"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other."

  About three weeks ago, my class completed the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The story has a dramatic ending; one that I wasn't expecting. Most of my classmates are dissatisfied with the ending of the book. We discover that the boys are saved from the dreaded island by some Navy Seals. However, we did not find out what exactly happened after the boys got rescued. Did they all arrive home safely? Did the boys have to explain what happened to Piggy and Simon? Did the boys get in major trouble? Did the boys plainly go back to living their old lives? These questions will remain unanswered. Only the author--and the readers--will be able to use their own imaginations to come up with their own well thought-out answers.

   After we finished Lord of the Flies, my class wrote an in-class essay on our outside reading books. My group read the novel Black Boy by Richard Wright.

 To the left: Black Boy book cover 

 
   To the right: Part of a documentary about Richard Wright-Black Boy. 

   This story is an autobiography from the early 1900s about an African-American boy named Richard Wright. He talks about the continuing struggles in life; what it is like to be a black boy in the 1900s. In my essay, I wrote about the hunger in Richard's life. The hunger for love, hunger for money, and hunger for equality. Richard has a constant need for love and affection. He often had strident beatings in the story, and Richard never received enough love in his early and late stages. His family deals with extreme poverty. There's a quote in the story, where Richard displays the poverty that occurs in his life. "A man called me to him and whispered some words into my ear and told me that he would give me a nickel if I went to a woman and repeated them to her"(21). Richard was willing to do anything in order to get money, temerarious or not. Hunger for equality is the most important key point known in Black Boy. Black individuals used to conflict with this key point in most cases. Racism in the early 1900s was one of the worst times known in history.

To the right: Herman Cain

 Cain: Racism Is No Biggie

  In an interview, Herman Cain insisted that racism in America isn't significantly impeding economic process by minorities. "I don't believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way," the presidential candidate declared on CNN. Cain acknowledged that there are still "some elements" of racism. Cain believes  that if we don't improve this economy, blacks will be hit the worst when economic policies don't work, because black people are more disproportionately unemployed. Cain blamed  educational differences and hard-hit regions for high unemployment rates among blacks.However, he still believes blacks have only themselves to blame for their economic situation. Cain said, "People sometimes hold themselves back because they want us to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what the want to achieve."  

Source: http://www.newser.com/story/130573/cain-racisms-no-biggie.html     

To the left: This song is called "We Shall be Free" by Garth Brooks. It sends out a very important message, and an inspirational one, too. A message that says we can never really be free until each one of us accepts each other as equals, no matter who or what we are. Some of the most inspirational song lyrics found would be:

"When the last thing we notice is the color of skin,
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within,
When the skies and the oceans are clean again,
Then we shall be free"

 
   The class recently began reading Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare. 

   We had done brief reflections after each reading of the day. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings" (I.II.140-141). We did a reflection on what exactly this quote is portraying. I wrote, "I believe this quote is saying that we must govern our own lives. In the book, it says "stars" means that one's life was governed by the stars or constellation one was born under. Instead of being governed by the 'stars,' we need to govern ourselves." Alternatively, Brutus and his clan feel the need to govern themselves. There are a few other examples that kids wrote when we did this reflection.
* "We shouldn't blame other things for our problems. Instead, we take responsibility."
* "Caesar is above the others because of his actions, not because of fate."
To the right: Caesar
We discover that the phrase has been interpreted to mean that fate is not what drives men to their decisions and actions, but rather the human condition.

   In another reflection, we wrote about why Cassius says that they have the falling-sickness, and not Caesar. Here are some of the responses we got after the reflection.

*They're the ones with the disease, not Caesar.

*This could be exaggerating Caesar's power.

*They want to hurry up with Caesar's assassination.

*When Caesar is rising, they are falling.

*Caesar is keep them down.

Below: Decius

   There is a point in the story, where Decius attempts to abet Caesar into going to the capital. Caesar wasn't planning on going at first, because his wife begged on her knees to forbid Caesar from going. However, once Decius told Caesar that they were planning on crowning him, Caesar adamantly chooses to go to the capital. Decius didn't even need to put any effort into coercing Caesar to go to the capital. Caesar says, "How foolish do your fears seems now, Calphurnia!"(II.II.105). Caesar was being extremely disrespectful and negligent towards his wife, Calphurnia. He chose to fulfill his own needs, rather than listen to what his true love had to say. This also shows that Caesar is very selfish for not listening to his wife, and expunging her words out of his mind.Caesar should have just listened to what his loved one had to say, because his life depended on it. This educates the readers, by telling us that it is substantial, and should be inexorable, to listen to our loved ones. People often want things to go their way, so they won't do what's right. Doing what's right would be to listen to your loved ones. It's just like how Caesar ended up not listening to Calphurnia, even though she begged on her knees for him to stay home.

