Tuesday, February 6, 2007

The Lord of the Flies Q#8

entry of your choice
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The question that I chose is “How is this novel related to Christianity?”

This novel implies many lessons, and what I see is that it is related to Christianity in many different ways. First thing is that the evil and the good appear in the story and the devil makes the boys crazy. The boys become crazy because of the devil, they are afraid of it. But Simon, who is like Jesus, sacrificed himself to find the truth what the real beast is. Eventually he does, but he gets killed by the beast, the boys. Like what happened to Jesus, he was trying to tell the truth but he is killed by the people who were like devil. So this part in the novel relates to what happened to Jesus. Other thing is that the theme of the novel relates to Christianity. People living in these days forget about God very easily because of the false society. They only try to seek for their own good, which will lead them to hardships. Like in the story the boys only looked for authority, but at last they became failure. So people should follow God’s words and keep in mind as they live in the society. All humans have some evilness in their mind, so God created us with the abilities to fight against the evil. I don’t know if Golding was Christian or not, this novel seems to me that it includes many good lessons that relates to the bible lessons.

The Lord of the Flies Q#7

are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? or disturbing? or memorable? describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.
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The setting that was memorable is the place where the pig’s head is. I think the boys had many feelings and conflicts at that place. The pig’s head is symbolized as the lord of the flies; which is the greatest fear to the boys. It is also the place where Simon had figured out what the real beast is. That place is very disturbing and fearful place. I don’t like it when boys go there, because it seems like something bad will happen. It is also important place in the current of the novel, because it shows the theme of the novel, that the boys are the beast. I also think that, the place and the pig’s head implies lots of meanings. The pig’s head is devil, and the boys became like the devil because of their fear to the head. Another setting that was memorable for me was the beach. Both of the dead boys’ blood was washed away in that beach. When I think of that beach, I think of those two boys, both were washed away by the ocean. The beach is like graveyard for Simon and Piggy. The utmost part of the rising action and the climax happened near the beach. So it gave me a strong impression on the beach; the rising action and the climax made me to imagine the scene on the beach. Both of the settings are somewhat frightening and imply meanings. The overall story’s mood was depressing and very dark, so I think the setting will be also very dark places.

The Lord of the Flies Q#6

please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. why is this passage meaningful? please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.
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"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
(Chapter 9, pg. 138)
This passage is very meaningful in the story. This passage tells about Simon’s death and how the boys turned to the beast. As I was reading and when Mrs.Lavender read to us I was very scared because of this passage. This passage was repeated many times to emphasize the craziness of the boys to show that they really turned to cruel beast. It shows that the climax of the story is coming and that the boys will turn more evil and uncontrollable. The way the boys shouted like that shows that they are the beast and at the climax they do a lot more harsh things. This passage was meaningful and memorable for me because it made me to realize how human can turn into evil beast, and that we all have inner evilness. I didn’t know humans can be this much cruel, and they are only boys; so it was more shocking and sad for me. I also thought that humans often don't know what is right and what is wrong. And they only seek for their own good. Like the boys in this scene, they really didn't try to look for the truth like Simon did. But they only fought for their power and authority. This short passage has strong and deep meanings; it made me to think about what human is. I felt sorry for Simon and that the boys couldn’t find the truth.

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Lord of the Flies Q#5

what is the mood of this novel?
do you find this novel saddens you in any way? why?
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This novel's mood is very dark, depressing and exciting, from the beginning of the story to the end. It is very harsh to survive in the empty island, so the boys have lots of conflict and problems when they are trying to survive. The reason why the mood is so dark is because the boys have no hope. They can starve to death and die anytime; they can be eaten by the wild carnivores. The boys have lots of conflict living through the harsh life, so they become very evil and their innate evilness appears as they fight. There are so many conflicts that the mood of the story is dark and depressing till the end. Even though the overall story is depressing, I have found that it is very exciting and interesting story. All the actions and surviving stories were very interesting and made me want to read more. But I still feel bad for them and this story scared me while I was reading. It saddens me that I might be the same as they are. When I am in those kinds of circumstances I feel that I might be evil as they are and lost my mind. I feel sad that they were normal and naive boys, but then they have changed a lot. By reading this book it made me to realize that all human has natural instinct evilness. They can't control it when they are in peril situation, the instinct to keep them selves alive, to survive. This story is very tragic and sad story it is really sad to see the boys struggling to survive in the wild jungle. I think that they won't be happy even they go to their own ordinary life, it seems like they will have hard time adjusting back. So, in conclusion the mood of the story is very sad, depressing, and dark, it saddens me that all the humans have innate evilness.

