Axel,C

__Journal Entry 1 – Chapter 1 – Civilization__

1). When the boys first arrive on the island, they are scared and looking for a leader. It is extremely courageous of Ralph to assume leadership even before the election. Ralph is a true leader from the start and helps make all of the decisions in the group. When man first sees land unconquered, their first inclination is to conquer all of it and claim it as their own. As we see a relation to all of mankind, Ralph takes on natural inclination in this quote…

“They had guessed before that this was an island: clambering among the pink rocks, with the sea on either side, and the crystal heights of air, they had known by some instinct that the sea lay on every side. But there seemed something more fitting in leaving the last word till they stood on top, and could see a circular horizon of water. Ralph turned to the others. “This belongs to us.” (Golding 28-29).

It shows that Ralph has taken up the prior expectations of all men to assume that an unconquered piece of land is theirs.

2). Our current civilization is not doing very well as currently we are in another country trying to solve other people’s problems with violence. It has caused many deaths to the world and the situation has not improved since we have been in Afghanistan. The conditions have become a desert everywhere and our countries attempt to expunge all of the troops from the country is failing miserably. The time period where we try to conquer lands that have been untouched is over as literally every part of the world is taken by an owner, or left alone because of its mysteriousness. For example, farmland is always taken by someone who wants the land to use it for farming. Now many people use the jungle for its products like trees and animals, nobody would want to live there as it is full of wild surprises and what not. This is why our civilization today is done with conquering land that is untouched.

__Journal Entry 2 - Chapter 2 – Nyctophobia__ 1). In the Lord of the Flies, we see how many of the little children are fixated on the idea that a beast lives on the island amongst them. This brings out fear in almost everyone except for Ralph, Piggy, and Jack. It is most obvious when at night, the boys are frightened and one of the boys claims that he has seen a beast, when the leaders think it is just a nightmare. As a reader, I see that darkness is affecting the little boys as they are becoming afraid of this so-called beast. They do not know if it is true or not, just the fact that one of the boys saw something, whether it be in a nightmare or real life.

“The other little boys, whispering but serious, pushed him toward Ralph. “All right,” said Ralph, “come on then.” The small boy looked round in panic. “Speak up!” The small boy held out his hands for the conch and the assembly shouted with laughter; at once he snatched back his hands and started to cry. “Let him have the conch!” shouted Piggy. “Let him have it!” At last Ralph induced him to hold the shell but by then the blow of laughter had taken away the child’s voice. Piggy knelt by him, one hand on the great shell, listening and interpreting to the assembly. “He wants to know what you’re going to do about the snake-thing.” Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed with him. The small boy twisted further into himself. “Tell us about the snake-thing.” “Now he says it was a beastie.” “Beastie?” “A snake-thing. Ever so big. He saw it.” “Where?” “In the woods.” Either the wandering breezes or perhaps the decline of the sun allowed a little coolness to lie under the trees. The boys felt it and stirred restlessly. “You couldn’t have a beastie, a snake-thing, on an island this size,” Ralph explained kindly. “You only get them in big countries, like Africa, or India.” Murmur; and the grave nodding of heads. “He says the beastie came in the dark.” “Then he couldn’t see it!” Laughter and cheers. “Did you hear that? Says he saw the thing in the dark-“ “He still says he saw the beastie. It came and went away again an’ came back and wanted to eat him-“ “He was dreaming” (Golding 35-36).

2). My biggest fear is spiders. I hate those insects. Everything about them scares me to death. Every time I walk through a spider web I wave my arms and attempt at getting it off my body. I just hate the feeling of when something is crawling on my skin and I can’t do anything about it. The whole look of spiders freaks me out. I can’t be in a room with spiders without freaking out. Whenever I see a spider web in a pathway, I turn and find another way as I can’t stand walking through a spider web. The worst encounter was in Raleigh, North Carolina where there were the biggest spiders I ever saw just in random places and it freaked me out. This is my worst fear and it is the worst feeling in my experience.

