Grimes,+Nina

__Lord of the Flies Journal Entries__

In Chapter 1, we are introduced to Ralph and Piggy. They are both stranded on this island with no one else in sight. At first, the boys don’t really connect; instead they are in their own little worlds walking along the beach. As the boys start talking they realize that they need to find the pilot and get off the island as soon as possible. Later on in the chapter we get introduced to Jack and the littuns, which is when I think the theme Civilization is present. Ralph and Jack don’t have a good start, instead they start arguing about who would be the strongest leader to get off the island. Piggy, on the other is more worried about shelter and how they are going to survive on the island without food and water. Although the boys don’t agree with one another they work as a team and agree with Ralph will be the leader, and Jack with go off with the hunters to find essentials for them to survive. Piggy, also shows a very mature side when he starts caring about the littluns more than he cares about himself. Our current civilization is failing in the education and nurturing of our young people. One of the contributing factors is financial. We have become a society that depends on a two-income family. The picture perfect family of the 1950’s has become a thing of the distant past. For the average families, the Mother does not stay at home baking while the Father goes off to work in a suit and hat. Unfortunately, with most parents away at work many children come home to an empty house. They can watch any television program or play any video game many of which contain explicit violence and gore. Teenagers and young children spend a lot of their time using social media. This has created a sense of fearlessness that encourages bullying, hurtful words and cruelty that probably wouldn’t be as easily done in person. Children have become increasingly more unaffected by violent or cruel content. Over the last 10-15 years the number of mass shootings has skyrocketed. Surprisingly, the persons responsible have been older teenagers or young adults in their early 20’s. The incident in New Hope, Connecticut is the most recent example of this phenomenon.
 * Civilization:**

We see the theme of Beelzebub in Chapter 2 when the boy with the mark on his face tells the group he’s seen a “snakelike beastie figure”. He says that he hears it at night when the wind makes the waves really loud, and how the branches make noise. This starts to scare the other littuns because they all start believing that there really is a monster. “He says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches. He says will it come back tonight?” (Golding36). Jack and Ralph start laughing and they tell the boys there is no beastie. Most children don’t know how to deal with the materialization of evil, instead they just become scared, which turns into something they start to fear. Recently in history were have seen a materialization of evil through Joseph Kony. The authors of Invisible Children released the short film, //Kony 2012// on March 5th, 2012. The reasoning for this film was to have Kony arrested for all the horrific abuse and killing of children in East and Central African countries which Kony is the leader of. Kony and his men would kidnap innocent children from their homes and torture them. The Human Rights Watch wrote a statement explaining what they found in these areas. “We gathered evidence at massacre sites – wooden clubs covered in dried blood, rubber strips from bicycle tires used to tie up the victims, and freshly dug graves – and spoke to hundreds of boys and girls forced to fight for his army or held captive as sex slaves”. After the millions of views of the film and different campaigns worldwide, Joseph Kony was finally arrested in the end of 2012. He will always be remembered for being an evil figure in history.
 * Beelzebub:**

In Chapters 3&4, we start to see the theme Nyctophobia when the littuns have bad dreams of the beastie and become afraid of the dark. This is very understandable because the boys are very young, and most children at that age have fears of monsters. Also, given the fact that these boys are on an island they don’t know, anything could happen. Although Ralph, Jack and Piggy try and reassure them that theres no monster, like every child they don’t believe them and their fears continue. Through this, Golding is showing us that certain fears we can’t control, and sooner or later then will go away. Even though the boys think theres a monster, having someone tell them that there isn’t makes them feel somewhat better. My all time biggest fear are needles. Ever since I could remember I’ve been dealthy afraid of them. When I was younger, I had to take an allergy skin test at CHOP. I remember walking into a bright hospital room and sitting on the counter was a tray of needles which the doctor tested my skin with. Not only did I cry, I fainted and was knocked out for about five minutes. After that incident, at every doctor’s appointment that I needed to get a needle I would throw a fit and run out the room. I have a very high tolerance for pain; I just don’t like the fact that something is getting injected into my skin. I can’t really explain it because I have 8 piercings, but I t don’t like the way the syringe looks. Even now, I still get super nervous before doctor appointments which is pretty pathetic since I’m about to be 18.
 * Nyctophobia:**

Groupthink is definitely shown in Chapter 5, because of the fight for leadership, Jack and Ralph both show their true colors. Jack and the hunters fail to get the essentials the group needs to survive. The hunters followed Jack and decided to not work, which means they didn’t build shelters, collect any drinking water or get fire wood, so it went out. If Jack would have pushed the hunters to get everything they needed the group wouldn’t have this problem. On a positive note, Jack and the hunters killed a pig so the group could eat meat instead of eating fruit, which is all they have been eating since they got on the island. Ralph, I think, tries his best to be a strong leader, but at the same him he is also sympathetic to the littuns and their fears of the island. I think if everyone worked together and got all the essentials without the thrive to have power and control over the others, things would run more smoothly. I think Groupthink comes into the average teenager’s life because of the need to fit in with everyone else. A lot of times we do stuff based on what everyone else is doing. We are often scared to stand out, so instead we go with the flow and give in to peer pressure. For example, at a party if someone is breaking things, other people may join in to be considered cool. This really affects all teenagers because even though they may not want to do something, they do it anyways. People also stop thinking for themselves when Groupthink is involved.
 * Groupthink:**

