Johnson,R

Journal Entry Chapter 1:

After the conclusion of chapter 1, Obviously there is an opening for a lot of themes to relate, as the chapter was left very open ended. With the actual ending of the chapter, they reach the top of the mountain and finally lose their myopic veiw of the land they have crashed onto. This grand view represents not only the amount of space they have for exploration, but the possibility of creating a civilization. There is so much room for expansion that only the boys imaginations can stop them... and their resources, but the point is that a civilization of their own may be the best way to take care of themselves and the land. I think they should use it for all that it is worth. "There's no village, no smoke, no boats. We'll make sure later, but I think its uninhabited"(Golding, 30,31). Ralph says this when they reach the top of the mountain. He points out the freedom of choice that they have now. They can do whatever they want with this island, and that does scare the minds of some of these boys.

Our current civilization is very sporadic. There is such a variance of people on this Earth, that some may be a little out there, and the people who follow may not always agree. A lot of times with very good reason. Our civilization has the potential to be perfect, we have just corrupted it with things like money and power. These things often get into the heads of mankind, and honestly... they go a little crazy. You look at the presidents of the United States, many said that George W. Bush was in it for the oil, and just wanted the income for his other rich oil owning friends, forgetting about the citizens in the U.S.A. Then you look at Bill Clinton who was loved by his fellow citizens until a wrong choice he made in the oval office ruined his chances. That is an example of his power taking him to a bad place. I wouldn't give us an F for our civilization, but it certainly could be much better. If we could get rid of greed, and terrible people (impossible) we could be a perfect Utopian society.

Journal Entry Chapter 2:

Chapter two is a period of time for the boys where they face a specific test of adversity together for the first time. There are many moments of panic and times where they really needed to get together as a group and get accomplished what they have to do to survive. The group does get together at the conch meeting and work together to come up with a plan to flag down a ship. That is all good, but it is when it comes down to their execution they run into some major issues. Starting a fire is something that many children learn in boy scouts, but these boys didn't have they knowledge Their best idea was to use Piggy's glasses to light a fire. "Piggy! Have you got any matches?... His specs__Use them as burning glasses!"(Golding, 40). Sure this idea does eventually help them get a fire ignited, but Piggy's glasses end up breaking. The use of "group-think" certainly isn't helping the whole group at this point, as one of the boys can no longer see clearly. They gave group-think a nice college try, but ends up not being used correctly under the circumstances they were in.

In High school group-think is used virtually every day. Group-think is used in classwork when you work together, and all the way to planning what you will do on the weekend. If somebody were to make plans them self and not notify anybody else, they would be having a lonely weekend. Using group-think is important for everybody that is attempting to accomplish a goal. If you are in high school and you never attempt to "group-think"... you will be lost in a world of people who interact often in order to live their lives.

Journal Entry Chapter 3&4:

Chapter 3 gives the reader accounts of what two divided groups of the children are doing with their time on the island. Ralph and Simon realize the importance of shelter and begin to build huts for at least the younger members because many of them are having trouble sleeping in the outdoors. While Jack and many of the littluns search off for food that they are not finding. Jack insists that it is just bad timing and the pigs will soon come to the forefront. For now they must eat fruit and other vegetation After a day of building, Simon went off on a voyage of his own. "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked round. The littluns watched him inscrutably over double hands of ripe fruit"(Golding, 56). This passage points out a very important difference between Simon and the rest of the older boys. He isn't in it for the leadership or the power. He wants to help the others and live in harmony. He goes out of his way to find fruit for the littluns while Jack runs around trying to be the alpha male, but lets the excitement from killing the pig get to his head and he chants, argues and slaps Piggy. If you look at the situation the whole group is in, and who is in the best position, it is Simon. He has not had run ins with any of the other members, and He is off finding new fruit and shelter, and not to forget helping others who are in need of it. So if you decifer good and evil like this, evil is leading the way, and others should follow suit.

