Q.8 Lord of the Flies

8*Entry of your choice

I decided to write a newspaper about the boys because I thought if this story was not a novel and real story then probably it might be an issue. I imagine that the boys came back to their hometown and interviewed them as a journalist.

Return of missing children

May 25th, the missing children returned from an island. The royal navy officer rescued them by the fire signal. According to the officer, the English boys were all dirty and messy. He said that at first, most of them lost their senses by acting like savages.
Sadly three of the boys found to be dead, causing the parents to fall into deep sorrow. However, other parents who had reunion with their own child was so moved that they started to show tears. On June 5th, the boys who killed their friend were expected to be on trial. Their parents claimed that their children were too young to know about the value of life but it is not acceptable to public opinions. The court will be held on June 5th as scheduled. The following is the contents of the interview.
Jack:
Q: Why did you kill your friends?
A: I did not really mean to. I feel so sorry for my friends but I was out of my mind. Maybe somebody else was inside me I mean.. That was not me! I am not that of a bad boy who would kill my friends. Trust me please, please understand my actions.
This time I asked Roger.
Roger:
Q: How come you killed your friends?
A: I never killed anybody. Piggy’s death is not my fault. I don ’t know anything. I was just trying to.. push the rock…………… oh…..no… I killed him……
*(Jack and Roger were crying during this interview)
According to Roger’s parents, Roger will be sent to the mental hospital to recover.
This time, I interviewed Ralph.
Q: Hello, how are you doing now?
A: Fine, much better
Q: How was your friend in the island?
A: In the beginning everything was just fine. However they got crazy and crazier. I was so scared. I had to escape from them every single day. I could not sleep well at all. At that time I really missed my home. Everything seemed like a dream.
Ralph was the only boy who followed the dictates of reasons. He secures his live hood again.

Reporter Jennifer/ http://mail.daum.net/Mail-bin/send_mail.form.cgi?TO=totolove1991@hanmail.net

Q.7 Lord of the Flies

*7 Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

Beach was the most beautiful place which gave me a deep impression. This place is meaningful and beautiful in many ways. First of all, Ralph and Piggy kept a shell that they found at the beach shore and the boys always met there to discuss whatever problems they had to solve. In other words, their social life began at the beach shore. This is because it was the only place where they could have conference and discussion. Ralph blew the conch to call the English boys and the boys followed his orders without complaints. This scene made me think of the respect they had toward Ralph, who was their official leader. The beach was beautiful enough that the boys always played with great joy. I imagined the scene that the boys playing with sands and babbling in water as if they were on vacation. Also, blue expansion of water symbolized 'freedom' to me. In that scene, the boys enjoyed and tasted freedom. According to this scene I could not expect how cruel they could change. Imagining the sound of the waves, I could also feel the peace in my mind, which made me feel calm and safe. Moreover, I thought that the ocean symbolized hope. Ocean is the only place that the boys could be rescued by ships. Even though they were deserted on the island without adults, they waited, watching the horizon for a sign of rescuers. Therefore, the ocean looked very hopeful and comforting to me and also for the lost boys as well. They didn't give up their hope, and it touched my heart.

Q.6 Lord of the Flies

6*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

The three boys walked briskly on the sand. The tide was low and there was a strip of weed-strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road. A kind of glamour was spread over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and happy by it. They turned to each other, laughing, Simon stroked Ralph's arm shyly; and they had to laugh again.

"Come on," said Jack presently,

"we're explorers."

"We'll go to the end of the island", said Ralph,

"and look round the corner."

"if it is an island--"

(Pg.27)

This passage was significant and also meaningful to me because this was the only scene that I found to be pure and respectable. The boys had no bad intentions to each other and they were united in one mind. At this period, they called themselves as explorers and were willing to find whether the piece of the land was an island or not. Their thoughts were the same as a triplet. They didn't fight or even be hateful towards each other. Walking by the seashore they laughed and chatted as a real friend. It made me to thought that they are lucky. I wanted to go into this story and enjoy the peace and freedom with these boys. Imagining the boys, Ralph, Jack, and Simon, walking one by one made me to wear a smile. By walking one by one they looked very integrated to each other. I couldn't find any evil side or darkness upon them, but only trust. They were just so friendly and lovely to each other, which made my heart warm. I think this is why I put my hopes to the boys that they will help and respect each other and be rescued without a hitch. However, the story goes the opposite with what I expected before. As I hoped of a beautiful and smooth story, it doubled my disappointment. They changed as a savagery and started to harm each other. Comparing to the opening of the story, the later situation was reserved. I could not believe that these close friends became an enemy to each other at later on. The sight made my heart heavy, but touched it at the same time.

