Ellis,B

Brett Ellis Good and Evil (Chapter 1) a) At the beginning if the book, Ralph blows the conch trying to summon any other boys to him. He is greeted with more than he thought, and while they are conversing during this first assembly, Ralph immediately puts Piggy down; “’He’s not Fatty’ cried Ralph, ‘his real name’s Piggy!’… A storm of laughter arose and even the tiniest child joined in. For the moment the boys were a closed circuit of sympathy with Piggy on the outside” (Golding, 21). Without parents or any sort of morality check on the island, the boys are free to do what they please. And one of the very first things done is insult another child, dooming him to permanent ridicule and embarrassment on the island. This is cruelty beyond what I think the other boys are capable of understanding, but it clearly shows something; even in this fictional novel, humans are not born with the capacity to tell good and evil apart, they do what they think they should. As we get older, we began to understand the gray line between the two, but for the most part we must make up our own. b) It is common to hear that nothing in this world is simply black and white. There are many different approaches to every situation, many different viewpoints, and none of them are technically “wrong”. Sometimes, it is easier to decide what is right than others. For instance, if there was a time when I had to choose between saving the lives of a young couple or a child, who would I choose? It is not so easy when it is a lose-lose situation. But I think that when making choices several factors must be taken into account; the probability of success, the drawbacks to certain choices, what is gained from each path, and countless others. They all come together and still form a difficult question; what is the right thing to do?

Beelzebub (Chapter 2) a) “They looked at him with eyes that lacked interest in what they saw, and cocked ears at the drumroll of the fire. Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch” (Golding, 44). In their hysterical and instinctive state, the boys rushed to make a signal fire, a fire that once started quickly spread to the nearby forest. In doing what came naturally to them, they acted without thinking, and started a disaster that could have burned the island to the ground. As Piggy “glanced nervously into hell”, he was looking at the physical result of the destructive nature of mankind. b) I see evil on television, over the internet, and through people I speak to. Lies are told to purposely deceive others as a means to a gain, and it is always done with a smile. Products that will never live up to their promises are sold on the internet, robbing people of hard-earned money. Tools and gadgets that don’t work are advertised on TV by muscular men or skinny women. There is greed all around us and we have accepted that fact, and if other people can do it, then why not us?

Groupthink (Chapters 3&4) a) As the boys notice a need for shelters, Ralph decides it would be wise to build huts near the sea. Everyone was supposed to help in a way, but they all quickly disappeared, leaving Ralph and Simon to their duties; “’All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing’” (Golding, 50). When the majority of the boys leave their work, they most likely did it with confidence and ease of mind; if they were told to get back to work, they could blame it on everyone else, because in truth it is everyone’s fault. This is the power of groupthink, where the individual thinks they cannot take the blame because the group made the decision. b) Groupthink is not so much a problem when talking to the person sitting next to you, but when it involves the entire class there is a problem. Some people have things to say, but are reluctant to say them for fear of embarrassment. It is hard to have a class discussion sometimes because of this, because when everybody agrees on silence it is rare that someone will break it. Group think also can be a deciding factor in project grades, because when somebody asks “is that alright with everyone?” very few would object to it, even though they have input.

Nyctophobia (Chapter 5) a) With the fear of the “beastie” growing amongst the littluns as well as well as some of the older boys, their instinctive fear begins to kick in when the night closes in around them; “In a moment the platform was full of arguing, gesticulating shadows. To Ralph, seated, this seemed the breaking up of sanity. Fear, beasts, no general agreement” (Golding, 88). Humans, because of our primal origins, have a natural fear of the dark. Or, more specifically what is //in// the dark; the unknown. The unknown is a fear nearly all of humanity has an inate fear of, and when that fear begins to infiltrate our mind, we put our safety first, ahead of the rules. Through this passage, Golding is trying to convey how a society will begin to breakdown when gripped with true fear. b) Although it might sound silly, I have a mild case of nyctophobia. Although I have not hidden under my covers for years, walking into the dark, alone at night is like playing Russian roulette for me. If I am in the right state of mind I will normally come through fine, but if not, I am overcome with fear and adrenaline floods my system, and the more I think about it, the crazier my thoughts get; what if there’s something out there? What if god and Satan are real and demons really walk the Earth? Is there a something watching me? What if there is and no one is around to help? These are the sort of things that go through my mind, and they come from the darkest part of my mind that I think everybody has, but most choose to ignore. I cannot.