  

  

   Caesar arrives at the capital. Casca was the first one who stabs Caesar. Things just became chaotic, after that. Once the killing is over, Brutus says something that didn't really make much sense. "Then walk we forth, even to the marketplace/And waving our red weapons o'er our heads/ Let's all cry, 'Peace, freedom, and liberty!'"(III.I.108-110). It's interesting how Brutus says this, even though it's contrasting to the main point of peace and freedom. Peace shouldn't involve killing and blood. As a matter of fact, it has nothing to do with that. If you look up "peace," you're not going to find something like "the act of killing; hatred." What you DO find, is harmony and agreement. 

                                                                                            Above: The death of Caesar

    War is one of the worst things that occur on this world. War and peace are two complete disparities. It's never safe to say that Earth is full of peace and harmony. A copious amount of soldiers give their lives in order for our country to be safe, just because some people don't like the thought of peace. I'm a proud sister of (almost) three Marines, and I feel safe since they--and millions of other soldiers--serve/served our country so that we are protected.

 Above: This song is called "Happy Christmas (War is over)" by John Lennon. It sends out a very clear message about individuals wanting peace on Earth. War is over, if you want it.

    Below is an extensively religious and clement poem, called "Peace." The author of the poem, Henry Vaughan, attempts to persuade the readers to seek the happiness of heaven by leading a good life. One of the main themes of the poem is peace. Henry Vaughan believes that peace is a spiritual quality. He believes that peace depends on being prepared about a war against evil. Vaughan portrays that heaven is peaceful, while our world is full of noisy activities and dangers to the soul. This poem has a lot of imagery in it. The poem contains natural, spiritual, and military images.

Peace
By Henry Vaughan
My Soul, there is a country
          Afar beyond the stars,
Where stands a winged sentry
          All skillful in the wars;
There, above noise and danger
          Sweet Peace sits, crown'd with smiles,
And One born in a manger
          Commands the beauteous files.
He is thy gracious friend
          And (O my Soul awake!)
Did in pure love descend,
          To die here for thy sake.
If though canst get but thither,
          There grows the flow'r of peace,
The rose that cannot wither,
          Thy fortress, and thy ease.
Leave then thy foolish ranges,
          For none can thee secure,
But One, who never changes,
          Thy God, thy life, thy cure.

Source: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174696

Above: The "Stairway To Heaven"

"Either men will learn to live like brothers, or they will die like beasts."

Lord of the Flies has gotten to an extremely dramatic point in chapter 8 and 9. Mr. Keating said, "The author will try to build the mood in a story." As we read the story from day 1 to now, the mood surely has built up to a striking halt. One of the most important things is that we unravel Simon's death. The sudden death was completely unexpected.

 We knew that Simon was a Christ-figure since the beginning. Simon was thought to be a Christ figure, Mr. Keating claimed, because of his act of selflessness and kindness. Simon also showed his braveness when he considered everyone should go up to the mountain to kill the beast. Everyone disagrees. Later on, Simon goes up to the mountain himself, and finds out the beast is nothing but a dead body attached to a parachute. He wanted to let the other know that the beast wasn't at all what they thought it was. Unfortunately, the worst think that could possibly happen to Simon...happen. White the boys are dancing wildly in a circle, Simon stumbles in the circle trying to tell the children what he'd just saw. The children mistake Simon as the beast, and kill him. "Kill the beast. Cut his throat. Spill his blood..." are the painful words that are whispered to us whenever we remember Simon's death. Simon is then ostracized and jettisoned from his group, and cast out into the ocean. 

Simon was referred as a Christ-like figure

In English class, we did a reflection on Simon's death. The first question was, "Why does Golding choose Simon to be killed?" Here are a few of my answers.

*** Simon was known as a Christ-like figure.
*** He was one of the only thoughtful kids.

*** He wasn't violent like the rest.

Question 2 was, "Why is this significant?"

*** Simon had a life relative to Jesus's. Jesus was killed because of his beliefs, and he was "gaining too much power" since others followed his beliefs. On the other hand, Simon was killed because he knew the truth about the beast, but was mistaken for the beast and ripped to shreds.