Q.5 Lord of the flies

5*what is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

The beginning of this story was quite peaceful and beautiful. They didn't worry about their future at all and they were just simple and innocent children. They acted democratically without any anxiety at first. However the mood of this story began to change and eventually the mood became extremely dark. We can easily find negative mood through out the story. While I was reading the book, Lord of the flies, I felt that I was also marooned on the island. The moment that I felt like this I was scared about the boys (especially Jack and Roger) and the evil. Yes, this story is fearful, dark and depressing. But this is not all. I also found that this novel saddens me. When the boys’ behavior gradually changed fiercely I was terribly sad. For example after they divided into two groups, Jack and the boys (who belong to Jack) started to force the other boys to be in their group. It shows dictatorship of human-beings. After that, they wore a mask of savagery. It means that they started face painting for hunting. This reminded me of the movie 'mask' where the hero of this movie kept changing one's personality whenever he wore the mask. The boys were just like this movie character. That illustrates how human are weak and how we can be changed without the rules. I know that man is a social animal. However when we are separated from the society, then human's rationality and logic easily disappears. We change into ferocious animals and forget about the civilization.

Q.4 Lord of the Flies

4*what is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this novel is a point of time that the barbarous boys started to kill their friend. Before they committed murder the story was much more monotony. However after they get blood on their hands they started to reveal their darkness. For example, Simon's tragic death was the root cause. They became truly savageness to return back. Simon was killed disgustingly and brutally as he was stabbed by his friends. The boys were so hardhearted and cold and they did not feel guilty about the events they had done. First when this happened it made me to feel sorry for Simon. It threw me into confusion because I never expected murder in this story. Killing their friends seem sad and inhuman. However I gradually feel angry of those English boys. How can they have changed so much?! I almost forgot about their previous relationship which seemed harmonious. They lost the power of thought and were corrupted as a beast. Whether the first murder committed was accident or not, the second was committed with intent of murder, which is Piggy's death. Now there were nothing different between devilish homicide and the English boys. They found that authority could punish anything which opposes it. After I finish this part, I began to wonder if the evil side is real human nature. We all have evil side of us unconsciously which is hidden. As we form a group, this cruelty raises one's head. That means the desire for power and food is instinctive action. I hope that we all throw our evil side and follow only our goodness just like Simon did.

Q.3 Lord of the Flies

3*who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

The story, Lord of the Flies, have four main characters; Ralph, Jack, Simon, and Piggy.

Ralph is the leader of the group of boys who shows great leadership and act according to reasons. He knows what the most important thing is to survive in the island and also to be rescued. For example, he claimed that signal fire is more important than hunting. This is what I like about this character. He was clever enough to lead the English boys and he controlled the evil side of himself. He also showed a strong sense of responsibility for he was the head of the boys. No matter how young he was, he showed humane image and it came up to me friendly. In contrast, I started to hate Jack, one of the boys who took Ralph's power. He was deprived of reason and acted as a savage. His actions were brutal and cruel. He changed suddenly in a negative way and it made me feel unpleasant. He is unsympathetic who treated the weak violently and ignored other's rights. This rude behavior reminded me of dictatorship. He was cruel and had part of his behavior was unpredictable, it really incurred hatred. Piggy is the smartest boy who supported and helped Ralph in many ways. He made good ideas with his great intelligence, and acted with prudence. He is kindhearted as he took care of little kids and tried to understand them. I like his character because he was logical, smart and threw his full support to leader Ralph. However these are not the only reason why I like him. The main reason is because he had a warm-heart. Although reasonable person is mostly icy, Piggy was not. He was a boy with wisdom and warm hearted combined in him. Simon was the only boy that I felt "he is special". I think he was the best out of them. Jack and most of other boys changed into beasts, but Simon doesn't loose his sense. His constant aspect is a good model to follow. Also he is the first boy who realizes the true color of beast. He fought with the evil side of himself and I was very proud of him. He was sacrificed to the boys and vanished in this story but I believe that his existence will last forever.

Q.2 Lord of the Flies

2*Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?

There are many current situations that relate to this novel. For example, there are still many troubled areas in Africa between different races. Moreover, even though we are in favor of peace, many countries break out a war only for their benefit. The War between Iraq and U.S.A is one of the good examples. However, I want to focus on another situation. As English boys' revealed their evil side in this story, Lord of the Flies, now days people also reveal one of their egoistic evil side. Today, we enjoy an easy-life depending on development of science and industry. Anyhow this occurred damaged of environment. For instance, increase in consuming of disposable items such as vinyl and plastic is one of the representative example. People don’t care about our environment and just look out for one's own interests. This causes such as global warming, melting of glacier which is one of the biggest issue. We can easily see human's selfishness through these situations. Like the boy’s only concern about present condition and forgetting about future life, existing people also copy after this. The reason why that these kind of event rises up is humans are blinded by the benefit at that moment. They do not see things long-term and that eventually ruins them. In this novel they didn't share any light on how current situations could be resolved or fixed because after all, they couldn't return to their natural personality without the help of naval officer. Now I know how human is soft an spiritless being. I hope we can control the wickedness that hides inside us and live with good deeds.

