Bryant,S

Chapter 1: Beelzebub In chapter one Ralph, Simon, and Jack have a run-in with a piglet caught in creepers, after they finish a conversation about hunting food. When spotting the piglet, the first thing the boys think about is killing it. Jack even goes as far as to pull his knife from his pocket. He raises his arm in the air, but doesn’t go through with the act, he freezes. Then finally the piglet gets loose and escapes. Ralph and Simon question Jack on why he doesn’t finish through and in a way imply that he is a coward. Jack makes excuses but promises next time will be different: “Next time there would be no mercy. He looked round fiercely, daring them to contradict” (Golding 31). Jack shows strong signs of evil traits. It is clear in his tone that his next encounter with an animal, he will finish the job. In my opinion this quote, depending on what kind of person you are good or bad, determines if you are capable of killing a living thing. If you are a bad person there has to be certain ‘want’ or event that takes place, testing your consciousness for whether you have the tendency to actually kill another living thing.

One can find an example of the materialization of Beelzebub in the children’s story //Little Red Riding Hood//. The wolf is the evil character that disguises himself as Little Red Riding Hood’s grandma. At first she believes the wolf is her grandmother. She notice that her grandmother looks a little different so she asked her questions like; ‘grandmother, what large hands you have!'. The wolf would respond; 'All the better to hug you with.’ She then goes on to ask the wolf why his mouth is so big and he leaps up and says; 'All the better to eat you with!’ This brings fear to Little Red; she doesn’t know what to do. In my opinion, this part of the story is the “coming a live” of Beelzebub. This scene is not only frightening to Little Red Riding Hood, but also to the little children who are the target audience. The wolf swallows Little Red Riding Hood up. Instead of leaving, the wolf takes a nap. The huntsmen walking by Grandma’s house decides to stop by. He walks in and spots the wolf asleep on the bed. He cuts the wolf open and saves Little Red and her grandma. In a way the huntsmen is the hero and over comer of evil.

Chapter 2: Groupthink In chapter two the boys show signs of groupthink as they all work together to get the fire started. When Ralph first mentions the idea of a fire, all the boys are more than thrilled to help; “All at once the crowd swayed toward the island and was gone-following Jack”(Golding 38). Even though it was Ralph’s idea, Jack beat him to the punch and leads the boys on the hunt for wood. All the boys, even the littluns, find all the wood they probably can and make a big pile on the mountain top. Finally, Ralph uses Piggy’s specs to start the fire and the boys dance in joy.

As a high school student, groupthink is used frequently, in sports, class, and even with friends. With any of these situations, it is important that everyone is heard and everyone has a voice. Sometimes it does not work that way. Some people get looked over because they either are shy and don’t want to speak up, or they are just disinterested. Often times there is a group leader that keeps everything in order. There are cases where the leader does all the work and can be sort of bossy. This is not groupthink because groupthink is when everyone works together. Personally I enjoy groupthink, it gives you an opportunity to work with your peers and it splits up the work. I view myself as partner or teammate because I listen to others and I can handle constructive criticism. These are two traits that many people still need to develop.

Chapters 3 & 4: Good vs. Evil Chapters three and four are not only about good vs. evil, they are also about Ralph vs. Jack. In chapter three Ralph is diligently working with Simone to build shelter for the group; “ Been working all day now. And look”(Golding 50). Ralph is upset because he and Simone seem to be the only ones that care about shelter. All the littluns want to do is play all day. Jack on the other hand, spends his time obsessing over hunting and killing a pig. He says his reasoning is because they need meat, when really he is trying to satisfy his own selfish hunger, which is to kill; “Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to catch a pig first”(Golding53). All Jack thinks about is killing a pig. He wants to kill it to see it suffer and so that he feels powerful. This is evil because he wants to hurt another living thing for his own pleasure. Ralph represents good because he is being selfless by trying to build shelters and get everyone rescued.

In this world it can be difficult to determine good from evil. It is easy to see the good in this world because that is the side people show the most. People love to brag when they do something good, but they usually cover up the bad things they do. This same rule applies to the evil in this world. It is harder to determine what is evil in this world because it is usually hidden behind a lie or a cover up. Most good deeds are done with an audience, while evil things are done in the dark or when no one is around to witness. Evil is when someone hurts others in a cruel way, purposefully trying to inflict pain. Good is when someone does something not for self-profit or recognition, but to help or benefit others.