__Journal Entry 3 – Chapter 6 – Beelzebub__

1). Chapter Six had many interesting parts including when Sam n’ Eric found the beastie. It was very clear to me that this is a strong representation of Beelzebub. Earlier in the book, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon were all chipping in to build shelters while some of the littluns would play or either follow Jack and hunt for a pig. At this time a boat passed the island at which they were staying at, but they were not able to do anything to stop the boat from sailing past them. The fire was supposed to be a signal that would help attract things to the island to rescue them. The fire has now been out twice in the book and the second time, in Chapter Six, the beastie has come to pay Sam n’ Eric a visit by the fire. I believe that the fire is never supposed to be lit and that the children are never going to get off the island. The beastie is a sign of evil, or Beelzebub, which prevents the fire from staying lit as the children are afraid of it. I also think that Jack is in a way helping the matter of not keeping the fire lit so he can deal with outliers to a master plan that I am hoping on reading about. Jack is a form of Beelzebub as his personality has changed drastically from a strong leader to a crazy control freak.

“Warmth radiated now, and the beat pleasantly on them. Sam amused himself by fitting branches into the fire as closely as possible. Eric spread out his hands, searching for the distance at which the heat was just bearable. Idly looking beyond the fire, he resettled the scattered rocks from their flat shadows into daylight contours. Just there was the big rock, and the three stones there, that split rock, and there beyond was a gap – just there – “Sam.” “Huh?” “Nothing.” The flames were mastering the branches, the bark was curling and falling away, the wood exploding. The tent fell inwards and flung a wide circle of light over the mountaintop. “Sam-“ “Huh?” “Sam! Sam!” Sam looked at Eric irritably. The intensity of Eric’s gaze made the direction in which he looked terrible, for Sam had his back to it. He scrambled round the fire, squatted by Eric, and looked to see. They became motionless, gripped in each other’s arms, four unwinking eyes aimed and two mouths open. Far beneath them, the trees of the forest sighed, then roared. The hair on their foreheads fluttered and flames blew out sideways from the fire. Fifteen yards away from them came the plopping noise of fabric blown open. Neither of the boys screamed but the grip of their arms tightened and their mouths grew peaked. For perhaps ten seconds and they crouched like that while the flailing fire sent smoke and sparks and waves of inconstant light over the top of the mountain. Then as though they had but one terrified mind between them they scrambled away over the rocks and fled” (Golding 97-98).

2). In my opinion, materialization of evil is represented in many ways. I feel that it is expressed greatly in literature and films. Although literature and films show lots of evil, I think that if anything, history has taught us a huge lesson on the materialization of evil. My best representation of evil is when Hitler ruled over most of Europe. This was during the second World War and was a very dark age filled with genocide and discrimination. Both genocide and discrimination are one of the best representations I can use to describe what Hitler did. Throughout WWII, Hitler was able to kill most of the Jews in Germany, Poland, and many other European countries. He would set up concentration camps for Jews to be sent to where they were mistreated and killed without hesitation. It was extremely evil to even kill one person but in Hitlers case, he made a horrible decision as he almost wiped out an entire religion in Europe. It goes without question that it is evil and to be considered as one of the most horrifying cases in history relating to evil.

__Journal Entry 4 – Chapter 5 – Good and Evil__ 1). Throughout the book, I have found it easy to believe that Ralph and Jack have a clear struggle for power. It is obvious that Jack is jealous of Ralph as Ralph has been elected chief of the group. This is the turning point for Jack as he knows that he won’t be looked at as a primary leader. Jack represents evil in the book whereas Ralph represents good.

“What’s grownups going to say?” cried Piggy again. “Look at ‘em!” The sound of mock hunting, hysterical laughter, and real terror came from the beach. “Blow the conch, Ralph.” Piggy was so close that Ralph could see the glint of his one glass. “There’s the fire. Can’t they see?” “You got to be touch now. Make ‘em do what you want.” Ralph answered in the cautious voice of one who rehearses a theorem. “If I blow the conch and they don’t come back; then we’ve had it. We shan’t keep the fire going. We’ll be like animals. We’ll never be rescued” (Golding 92). This quote shows how Jack has taken all of the littluns under his own watch and guided them away from the leader, Ralph. The good and evil is becoming very clear in the book. I also believe that Jack (Evil) is winning the battle as he is taking away all of Ralph’s followers and making everyone believe that he should be the real leader.

