Oct. 10-14: LOTF

This week we discussed our readings about Simon speaking to the Lord of the Flies, Simon's death, and the connection between the sounds and images of the introduction the Lord of the Flies movie to the Lord of the Flies novel.  As Golding introduces the Lord of the Flies, it might surprise the reader  because of the sharp change in Golding's style of writing from realist to more of a fictitious style with a pig's head surrounded by flies being the Lord of the Flies.  Golding might have done this to show Simon himself is turning primitive in his own way as the Lord of the Flies abets to Simon that he should be like the other boys.  The Lord of the Flies seemed to be like a manifestation of the war inside Simon's conscious, emaciated by the Lord of the Flies.  During the Lucifer Effect in a Stanford experiment  college students were put in a mock prison as guards or prisoners.  The prisoners, within a few days had psychological problems.  This correlates with Simon because he is on this island with other boys who are having fail attempts at making a fair civilization and as a result, Simon is having hallucinations trying to decide whether to stay sane, or become primitive like the other boys.  After his encounter with the Lord of the Flies he decides to go up the mountain and goes on even though he is scared.  He sees the beast and wanted to tell the others that everything was all right.  Unfortunately the others were in a trance killing Simon believing him to be the beast in the boys' game.  After this chapter, I believe Golding was trying to convey Simon as a prophet-like figure, being right throughout the story as a trustful figure to the reader.  That Simon was bringing the good news like a prophet to the boys that the beast is not a thing to be afraid of, and yet, be killed in the process as Christ had died.  Golding even includes the phosphorescence dragging his body into the sea.  On Friday, we watched the introduction to the Lord of the Flies movie describing the images and sound Peter Brooks, the producer included and why Brooks included those certain images and sound.  Brooks includes images of war and peaceful times, and even once flashing back and forth between adults on the lawn relaxing to a launch pad of missiles to convey that the adults that were having what it seemed a cheerful time were the reason there were missiles that symbolized the war happenings in the world which led to an evacuation of children.  The foil of the adults on the lawn and the missiles are interconnected.  Brooks used the beat of the drums to show the arc from a neutral moment as the beat of drums are study to an intense moment when the tempo of the drums increase rapidly.  Brooks uses these techniques to convey the opinion to heighten emotion to a visualized and audio extent.  Arcs are found in real life everyday from in our lives to a more broad worldy levels.

The inciting incident was the adults at congress that I predict declared war.  The problems and obstacles included the images of the the boys singing, the adults relaxing, the missiles. The crisis point was the evacuation of the boys in airplanes.  The climax was the plane crash.  The falling action was the beginning of the movie with the boys alive on the island.  

This arc can be used to describe the riots in Vancouver.  The inciting incident was the hockey game of the Vancouver Canucks and the Boston Bruins.  The problems and obstacles was during the game when the Canucks were losing.  The Crisis point is when the Vancouver Canucks had lost.  The climax could be associated with the Canadian riot because of the loss of the Canucks to the Bruins.

Sep. 26-30: LOTF Ch. 2-5

This week as we read The Lord of the Flies, Jack is gaining authority in many scenes.  Jack attained meat, the pig, so the people see Jack as a strong hunter who can be admired even through the ignominy of Jack letting the fire go out when a ship was seen in the distance.  He also talks when he does not have the conch during meetings, and bullies Piggy.  Even Piggy realizes this and disobeys Jack.  When Ralph was telling everyone they must leave to go back and light the fire, Golding uses the word, 'mutinously' to describe the non-docile children's thoughts about leaving the fort-like place.  Golding uses this word to show the gradual loss of Ralph's authority. Civilizations still have trouble, such as the one in Egypt, about the authority of leaders and form of government.  According to the article "In Egypt, Concessions by Military on Politics" by David. D. Kirkpatrick, Egypt's military leaders are trying to figure out the leaders of the government by upcoming elections.

Also, when Ralph calls a meeting after missing the ship, but Jack killing the pig, he tries to draw conclusions to the fear of 'the beast' and live in happiness.  He explains how the people say they will do things, such as build shelters, but they didn't help Ralph and Simon.  This shows the concept of how people are able to complain and castigate leaders but can't come to a solution themselves.  People in Egypt argue about rights and laws and about what military leaders will choose for the government of Egypt, such as the people of the island talk about what to do on the island to be productive.  However the difference is that the military leaders of Egypt came to a conclusion, and the people of Egypt have to follow that form of government, no matter the arguments made.  Ralph does this, however it leads to the uneasiness Golding sets of an upcoming rebellion against Ralph, with the growing power of Jack  After the dispersing of the people after Ralph's meeting, Simon, Piggy, and Ralph wish for a sign for the adults, saying the after adults have a cup of tea, adults could solve the problem the children were in.  What Simon, Piggy, and Ralph do not know, is that the situation that they children are in are because of adult's fault, and the adult war that caused the evacuation of the children, which itself led to the plane crash onto the island.  Golding does allow the adults to give the children a sign: a dead man flopping around due to the wind catching the parachute attached to the man.  This is rather ironic because during the meeting, Simon had spoken up saying that the beast might be the people themselves, and the beast was identified as the dead man attached to the parachute.  Golding may have chosen the symbol of an dead man attached to a parachute to bring the fact farther that the adults have caused the children to have to build a civilization on the island.  That the adults have done this by having a war, so Golding uses the dead man in the parachute to bring out the consequences of adult actions further into the reader's mind.