In our world, there is enough good and evil around all of us every day that we could probably all name an evil person right of the tops of our heads and the tips of our tongue Good is more than just good. It is a process that a person must be consistent with in their daily routine. Good people will use courtesy and good additude in order to help others, while using that to help themselves at the same time. When I think evil, I think of greed, and using misconception or propaganda to get what the person wants. The selfishness of evil compared to the selflessness of good, really set the two apart into totally different ideas.

Journal Entry Chapter 5:

In chapter 5, the boys have started to lose their way of the ideal life Ralph had pieced together for them. Their self control begins to unravel and it is only a matter of time until they run into a situation they are not ready to handle. For the young boys this is especially difficult as their immature minds have not ever been prepared to be stranded on an island independently. One of the littluns finally speaks out about a sight that he saw... or he thought he saw. "And I was frightened and started to call out for Ralph and then I saw something moving among the trees, something big and horrid(Golding,85)." This was Phil(a littlun) talking about his encounter with the beastie. It is very likely that he just saw moving branches because it is true that your eyes play tricks on you in the dark. Phil had his inner most fear get the best of him in this situation. He had no actual evidence to the siting, and the wilderness was to real for him so he took the idea of the beastie and ran with it.

The materialization of evil is all around us in our world. Finding it just depends on how hard you look for this evil. Back in the 70's and 80's people were playing heavy metal records backwards and hearing subliminal messages that were instructing them to commit evil acts on themselves and others. I would say it is fair to assume that the artists did not intend for their records to be listened to in this fashion. There were multiple suicides and general harmful activities that were taking place, and were being solely blamed on the musicians themselves. I personally believe that this was a ploy by parents to get these records off the shelves as they did not find them tasteful and didn't want their children listening to them. Bands like Twisted Sister and Judas Priest were the two biggest headliners in this phenomenon.

Journal Entry Chapter 6:

The idea of darkness and the unknown is very apparent in Chapter 6. Sam and Eric are affected by this the most. That is because those two were in charge of the fire. It was only dark because they didn't handle their responsibly and uphold the fire like Ralph instructed them to. They fell asleep and once they awoke, things were different. There was action in the skies above and a little bit on the island. A parachutist falls from a plane and sits prone next to the fire. When he is spotted, the immediate reaction of the two is that it was the Beastie."Then as though they had but one terrified mind between them they scrambled away over the rocks and fled"(Golding, 98). The boys fear caused them to make a hasty, immature decision. People often run away from their fears instead of facing them head on. This causes the belief in the beastie to live on, when it could have easily been diminished at least a little if they had just walked over and taken a manly look at the dead body.

One of my biggest fears is spiders. I have never liked them and probably never will. I've had many bugs on me before. Anything from slugs to earwigs, although none make me more uncomfortable than spiders. I think I just hate them so much because they come in so many different varieties. Some are harmless, some are extremely deadly and you can't always tell which one it is. Sometimes the smaller harmless looking ones can be the most dangerous. Like a Brown Recluse for example. It is a similar idea to Beelzebub. I fear the unknown, and there is a lot to know about spiders before you can be comfortable with them... or you can just crush the hell out of all of the ones you see. People can say what they want about a fear of snakes, but i can tell you that you don't swallow 8 snakes a year on average like you do spiders.

Diarrhea Entries Diary Entry- Chapter 7

(Ralph) Dear Diary, Today was quite an interesting time on the island. The whole group seemed to act very spontaneously on their impulses. It seems to me that we are starting to lose our way. No guidance by elders makes it a very interesting time for us all. I can't tell if we are learning more about ourselves, or forgetting more about ourselves each day.It is good to be independent and all, but this group needs some form of control if it will succeed. I even lost myself for a little bit today when we chased the fat tasty-looking boar. My adrenaline hasn't run like that in a long time, certainly not since we arrived on the island. Trying to lead has pushed a lot of the fun aside, since I feel I am the only one responsible enough to keep us under control. Even though I am responsible, I feel like many of the others, including the littluns don't believe in what I am trying to preach. I fear that the way Jack is acting is quite contagious. When he starts actin-a-fool, everybody (including myself) can't help but do the same. I hope the others don't start developing in Jack Jr's. I have not been so scared on the island as I was when Jack and I ran from the Beastie earlier. I hope others don't see that as a weakness.

