Wednesday, June 24, 2009

THE PEARL: CHAPTER 5

THE PEARL: CHAPTER 5
· Juana throws the pearl away.
· The third attack.
· The house is set on fire.
· Before the flight.
· Juana throws the pearl away.
· In the early hours of the morning, Kino sees Juana silently rise, takes the pearl from the hiding place and glide out the door.
· She moves towards the sea.
· He reaches her and wrenches the pearl out of her hand just as she is about to throw it into the sea.
· He strikes her and kicks her.
· The third attack
· An attacker attempts to steal the pearl.
· There was a struggle and Kino killed the attacker and then passed out.
· Juana sees a dead man on the shore. Juana drags the dead man into the bush and revives Kino. She informs Kino about the dead body and they must escape before daybreak.
· Kino agrees to flee but discovers his canoe has been destroyed. Someone has made a hole in the canoe. He is overcome with rage.
· The house is set on fire.
· Kino hurries towards his house but the house is on fire and Juana is fleeing toward him with the frightened baby.
· The fire attracts their neighbours and they assume that Kino, Juana and Coyotito are in the burning hut.
· Juan Tomas agrees to hide Kino and his family for a day until they can escape in darkness of the following night.
· Juana blames the pearl.
· Before the flight
· Juan Tomas tells the neighbour that Kino and Juana have already fled to escape the evil fortune that seems to plague them.
· At nightfall, Kino takes his family and flees to the North. Juan Tomas tells Kino to avoid the coast as the men from the town are looking for him.
THEMES:
· A) GREED AND CORRUPTION
,
- they attacked Kino three times in order to get the pearl.
- they destroyed his canoe.
- they were willing to kill Kino and his family to get the pearl.
· In your opinion did the pearl make Kino a greedy and corrupted man?
· E.g. I think the pearl did to a certain extent, make Kino a greedy and corrupted man. After the discovery- was not happy with basic things (harpoon)- wanted a rifle & the best for his family- got violent towards Juana – killed a man in self-defense – becomes suspicious of all men, saw evil in them.
· b) Courage
· Kino-has the courage to fight his assailant
· Juana-the courage to stand up for what she believes is right and the courage to hide the dead man’s body in the bushes.
· Juan Tomas –the courage to protect his brother’s family in times of need.
CHARACTERS:
· KINO:

- The changes in Kino’s character = Kino’s primitive violent reaction is again seen when Juana tries to get rid of the pearl. Kino ‘sees red’ and he snatches the pearl from Juana. He strikes, bares his teeth and hissed at her like a snake.
+ violent animal instincts of a man capable of murder.
· Kino killed a man as self-defense = Kino had “broken the balance of the day and the family had forever lost their old peace.”
· The destruction of his boat and the burning down of his house – bring about further anger, rage, resentment and hatred.
· Juana
· In this chapter, Juana’s strength of character is further illustrated.
· Tries to convince Kino of the evil brought by the pearl.
· She is obedient, but is also brave to protect her family.
She goes to the extent of standing up against her husband’s displeasure.
-is determined to throw away the pearl and all the bad luck it has brought.
She is patience and understanding- when Kino hits her. She is forgiving and there is “no anger in her for Kino”

Pearl Chap 4

The Pearl
Chapter 4

Synopsis1. The town as a living organism
-The town is portrayed as a living organism with a nervous system.
-The whole town knows Kino was selling his pearl that morning.
- Most of all, the news reaches the pearl buyers who conspire and cheat the pearl fishers.
-Everyone were excited about the pearl –most of all were the pearl buyers.
• The second man examined the pearl using a magnifying glass and said ‘better pearls are made of paste’. He let Kino examined the pearl under the glass.
- The third man took the pearl from Kino’s hand and offered 500 pesos for it.
In the evening
- The neighbors had mixed feelings about Kino’s actions and reactions.
- Some thought that Kino should just accept the offer. Some thought that Kino was brave that he wanted to go to the capital to sell the pearl.
- Juan Thomas cautioned Kino about going to the capital. Kino was also thinking and felt frightened, but he decided to do it for his son’s future.
THE SECOND ATTACK
- Kino is fearful of the night sounds as he sits on his sleeping mat.
- Kino suddenly sensing evil outside, goes out with his knife.
- Juana follows with a stone from the fire place.
- That night someone attacked Kino and left a ‘long deep cut’ on his face.
- He was half conscious, his shirt was torn open, someone had tried to pull off his clothes.
- “believe me, I am a man”
- Juana was very worried, she said the pearl was ‘evil’ and wanted Kino to destroy it or throw it back to sea.
- Kino refused. He would fight ‘evil’ and win. He asked Juana to believe him,

Characters
- The good guys…..
Kino
-Illiterate and ignorant
- Capable of feeling strong emotions
- Can become passionate and savage
- Dislike being cheated especially by the pearl buyers
- After discovering the pearl
- Becomes cautious and suspicious of everyone
- Having the pearl sets him apart from society
- Instinct for survival
Juan Thomas
-Kino’s older brother
-Gives advice to Kino
-Wise and cautious
-Helpful and understanding

