Sykes,H

Chapter 1: Groupthink

The boys quickly realize that their situation is do or die. If ideas are not put forth nobody will be able to survive in the jungle environment. Often when people are put in a set group, leaders are established. "...while the most obvious leader was jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out..." (Golding 22). The boy's urge for a hierarchy could partially be due to age difference or maybe even fear. Now that they are without law and order they realize the true danger of their situation. Private school did not prepare them for this.

Not every groups choice for their leaders are as thought through as the boys were. Most groups don't even realize that they have established a leader. Often, groups emerge when there are things that need to be done or problems need to be solved. This is a usual occurrence throughout high school. When put into groups, there are always the ones who will actually do the work, the leaders, and the others who will agree with what is being done but just do what they're told to do or not do anything. The students who may not do as much don't necessarily not do it because they’re lazy, sometimes it's just because the leaders would rather be the ones doing it.

Chapter 2: Civilization

Although the group of boys is small, they have formed a civilization. The question is will they be able to maintain this small civilization? "A tree exploded in the fire like a bomb. Tall swaths of creepers rose for a moment into view, agonized, and went down again" (Golding 46). It hasn't been long since the boys have found each other and they've already made a mistake that could have been deadly. In order for a civilization to thrive, there has to be a job for everybody. Since the main characters are all inadvertently fighting to be the ones who take care of the group, this civilization is in jeopardy of failing.

This country started out as a democracy and thrived as a civilization for quite a while. It is now slowly but surely becoming less and less of a democracy. the government has been enacting laws that give the U.S. citizens less freedom and giving them more control over the citizens. The government isn't completely to blame for giving their citizens less rights. The citizens are also to blame for allowing it to happen. Too many citizens are relying on the government for support which is giving the government power over those relying on them. Without equal distribution of power, this civilization will come to an end.

Chapters 3 and 4: Good and Evil Because of the boys age and their lack of independence until the plane crash, it's understandable that they would have trouble differentiating from what is good and what is evil. Their inability to understand what's right from wrong as well as what's more important for their survival could mean life or death. "His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink" (Golding 63-64). The darkness of chapter four really shows the way most of the boys are changing. Although they have only eaten berries for the past few weeks, it might not have been right for them to kill the pig while neglecting the fire. By letting their inner evil take over, they lost a possible chance to get off the island. While most of the boys are beginning to let their inner evil's out, Simon is showing the complete opposite characteristics. In chapter 3 we find out about Simon's sanctuary, a well lit hideaway. The lighting of Simon's sanctuary implies that Simon is a peacekeeper and the light to the darkness coming over the boys. This also appears as the boys are savagely tearing away at the mutilated pig carcass. Although the others seem to be indulging in the act of violence presented to them, Piggy seems to be indifferent about the whole situation and does not take his own helping of the pig. Simon sees this and gives Piggy his own sharing of his only real meal in weeks. Even in the darkest moments of the boys survival, Simon is the light.

What is good and what is evil is all about someone's perspective on life. Some determine this as they were taught to when they were brought up, and some just take it from things they've witnessed or through a religious belief. It's not really possible to determine what is wrong from right, evil from good because everybody's opinion is different. There are some people who think that some of the most horrible acts of violence are the right way to go about things and others know it's wrong. It's really all about perspective.

Chapter 5: Nyctophobia As the boys continue on with their journey of survival, they begin to show more and more how they really are still boys. The littleuns bring up a beast that they have seen in the night. It is natural to have different feeling once the sun goes down. Although this is usually a childhood fear, when put in a vulnerable situation the fear of the dark is increased at any age. Since the boys are still boys and the littleuns even younger, their fear of the dark is quite prevalent. As living creatures, our natural instinct is to be somewhat afraid of the dark because that's when most things hunt, when other non-hunting creatures are most caught off guard. This is especially true in children. Most kids have a fear of the dark because they don't know what could possibly happen, some even claim to see "monsters" or in the boy's situation, "beasts". "What would a beast eat?" "Pig" (Golding 83). Not only does this quote indicate the boy's true fear in the beast but it shows some foreshadowing as to Piggy's possible fate. I can somewhat relate to the boys fear of the dark. I'm not completely afraid of the dark but if I'm alone and I can't see then I start to get freaked out. I think this is common in most people. When we can't see, we can't be aware of our true surroundings. Also, I have a really hard time seeing in even the slightest bit of darkness so that's probably why also. The dark really isn't my main fear though. I'm terrified of clowns. I've had this fear since preschool probably. When I was in preschool there was this dentist named "Brushy the Clown" who came to our school on a few occasions. I was already afraid of the dentist so the whole clown this was not re insuring in the slightest. I don't think that's necessarily why I am afraid of clowns but it's a possibility. I think society has a fear of being under attack, of war. Considering there hasn't been too many attacks on American soil I think this is mostly true for American's. There are a ridiculous amount of acts put in place to "ensure the safety of American's" and to prevent terrorist attacks which really shows the fear that this government and most of society has.

//9/10 A good response...some mechanical issues in writing, though.//

Chapter 6: Beezlebub

The boys attempt to survive has really brought about things in them that they normally wouldn't even think of doing. Jack brings about things in the boys that they wouldn't think of doing... Some consider irrational behavior the work of a demon or devil of some sort. Others consider these demons to come through in apparitions or objects, like how the boys keep seeing this "beast". In this chapter, while Sam n' Eric tend to the fire they see a dead body float by. The dead body is implied to be from the war going on above the island in airplanes. When Sam n' Eric run, screaming to tell Ralph about what they've seen they instead tell him that they've seen a beast, not a dead body. This shows that some of the younger children are envisioning the beast as what they see as evil.

//This is an incomplete posting...plus, the "implication" that the dead body was from above needs support from the primary text. Interesting ideas, just not completely explicated.//

//5/10//

Chapter 7

Today as we were marching through the woods we came across a boar. As it charged at Ralph he stabbed it in the nose with a spear and it ran away. At first we were all pretty scared. I think Ralph was more excited than scared though because he kept bringing it up. We were all telling Ralph what a good job he did when Jack came along. There was a cut on his arm from the boar.To get the attention off Jack, Ralph and Robert started pretending like Robert was the boar and Ralph was going to kill it. We all started our chant and I think Robert started getting a little scared. Once Jack got involved even I got a little scared. After he took out his knife I thought he was actually going to kill Robert for a second. But then it all just stopped. Like Jack realized how crazy this all seemed.

Chapter 8