2). I think it is very easy and hard at times to decide what is good or evil. It is known that sinning is evil, but everyone has sinned so you could say that everyone is evil. I also think that you can only be evil if you have sinned to an extent. It is hard to decide it on the spot without careful thinking. I believe that if you really want to do something and have fun with it, it is good. If you aren’t sure, or even hesitate in a way, it is evil.

__Journal Entry 5 – Chapters 3 & 4 – Groupthink__ 1). Groupthink is one of the key ideas in the book as it really shows how Jack has taken over most of the children from Ralph. Groupthink is when the group decides to all collaborate and come together on one decision without any outliers while ignoring other possibilities/ options. This is very clear in chapters 3 and 4 as we are able to see that Jack has taken the choir boys and some of the littluns under his wing to hunt with him. It was almost a unanimous outcome when Jack went hunting as the only ones left were Ralph, Piggy, and Simon. The only reason that Ralph, Piggy, and Simon didn’t join Jack with the pig was because that building the shelters were more important at the time as well as the fire. Jack used Groupthink to his advantage as he lured everyone away from keeping the fire lit and focusing on hunting the pig.

“Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” Yet as the words became audible, the procession reached the steepest part of the mountain, and in a minute or two the chant had died away” (Golding 69). This quote is very important as it shows how Jack’s followers immediately joined in on the pig chant without even discussing it. This was almost a common thought going through everyone’s head about joining in the chant while following Jack to create a Groupthink and not be left out.

2). Groupthink is a very complex issue that is and can be related to peer pressure. Groupthink is putting the group before yourself and going with the flow of things. You don’t want to be the only one around to not go with certain things, like a needle in a haystack. Peer pressure is the same thing as people urge others on to do stuff like everyone else is. This is a very common problem in teenagers as they are often pushed towards drugs and/or alcohol. I deal with this issue when it comes at hand and decide from there on. I cannot make a prior decision as I will not know the circumstance but I will usually be the one to disagree with the group.

Chapters 7-12 Diary Entries

Chapter 7

Whoever finds this diary should know that it belonged to Ralph. I’ve decided to start writing a journal crafting it out of some tree bark and stringing it all together with strings I’ve found laying around the beach brushed in by the water. It is very flimsy but it will have to do. This entry will be very short as I have to find a better material to carve words into the bark with; this rock that I’m using is really hurting my hands. Well anyway, today was very fun as first Jack and his followers went to go hunting for the pig as they found some of its droppings on the ground. I decided that I would join them for the first time. I was nervous; to be honest, but found myself in to it very quickly. The pig escaped but we kept our rage going as we started pretending that another boy, Robert, was the pig. We all started reenacting the scene and to a certain point, almost actually hurt Robert. This is when I knew that hunting was not a good idea as it almost killed Robert. After the hunt I told Simon to go back to the beach to inform Piggy and the littluns that we would not be back till later. A bit after Simon left, it became dark and Jack had a crazy idea to climb to the top of the mountain where he thought the beast was. I immediately shot the idea down, but then Jack challenged me. I thought to myself, if I back down, what will the others think of me. I quickly accepted the challenge, and then followed Jack and Roger to the top of the mountain. “Once more they set out to climb the slope of the mountain. The darkness seemed to flow round them like a tide. Jack, who had said nothing, began to choke and cough, and a gust of wind set all three spluttering. Ralph’s eyes were blinded with tears” (Golding 120). I wasn’t able to see much, but when we got near the top, Jack told us to wait a bit back so he could look ahead. The next thing I saw was Jack running back screaming “THE BEASTIE, THE BEASTIE!!!!!” I had to go see with my own eyes, and when I got to the top I saw this shadow thing that looked like an ape in the dark and ran right down the mountain with Jack and Roger. I had never been this scared in my life, but I had to keep my composure for when I had to tell the rest of the group. I think that the civilization is failing right now as Jack wants to take over my role as chief. If I were a littlun, I would have chosen myself to follow as I want to get off this island and not Jack. I also believe I have the most hope for getting off this island, but there is a part of me that fears that we won’t get off the island any time soon. Well this is the end of this entry, so I hope to tell you more again.