Chapter 8

(Piggy) Dear Diary, this morning I woke up in a daze after the nights sleep that i got was less than favorable. The conch howled and echoes obnoxiously as it always does. Last nights scare with the Beastie kept me alert. I was scared, I'll admit it. I couldn't be the only one. I saw the way everybody ran last night. I had to make sure that we were secure in our new location, I kept asking Ralph "Are your sure? (Golding, 124) This worried me because the Beastie isn't just something we can duck around for the rest of our time on this island. This is life or death for us. I am not only scared because of the Beastie, I am scared for the whole group after that display. Our success is based off of leadership, and our ability to face issues together and head on. I don't think we have done a good job at that. I don't know if Jack leaving was necessarily a bad thing for us. Who knows? Is Jack better at leading than Ralph.

Chapters 9&10

(Piggy) Dear Diary, I am hungry as ever right now. I miss stuffing my fat face on a regular basis. Even when I do eat something, I can't be sure what it is because i can't see it, as my glasses have been broken for quite some time. Something I always used to do is eat my feelings away. I don't have that luxury here. Facing my demons head on is something new. I want to eat but I don't at the same time because I honestly feel sick to my stomach about what went on yesterday. I kept telling myself and Ralph "It was an accident" (Golding, 157). We all know what went on last night. That is not who we are... or at least I hope that we haven't turned into the blood-thirsty scum we have recently been acting out as. Things will change, won't they?

Chapter 11

(Ralph) Being a former leader of this island, I am extremely disappointed to see what has transpired over the last few days. If somebody were to appear on this island today, they would have no clue that even the idea of a civilization had ever even crossed our minds. Today started as an admittedly desperate attempt to reach out to Jack and his herd of followers.It soon turned to utter chaos, and I lost my only lasting friend in a freak accident... and I had rocks thrown at me. I no longer feel safe and hope that a rescue will happen before it is too late.

Chapter 12

(Ralph) Today I had a plan. That plan was payback. I am not going to have my existence ruined by some lunatic with body paint on. The lord of the flies no longer meant anything to me, so I used its spear to exact my revenge on Jack. I got some insight into Jacks plan from Sameneric and I went into a thicket to sleep on it. That peace didn't last long as they found me and chased me. With burning island as the only place to run, I was forced to go towards the water until I collapsed. I collapsed into a peculiar spot as there was a Naval officer right above me. My only hope had come through for me, I went from being dead, to going home all in about 10 seconds, as the whole group of boys got choked up.

Final Chapter

(Ralph) My time on the island was interesting to say the least.We went from scared, to together, to separated, to deadly in only a handful of weeks time. The conch is a symbol that will always remind me of my time on the island. It is the only thing that kept us together in the grim, bleak first week we had together. I was beloved for a short amount of time. But it turned out that leadership cannot come from a teenager. You can attempt to lead the right way but depending on the stupidity and immaturity of the group you are with, things will most likely not turn out the way you would like. None of my orders were followed and that slowly lead to two deaths and complete chaos for the remainder of my time on the island. Both of my allies were killed and i was in grave danger. When we all came back to our senses on the ship ride home, I felt like I got my innocence back, completely knowing that we had all done some terrible, terrible things to the island and each other. My transition back into normal life took some time, but now I am doing great. I am getting straight A's. Jack Merridew on the other hand... he ain't doing so hot. A month after we returned home, he went crazy and went on a rampage with paintball gun, terrorizing the neighborhood. He wasn't ready to go back, because his true crazy self finally came out, but it was never going back in. I figured he wouldn't make it. I felt ready because I had learned a lot of life skills beleive it or not. I learned how to fend for myself, and I knew deep down that nothing that bad could ever happen again. At least I hope not...