Think a bit deeper about the themes present in the book - what do you think Golding might have been trying to say about society and politics?
I think that Golding was trying to say that a society is based on the leader's ethics, instead of the situation that a society is put in. There is a very clear view of this in the book because we can see the differences between Ralph's society and Jack's.
Ralph's society is a small group of five. (Ralph,Simon,Samneric,Piggy) In Ralph's society keeping the signal fire is an important job and the whole society is built upon respect. Ralph has the conch shell to let everyone know who is talking. This keeps the group respectful and makes it easier for all ideas to be presented. Ralph's society could be compared to a classroom; You talk when you raise your hand or when spoken to. Ralph is in charge and you listen to what he says because he knows what's best for the island. Ralph grew up in a school setting so his ethics are those of a headmaster or teacher.
Jack's society is a lot bigger and is based on fun and food. Hunting is all that is important and rescue is just a hope that they all have. I think because Jack started off jealous of Ralph, he just wants to be the society with the bigger population. That's why he invites everyone to a feast. It is just a lure to get more boys to join Jack's society. Because of Jack's growing anger and darkness, he affects his group by making them dark too. For example, when Jack's savages kill Simon and Piggy, all Jack had to do was tell them. There was barely any hesitation. Jack really is the one that turned his society into blood thirsty animals.
The reason why you can tell that society is based on the leader's ethics instead of because of situation is proved by the fact that Ralph and Jack went through the same events but, only one group was made up of savages. I think that we all know which group that is.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Essay Question 1
In the last paragraph, Golding writes "...Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of men’s hearts..." Discuss how this relates to the events that happened in the book.
I think what Golding meant by writing, "Ralph wept for the end of innocence,the darkness of men's hearts...", was that the schoolboys had witnessed so much on the island and had to grow up faster than other boys do. As a kid, parents are always laughing about the silly things kids say, because in all honesty, they aren't saying anything harmless.(Even when they are mad at another kid they usually say something like, "You can't use my markers anymore." That is not very harmful. No one is bleeding or dead, so after one comment the little "fight" pretty much ends.) Unfortunately, as a kid grows up, the innocent comments are gone, and replaced with hateful words and actions. The fight at work ends with comments about the other's mother or spouse and the F bomb is thrown around like candy at a parade. Hate can build up until a crime occurs and let's just say that someone is not coming down for breakfast. (They're dead.) How many times has there been an article in the newspaper about someone killing a friend for drugs or for a girl? Most of the time the article reports that the killer remembers having a weapon but, doesn't intend to use it. Either way there is someone dead.
This all relates to Ralph because of the progression of events in the book. At the beginning, all of the schoolboys are practically yelling, "Woah, no parents or teachers;Let's Party!!" They become too fixed on the idea of fun to grasp that they are alone on an island and may never be rescued. At this point in the book the boys are all still innocent. But, as the book progresses, the boys seem a little darker. The first sign of darkness comes when Jack decides to have his own society because he feels betrayed. He wants to hunt and have feasts, while the other boys starve. This is only the first step that takes Jack from an innocent choirboy to a cold-blooded killer. Next, Jack recruits boys to reanact his hunting by attacking one of the other boys for fun. He enjoys seeing the boy playing the "sow" run away scared. After that he went even further by killing Simon as he ran out of the woods to tell them about the body he found. Simon's body was just washed out to sea and never found. There was no real reason for the killing. Some say that it was Simon's fault for scaring them but, since when do you kill someone that is running toward you; especially when you know that person. If one murder wasn't bad enough, Jack then purposely kills Piggy by hitting him with a large boulder and lets him fall down onto rocks. Even if you believe the first time was an accident, the second time was obviously not. He even goes further by going on a "hunt" for Ralph with the objective to kill him. They sure must want him dead because he searches from one side of the island to the next, making sure that they find him.
Jack at the beginning Jack at the end
*respectful *Jealous
*good leader * leads boys to murder
*good helper *Selfish
*Murder 1 (Simon)
*Murder 2 (Piggy)
*Attempted Murder (Ralph)
Jack's actions make everyone else darker too. Ralph has to worry about death towards the end of the book because all his friends are being murdered. Ralph was always serious but, wasn't dark. Ralph cries at the end of the book because when looking back at all of the other events that happened on the island, he realized that all of the boys have grown cold. He now realizes that innocence doesn't last forever, which as a kid can be a hard thing to grasp.