In chapter 8, Simon sits alone with a sow head swarming with flies. This sow head begins to "talk" to him, claiming evil rests within every human being and the sow promises to have some "fun" with Simon. Simon thought this sow as very candid, because he thought the sow was speaking the truth and was frightened by it. As for Jesus, he comes up to a man possessed by the devil. Jesus asks for the man’s name. The devil, inside the man, speaks through his voice. "My name is Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies." Jesus is then tempted by the devil in the events leading to his death, similar to Simon. 

A sow head

*** The other children would have probably freaked out if they saw the beast, unlike Simon. They most likely wouldn't have even gone alone like how Simon did. Plus, if they saw the dead parachuter, they would have instantly tried to kill the beast. The other children are utter maniacs; no doubt they would have murdered the parachuter since they murdered Simon (by mistake). That's why Golding chose Simon as the founder of the beast. He's understanding. Simon isn't the type of kid who would immediately want to kill the beast, cut his throat, and bash him in. 

This whole idea is comparative to Halloween, and the month of October...which is this month. As we all know, October is the spookiest time of the year. Once the story began to get more into this idea of the beast, it immediately reminded me of Halloween. It's ironic how we were reading these chapters in the month of October, or Halloween month. It's almost as we, as in the class, are telling "scary stories" about beasts and devils. The dressing up on Halloween can be similar to the children on the island becoming new (but not improved) people, just like how Jack put on his mask and changed into a different person. During Halloween, we can see copious decorations on our neighbors lawns. Such decorations could include R.I.P. signs. We could pretend as if the R.I.P. signs were for Simon and the parachuter's death. 

Halloween Masks

 In chapter 8, Jack's group was mentioned. The author describes how the boys had black caps, just as how they did in the beginning of the story. The boys in the black caps mentioned in chapter 8 bring some significance to the story. The black caps could mean that the boys returned to the "dark side." This can display what their loyalty to Jack is, too. The boys decided to follow Jack...the bad guy...the enemy. Considering the boys aren't wearing cheerful, bright colored hats, this scene expunges happiness and joy. This occurrence shows that Ralph is the good side. The darkness of the black caps signifies the dark side, and Ralph in this case is the brighter side. 

The dark side in Star Wars 

  People who gossip on a daily basis can be referred as turning to the dark side. Most people will always talk or hear about gossip...whether it's about you or someone else. Once you start it, you've instantly turned to a darker side that your not used to. Who knows, some people are used to this and it has no effect on them. Gossip can hurt others, and can hurt yourself. So, once YOU start it, you're in for it. You better be willing to get some karma in return, because there's no stopping what goes around, comes around. 

The song "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" by Marvin Gaye is one of the #1 songs about gossip, and what goes around comes around. 

“The key to change... is to let go of fear”

As we progress through the amusing novel, Lord of the Flies, us classmates are able to distinctly perceive with the eyes how each character has phased. That is, phased from the person they were in the first couple of chapters, to the person they are now. We could even compare and contrast each character if we wanted to...because some characters share copious traits, while others are precisely dissimilar.

 Jack is the character who goes through the most supreme adjustments from chapter one to chapter six. In the beginning of the novel, Jack is a well mannered school boy. When he is chosen to be the leader of the (hunter) pack, Jack ultimately wimps out  when given the chance to flourish his hunting skills. After this, he sets his mind on hunting..only hunting. Jack is devoted to hunt and he makes it a true commitment. When Jack puts on his new "mask" he turns into a completely different person. Jack WANTS to be different. He had became so avarice, that no one could stop Jack from gaining power. He's utterly determined to change into this new being, simply because he is displeased with the old Jack. 

As we all know, people in this world have excessively changed...past to present. We can see how people in the olden days dressed notably dazzling, with their extravagant dresses and alluring suits. That was how people dressed on regular occasions, not just on elaborate night-outs. What we see now in this time period has gone to an abhorrent limit, with sagging pants, ripped clothing...some people don't even wear ENOUGH clothing. For example, my art teacher left about a week ago to visit her mother, sick in the hospital. My teacher came back telling us her mother had passed away. My teacher decides to tell the class more about her mother. These were my teacher's approximate words,"My mother...she dressed and acted so elegantly...people acted more respectably in my mother's time...I can tell when people wear nice clothing, like when men wear a suit, they just stand a little more taller.." I can't remember what the exact words were, but what I do know is that they really spoke out to me.  It keeps people reminded of how much us humans have changed, whether it is for the better or the worse. Change doesn't always have to be a bad thing. We're moving forward. We're taking on a challenge. We're gaining a new perspective. Most importantly, we're learning from our mistakes.  

