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how poverty affects children
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Kino, a poor Indian fisherman, lives on the Gulf of California with his wife Juana and son Coyotito. Their simple hut is made of brush, and the couple sleeps on mats thrown on the dirt floor, while
Coyotito sleeps in a hanging box. Like others in their poor village, they depend on nature for survival.
As The Pearl begins, dawn is breaking. Kino watches the sun rise and listens to the sounds of the morning. But within moments, a dangerous situation develops. A poisonous scorpion stings Coyotito,
Kino's infant son, and the baby's screams draw people from all over the village. Juana insists that the doctor be called, but Kino knows the physician is Spanish and considers himself above treating poor
Indians. This does not satisfy Juana, who announces that if the doctor will not come to the village, then they will go to his house. But the doctor refuses to treat Coyotito because Kino is too poor.
Later that day, while Kino and Juana are fishing in the Gulf,
Kino finds an enormous pearl and cries out in joy. He believes the pearl will make him rich and enable him to provide security for his family. But Kino discovers otherwise. The pearl stirs envy in the villagers, and that night Kino is attacked in his hut by a thief. The following day, he tries to sell the pearl to buyers in town, but he is offered only a small amount of money for it. The buyers all work for the same man. They know the pearl is worth a fortune but hope to buy it cheaply by pretending that it is worth little.
Kino says he will sell his pearl in the capital city, where he believes he will get a fair price. This amazes the villagers because
Kino has never traveled so far. After dark that evening, Kino is attacked again. Juana is sure the pearl is evil and will destroy the family. During the night, she quietly removes it from the spot where
Kino has hidden it and tries to throw it back into the ocean. He stops her before she succeeds and beats her for trying. As he returns to the hut, Kino is attacked again, this time by two men. He kills one of them, and the other escapes.
Because of the killing, Kino knows that he will be hunted as a murderer. As a result, he and Juana must leave the village the next
James Baldwin’s short story, “Sonny’s Blues,” is the authors most studied and critically analyzed piece of literature. The majority of these analyses focus on the obvious themes of the book such as jazz music, the unnamed narrator, or the rift that divides Sonny and his brother. Little critique has ever gone into the biblical and religious themes that run throughout the story of “Sonny’s Blues.” Furthermore, it is even more astonishing that there is little critique given Baldwin has such a strong history with the world of Christianity.
Baldwin executed a well written short story by making the point of view through the eyes of Sonny’s brother. The setting made the story realistic, and the themes were powerful and influential. Though Sonny had struggles in life along with the rest of the family, he is able to redeem himself through his music. “Sonny’s fingers filled the air with life, his life. But that life contained so many others. And Sonny went all the way back, he really began to make it his.”
A pearl is conventionally associated with wealth and prosperity. Like a philosopher’s stone, the pearl is believed to convert sorrows into happiness. Kino, a decent pearl diver and his wife, Juana, along with their son, Coyotito, are a poverty-stricken family until they discover “the greatest pearl in the world.” (p19) With hopes and dreams for themselves and their son’s future, Kino and Juana perceive this pearl to be a resolution for all of their troubles. After finding “the Pearl of the World,” (p22) Kino is plagued with vexation. His greed soon overcomes his benevolence and good intentions. The joint rapacity of Kino and other people precipitates misfortune and violence around him and eventually leads to Coyotito's death. The Pearl highlights
Nature, which is also known as hereditary, is the genetic makeup (DNA) that an individual carries from birth until death. Hereditary characteristics are different in each individual, group and humans in comparison to other species. Nurture on the other hand refers to environmental factors and similar to nature, an individual is also exposed from birth until death. These factors involve elements such as physical environments (prenatal nutrition) and social environments (media and peer pressure). (Social Issues Referencing, 2007)
Sonny’s Blues By James Baldwin Sonny’s Blues the author is presenting the past from the perspective of the present in order to understand his own feelings concerning the role of a father. The two brothers in the story had different life choices. Both Sonny and the narrator have found their own mode of escaping the violence and harshness of the ghetto, different though those modes might be. After the death of the mother the narrator feels he is his brother’s keeper, because of the promise he made to the mother. He is not exactly happy about it and especially Sonny’s life style. Nevertheless, this is his only brother and he made a promise not to turn his back on him. Sonny was more like his uncle a music lover. Before the mother died she told him about his father and the pain he went through after the death of his brother. His father’s brother was a music lover and somewhat like Sonny. So, by telling this story it would help the narrator to understand Sonny. Now he knows a little about his family background and roots. At the end the narrator was finally able to see and understand what music did for Sonny; it allow him to be himself and express himself to other. Explore the implications of the allusion to the Book of Isaiah 51:17-23 in the concluding sentence. What has the narrator learned as the result of his experience? All of the desolation, destruction, famine, sword things that we (the narrator) go through in this life, are learned through other who have shared these same experiences. Our oppressor (Satan spiritually, mankind physically) causes a trembling in our lives; but just like Jerusalem, who was and still is oppressed; God has already taken our “cup of trembling”. We are delivered through the sharing of our experiences with one another, freeing ourselves from one who causes the trembling.