I think what Golding meant by writing, "Ralph wept for the end of innocence,the darkness of men's hearts...", was that the schoolboys had witnessed so much on the island and had to grow up faster than other boys do. As a kid, parents are always laughing about the silly things kids say, because in all honesty, they aren't saying anything harmless.(Even when they are mad at another kid they usually say something like, "You can't use my markers anymore." That is not very harmful. No one is bleeding or dead, so after one comment the little "fight" pretty much ends.) Unfortunately, as a kid grows up, the innocent comments are gone, and replaced with hateful words and actions. The fight at work ends with comments about the other's mother or spouse and the F bomb is thrown around like candy at a parade. Hate can build up until a crime occurs and let's just say that someone is not coming down for breakfast. (They're dead.) How many times has there been an article in the newspaper about someone killing a friend for drugs or for a girl? Most of the time the article reports that the killer remembers having a weapon but, doesn't intend to use it. Either way there is someone dead.
This all relates to Ralph because of the progression of events in the book. At the beginning, all of the schoolboys are practically yelling, "Woah, no parents or teachers;Let's Party!!" They become too fixed on the idea of fun to grasp that they are alone on an island and may never be rescued. At this point in the book the boys are all still innocent. But, as the book progresses, the boys seem a little darker. The first sign of darkness comes when Jack decides to have his own society because he feels betrayed. He wants to hunt and have feasts, while the other boys starve. This is only the first step that takes Jack from an innocent choirboy to a cold-blooded killer. Next, Jack recruits boys to reanact his hunting by attacking one of the other boys for fun. He enjoys seeing the boy playing the "sow" run away scared. After that he went even further by killing Simon as he ran out of the woods to tell them about the body he found. Simon's body was just washed out to sea and never found. There was no real reason for the killing. Some say that it was Simon's fault for scaring them but, since when do you kill someone that is running toward you; especially when you know that person. If one murder wasn't bad enough, Jack then purposely kills Piggy by hitting him with a large boulder and lets him fall down onto rocks. Even if you believe the first time was an accident, the second time was obviously not. He even goes further by going on a "hunt" for Ralph with the objective to kill him. They sure must want him dead because he searches from one side of the island to the next, making sure that they find him.
Jack at the beginning Jack at the end
*respectful *Jealous
*good leader * leads boys to murder
*good helper *Selfish
*Murder 1 (Simon)
*Murder 2 (Piggy)
*Attempted Murder (Ralph)
Jack's actions make everyone else darker too. Ralph has to worry about death towards the end of the book because all his friends are being murdered. Ralph was always serious but, wasn't dark. Ralph cries at the end of the book because when looking back at all of the other events that happened on the island, he realized that all of the boys have grown cold. He now realizes that innocence doesn't last forever, which as a kid can be a hard thing to grasp.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Part 1; Question 3
Suspend your rationale thinking for a moment, and imagine that the place you all know best involving established authority - school - is suddenly without teachers, Ms. Nadeau, etc. for an extended period of time (think weeks). What would happen?
I think that it would be similiar to what happened in the book. In Lord of the Flies, all the schoolboys were celebrating the freedom that they now had. They could do what ever they wanted because the only authority that there really was, was from Ralph. After about a week though, the boy's idea of their perfect "society" was falling apart. Jack decided to have his own group, while Ralph tried to be rescued.
If all authority left Nokomis, I definitely think there would be celebration. I mean, who in school likes every teacher they have? I know there are a few I'm not fond of. All of the students would be glad; no homework, no work at all really. After a few weeks all of the kids would start realizing, that a) we still are stuck at school (the boys were stuck on an island in the book), b) there's no reason to celebrate anymore (like in the book), and c) we're lost without any authority (definitely in the book).
School would definitely be different, and I would have to say, for the worst. No matter how many kids say they hate this or that teacher, without their leadership and authority, we are being set up to fail. Just as in the book, Ralph and Jack weren't enough to keep the schoolboys calm in the book.
I think that it would be similiar to what happened in the book. In Lord of the Flies, all the schoolboys were celebrating the freedom that they now had. They could do what ever they wanted because the only authority that there really was, was from Ralph. After about a week though, the boy's idea of their perfect "society" was falling apart. Jack decided to have his own group, while Ralph tried to be rescued.
