Essential Questions for Chapters 1-2
1) What does it mean to be happy?
2) How does one react to situations that affect them?
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2) How does one react to situations that affect them?
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Vocabulary for Chapters 1-2
- Reflect: show an image of
Context Sentence: Her dark eyes made little reflected stars. - Reassure: give or restore confidence in; cause to feel sure or certain
Context Sentence: On her hard bare feet she went to the hanging box where Coyotito slept, and she leaned over and said a little reassuring word. - Timid: showing fear and lack of confidence
Context Sentence: A thin, timid dog came close and, at a soft word from Kino, curled up, arranged its tail neatly over its feet, and laid its chin delicately on the pile. - Interval: the difference in pitch between two notes
Context Sentence: Juana sang softly an ancient song that had only three notes and yet endless variety of interval. - Feint: deceive by a mock action
Context Sentence: Near the brush fence two roosters bowed and feinted at each other with squared wings and neck feathers ruffed out. - Plaintive: expressing sorrow
Context Sentence: In his mind a new song had come, the Song of Evil, the music of the enemy, of any foe of the family, a savage, secret, dangerous melody, and underneath, the Song of the Family cried plaintively. - Mutter: talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice
Context Sentence: Under her breath Juana repeated an ancient magic to guard against such evil, and on top of that she muttered a Hail Mary between clenched teeth. - Puncture: a small hole made by a sharp object
Context Sentence: She found the puncture with redness starting from it already. - Hover: move back and forth
Context Sentence: Kino hovered; he was helpless, he was in the way. - Determination: the quality of being determined to do or achieve something; firmness of purpose
Context Sentence: And Kino saw her determination and the music of the family sounded in his head with a steely tone. - Strenuous: having to do with much energy or force
Context Sentence: They made a quick soft-footed procession into the center of the town, first Juana and Kino, and behind them Juan Tomas and Apolonia, her big stomach jiggling with the strenuous pace, then all the neighbors with the children trotting on the flanks. - Inform: impart knowledge of some fact, state or event
Context Sentence: It had grown now, and on the outskirts the hurrying newcomers were being softly informed how the baby had been stung by a scorpion, how the father and mother were taking it to the doctor. - Appraise: evaluate or estimate the nature, quality, ability, extent, or significance of
Context Sentence: And the newcomers, particularly the beggars from the front of the church who were great experts in financial analysis, looked quickly at Juana’s old blue skirt, saw the tears in her shawl, appraised the green ribbon on her braids, read the age of Kino’s blanket and the thousand washings of his clothes, and set them down as poverty people and went along to see what kind of drama might develop. - Scandal: a disgraceful event
Context Sentence: They knew every little scandal and some very big crimes. - Avarice: never-ending desire for wealth
Context Sentence: They knew his ignorance, his cruelty, his avarice, his appetites, his sins. - Alms: money or goods contributed to the poor
Context Sentence: They knew his clumsy abortions and the little brown pennies he gave sparingly for alms. - Indigent: poor enough to need help from others
Context Sentence: And, since early Mass was over and business was slow, they followed the procession, these endless searchers after perfect knowledge of their fellow men, to see what the fat lazy doctor would do about an indigent baby with a scorpion bite. - Despise: look down on with disdain
Context Sentence: This doctor was of a race which for nearly four hundred years had beaten and starved and robbed and despised Kino’s race, and frightened it too, so that the indigene came humbly to the door. - Discontent: a longing for something better than the present situation
Context Sentence: His eyes rested in puffy little hammocks of flesh and his mouth drooped with discontent. - Civilized: having a high state of culture and development both social and technological
Context Sentence: “That,” he said, “was civilized living”—by which he meant that on a small income he had been able to keep a mistress and eat in restaurants. - Suppliant: having the expression of a plea to someone higher in authority or power
Context Sentence: Slowly he put his suppliant hat on his head. - Estuary: the wide part of a river where it nears the sea; fresh and salt water mix
Context Sentence: The town lay on a broad estuary, its old yellow plastered buildings hugging the beach. - Clarity: free from obscurity and easy to understand
Context Sentence: The uncertain air that magnified some things and blotted out others hung over the whole Gulf so that all sights were unreal and vision could not be trusted; so that sea and land had the sharp clarities and the vagueness of a dream. - Poultice: a medical dressing consisting of a soft mass of cloth or plant that is applied to the skin to treat inflamed areas
Context Sentence: She gathered some brown seaweed and made a flat damp poultice of it, and this she applied to the baby’s swollen shoulder, which was as good a remedy as any and probably better than the doctor could have done. - Strew: spread by scattering
Context Sentence: Light filtered down through the water to the bed where the frilly pearl oysters lay fastened to the rubbly bottom, a bottom strewn with shells of broken, opened oysters. - Irritate: cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Context Sentence: An accident could happen to these oysters, a grain of sand could lie in the folds of muscle and irritate the flesh until in self-protection the flesh coated the grain with a layer of smooth cement. - Undulate: move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
Context Sentence: Above, the surface of the water was an undulating mirror of brightness, and he could see the bottoms of the canoes sticking through it. - Obscure: make less visible or unclear
Context Sentence: Kino moved cautiously so that the water would not be obscured with mud or sand. - Perceptible: capable of being perceived by the mind or senses
Context Sentence: But in the song there was a secret little inner song, hardly perceptible, but always there, sweet and secret and clinging, almost hiding in the countermelody, and this was the Song of the Pearl That Might Be, for every shell thrown in the basket might contain a pearl. - Tactful: having or showing a sense of what considerate in dealing with others
Context Sentence: You must want it just enough, and you must be very tactful with God or the gods. - Adhere: stick to firmly
Context Sentence: The flutes were shining black to brown, and only a few small barnacles adhered to the shell. - Deft: skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
Context Sentence: Kino deftly slipped his knife into the edge of the shell. - Subside: sink down
Context Sentence: The lip-like flesh writhed up and then subsided. - Gloat: dwell on with satisfaction
Context Sentence: And to Kino the secret melody of the maybe pearl broke clear and beautiful, rich and warm and lovely, glowing and gloating and triumphant. - Recede: pull back or move away
Context Sentence: He looked past his pearl, and he saw that the swelling was going out of the baby’s shoulder, the poison was receding from its body.
Definitions provided by:
""The Pearl," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-2 35 words." "The Pearl," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-2. Vocabulary.com/New York, 11 Dec. 2013.
Web. 07 Feb. 2015.
""The Pearl," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-2 35 words." "The Pearl," Vocabulary from Chapters 1-2. Vocabulary.com/New York, 11 Dec. 2013.
Web. 07 Feb. 2015.