" I shot an Arrow into the air " Blog post

"You brought the protocol, the chain of command, the numbers, and none of them fit here."(Pg.5) This quote shows that Corey and Jack are both similar in that they both want chaos and self interest overide rules and order. All Jack wanted to do was hunt and all Corey wanted to do was find and drink water. Jack overpowers the leader of the group and destroys order, as Corey does to Donlin.

"Yeah. We saw something. Rocks. Rocks and those crummy mountains over there."(Pg.3) This quote tells us that the location they are in is as barren and isolated as it gets. As in Lord of the flies, the kids are isolated on an island the same way the men are isolated in the mountains. Being isolated can drive men to do things they wouldn't ever dream of. Like killing a man for water, or tearing a young boy apart with your teeth and nails.

Chp. 12 Reflection

So some of the incidents that were blatantly evil were when all of the boys killed Simon. The act was completely on the whim of one boy who has started the frenzy, Jack. Another act is when Roger killed Piggy with the huge boulder. He did it out of spite and cruelty. I do kind of agree with what Golding said at the end of the book. I think the book was written to show how much humans could fall from their civilized life when exposed to no rules. I also believe that humans would naturally tend to lean towards chaos and savagry when accompanied with no rules. Some few people like Ralph would be more resonable and rational than the rest. "And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend piggy," Pg.202 

Ipod Songs Post

Title: Fading
Artist: Decyfer Down
"And every single day, a part of my soul is fading"
These lines along with the rest if the song depicts how the boys are falling into savagery. Each day that passes, they move farther and farther away from civilization. They are losing a part of their humanity as order falls and priorities get messed up. Civilization was all that kept them human, now the island has turned them into brutal savages without much human empathy left.

Title: Make a move
Artist: Icon for hire
"Test my reality, check if there's a weak spot."
These lines along with the rest of the song tell about how the boys are internally scared aren't sure what to do next. Because Jack made the first move to take over as a dictator figure, no one else wants to try anything different than what he wants. They just want someone to follow, and he filled that position. They also don't want to face the reality that they flat out murdered someone even though they knew who it was. The kids know its wrong and don't want to admit it.

Title: Diver
Artist: Nick touches the wall
"I’m unable to breathe even amongst the crowds of frozen people
How long has it been since I dived into this place?"
These kinds along with the rest of the song show how much the boys, Ralph especially, are struggling with staying themselves. The boys are finding it hard to figure out what to do, leaving them scared and vulnerable. They follow Jack because he gave them someone to follow, so they listen to his orders.

Links:  https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-Kne0hWuj0U
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wGs8zbWouHA

Chp 10 response

I can draw personal experience and make a real life comparison when it comes to Jack going off on his own and making his own group. When I was younger and my parents told me to do something, I wouldn't want to do it and would rebel and go do my own thing, kind of like how Jack is creating his own group and operating separately.

Cup. 7 Blog post

In chapter 7, the author uses third person to kind of give you an idea of what everyone is feeling. Writing this chapter from third person allowed the author to give insight on the thoughts and concerns that each individual person could be having. In this chapter, the group of boys go and search for the beastie in the woods. The fear factor definitely plays a role in this as each boy is scared at least a little, and telling the story in third person allows the author to tell us that with more detail.

Chp. 4 Response

One connection I can make with the text is when the children start to have doubts about what is in the forest. As a kid, I was scared of the dark and would often find myself wondering what sort of unknowns were in it. More often than not,  I thought about scary things, like the kids and the beastie. Humans fear the unknown and as a kid, that unknown for me was the dark.