If all authority left Nokomis, I definitely think there would be celebration. I mean, who in school likes every teacher they have? I know there are a few I'm not fond of. All of the students would be glad; no homework, no work at all really. After a few weeks all of the kids would start realizing, that a) we still are stuck at school (the boys were stuck on an island in the book), b) there's no reason to celebrate anymore (like in the book), and c) we're lost without any authority (definitely in the book).
School would definitely be different, and I would have to say, for the worst. No matter how many kids say they hate this or that teacher, without their leadership and authority, we are being set up to fail. Just as in the book, Ralph and Jack weren't enough to keep the schoolboys calm in the book.
Monday, August 22, 2011
Part 1; Question 2
One of the main points of this book is to look at the effects of authority, or the lack of authority, on people. The "society" that the boys created eventually begins to fall apart; do you think this is because of the leaders they chose (Ralph and Jack), or because of the situation they were in (meaning who their leaders were didn't matter)?
I believe that the moral of the book is that a society is based upon the leader's ethics and not upon a situation or how political, and logical, the society is.
Ralph was more of a "thinker" and always thought about keeping a signal fire going so passing ships would come and rescue them. On page 80 in my book, Ralph had called an assembly to discuss what work was not being done. ( For example, using different spots as the bathroom, not filling the coconuts with water, not helping build shelters, and letting the signal fire burn out.) Ralph said, "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going?....Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can't keep a fire going to make smoke. Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?" Ralph was one of the few boys that realizes how important the fire is. Also, he tried to set a civilized society by letting whoever had the conch shell be the only one who was allowed to talk. He didn't want all of the other boys just yelling out and becoming out of hand.
Jack was more of a "doer" and cared more about having fun and feasting on the pigs he killed, rather, than being rescued. On page 126 in my book, the boys were all called to a meeting to discuss the "beast" that lived on the island. Jack made a few comments about the beast, but then, changed the subject by saying what Ralph thought of his hunters. "Yes. The beast is a hunter. Only--Shut up! The next thing is we couldn't kill it. And the next thing is that Ralph said my hunters are no good." Towards the end of the book when Jack decided to have his own little society on the end of the island, he turned the boys into savages. He had them all painted and spent most of his time hunting. He wasn't worried about being rescued as much as he was about just simply wanting to have fun. Worst of all, Jack's hunters went from hunting pigs, to hunting the boys from the other side of the Island.(Ralph,Piggy,Simon,Samneric) I think that if Jack had acted a little more civilized, the other boys would have been more civilized too. Jack was really acting as the "parental" figure of his society, which played a part in the other boy's change in thoughts, and more importantly, actions.
I believe that the moral of the book is that a society is based upon the leader's ethics and not upon a situation or how political, and logical, the society is.
Ralph was more of a "thinker" and always thought about keeping a signal fire going so passing ships would come and rescue them. On page 80 in my book, Ralph had called an assembly to discuss what work was not being done. ( For example, using different spots as the bathroom, not filling the coconuts with water, not helping build shelters, and letting the signal fire burn out.) Ralph said, "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going?....Look at us! How many are we? And yet we can't keep a fire going to make smoke. Don't you understand? Can't you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?" Ralph was one of the few boys that realizes how important the fire is. Also, he tried to set a civilized society by letting whoever had the conch shell be the only one who was allowed to talk. He didn't want all of the other boys just yelling out and becoming out of hand.
Jack was more of a "doer" and cared more about having fun and feasting on the pigs he killed, rather, than being rescued. On page 126 in my book, the boys were all called to a meeting to discuss the "beast" that lived on the island. Jack made a few comments about the beast, but then, changed the subject by saying what Ralph thought of his hunters. "Yes. The beast is a hunter. Only--Shut up! The next thing is we couldn't kill it. And the next thing is that Ralph said my hunters are no good." Towards the end of the book when Jack decided to have his own little society on the end of the island, he turned the boys into savages. He had them all painted and spent most of his time hunting. He wasn't worried about being rescued as much as he was about just simply wanting to have fun. Worst of all, Jack's hunters went from hunting pigs, to hunting the boys from the other side of the Island.(Ralph,Piggy,Simon,Samneric) I think that if Jack had acted a little more civilized, the other boys would have been more civilized too. Jack was really acting as the "parental" figure of his society, which played a part in the other boy's change in thoughts, and more importantly, actions.
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