The Lord of the Flies Q#4

what is the climax of the novel? what happens?
how do the events of this novel make you feel?
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The climax of the novel is when piggy died. Jack and his boys had attacked to Ralph’s base and took away Piggy’s glasses and fire. Ralph and Piggy got mad, so they decided to bring those back. They took the conch with them, to show that Jack doesn’t have the conch but they do. So when they went to Jack’s place the conflict started between Jack and Ralph. They were fighting and arguing. But then Roger rolled a huge rock toward Piggy. Piggy couldn’t dodge and the huge rock hit the conch and Piggy. The conch was all cracked and gone, and Piggy was hit by the rock and fell 40ft down to the red rock. He hit his back on the sharp rock and he was dead; the body was gone with the wave. When I read this, I felt terrible for Piggy and wanted to kill Roger. And I realized that Roger represents the pure evil and wrongness. The way Roger killed Piggy intentionally made me mad and couldn’t believe that little boy had done such a terrible thing. I also thought that they were very foolish to kill both intelligent boys; they were totally out of control. I can see that Golding is trying to tell that people in World War 2 were like Jack and his boys; especially Roger. The way Piggy died seemed to me that the antagonist side is winning and protagonist side was losing. This part was the utmost part showing how much the boys have changed.

The Lord of the Flies Q#3

who are the main characters in the novel?
do you like them? why or why not?
what is special about theme?
what do they reveal about the universal human experience?
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The main characters in this novel are Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon, Roger, and other boys. They all have different characteristics; and those characteristics include deep meanings that Golding wants to tell about the society at that time. For example, Roger represents the pure evil and wrongness; like Roger all the other characters has representing meanings. I personally like all the characters in this story. Because they weren’t that evil from the beginning, they changed as they were living in the island. I especially like Simon. I think he is very intelligent and courageous. He is curious and smart to find for the truth and what the real beast is, and he does find what the beast is. But then because he is weak and tiny, he is killed by the beast: which are the boys. In this story the boys were weak and gentle children, but as they live in the island they change. I think the way how the boys changed shows the other side of the human, and the universal human experience is revealed. The environment has changed them, all they think about is to survive and have authorities in the island. What is special about the theme is that the theme applies to all the characters in this novel. All the characters are just like the theme, they all have their inner evilness and they are the beast, the boys have so many things in common. I think the theme and the traits of the characters are related very strongly.

The Lord of the Flies Q#2

are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel?
what are they, and how fo they relate?
does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?
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The current situation that relates to the novel is a war; the war between Iraq and United States. It happened few months ago and this war was actually a big issue to the whole world. What happened was that the United States attacked Iraq. USA says that they attacked Iraq because of the terror they did before, but it was actually because of the petroleum. Iraq has lots of natural resources and if the United States took over the Iraq, they get to have all of them. So that is how the war began. The way United States attacked Iraq was intentionally for their benefit. This war had affected the whole world, because if Iraq can’t give petroleum, then the cost of the gas would increase. So what USA did was very selfish thing to do. Like Jack in the novel, he wants to do all the things in his way; selfishly, without thinking of how it could affect others. I think what Golding thought about the World War 2 is similar as how I think about the Iraq war. World War 2 was more severe and cruel than the Iraq war but both happened by the greed to get authority. To solve this problem, the best way is to share. When one country is lack of something, the other country can give or sell. By doing this way both countries can have what they need. If we live without sharing, then we will all be lack of something eventually.