Comparison

This represents Ralph in that he is immature and wouldn't agree with Jack over what takes priority

Chp. 3 M.E.A.T

In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the author shows Jack and Ralph's to be one with both many disagreement s on priorities and differences in beliefs.
"Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I'd like to catch a pig first-" He snatched up his spear and dashed it into the ground. The opaque, mad look came into his eyes again. Ralph looked at him critically through his tangle of fair hair." Pg. 53. This quote shows the difference between Ralph's and Jacks opinion. Jacks first priority is to catch a pig whereas Ralph wants to build a shelter and get rescued.
"I was talking about smoke! Don't you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig,pig,pig!" "But we all want meat!" This quote shows that Jack believes everyone wants meat. On the other hand, Ralph believes everyone wants shelter and to be rescued.
All in all, both Jack and Ralph have their difference in beliefs. In time though, they might find a way to bring their two beliefs together.

Chp. 2 Response

I wonder why the author has the kids try to start a fire. So I think he has the kids start a fire because he wanted to show just how naive and not mature all of them are. Just the idea of starting a fire gets the kids all riled up in anticipation for a fire. This probably has to do with the fact that fire was forbidden in their homes so making one is both against the rules and exciting. They are not mature because the kids don't realize that fire is a dangerous and potentially harmful thing. The entire forest could be burned down.

Chp. 1 Response

So the author starts out the story by telling the narrative in third person. Third person, I find is easiest to read and understand because you don't get only one perspective. You sort of get everyone's general view on things.  The author also uses a lot of descriptive words to show of just what the island looks like. So far, the authors attitude about the story is well paced and deliberate. He only tells and describes to you what he wants you to know.

Utopia

Well if I was stuck on a deserted with a group of my peers, the utopia I would create would look kinda like this. First off we would leave the most capable person to lead, as that person would be the most qualified. Next would probably be splitting up into groups and taking over different parts of the island so we wouldn't have potential for confrontation in the future. As the community evolved, I feel we would lean more towards a group democracy with a majority vote for making important decisions. Making the entire group have a say in matters would ease some doubt's about certain decisions.
Each person would have their general role and responsibility. One person might be the guy to get firewood or get food or water. Sharing the role of surviving together would encourage teamwork and smooth out relationships. We wouldn't have an actual currency, just general trade between each other in case someone wants something another person has. All in all, our utopia would be one with a well running government, equal rights for everyone, shared roles, and a trading economy.

Essential Questions

Why do some societies fall while others thrive? Because some societies have internal problems like conflicting ideologies and freedom vs security.  They might have external problems like not enough resources or war.

How do humans react to isolation? Sometimes, humans need to separate themselves from society for a little to gather their thoughts. It can be peaceful or awful depending on the situation. 

How do rules and morals function to create a good society? When their are consequences to bad actions, humans will understand not to do that. Rules and morals limits chaos and keeps order in a society.

How does society influence a persons awareness of reality and the self? Society   could change the way you think. The masses have the power to sway your decisions and beliefs depending on what is popular or the things everyone is doing.

Stand by me first person journal 2

As we were reaching the end of our trip, we stopped that night to take a breather and rest. We set up and campfire and swapped stories, it was a good time. About halfway into the night, we heard howling in the woods. Turns out it was coyotes. Thinking on it, we all decided to take turns with the gun watching over the camp. Teddy went first of course and drove us crazy with his stupid army stuff. Then Vern nearly killed us all with his fear for the unknown and his trigger finger with the gun. Then Chris got a turn with the gun, and I decided to join him to keep company.                                                                               After a little while, Chris started to tell me a story of how he got accused for stealing a kids lunch money. I asked him if he really had, and he said of course he had. After he had stollen the money, he felt bad for doing it so gave the money back to one of the teachers in the school. He started to break down saying the day after he had given her the lunch money, she came to school with a new suit. He cried about how he was taken advantage of and how he wished no one knew him so he could have a fresh start.