Chapter 5: Nyctophobia The main theme in chapter five is Nyctophobia. Ralph calls a meeting to regain order. The final thing Ralph brings up in the meeting is the fear everyone has of the bestie. He tells them there is nothing to be afraid of and the whole bestie idea is nonsense. Then one of the littluns, Percival, stands up and tells the other boys about his nightmare that turned into reality when he woke up and saw something in moving in the trees. Percival thinks it is the bestie out of fear, but it turns out to be Simone. As Ralph watches Percival, he is reminded of another littlun that has gone missing; “There had been no further numberings of the littluns, partly because there was no means of ensuring that all of them were accounted for” (Golding 86). The boys are too afraid of the answer to this question of where the missing littlun has gone, that is why none of them ever ask. They are unsure of what has happened to the mulberry-colored birthmark boy, but they would rather be unsure than face the ugly truth.

My biggest fear in life is the future. What makes the future scary is unknown. As a teenager, there’s guidance. You find this guidance in your parents and teachers. This lasts until you turn 18 and become an adult. Then you’re on your own to guide yourself. There is no telling if you going to succeed or fail. No one to tell you right or wrong and no one to face consequence for you, it is all on you. I know for a fact that if there was some kind of book that told everyone who they were going to be and how to get there, no one would be scared of the future because they would already know what to expect.

Chapter 6: Civilization Civilization is one of the key themes in chapter six. Since the beginning of the book, the conch represented law and order. It is the main symbol of civilization so far in the book. It also represents Ralph’s power as chief. He knows the day he blows the conch and no one responds, his days of being chief and their civilization will be nonexistent. Jack is the first to rebel against the conch; “Conch! Conch!” shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore” (Golding101-102). Not only is Jack rebelling against the conch, he is also rebelling against Ralph’s demand for order. Jack’s disrespect for the conch angers Ralph because he knows what effects would be once the conch is no longer important.

In my opinion our civilization is doing well. We have all the necessities we need to maintain a normal and satisfying life. We are not facing any type of chaos that is making our lives unbearable in our country. For the most part it can be said we have a successful civilization. This is not true for all countries. Across the world, people in different places face issues that make it hard to live a stable and secure life.

Diary Entries

Chapter 7 My name is Brent. It has been a long day, it is midafternoon and we are just heading back to the shelters from our hunt for the bestie. On our way back we stopped for fruit. It was a nice break. Jack began speaking about hunting, while Ralph seems to be in a daze. I took this opportunity to help hunt because they usually just leaving me behind with the littluns. I know it because in 10 and that’s like the between age. Jack quested ahead, but I stayed with the pack because I did not want to get hurt. When we finally spot to the pig, it seems a though everyone get this rush of energy and we all fling ourselves at the boar. Then out of nowhere Ralph takes his wooden stick and aim for the boar. He hit the boar right in the snout. He was so excited he kept saying, I hit it, I hit it, over and over again. He had the same excitement Jack had when he killed his first pig. It was funny because today it seemed like Jack and Ralph had which roles. Jack was leading everything; while Ralph was get extract about harming a pig. Anyway, Ralph got everyone so rowed up we reenacted hunting a pig; “Make a ring! The circle moved in and round. Robert squealed in mock terror” (Golding 114). It was a good time. Everyone was getting along and no one was thing about the fire, being recused, of any fears of the darkness or beastie, at least for that one moment

Chapter 8 Diary Entry

After Ralph, Jack, and Roger returned from the top of the mountain with news of seeing the beastie, we all returned to camp. I tried to act calm in front of the boys because they were all older than me and I did not want them to call me a baby. Deep down I was terrified. Who was going to save us and how long until the beast comes to kill us? It seemed as though I was always scared, especially at night. When we got back to the shelters, Jack called an assembly. He told us about the beast and its claws, and how it looked at them. He then went on the say that Ralph should no longer be chief; “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief” (Golding 126). How dare he question Ralph’s authority, Ralph has done nothing but tried to give us shelter and get us recused. I know he does think he could do a better job as chief. All Jack does is look out for him self and obsess over killing and hunting, a leader is much more than that. After his statement, he asked us to raise our hands if we did not want Ralph to be chief anymore. When no one raised their hand, Jack ran to the jungle with tears in his eyes. Part of me was happy he left. Something about Jack always scared me. It was like he had this evil aura. I felt like he was always trying to scare us, like we already didn’t have nightmares at night. After Jack was gone we decided to make a fire. The littluns cheered and danced around it. Ralph, Piggy, and I just sat around it. I overheard them talking about how some of the bigans had disappeared and probably went to find Jack. A look of worry crossed Ralph’s face. I on the other hand was happy, without Jack around I felt safe. Later that night when the fire was dying out, Jack appeared with two of his hunters inviting us to dinner with them, and then they ran back into the jungle. That night I had a dream about Jack and his scary mask.