Civilization (Chapter 6) a) After Sam and Eric alert the group of boys to the presence of the “beastie”, they are discussing what to do when Jack interrupts Piggy (surprise!) and tells him that he’s “always scared” (Golding, 101). An argument ensues; “’I’ve got the conch-‘ ‘Conch! Conch!’ shouted Jack. ‘We don’t need the conch anymore… It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us’” (Golding, 101). The conch represents law and order, which Piggy, Ralph, and a majority of the littluns respect (albeit they don’t necessarily like it). Jack and a smaller group of boys, however, believe that the strong should make decisions, that the weak should lead and obey the others. This clashing of ideals is normal in any society, but they are also are seeds for failure in them, causing a rift that will be seen later in the book. b) In some ways, our civilization has excelled more than could have possibly have been imagined 100 years ago; we have cures for deadly diseases, complex machinery capable of nearly anything with perfection, and communication nowadays takes no time at all. We have rules which are followed for the most part, and societies in which people are able to say and do anything within reason. But we have also hit a slump in the past few decades, a low point in certain aspects. We can communicate with people instantly, but we rely so much on indirect talk, such as texting or using the internet, that we lose something that can only be experienced through personal interaction. We want to change the world and criticize others for their moral flaws while we show no interest in maintaining our own. We say, but don’t do. We punish instead of teach. We hear but don’t listen. We see but don’t perceive. In the metaphysical sense, we as a civilization are failing blissfully.

I’m just going to make a quick entry before I leave for the feast. Ralph, Jack and Roger came back with news of the beast; they saw it, and it was big, mean, black, and had huge claws and teeth. Ralph and Jack were arguing the entire time ‘cause Ralph poked fun at Jack’s hunters. Jack ran off by himself and he told us “Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too” (Golding, 127). I like hunting and fun and all, but Jack is still kind of scary; I wouldn’t want to end up in the middle of one of those circles.

I can’t be sure if it’s my imagination or not, but the island seems to be getting more restless now, I feel like things are happening and we don’t even know how to handle them and then something else comes along. I wonder if Jack is ever going to come back? Maybe if he makes up with Ralph, but that’s a stretch in its own right. I just hope we get out of here really soon, I don’t want there to be any more fighting.

One last thing before I go. We have to deal with the beast in some way, I can’t sleep anymore knowing it might be out there, hunting us. People are too busy doing other stuff that Ralph tells them to do during the day to kill it, and I don’t know what else we can do. But we must find a way. We must.

Simon died last night. I will not deny it; we killed him with our own hands. Everything was going fine at the feast; we were all sitting around the fire enjoying our share of meat. Then Ralph and Piggy showed up and everything went south. They tried to convince everyone that the fire was more important than hunting again, which was a terrible move considering it was night and it was Jack who threw the feast. “The fire-rescue” (Golding, 151) he kept repeating, always with the fire. It started to rain and he told his hunters to do their dance instead of run to shelter, and since I knew it already I just jumped in. It was a lot fun at first, but something happened in that circle. I felt like an animal almost, but it felt good. I felt free. Then Simon stumbled in and we thought he was the beast. God, it was awful. I’ve never seen anything like it; blood everywhere, our hands and teeth were perfect weapons, we tore at him… I’m not going to say any more on the matter, I don’t think I’ll need a Diary to remind me of what happened.

What’s scares me the most is that I hardly feel anything. No shame, no guilt. Maybe it’s just shock, I’ve heard of adults going into shock when something terrible happens to them. I hope that’s it. I don’t want to become a beast myself, do I? Maybe I don’t even need to try.