Stand by me first person journal

Today Chris showed me the first gun I had ever seen in person. It was a sleek, metallic looking gun. Need I remind you that it was real? Of course, I wondered where the heck he had gotten it from. He told me he had gotten it from his dads gun drawer. We were both excited to see it being pulled out. I asked him if I could hold it and he lent it to me for a moment. I played around with the gun for a bit before asking him if the gun was loaded. He said it wasn't so I pulled the trigger into a random empty barrel and bam, I shot it. Guess it was loaded.
        We ran as fast and far as we could to prevent anyone from seeing us and landing us in a lot of trouble. When we stopped, I confronted Chris saying he knew it was loaded and prompted me to pull the trigger. I had trusted him and he had lied to me. He profusely said he had no idea it was loaded and didn't lie to me. He pinky swore on it. Well, I guess he really did not know it was loaded. I have to be able to trust my friends, especially me best friend.

Poetry Analysis

" Young ", by Anne Sexton symbolizes coming of age through using metaphors to show that you can grow up faster than you think. This quote shows personification to show the girls wonder at the world as a result of being a child. " The wise stars bedding over me." She is saying that she believes the stars have great wisdom having existed. It shows that the speaker is still young and has an avid imagination. The next quote uses metaphors to show that she is still young and believes in her mind. " and thought god could really see the heat and the painted light. " This quote shows how much of an imagination she still has was she is young. It connects to coming of age through her having not grown up yet and thinking child things. All in all, " Young ", by Anna Sexton tells a story of a girl looking back on her life, reminiscing about how fast her life went by.

" The Red Dress " Coming of age paragraph

I think that the main characters coming of age moment does not really happen until the end when she realizes that she should try to love and understand her mother a little bit more. " I understood what a mysterious and oppressive obligation I had, to be happy, and how I had almost failed it, and would likely to fail it, every time, and she would not know." She only feels good about her life when she is doing something that every other girl would do at some point, so when it happens for her, she feels normal. " I have been to a dance and a boy has walked me and kissed me. It was all true. My life was possible. "

M.E.A.T post

I think that shaving is not just about shaving and more about the young moving on in life and the old having to stay behind and get taken care of. " The cup was much older than Barry. A pattern of faint translucent cracks, fine as a web, had worked itself haphazardly, invisibly almost, through the white glaze." This quote shows that Barry's father is growing old as compared to his shaving mug. His mug has cracks in it, like how his father is growing weak. " There were water shaped rust stains, brown as chocolate, on the surface of the blade. Barry removed it, throwing it in the wastebin." This quote shows that the old is stepping aside for the new. His father is letting him take over in his stead. All in all, I think this book is more about the young succeeding the old and the old letting the new generation take over.

A Coming of Age

In traditional Aborigine culture, the entrance to male adolescence is marked by the " walkabout". Only males participate in this ritual, at around 15 or 16. So male teenagers have to go out into the wild and survive alone, away from his village, for one year. There, he will need to use the hunting, tracking, and survival skills he learned from his elders in order to succeed. If a the chosen teenager chooses not to participate or fails at the task, he will be placed in a low part of society. Whereas if he succeeds, the teenager will be placed into a much higher part of the village and be guaranteed a spot for a high ranking individual. I can honestly not think about anything in our culture that can be compared to something like this. No one is really expected to go out into the wild wood for a year and survive on their own. We just don't work like that.

Year Long Essential Question

Obstacles can change a persons identity in many ways. One example is that if you grew up living a cushy life and had to suddenly defend yourself, you probably would not do so well. Whereas if you had led a tough life, you might know how to handle the situation. One big obstacle I have to deal with on a daily basis is math. I was never any good at math of all kinds and I am still not.
I work to overcome this obstacle by studying and doing my homework so I can understand the material better. Depending on the type of environment you were raised in, your personality could be very different than what it would be had you been raised some where else, under different circumstances. All in all, it just depends where and how you were raised.

Words by which I live

" I don't care what you think about me. I don't think about you at all." - Coco Chanel
This is a quote that I believe in very much which is, don't let other peoples opinions and comments affect the way you act or do things. Over the years of my life, I have chosen to follow this motto as it lets me do the things I find joy in and keep my personality intact. I won't be affected by the way you think me, and I won't care what you think. It's a simple and, in my experience, a very effective philosophy.