This song is called, "Please Come To Boston," by Dave Loggins. This is comparable to CHANGE. In LOTF, Jack wants to change into a new person, accepting the fact that he is stranded on a desert island. Jack wants to change into a new person, forgetting who he really is. In this video, a man wants to change where he lives, because obviously he finds other destinations to be more interesting than his own. His lover is explaining to him that his one true home is Tennessee, and nothing could change that. 

 Ralph is another character that somewhat changes throughout the novel. He has become an absolute genuine leader, getting more and more serious as we flip the pages of the book. Even though Ralph was always leader-like, he is taking his job more decisive than before. This is comparable to Jack, who is taking his job of hunting very seriously. However, Ralph is being a good leader for the sake of the children. Jack just wants to be a leader to prove of his skills and become a different person. Being a leader is a big role, and it's important to take on that role with great passion. To be in a leadership class, you need to have the ability to BE an accurate leader. What makes a good leader? Honesty, trust, determination, ability, gregariousness, fairness, and respect are some of the very few traits that we will see in commendable leaders. Bad leaders have traits such as: irascibility, furtiveness, dishonest, gaucheness, incapability, and disrespect. 

Week 2

    This week in class, we have begun reading the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. So far, we have read to Chapter one. After each reading, we summarize what has happened by characterizing the individuals we saw. On September 15, we described the characters: Simon, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack.

   Ralph is the first character introduced in the story. The author tells the readers that Ralph is stranded on a deserted island, when he meets a school boy named Piggy. As shown in Lord of the Flies, Ralph is fair-haired, happy, gregarious, fit, not devilish, lean, smart, athletic, rude, bright and excited, golden, and mild. Ralph is very leader-like, as well. He shows his directing ability when a group of boys show upon Ralph and Piggy. The boys voted for Ralph to be the top leader of the group. However, being a leader doesn't always mean Ralph's a caring leader. When the chubby school boy divulges his secret of being called Piggy, Ralph embraces the idea and approves of it. Ralph began to aggravate Piggy by laughing at him. Then, Ralph shares Piggy's secret to the other children, which led more humiliation towards Piggy. It was obvious that Ralph wasn’t bantering with Piggy, since this hurt Piggy’s feelings.

Jack from Lord of the Flies

    Piggy is the second character introduced in Lord of the Flies. Piggy is a chubby school boy who finds himself on a deserted island. Afterwards, he meets a boy named Ralph. Piggy obviously came from a higher-class school, because he has a school uniform. Once Ralph and Piggy have a conversation we discover that a plane with a group of school children crashed on an island. Piggy appears to be extremely freaked out, believing he would never see his home and parents again. Piggy feels tormented, because Ralph and the group of school boys make fun of his appearance and name.  Piggy felt worthless and abandoned when Ralph chooses Jack to be the leader of the hunters, rather than Piggy. Piggy was treated as an anathema for no apparent reason. All of the children castigated him by not allowing him to be leader, just because he was too fat and “incapable” of doing anything. Piggy suffered from ignominy,  because everyone thought of him as a no-good chubby kid.

Piggy from Lord of the Flies

  
   Jack was given the leader of the hunters by leader Ralph. Jack wanted to be the top leader at first, but he got received outnumbered votes. Jack, Simon, and Ralph decide to go hunting and leave Piggy behind. The boys run into a wild pig caught in a tangle of vines. Jack steps in to cute the vines, and plans on slaying the wild pig. Jack hesitates, so the pig was freed. This event in chapter one shows how Jack is a bit of a wimp, considering he refused to kill the pig when the chance was given. Jack is a little docile, because he didn’t follow through with what he was supposed to. It shows how Jack desires to be a leader, but he may not actually have the complete capability to take control. Jack's willingness to be a leader may increase his ability to be an accurate one, as we progress through the novel.

Photo of Ralph, Piggy, and Jack

 
  Simon is one of the hunters that we see near the end of chapter one. Simon is physically described as being small, his chin-pointed, skinny, and has bright eyes. Simon isn’t described much in chapter one, at least not as much as Piggy, Ralph, and Jack. He seems to be more of an extraneous character in chapter one.

 

Here is a funny video of kids reenacting chapter 1 of LOTF

    When we first received the book, the cover appeared to be interesting and very questionable to me. I’d never read this book before, so I had no idea what this story would be about. Just looking at this book cover gives me miscellaneous thoughts. For example, why would there be a school boy beside a fly twice his size? Why are the boy and the fly in a forest and/or jungle? Why are there broken glasses below the boy and the fly?