Chapter 9 Diary Entry

As I was bathing in the pool with the rest of the boys that decided to stay on Ralph’s team, we decided to sneak off to Jack’s feast. We were not planning on changing sides we just missed the other boys and really wanted some meat. When we got there, they welcomed us with open arms. We sat around the fire, bonded, and ate meat. It was just like old times. All of us were bonding and having a good time besides Ralph, Piggy, Simon, and the two boys tending the fire. As night started to fall, Jack began to speak. Once again he was trying to get more of us to join his side; “Who’s going to join my tribe?” (Golding 150). I saw what he was doing. He thought that just because we had a fun time and he gave us meat, we were just going to run to be on his side. Not me. I know the only true leader is Ralph, whether everyone else sees it or not. Ralph is my leader no matter what. Then, as Jack and Ralph got into a heated argument about leadership, it started to storm. The lighting and thunder scared us all; even though the older boys would never admit it. The loud sound of thunder had me shaking. To hide their fear, the hunters did their dance. The littluns and I jumped on the outside of the circle and joined into the dance. As we were dancing, something came crawling out of jungle. Unsure of what it was, the bigans attacked it. Still chanting the song, the bigans leapt, stuck, bit and tore at the beast. It stared to rain hared and the wind blow heavy as the beast started to bleed out.

Chapter 10 Diary Entry

As I awoke the next morning, I overheard Ralph and Piggy having a conversation about the night before. At first I couldn’t really hear them, so I got closer. Ralph sounded really upset, while Piggy sounded nerves. They couldn’t see me but now that I was closer, I could hear every word. Ralph told Piggy the thing everyone thought was the beast was in reality Simon. He called what they did, what we all did, murder. Piggy tried to convince him it was an accident: “Coming in the dark – he hadn’t no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it” (Golding 157). Piggy was coming up with every excuse possible to not blame themselves for what happened last night. Piggy is not the only one that does that. At times on this island, we all run from the truth. There are questions and mysteries we let go unsolved just to avoid the truth. Like that boy who went missing, no one asks about him. Not because we don’t care, but because we’re scared of the unknown. It’s like we sweep it all under a rug and try to act like it did not happen. Now were going to do the same with Simon’s death.

Chapter 11

After the attack Ralph, Piggy, Sam, Eric and I gather around the smoke where the fire use to be. Ralph decided to call an assembly for just us. While they were discoursing how to get Piggy’s specs back all I could think about is how we got. When did our civilization become non-existent? We have failed at keeping a civil society. I blame Jack everything is his fault. He spit the group up because he wanted to be chief and was jealous. He never said it but his actions showed it. He is evil and needs to be tough a lesson. When the assembly was done we made our way to Castle Rock were the others were. When we got there Ralph demanded to see Jack who was out hunting. When Jack returned he ordered us to leave but Ralph said no without Piggy’s specs and reminding them the importance of a fire. While they we arguing, I was keeping a close eye on Roger who was throwing rock and looked as if he was up to something. Then Ralph and Jack stared to tussled. When they stopped fighting, Piggy stood up to talk. He asked the savage what was more important to them, hunting or being rescued: “Which is better- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?”(Golding180). By the silence it was clear Piggy made the boys think. When this happened Jack knew he had to do something to draw them back, so he ordered them to tie Sam and Eric up. Then out of no were Roger leaned all his weight on this lever. The rock struck Piggy, the conch was broken and Piggy fell off the cleft. He fell forty feet to his death the sea carried him away. All Jack could say is: “I’m chief”(Golding181). That bastered.