The Pearl Entry 1

Only 40 pages into the book, and Kino's selfishness and greed is already starting to take over. I was very shocked by his savage attack on Juana, as he had seemed like a pretty good partner up to that point. I felt that, although this showed his obsession and selfishness surrounding the pearl, it was a little too extreme to happen so early in the book. I know it would be difficult to do in a novella, but I think his degeneration should have happened a little more gradually. This is just my opinion though, and John Steinbeck knows more about writing than me, so it's far from a major complaint.

One thing I really did not understand about the book was why people still lusted after the pearl so much even after it was declared as pretty much worthless by the appraisers. Did they not know of the pearl's worthlessness, or did they want it for it's beauty instead of the money? I'm starting to think the pearl may be cursed, and the dark figures that are haunting Kino are not thieves, but demonic entities. It would make sense, as the book seems very inspired by folklore.

Pygmalion Entry 2

Well, my prediction that Higgins would fall for Liza did not come true, but the second half of this play still managed to craft a good story. I liked the ending quite a lot, even though it didn't really clear anything up or give any of the characters conclusions. I like open endings, as they let me imagine what happened to the characters after the story ended, one of the best things about reading stories or watching movies, in my opinion. One thing I did not understand, however, was what the real point of the play was. Perhaps it would be more obvious if I saw it performed, but I never really saw a real message, other than perhaps a bit of a criticism of the class system and some veiled feminism. Both of these seemed like vague themes, but not enough to be a true meaning of the play.

Pygmalion Entry #1

After reading about half of this play, only one thing really confused me, and that was the title. Despite my limited knowledge of ancient fiction, I was somewhat familiar with the character of Pygmalion, a man who fell madly in love with a statue he sculpted, and I could not see any reason why this would be the title for this play. Suddenly, though, it hit me: Higgins is, in a way, "sculpting" Liza to his expectations, like Pygmalion sculpting his perfect woman. This leads me to wonder if later in the play, Higgins, like Pygmalion, will develop a love for Liza. I think it would make for quite a shocking twist in the play, and also would help to make it even more of a bit of a modern retelling of the story of Pygmalion.

     One thing I've really liked about this play so far is the usage of different dialects. Having Higgins speak very properly, as he is a phoneticist, and Liza speak in a stereotypical Cockney accent really helps to show how different these two characters really are, and what a challenge Higgins will be facing by attempting to turn Liza into a classy lady. I also like that Bernard Shaw didn't overdo the dialects, like some authors tend to do. Although I am a fan of Mark Twain, some of Jim's lines in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are nearly impossible to make any sense of. Shaw does a good job of avoiding this. His use of dialect is rather subtle, but still obvious enough to show you a bit of each character's personality.