Chapter 8

To whoever finds this, it’s Ralph once again. I am writing in my diary once again but it will only be a short entry as I have not found a proper tool for carving in the bark. Well anyways, once we told the rest of the boys what we saw atop the mountain, everyone went into panic mode. It made me giggle a bit inside, but I was still scared of the beast too. Piggy was especially scared that the beast could come down from the top of the mountain at any time. Once the entire clamor of the beast was over, Jack started accusing me of so many things. It became outrageous! I didn’t know whether to fight back with words or just to laugh at the preposterous claims he had made. In the end, Jack ordered a re-vote for chief and I won again. This really set Jack off, so he left our group and formed his own sort of colony. He took some of the others with him, of course the hunters, and built a camp on another part of the island. “All right then. HE laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you” (Golding 127). I can’t help to think of what is going through Jack’s mind as he was very angry when he lost the election again. Now there is no order at all since half of the group left, and it seems that all civilization is failing as we need to keep together to protect everyone from the beast. Maybe I can negotiate with Jack to get a two way partnership as chiefs so we can still have the whole group together. At this point, I don’t think there is any chance that we will be rescued from the island, which scares me as I really want to escape the beast’s grasp and be rescued. Well I am running out of bark so I will try and add another entry to the diary.

Chapter 9

To whoever finds this, you should know it belongs to Ralph. I still haven’t found a tool for writing in the bark, but I will try to elaborate what has happened very briefly. It was really crazy as I convinced my followers to go over to Jack’s side and talk about things while trying to rebuild the original group. Some of the littluns who went over with me joined Jack’s side, probably because they saw something that they liked. I was a little upset about this but I couldn’t show my emotions like that and prove that I wasn’t a good chief. We all started talking and the next thing I knew, we all were dancing. It lasted for a bit until something came out of the woods. We all assumed it was the beast, but in the end it was just Simon. I backed off when I realized it was him, but Jack’s hunters kept going. It was horrible to watch and the next thing you know, Simon is dead. I am still shocked by it. That was the first thing that scared me. The second thing was a giant parachute fell from the sky and landed on the beach, which immediately was assumed that it was the beast. Maybe this is what Simon was coming to tell us. Maybe he saw there was no beast! Well I will never know as he is gone. My group left Jack’s group after a bit and went back to our camp. Piggy kept trying to convince us that it was an accident. “It was an accident, said Piggy suddenly, that’s what it was. An accident. His voice shrilled again. Coming in the dark – he hadn’t no business crawling like that out of the dark. He was batty. He asked for it. He gesticulated widely again. It was an accident” (Golding 157). Civilization is now at the worst point as Jack’s hunters are crazy and can only attack. I can’t even think of reasons of why Jack still has followers after everyone saw what his hunters did to Simon. If someone disobeys Jack, maybe the hunters will carry out Jack’s orders and kill again! I would gladly accept any new members in our group. Rescue is the last thing on my mind right now as Simon is dead. I am now fueled by the idea of the hunters attacking me. It is scary to think about. Well I ran out of space, so hopefully you’ll hear from me again.

Chapter 10

To whoever finds this diary, it belongs to Ralph. I can’t believe it slipped my mind to get a better tool to carve into the bark. Well looks like it will have to be a short entry again. Piggy is still trying to convince everyone that we had nothing to do with the death of Simon. Also it seems apparent to Piggy that the whole thing as an accident. I fell like this is a good point to make as it will calm the group down a bit and refocus them on getting back to the fire. A lot of the boys fell asleep due to depression fro Simon’s death. It was very hard for me to fall asleep but I ended up doing so with the occasional nightmares. I, along with the rest of the group was awaken by shrieks and was attacked by Jack’s hunters. It was quick and sudden as well as for no reason. This was uncalled for and in the process, the hunters stole Piggy’s glasses. Piggy soon realized what the reason was for; to make their own fire. The only problem I saw with this was, if they had just asked to get fire, they would’ve never had to take his glasses. I feel like the fire isn’t important anymore but then I realized it is a signal to boats passing by. The fact that Jack has others do dirty deeds for him is demoralizing to the hunters. Civilization is crumbling away over on Jack’s side of the island, and it will be soon until it affects my group. If I were one of the littluns with Jack I would’ve left already to come with me and live in my group. There’s a slight chance now, since the fires out, that we get rescued. "There was something good about a fire. Something overwhelmingly good" (Golding 163).Instead of being afraid of getting attacked by a beast, I am more afraid of hunter’s attacking us again. I will have to write again as my bark is running out. Bye for now.