I am going to be staying with Jack’s group from now on. I mistakenly followed Roger back to their camp and I joined, simple as that. We wear paint, we hunt and have fun. We aren’t caught up in the business of the signal fire anymore; a ship will probably pass by any day now and rescue us, I’m sure of it. Roger and Jack are something to be feared though, especially the former. There’s just something about him that makes me feel smaller than I already am (and that’s saying something). Jack took two hunters to raid Ralph’s group for their fire. They keep warning us about Ralph and his lot though, and it’s getting kind of annoying. “They’ll try to spoil the things we do” (Golding, 160). But at least we’re safe from the beast here for now; there is strength in numbers, and we have plenty of those.

I am only writing now because soon there will be a feast. Piggy died today I think, he got knocked off a cliff by that boulder Roger had set up. Stupid boy, running around without his glasses. I hardly even pity the fool. Ralph shouldn’t have gotten his group mixed up with ours, ‘cause now he’s going to have to pay. He tried to get Piggy’s specs back, came with spears and everything, ready to take us on. As if. Jack is more than strong enough a leader now that he’s the chief, Ralph was only holding him back. Now we may hunt and play and have fun instead of working all day.

We captured Sam and Eric and now they’ve joined our tribe. Only Ralph is left in his stingy group, and he is wounded. Tomorrow we will take up our spears and hunt him all day if we have to. We’ll hunt and jab and poke and cut. He’s going to squeal like a pig.

I can’t believe I got left behind! “Watch the rock, Jimmy”. “Man the fort Jimmy”. I have just as much a right to hunt Ralph as they do, why did I have to get left behind? They went off without me, bloody liars! Who do they think they are? I don

The island is on fire. I don’t know who did it but somebody is going to get it. It was probably Jack, he’d do anything to get to Ralph, there’s “an indefinable connection between himself and Jack; who therefore would never let him alone. Never” (Golding 184). Oh well. I’m going to get moving, I can’t be trapped here all by myself with the island on fire. Maybe if I’m lucky I’ll run into Ralph on the way. I want my first kill to be special.

I don’t know who it was, but this was not me. Somebody must have stolen my diary or something, because the things written here…I never would think about half these things normally. I’m only nine, how could I be such a barbarian? I couldn’t, I would never. But I’m certainly not the same. I can’t even stop thinking about this.

The first thing I clearly remember is being helped up by a sailor. He wasn’t too big, but he carried me from the beach to the life boat. I remember the smell of smoke and a pile of burnt wood over near the water I the distance. I don’t know how to start a fire, so it couldn’t have been me. I also had green and black stuff all over my hands too, and there were other boys on the beach as well, and they had paint on their faces. We might have been playing a game or something I guess. But I don’t know any game that uses pointed sticks and face paint. Maybe we made one up.

Anyway, we got on board the ship and we were counted. They boys kept talking when he stated the number, so I didn’t exactly hear it. Definitely more than I could count at once. We all got thorough showers and got introduced to the captain, who said he would take us to Safety. I didn’t know there was a country //called// Saftey. As we were taken downstairs I noticed a boy with fair bandages all around his chest. He had fair hair and a really sad, empty look in his eyes, and I nearly wet myself when he looked at me. I guess he must have scared me quite a bit. When I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror I thought it was a window for a while. I had so much paint on my face, and my hair was so long I didn’t recognize myself. I looked like a miniature Tarzan, a savage even. It must have been a pretty cool game.

We’ve been taken to a shelter in Safety and I’m waiting for someone to come pick me up. I still remember that we’re in a war, and I’m not sure where exactly Safety is, so maybe I’ll be a while. Most of the other boys have left. The fair-haired boy got picked up first by who I’m guessing was him mummy, I didn’t see his daddy anywhere. That red-haired kid I saw earlier is still here, but at the same time he’s not. He doesn’t seem quite right, he’s got a funny look in his eyes that say “stay away”. Probably off his rocker.

I’m sure I didn’t write these things in the diary, but I couldn’t have. Deep down I’m good and I know it. I feel bad for whoever //did// write in it. If all of this was actually going through his head, he must have been a savage, a beast, something not human. But, then again, I’m not sure there’s any difference.