Post B

In the section I read this week Bear brought up a lot of good points and said a lot of wise things. I first noticed it when he asked these questions:
"If you knew that tomorrow afternoon the sun would flame up and consume all the world, would you spend the time between now and then praisiing beauty of creation or would you sit in a darkened room cursing God with your last breath?" (86).
"If tomorrow you came down with an illness that you knew would certainly kill you, how many differed things would you feel? Would relief be at all prominent among them?" (86).
When Will opened his mouth to answer one of these questions Bear said, "It's a mistake to answer too quickly"(86). I thought this was kind of interesting because I came up with my own opinion to these questions really quickly... I think they're really simple and easy to answer. I mean I'm sure I'd freak out at first but I'd rather spend the rest of my life (no matter how long or short) enjoying it and getting the best out of it.

Another thing Bear said was that speaking and understanding English were separate matters. I took this quote to mean two different things. The first is pretty obvious: you can say something in another language but that doesn't mean you know what it means. The second is that Bear doesn't understand white men. Before at the dance Bear hosted there was one dance where the Indians made fun of the white men. Will said that he remembered times when white men talked about the Indians and how they were much more superior than the Indians. Will found this kind of funny because at the dance the imitations looked rediculous but he had to admit that they were true. Anyways, I think the quote can also mean that Bear did not understand why white men liked to start wars and do a bunch of other things I don't really want to mention. He thought that their ways were rediculous while the white men thought the same about the Indians.

Post A

Vocab
Persimmon (84)- Any of several tropical trees of the genus Diospyros.
Transient (99)- Lasting only a short time; existing briefly; temporary.

Figurative Language
1) "Howling wind" (84) is an example of personification because it gave the wind a human characteristic.
2) "But now the exact art of it was lost, like knapping flint into knife blades sharp enough to shave the hair on your arms" (85). This is a simile because it describes the art using the word like.
3) Another simile is "It stuck the eye blurred, as if seen through water" (99). Once again, this describes the blurry eye using the work as.

Quote
Bear said, "I'm offering to stand as your father" (94). This is important because now Will has someone to call family and he's not alone anymore. Although Bear hasn't done anything very fatherly yet, I think he will impact Will and his decisions a lot throughout the book.

Theme
Don't judge people based on where they come from.