Blog # 11 - Is "Gathering of Pearls" Interesting?

“Gathering of Pearls” is a very good book and is interesting to me. The story is easy to understand. It made me think about when I came to America to go to school.  Everything was so different than in China, and I was not sure that I would fit in or like it here. Maybe Sookan was not sure how she would fit in.

I really thought that I knew how Sookan felt when, after she signed up for her classes, she said

I knew it would be difficult for me, and that I would have to study many more hours than my classmates because of my poor command of English. But armed with what had quickly become my constant companions, my English-Korean and Korean-English dictionaries, I was determined to get through these classes. (p. 18)

When I first started having classes in English, it took me a long time to read anything, because when I would read most things, I would have to look up something every few words. I have a translator pen that I can use to scan a word in a book and find out what it means in Chinese, but it still took a long time. It had to take Sookan a very long time to look up words in a book.

            I liked that Sookan was able to make some good friends soon after she got to the college. Her roommate Ellen was very outgoing and talked a lot. Marci was not as outgoing as Ellen, but she was a good friend to Sookan too. I think that Sookan felt closer to Marci when Marci brought her some lunch on the day when Sookan went to see Miss Mullen to find out about the babysitting job. When Sookan came out from seeing Miss Mullen,

On the bench by the door was Marci. “I knew you would miss lunch, “she said.  The Cafeteria just closed. I didn’t feel like eating there without you, so I went to the snack bar and got us two ham sandwiches. (p. 23)

Sookan was happy about this very kind thing that Marci did for her. I think that Sookan also felt closer to Marci when Marci said that she and her older sister did not have much to say to each other. I think that Sookan was feeling that way about her own sister.

            Sookan’s mother is very kind and wants Sookan to be happy and not to worry about her. I think that Sookan’s sister is not a good person. She is a Nun, so she is supposed to be a good person. She works to help poor people, but she is not good to Sookan. She has decided that she wants Sookan to be a Nun like her and does not seem to care what Sookan wants to do. Her letters always talk about how hard she is working and that she will be happy when Sookan comes back to Korea to be a Nun like her. She never thinks about what Sookan wants to do. In her letters, she always writes mean things to Sookan and makes her feel bad. I do not think that she is a good sister, even if she is a Nun.