The pearl buyers
- Many pearls buyers, but
- all of them work under one man
-who has monopoly over the trade (“ there was only one buyer with many hands..”)
-No real competition (“They knew what price they would offer, how high they would bid, and what method each one would use.”)
Cheat Indian pearl divers
-Conspire to cheat Kino
-Four buyers are mentioned
-First buyer- Stout man,fatherly and kind face
- Sociable,cunning and dishonest
- Plays with coins
-Symbols of exploitation,hypocrisy and greed

THEMES

The oppression of the poorer class
-for generations the Mexican Indians have been oppressed by the people of Spanish descent.
-It is hard for a poor man like Kino to break social norms and barriers
Materialism and financial security
-Kino wants to sell the pearl for the best price so that he can have money to buy new clothes and shoes for his family.
-He can have a new harpoon and rifle, and provide Coyotito with a good education.
Greed
-The pearl attacks a host of
greedy people; the doctor,
the priest, the attackers.
-They are willing to poison the child and kill Kino and his family in order to get the pearl.
Hope
-For Kino, the pearl means new life for his family (education for Coyotito, marriage for Juana,
new rifles for Kino)

The beggars hope to get generous alms from the new rich man
- The doctor hopes to re-live his ‘Paris’ experience from the fee.
- The pearl buyers hope to
get good commission
from the sale of the pearl.
Each hopes to sit in the patron’s seat and controls the pearl trade one day.

-The neighbors also hope to realize their dreams through the pearl.

HI 506 !!!


Hello ! Welcome to my blog and the english unit blog. I really hope that all of you will always visit this blog. There are a lot of useful notes and exercises here. I wish you all the best and best of luck for the coming pre trial, trial and SPM 2009. Aim for the best ok !!!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Inspiring Stories of Successful people

Fred Smith
When Fred Smith attended Yale University Business School, he wrote a project paper on the concept of overnight package delivery. The professor awarded Smith a "C minus" for it. This was because he reasoned the proposal had little potential as the postal industry was monopolized by the US Mail. Who would want to send a package through another courier when there was the US Mail? Undeterred, Smith put his money where his mouth was and started Federal Express. On the first day of business, his goal was to deliver 167 packages. However, he only delivered 7, 5 of which were packages sent to himself. Today, Federal Express is one of the World's largest overnight delivery companies.


Arthur Fry
The glue used in 3M Post-It pads was originally meant for fixed surfaces like the bulletin board. A 3M chemist, Arthur Fry, thought of other uses but could not find any for this glue. One evening, while he was practicing singing with his choir at North Presbyterian Church in St Paul, a light breeze blew his hymn sheets away. He was irritated. Then- Aha! He had a creative insight. To prevent the hymn sheets from flying away, he used the glue to stick paper onto paper. The Post-It pad was born. Fry received a yearly royalty for his invention.

HOW TO SPEAK GOOD & FLUENT ENGLISH!!!

SOME SUGGESTIONS :-
1) Speak in english whenever possible: the best way to speak fluent english is to talk in English at every given opportunity. For example try to use english to the maximum extent possible when in conversation with your friends, teachers and others.
2) Watch English programmes on Discovery and your very own news channels
3) Make it a habit of reading english magazines & Newspapers, not only will it help your english but will also improve your general knowledge!!
We wish u all the very best in learning the beautiful language called English

Literature Revision Form 4

Read the excerpt from the poem The Road Not Taken and answer the questions that follow.

Road Not Taken
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black,
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.


1. At what time of the day did this incident take place?
______________________________________________________1 mark

2. What does the poet mean when he says, “ In leaves no step had trodden black."?______________________________________________________2 marks

3. Do you think the poet will ever come back to this place another other? Give a reason for your answer.
______________________________________________________2 marks

The Necklace
Read the extract from the short story, The Necklace and answer the questions that follow.

“ I shall go back on foot,” said he, “over the whole route, to see whether I can find it.”
He went out. She sat waiting on a chair in her ball dress, without the strength to go to bed, overwhelmed, without any fire, without a thought.
Her husband returned at about seven o’clock. He had found nothing.
He went to the police headquarters, to the newspaper offices to offer a reward; he went to the cab companies – everywhere, in fact, whither he was urged by the least spark of hope.



1. What was Loisel going to do ?
______________________________________________________________1 mark
2. Why was Mathilde feeling so distraught?
______________________________________________________________2 marks
3. If you were Loisel what would you have done? Give a reason for your answer.
_____________________________________________________________ 2 marks

Beautiful story about Al-QUR'AN

Why do we readQuran, even if we can't understand a single Arabic word???? This is a beautiful story.
An old American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentuckywith his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at thekitchen table reading his Quran. His grandson wanted to be just likehim and tried to imitate him in every way he could. One day the grandson asked, 'Grandpa! I try to read the Quran just likeyou but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soonas I close the book. What good does reading the Qur'an do?' The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied,'Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket ofwater.' The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he gotback to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, 'You'll have to movea little faster next time,' and sent him back to the river with the basketto try again. This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was emptybefore he returned home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that itwas impossible to carry water in a basket, and he went to get a bucketinstead. The old man said, 'I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water.You're just not trying hard enough,' and he went out the door to watchthe boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show hisgrandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leakout before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket intoriver and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather the basketwas again empty. Out of breath, he said, 'See Grandpa, it's useless!' 'So you think it is useless?' The old man said, 'Look at the basket.' The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basketwas different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket andwas now clean, inside and out. 'Son, that's what happens when you read the Qur'an. You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out. That is the work of Allah in our lives.'