Chapter 11

To whoever finds this diary, it belonged to Ralph. I have finally found a sharper tool to carve with, but will not be writing very much as I am on the run from Jack and his hunters. I just remember that it all started out in the morning when Piggy and I tried to light the fire but the cold air wouldn’t let us. That was it. I had to get back Piggy’s glasses. I blew the conch and all the boys remaining in my group came on the beach and we headed over to Jack’s camp. I was stopped by guards who would not let us through. They started throwing rocks at us and kept missing. The least they could’ve done was hit us, it was just humiliating watching them miss. But anyway, I blew the conch again and Jack came out of the woods with the hunter’s dragging a pig. It was apparent that Jack wouldn’t give back the glasses. We fought twice for some reason which I do not know. It was a dumb decision. In the end, the hunters took SamnEric into their possession and tortured them. After that happened, Roger shoved a big rock down the hill to attempt and hit me. I heard it coming and dove out of the way. This was not the case for Piggy who got hit and fell off the cliff and died. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from the chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea” (Golding 181). The conch was gone and so was Piggy and as mad as I was, I ran at Jack who threw his spear at me, followed by many others therefore forcing me to run away. Civilization is destroyed now as the conch is gone and they murdered Piggy. I am no longer even associating myself with Jack as he is a horrible leader corrupt with power. I can only hope to stay alive right now, and not hope too much on being rescued as my life is in danger more than ever. I am afraid of what might happen to me now as things are happening randomly to everyone who walks over to Jack’s side. If I don’t write another entry, Jack has probably killed me. Bye once again.

Chapter 12 Looking back at what happened on the island, I realized that I have not finished my diary. I’ll start off the right way… To whoever finds this, it belongs to Ralph. Well this is not going to be that short of an entry as I don’t have to carve into a piece of bark anymore. Type writing is so much easier and quicker. Well back to what happened on the last day on the island. My memory is a little foggy but I will do my best to fit every piece in. It started off with when I woke up in the jungle. I had so many thoughts of Simon and Piggy at the time that I was just thinking of giving Jack a taste of his own medicine. I stumbled upon a stake with a pigs head on it and immediately knocked the pig skull off and took the stake from the ground and held it close to me as a weapon. During the night, I went off to Jack’s base where I was met with Sam and Eric guarding it. They gave me food but would not join back with me. They told me how Jack tortured them in thinking that Jack’s group was the only group, or better yet, the best group to be in. I thought that as barbaric. The last piece of information was that Jack and his hunters were going to be searching for me the next day and try to kill me. This was horrifying news to my ears. At the time I wanted to get as far away as possible, but then it came to me. If I stayed close, it would be least expected. This would be the best way to stay alive for the longest. I woke up the next morning to the sound of Jack ordering the littluns to come hunt me down. I had to fend off some of the hunters, and eventually run away from my shelter. I was chased all around the mountain and exhausted myself very quickly. The hunters were behind me about to attack when the adult just stood above me. I was so glad of what I had seen as it was now a sign of rescue. I told him what had happened and he was disgusted. The only reason that the soldier found us, was because Jack decided to try and smoke me out of my shelter, but ended up setting the jungle on fire resulting in a signal fire. We all started crying as we told the man what had happened to Piggy and Simon. “…Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 202). After we got off the island, I stayed away from Jack and his hunters until we got off the vessel that saved us. I still do not want to ever see Jack’s face again. He was the worst thing that could’ve happened on the island. The whole reason I don’t like to remember the island is because we lost two great friends; Piggy and Simon. As an adult, I had to experience almost everything on my own as my parents died from the war. It was very tragic to find out about the news, but also it was expected as bombs were dropped all throughout London. I had lots of struggles, and lots of good times while growing up. As of right now, I am one of the founders of a super market called Piggly Wiggly that is in America. As I forgot to tell you, I now live in America because I had no future over in Europe. But anyway, I opened up a franchise of super markets to honor my lost friend Piggy. The other boys, as far as I know, got in a lot of fights and went to jail. It only seems right as they murdered two people already, and they have no sense of real civilization. I now know that always stick with civilization and don’t stray away from it as it will cause consequences. I gained a lot of experience from being on the island in many different fields, but I hope to never have to go through something as painful as that again. Well, goodbye for now. Ralph