Challenge 1
Challenge 2
Challenge 3
Challenge 4
Challenge 5
This week I read Lord of the Flies by William Golding. What happens in the book is that there is a plane of British schoolboys that gets shot down during the war. The island they land on is deserted and the boys quickly elect Ralph as their leader. Ralph then decides that Jack will be the leader of the hunters. Jack slowly draws the boys away from the civilized life Ralph and Piggy want into one filled with violence and savagery. After an aerial battle occurs, a casualty parachutes down and scares the boys. The boys all think that the body, because of the motion of the parachute, is the monster they think is on the island. This leads to more people joining Jack's side. Jack's side eventually sacrifices a pig and puts the head on a stick. Simon eventually discovers the head and discovers that there is no beast on the island, only one in their minds. Simon goes to tell the others but, thinking he's the beast, they beat him to death. Jack's group steals Piggy's glasses so they can start fires. When they go to get them back, Piggy is killed by a boulder and Ralph's other two friends are captured. Jack's tribe tries to hunt down and kill Ralph and set the island on fire to make it easier. A ship passes and sees the fire and manages to rescue Ralph just in time.
This may seem irrelevant to today's kids because they don't think that anyone their age would be capable of these kinds of things, and that, even if they were capable, they would never be in that situation. A way to make it seem more relevant to kids today would be to place less emphasis on what they did, and place more on why they did it. People today are much more aware on mental illness and what it can cause in people, and adolescents are developing in ways that make things they otherwise never would have thought of, seem appealing.
One of the themes present in the book is civilization versus savagery. Both of these are two impulses that exist with all people. There is the civil side, where you want to act peacefully, live by the rules, and value others over yourself. And there is the more savage side, where you feel the urge to act violently to subdue others, gratify your immediate desires, and enforce your will on others. This conflict in the book is especially shown between Ralph and Jack. While Ralph maintains his hold on civility, Jack almost immediately gives into his more violent impulses, eventually luring more people into seeing things his way. The book frames Jack's actions as horrible and by having civilization rescue Ralph from the other boys, we see that Golding intends for people to see and understand that you should want to be like Ralph. Ralph is established early on to be a likable figure, making people more likely to be sympathetic to him and his wants, which is what Golding wanted to happen. Golding's message is that he wants people to see savagery and violence and reject it in favor of civilization and peace.
Quotes
"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'" - Chapter 2
"He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." Chapter 4
Connection to Civilization v. Savagery
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/25/haunted-by-cannibalism-i-will-never-forget-that-first-incision/
Another theme is the inherent evil of man. By having the characters all be school boys, Golding suggests that all people, no matter the age, have the potential for evil. For example, the murder of Simon. Even Ralph and Piggy, who are so far the only characters dedicated to keeping things civilized, join in on his murder and surrender to violence and savagery, though they quickly revert. And while Piggy moves on quickly so he doesn't have to think about it, Ralph lingers and grows upset when he realizes that he too has darkness inside. Golding's message is that, while the urge to do evil is contained by all people, it can be conquered by constant effort, as Ralph does and as Jack failed to do.
Quotes
"The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Chapter 12
Connection to Inherent Evil
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/2-people-hit-by-car-on-i-5-in-downtown-seattle-during-protest/
Community Members
- A trained counselor/therapist
A trained therapist would have intimate knowledge of psychology, so having one come in to provide perspective on how the isolation and stress may have affected the characters would provide some subtext to the character's actions.
- Police Officer
Police officers see some of the most horrible things out there, so having one come in to talk about the influence other people can have on someone and talk about some of the things that some people have done would be interesting.
- Philosopher
A highly debated philosophical point is that man is inherently wicked, so having someone come in and talk about both sides of the issue would be fascinating.
This may seem irrelevant to today's kids because they don't think that anyone their age would be capable of these kinds of things, and that, even if they were capable, they would never be in that situation. A way to make it seem more relevant to kids today would be to place less emphasis on what they did, and place more on why they did it. People today are much more aware on mental illness and what it can cause in people, and adolescents are developing in ways that make things they otherwise never would have thought of, seem appealing.
One of the themes present in the book is civilization versus savagery. Both of these are two impulses that exist with all people. There is the civil side, where you want to act peacefully, live by the rules, and value others over yourself. And there is the more savage side, where you feel the urge to act violently to subdue others, gratify your immediate desires, and enforce your will on others. This conflict in the book is especially shown between Ralph and Jack. While Ralph maintains his hold on civility, Jack almost immediately gives into his more violent impulses, eventually luring more people into seeing things his way. The book frames Jack's actions as horrible and by having civilization rescue Ralph from the other boys, we see that Golding intends for people to see and understand that you should want to be like Ralph. Ralph is established early on to be a likable figure, making people more likely to be sympathetic to him and his wants, which is what Golding wanted to happen. Golding's message is that he wants people to see savagery and violence and reject it in favor of civilization and peace.
Quotes
"'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'" - Chapter 2
"He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." Chapter 4
Connection to Civilization v. Savagery
www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/25/haunted-by-cannibalism-i-will-never-forget-that-first-incision/
Another theme is the inherent evil of man. By having the characters all be school boys, Golding suggests that all people, no matter the age, have the potential for evil. For example, the murder of Simon. Even Ralph and Piggy, who are so far the only characters dedicated to keeping things civilized, join in on his murder and surrender to violence and savagery, though they quickly revert. And while Piggy moves on quickly so he doesn't have to think about it, Ralph lingers and grows upset when he realizes that he too has darkness inside. Golding's message is that, while the urge to do evil is contained by all people, it can be conquered by constant effort, as Ralph does and as Jack failed to do.
Quotes
"The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering." Chapter 7
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Chapter 12
Connection to Inherent Evil
www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/2-people-hit-by-car-on-i-5-in-downtown-seattle-during-protest/
Community Members
- A trained counselor/therapist
A trained therapist would have intimate knowledge of psychology, so having one come in to provide perspective on how the isolation and stress may have affected the characters would provide some subtext to the character's actions.
- Police Officer
Police officers see some of the most horrible things out there, so having one come in to talk about the influence other people can have on someone and talk about some of the things that some people have done would be interesting.
- Philosopher
A highly debated philosophical point is that man is inherently wicked, so having someone come in and talk about both sides of the issue would be fascinating.
Challenge 6
Challenge 7
The first half hour addresses all of the questions we came up with.