The Pearl

1. The book I am reading is The Pearl by John Steinbeck, and was published in 1947.

2. The general purpose of the book is to show us that life can change at any moment, and how one thing could seem like a blessing but it really is a curse.

3. The narrative hook in The Pearl isn't one quote it is the whole opening paragraph. "Kino awakened in the near dark. The stars still shown and the day had drawn only a pale wash of light in the lower sky to the east. The roosters have been crowing for some time, and the early pigs were carelessly ceaseless turning of twigs and bits of wood to see weather anything to eat had been left over. Outside the brush house in the tuna clump, a covey of little birds chattered and fluttered with their wings."

4. a) ceaseless- without a stop or a pause, unending, incessant

b) delicately- fragile, easily damaged, frail

c) pulque- a fermanted milky drink made from the juice of certain species of agave in mexico

d) plaintively- expressing sorrow or melancholy, mournful

e) shawl- a square, triangle, or oblong peace of wool, or other material worn, especially by about the shoulders woman, in the place of a coat or hat outdoors

5. So far my book is very good, i am really enjoying it. The book has a good plot and starts off slow but Steinbeck is foreshadowing that something will happen to Kino and his family.