LOTF book cover

The plane crash that occurred on September 6, 2011 near Trinidad can be relatable to Lord of the Flies: chapter one. Here is some further information found on http://planecrashinfo.com/:

Date:  September 6, 2011     

Time: 18:50

 Location:  Near Trinidad, Bolivia

 Operator:  Aerocon     

 Filght: A4-238

AC Type:  Swearingen SA-227BC Metroliner III

 Reg:  CP-2548      

cn: BC-768B

 Aboard:  9  

 Fatalities: 8       

Ground: 0

Route:  Santa Cruz - Trinidad, Bolivia

“The plane crashed into the jungle while on approach to Runway 14 at Trinidad Airport. After the crew reported they were turning into the final approach, radio contact was lost. The plane was found 2 days later, 10 km from the airport. One passenger survived.”

                                                                                     

   In Lord of the Flies, a group of school children crashed into the ocean and found their way to a stranded island/ jungle. Some survived, and few didn’t survive. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy, run into some of the children. Ralph and Piggy found that finding new people would be a benefit, since they can gather a hunting 

group and etc.

  

  In this case, nine adults were aboard of a plane and crashed into the jungle. Fortunately the plane was found 2 days later. Only one individual survived. The plane being found was most definitely beneficial since there was still a man out there left to be rescued.

   On http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/national_world&id=8305425 , we discover a 12-year old boy was lost in a Utah forest on August 13, 2011. “He built a lean-to of tree branches and wood to protect himself. He also covered himself in dirt to remain warm. The temperature dipped to 31 degrees in the area. He was wearing a shirt and jeans and had no food or water.”

  This current event is comparable to Lord of the Flies, because both have to do with 12- year old boy(s) that are lost in the jungle/ forest. They both have the ability to find resources that help them survive in the jungle. It seems as if they could all go a long time without any parental guidance. Plus, the boys in the story barely have any clothes and food, just like Jared Ropelato (the boy that was lost). Even though the boys in LOTF have not been saved by any adults, some school children found them. This allows the children in LOTF to feel safer, because they have more individuals to help them survive.

Week 1

 This week in English, we basically learned about writing essays and focused on what we’re writing about. The entire class is writing an essay on how Harper Lee develops a theme throughout the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. There are three specific themes we can write about, but we must choose one; race relations, childhood innocence, and rural poverty.

 In this case, I chose to write about how Harper Lee develops the theme “race relations.” I selected this specific theme, because I have the best evidence for race relations, and it is a very serious matter in To Kill a Mockingbird and the real world. Also, the other themes seemed a bit more insipid, in a way that I thought they wouldn’t be as interesting and detailed as race relations.

Race Relations

 Besides in books and novels, race relations can connect to the real world, as well. Race and racism has been a meaningful part of history, as we all have heard, learn, seen, or even displayed a part of it.

 For example, the black slavery that began approximately from 1619, when Africans arrived in Jamestown, to 1865, when the 13^th Amendment was ratified to end slavery. This is one of the most common examples of race relations. There were about four million African- American slaves in the United States before the 13^th Amendment was passed. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, because Abraham Lincoln passes the 13^th Amendment.  The previous day of the assassination, Booth divulged to a crowd outside of the White House that Lincoln’s speech on granting suffrage to the former slaves would be his last speech.  Booth was extremely dogmatic about the idea of freeing black slaves, which is one of the reasons why he assassinated Lincoln.  Other white individuals may have abetted Booth into doing this tragic crime. After all, several American citizens loathed the thought of having to work instead of their black slaves working for them.

Abraham Lincoln 

 Another known event in history where racism was involved was in approximately the 1930s, when blacks had basically no rights compared to white citizens.  African- Americans couldn’t vote, go on the same buses as white people, sit in the same restaurants, go in the same bathrooms, and so much more. However, this all changed when Martin Luther King Jr. led the civil rights movement in the 1960’s. The civil rights movement refers to the movements in the United States that focused on outlawing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring voting rights in Southern states. Martin Luther’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech displays his thoughts on civil rights and racism.  Again, an individual (Martin Luther King Jr.) who is only trying to do a good deed was assassinated for only trying to do what is right.  Luckily, Martin Luther’s goals and dreams were not extraneous, considering they came true after he died. On April 4, 1968 while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated  by James Earl Ray. Ray killed MLK for the same reason John Wilkes Booth did, he was racist against African- Americans and he refused them to have any rights.  

Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech