Chapter one begins, as with most stories, with establishing the setting, explaining the situation and letting the reader know what is going on. A quick portrait of an average day...I'm taking notes as I read, but something about the scorpion biting Coyotito seems more like foreshadowing of something to me.
When Kino finds the pearl, word spreads quickly, as it would in almost any small setting like this one, but the comparison to the nervous system of the human body is very accurate. Often, messages and events are transmitted faster than we can consciously know. Also, almost constantly throughout the story, the mood is conveyed through an ever-changing 'song' that has become a collective form of communication. I believe it to be a connection to the tradition of oral history which was probably very common in a rural village in Mexico, for not everyone knew how to read and write. Though not used as much today, I would compare it to how some people (myself included) often associate a song or sound with a memory or feeling.
Finally, the doctor seems to be a personification of how wealth changes not only the person who posses it, but the people around him or her. While the priest is extremely condescending to the people of the village, the doctor actually despises them, as if their lack of money makes them less than human. ("what am I, a veterinarian?") That is, until he hears that the man that was too poor to be seen is now wealthy beyond belief. (also, wealth has changed the pearl buyers, who have become clever, trying to get away with paying less to the divers.) It's obvious that the capsule that the doctor gave to Coyotito was not a cure, but a way for the doctor to get some of the money that Kino was soon to have. Perhaps the person that you would trust with your life has become less ethical than a poor fisherman. But perhaps the reason that I feel the most contempt for the doctor is his supper of chocolate and sweet cakes. With which he is discontent.
[pages 1-46]
No comments:
Post a Comment