing] the luck out of the gods’ hands”, it not being good to “want a thing to much. It sometimes drives the luck away. You must want it just enough.” What do we make of this belief system? How might it be impacted by the way Spain (and the Roman Catholic Church) imperialized the world? How might it impact Kino’s people and the way they think? Could it have an impact on the reason there are no new songs. What does it suggest about the identity of Kino’s people, especially in light of the oppression they are enduring?

The Pearl - Chapter 1 Essential Questions

In this chapter, we have been introduced to our main characters as well as we have been given a crucial hint by the author, Steinbeck, about the purpose of this novella in the short little prologue before chapter 1 begins. We are also thrust into the conflict with the inciting moment of the story, the stinging of Coyotito by the scorpion. Being a novella, the story won't waste time and gets right into the action.

We are also thrust directly into the underlying tension of the story, a conflict much more powerful and, arguably, more deadly than the conflict faced by the scorpion. Already we are presented with the deep resentment between the indigenous peoples and the Europeans.

In your groups, I would like for you to consider the following 4 essential questions. These 4 questions are for thought and might not have 1 specific, easy answer. On the papers you've been given, I would like for you to sketch out your thoughts (this can be bullets, etc.) before you record a response to the questions via the FlipGrid link below. Use the thoughts which you sketched as a group to inform this discussion. Just so you are aware, these videos will be available for everyone to view. If you are unable to do it in class, one from your group can record the video as a representative of the group, using the information you discussed in class.

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1. Inspect the prologue...why do you think that Steinbeck would give us this information at the start, before we even begin reading? How does this set us up for the reading of this story and what predictions might you make from the prologue alone?
2. Chapter 1 introduces us to the idea of the "songs" that Kino perceives as part of the world around him. We encounter the "Song of the Family" and the "Song of the Enemy" in this chapter. What do you make of these "songs" and the place that they hold in Kino's life and in the life of his people? What do you make of the fact that "his people had once been great makers of songs so that everything they saw or thought or did or heard became a song. That was a very long ago. The songs remained; Kino knew them, but no new songs were added" (pg. 1). Why are there no new songs?
3. The inciting moment, the entrance of the scorpion, has a great dividing effect on chapter 1. Describe how the atmosphere of the story has changed. Use specific references from the text. In other words, how does the world of the story change with the coming of the scorpion?
4. When Kino arrives at the door of the Doctor's place, we read that "as always when he [Kino] came near to one of this race, Kino felt weak and afraid and angry at the same time. Rage and terror went together" (pg 5). Based on the Doctor's reaction to Kino's request, is this a warranted reaction by Kino? Is there anything different that Kino should've or could've done?