In Chapter 6 we start to see the theme Good and Evil. One symbol that I think is used to show good is the conch. It brings all the boys together as a team and everyone listens to what needs to be done. Although Ralph did tell Jack and the hunters to the essentials and they failed to do that I still think it’s more good than evil. So far I think the only “evil” is the beastie because it brings fear to the boys. Before you can determine what is “good” or “evil” in this world you must first understand what separates the two. What is seen in one culture as good may be quite the opposite in another. The education of women is an accepted and unquestioned tradition in the United States. Most American value education and see it as something good. This is not the case around the world. The education of women is prohibited in some countries of the Middle East. Also, the same situation can be viewed from different perspectives. War is a good example of this. Generally most would consider war, death and fighting to be something evil. However, overthrowing a radical leader such as Hitler had positive results for the people he oppressed, tortured and killed. I believe that a strong indicator of what people see as good or evil depends greatly on the principles and morals they value.
 * Good and Evil:**

**Journal Evaluation**

Name _______________________Nina Grimes___________________________________________


 * **Criteria** || **Point Values** ||  ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Overall **focus** and flow and use of transitions to make the piece **cohesive** || **5** || 4 || 3 || 2 || 1 ||
 * **Content** & textual evidence reflect the appropriate themes in the journal options || 15-13 || **12** || 11 || 10-9 || 8-0 ||
 * **Analysis** of quotes are accurate and thorough || 15-13 || 12-10 || **11** || 10-9 || 8-0 ||
 * Personal **connection** responses are articulate and thought-provoking || **10**-8 || 7-6 || 5-4 || 3-2 || 1 ||
 * **Mechanics**, Spelling and Grammar || 5 || **4** || 3 || 2 || 1 ||


 * Total ___42___/50**

_$__ Provides unique and insightful perspective on the reading _$__ Uses effective verbs and word choice to create strong sense of voice ___ Content is simplified or too general __$_ Proofread more closely _$__ Elaboration needed --some textual evidence is missing from journals.
 * Feedback**:

Hi it’s Jonathan again. I’m really afraid; I don’t understand what’s going on between Jack and Ralph but they don’t like each other and it’s getting worse. Today we found pig droppings and Jack thought it would be a good idea to try and hunt the pig since the berries are making us really sick and me and a lot of the other boys are really hungry. Even though the pig got away we played a game and Robert pretended he was the pig. Some of the older boys poked and jabbed at him with their spears and he started to bleed…I got really afraid. Everyone was screaming and yelling and chasing Robert. I didn’t think they were going to stop. When they finally did, Robert said next time we should stick to chasing the real pig, but Jack said that next time they were going to pick a littlun. Jack really scares me.
 * Journal 7**

Things are getting worse. Some of the older boys went up to the mountain last night looking for the beast. Everyone was shouting so Jack used the conch to call an assembly. Jack says there definitely is a beast and that Ralph is a coward and can’t be trusted. Some of the other boys argue that Ralph isn’t bad; I think they might be as afraid as Jack as I am. Jack was really furious when the boys didn’t support him and he stormed off, inviting any of the boys to join him. I could hear Jacks group chanting and yelling in the distance all night, although I don’t know what was going on. I must have fallen asleep but awoken to the screams of some of Jacks followers as they raided our camp and stole lighted sticks from the fire. We were all afraid of what Jack might do but he told us we could come and join his feast, and even join his tribe and that we would be welcomed. I guess I am more afraid of Jack than I am hungry because I decided not to go. I’m not sure if all the boys that left went to Jacks but I haven’t seen Simon in a while.
 * Journal 8**

I want to go home...I miss my family and I’m hungry! Every day the fighting between the older boys gets worse and worse, no one gets along anymore and I don’t think I’ll ever get to see my family again. I really believed everything that Ralph said about us being rescued, but now I don’t know what to think. Today was the worse, they killed Simon. I heard from some of the older boys that it was really brutal. He just appeared out of nowhere wrapped in a some kind of cloth and the boys were dancing and attacked him, even Ralph and Piggy were part of the attack. What is HAPPENING?!?!? The next morning, I overheard Ralph and Piggy talking on the beach. Ralph seemed to be ashamed and frightened by his participation in the murder of Simon. Piggy insisted that it wasn’t murder. Jacks tribe has taken over Castle Rock; he has some of the boys brutally beaten and tortured for no apparent reason and sits on a throne with his face painted in blood. Ralph and a few of the followers and littluns that are still with him go back to their fire and fall asleep. Jack sends some of the hunters to Ralph’s camp to beat him along with the older boys. They also steal Piggy’s glasses which is the only way for them to make a fire. It’s so cold, without Piggy’s glasses Ralph isn’t able to start a fire. I just want to go home. Ralph says not to worry that he and a few of the boys who are left are going to go and talk to Jack and try to make peace with him so maybe they can be ok with one another. How did things get so bad? When Ralph arrives at Jacks camp he tries to make him realize how important the signal fire is but Jack won’t listen. Jack and Ralph start fighting again. Piggy tries to stop them and remind of the rules and how they could get rescued. At this point, Roger pushes a large boulder down the mountain that barely misses Ralph. Piggy unfortunately gets hit and dies. Ralph escapes into the woods but Roger and Jack force Sam and Eric to join their tribe.
 * Journal 9&10**
 * Journal 11**

I woke up this morning screaming with my mother trying to comfort me in my bed. It took me a few minutes to realize that I was back in England and that I was safe. So much of what happened on the island comes back to haunt me in my dreams and I’m not sure how much of it was real. That last day when I thought Ralph was surely dead, was the day our savior arrived. Jack had ordered the hunters to set fire to the forest to force Ralph out of hiding. The naval officer later told us it was that fire is what got his attention. The fire meant to kill Ralph, not the rescue signal fire is what saved us. I will never forget the look on the officers face when he saw us. He stared in disbelieve and horror as the once young proper British boys now appeared to be savages. This journey has taken my innocence from me and will shape the man I will become. I pray that I can put this experience behind me.
 * Journal 12 Epilogue**