...t shown physically, it plays a much bigger role. However, nature does not overpower the role of nurture, which is essential in establishing our behavior. Our genes and our experiences make us the people we are today. Both nature and nurture interact in a way that makes us unique. They are designed for each other. Nurture cannot work without nature, and nature cannot thrive without nurture.
At first, the pearl symbolized aa amazing providence. With the discovery of the great pearl, Kino began to have hope for Coyotito’s future and thought of the different possibilities that lead before him. However, as the town found out about ‘“the Pearl of the World”’(Steinbeck, 1947, p. 23), it began to have an injurious effect into Kino’s simplistic life (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). Juana and Kino’s brother began to seek the pearl as a threat rather than a blessing as the pearl began to symbolize and associate more materialistic desires. With Kino’s desire to acquire wealth from the pearl, he altered from a happy and content father into a savage criminal. By Kino’s demonstration of the destruction of innocence from greed and desire, the pearl soon became a symbol of human destruction. Kino’s gluttony shortly leads him to violently mistreat his wife and also to the death of his only son, Coyotito (SparkNotes Editors, 2002). SparkNotes Editors (2002) believed that his greed ultimately isolated Kino from his cultural customs and society. Overall, according to Wheeler (2008), the parable’s moral lesson was that “money cannot buy
As the narrator is attending his brother’s performance he realizes music lifts the suffering from Sonny’s life. He uses the simile “like the very cup of trembling” (100). As a comparison to Sonny’s music that could relieve those who listen and Sonny from suffering. The reference to Isaiah 51:17 guides the reader to a scripture for more understanding. Even though Sonny’s sins aid him in suffering God promised he would restore those who believed. The narrator listens to Sonny’s blues and realizes Sonny would continue to suffer until someone listens to him. “Freedom lurked around us and I understood, at last, that he could help us be free if we would listen, that he would never be free until we did” (99). Sonny was suffering and just wanted someone to listen to his pain. Thus the implication of the Bible helps the reader understand the relief from
In “The Pearl” the characters, the Doctor, Juan Tomas, and the villagers all represent a type of greed or a lack of greed in the situation of the pearl. All of them want a certain something from Kino that involves them getting money from the pearl or getting the physical pearl from Kino. Some of the characters also represent a lack of greed by not wanting anything out of the pearl, but just wanting to help Kino solve the pearl situation.
Kino has to find a pearl to pay the doctor so he can help his son from a scorpion sting. Kino wanted to find a pearl to pay the doctor so Coyotito could get better from his scorpion sting. “... she had prayed that they might find a pearl with which hire the doctor to cure the baby…” (pg.15). At first he wanted to sell the pearl so he could pay the doctor to help his son. The pearl was a symbol of luck and helped bring needs to pearlfinders. “This was the bed that had raised the King of Spain to be a great power in Europe in past years, had helped pay for wars…”(pg. 16). This shows wealth and a good use of the pearls. The pearl wasn’t used for anything unnecessary.
In the book “The Pearl” by John Steinbeck the essential questions that works with the story is What is worth the effort, When is a risk worth taking, How can we fight injustice, and What impact will you have on the world. The essential question what is worth the effort because Kino risks his life for the pearl, when he has better things in life to look for. Kino would have been better off just selling the pearl because if he did he could get married in a church, raise his son and send him off to school. Unfortunately it didn’t work out the way Kino wanted it too.
“When news of Kino’s great find-the Pearl of the world-spreads through the small town-no one suspects it's power to deceive, to corrupt, to destroy.”(Steinbeck cover) In the novella, The Pearl, written by John Steinbeck, Kino, a poor fisherman, and his native wife, Juana, desperately need money to cure their child, Coyotito. Overachieving their goal, Kino finds the “Pearl of the world”(Steinbeck 21), and becomes overjoyed with the thought of wealth for their family. With their social class being much lower than others because of their native race/heritage, the only way to cute their son is to be prosperous and be of the same social class as others. Becoming more well known in their town, Kino's family is put in more danger as people try to steal and con kino out of the
The father KD is employed full time as a farm hand and is a business owner who operates a business called “The Flea Market”. His primary role for the business is acquisition and pricing of products. The mother CD is the primary breadwinner for the family as she is employed as a CMA full time. CD works the business part time and her primary role in the business is customer relations, marketing, and bookkeeping.
Nature vs nurture debate is one of the oldest arguments in the history of psychology. It is the scientific cultural, and philosophical debate about whether human culture, behavior, and personality are caused primarily by nature or nurture. Nature and nurture are both equally important. They are the two are major influences that affect the person you grow to be and will determine what your children will be tomorrow. Nature refers to heredity, which are traits and features that are inherited from your parents and ancestors. At birth you, as a person, inherits 50% of each parent 's genetic material that are passed along through the chromosomes found in the DNA. Hair color, height, body type, and eye color are some examples of characteristics
In the story of "Allegory of the Cave", Plato illustrates his concerning on humanity and education. By the meaning of "Allegory of the Cave", we understand the effect of education on us. Most of the people ignore the importance of teaching, and they seek to learn the knowledge of the book or other materials. Therefore, they don 't care the truth or ignore it, which leads the truth far from us. "Indeed, the very principle that education ought to be more concerned with drawing out various human potentials than with only depositing information into students owes its origin to Plato" (Burch 7). To improve people 's educational level, we should realize that what