Hannah Jang
Jesse Par
Sophia Lee
Michael Shin
Josep Falta
Steven Kim
one for eachYou knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?
Hannah Jang
Jesse Par
Sophia Lee
Michael Shin
Josep Falta
Steven Kim
one for eachJesse Park : 2 comments
Josep Folta : 2 comments
Andrew Nam : 2 comments
There are some current situations in the world that relate to the novel. After all, this novel represents the world we are living in. It shows the corruptness of human being, and how violent and wild we can get. How humans look for stronger, better leadership and power when things do not satisfy us, regardless of what is right and wrong. This book is showing the conflicts between two group: the group of people who lives by rules, stays peaceful, and do what is right, and the other group that follows the instincts, eager for immediate desires, and use violence to rule the others. There are still many countries and groups of people who are under this type of conflict. I just hope that the civilization wins over savagery, no matter where or by whom.
The climax of this story is when Simon meets the pig head and have a conversation with him. The pig head says that the boys cannot kill the beast that easily, and he himself is the Bast. He also says that the boys are part of him, the Beast. This, like I talked about on the 4th Posting, is saying that the sinful, corrupt human nature is the Beast and that will bring devastating destruction and deaths to the small society of the island. Starting from that time, Jack and his followers start killing off Ralph's followers, starting with Simon who tries to tell them what he found out just a few moments before. The kids, like the pig head said, bring destruction and death to the smal island. The tension was building up between Ralph and Jack, and it starts blowing up after this incident.
The passage I chose that is meaningful to me is the part when Simon talks to the pig head sticking to the pole in page 143. The pig says "There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they are?" This passage is saying that the beast is actually the boys themselves. The whole evil spirit in this island was the human nature and savagery. He identifies himself as the devil and says that he is part of the boys. This passage, which I would say the climax of this novel, really gave me the creeps because this is telling the corruptness of human being. After the conversation, Simon goes to the boys to tell them what he had found, and gets beaten up to death by Jack and his followers just because they thought he was the Beast. Ralph and other "right-minded" kids tried to stop them, but they were going crazy and would not listen.
The main characters of this novels are Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Roger, Simon, Sam, and Eric. Ralph is the boy who everyone chose as a leader at the beginning. He tries to lead the group without any conflict. Jack is the leader of the hunters. Always hunger for power, he gathers Ralph's boys and become a new leader, becoming really violent, barbaric, and violent. He is like the terrorists and war countries of this world. Piggy always agrees and follows Ralph, and he is the "brainy" of the whole group, though he gets some severe disagreements from Jack and his friends. If Ralph has Piggy, then Jack has Roger. Roger is the "good follower" of Jack. He is also very violent, and he brutalizes the little children of the "society." Simon is the only boy on the island who stays "good" all throughout the story. He is shy, and he is always kind to the little children. Sam and Eric are twins. They were following Ralph at first, but later near the end of the story, Jack takes them and forcefully make them stay under him. They are like the weak countries and groups that has no power of this world.
This novel has many moods. At first it was hopeless because they landed on an island and there were nobody living there. Then, when they started getting things prepared to survive and have fun, the mood became happy and bright. After that, when Ralph, Piggy, and Jack were keep on having conflicts with each other, there were suspense and tension building up. Then, when Jack took his people and went out of the society, the suspense and tension blew up, and there was bitterness left behind. When Jack killed Ralph's friends and tried to kill him, the tension started building up again, and there was scariness all over the places. Finally, when the ship comes to the island at the end of the story, the mood changes to mild and peaceful. This novel saddens me because when I finished this story, it felt like this world is going to become like the kids in this novel. One strong leader will gather armies and try to rule everything, killing the ones who are against him.