Q.1 Lord of the flies

1*What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

The book, ''Lord of the flies,” depicts conflict between civilization and savagery that exists within all human beings. We, humans act peacefully, live by the rules and value the good of the group. But in certain cases, human can change and be cruel or act violently to gratify their immediate desire. In this novel, civilization represents goodness and on the other hand, savagery represents evil. I think the conflict between the two instincts causes the English boys' misery. Indeed, they undergo series of misfortunes. For instance, the conflict between civilization and savagery is represented by two main characters, Ralph and Jack. Ralph is a leader who orders and shows great leadership and Jack is an antagonist of Ralph who shows uncivilized and desires for power. Through "Lord of the Flies,” I noticed that human could be brutal and violent. In other words, I found that the barbarous behaviors of English boys are one's true character which was hidden. This theme that human has evil side is important to a teenager because it relates to us. In current society, there are many examples of human's evil appearance. For the adults, crime as a murder is a good example and in the case of children, killing a colony of ants could be an example. These are not the only examples which happen in today's life. We can often see people who violate laws. I would like to inform teenagers that although we all have evil sides, we should not forget that that is the only animal which thinks and acts according to reason. I mean that we should not act like the English boys which action was extremely inhuman. We could learn a lesson that we should improve and develop our mind and society and make a civilized nation. I hope that we, teenagers, make a great personality and also a better society by reading this book.

Question 8 Animal Farm

*Entry of your choice: Letter to Napoleon

I decided to write a letter to Napoleon because I wanted to give him an advice how to be a good ruler. I will tell him about how the animals felt about the situation they are at.

To: Napoleon,

Hi. This is Jennifer Seo.
I have decided to send you a letter right after reading the story of “Animal Farm.” How can you act so cruel, hypocritical and selfish? One example of you being cruel is when you chased away Snowball from the Farm with the help of your dogs. Looking at this, you should be ashamed for the fact that you almost killed one of your comrades.
You should know better and how inhumane you are! Examine what you have done! You have deteriorated animals’ hearts, took away their freedom, and turned the whole farm into a chaos! I am going to speak for the animals and teach you a lesson today. Please don’t grant a privilege to animals you favor especially to pigs and dogs. All animals are and should be treated equal. You think you possess special rights while other animals were starving and working as slaves. You should respect the others and try to share your love. Treat them as how you would want to be treated by others.
Evil doings that you have done will come back to you and will a burden that you’ll have to carry for the rest of your life.Remember… what goes around, comes around!
February .25 .2007

From Jennifer Seo

p.s. Please keep in mind what I said and be nice!

Question 7 Animal Farm

*Are there any settings in this novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.

I hardly found a beautiful setting in this story but if I was to depict one, I would choose the big barn where the animals had their first assembly with Old Major. I choose this setting extremely attractive because it was the very first time the animals united as one with a common vision. At this time the Old Major motivated the animals to start a revolution and the animals agreed with him collectively. Another impressive scene illustrated in this story is when Clover made a wall around the ducklings with her forelegs, which lost their mother, to protect and comfort them. The strong helping the weak instead of disregarding warmed my heart. Finally, the reason why I found this setting beautiful is that the farm was a classless society in the beginning. All animals were equal, there were no assigned seats, and had freedom of speech. Equality looked peaceful and delightful to me. However, later in the story, things slowly started to change and Napoleon executes four pigs, three hens, a goose, and a sheep after their confession. This scene was most disturbing to me. I was quite shaken and frightened of their cruel retribution. One of the seven commandments in the beginning was “No animal shall kill any other animal,” But Napoleon later changes it to “No animal shall kill any other animal without cause” It portrays that deep inside; they carry violence of some sort and causes brutality to over power and achieve their goal. I felt miserable at this setting because there was no one who was opposed to his actions. Everyone seemed to be cowards, not being able to say the right things. I was hoping that they would oppose and strongly stand up for their rights but unfortunately, nobody was able to and I was very disappointed at how naive they can be.

Question 6 Animal Farm

*Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

The novel contains many significant passages, however if I was to depict one, I would choose the following:
“Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable, laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength; and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old. No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth. But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The soil of England is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single farm of ours would support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep-and all of them living in a comfort and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labor is stolen from us by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a single word-Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever. Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not lay egg! s, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to cat ch rabbits. Yet he is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labor tills the soil, our dung fertilities it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin.”
(http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/animalfarm/1/)

As I was reading this passage, I agreed and felt concurrent with the animals. The reason for this is because I know how much we, humans, take away the animals’ possessions and their lives. This passage was significant in the fact that it reveals how humans can be so selfish. It states that a man is the only a creature that consumes without producing. Yes, it is true! We never lay an egg nor give milk to sell. It indicates that human are vulnerable and solely relies on the produce of animals’ labor. For example we use animal fur to make warm coats, even though it’s illegal in many countries. Some hunters rummage around animals that are in danger of extinction to sell and make money. These are the aspect of human selfishness that we must improve on. We should not utilize animals only for our benefits but moreover, admit our wrong doings and respect the animals as one precious life. In order to initiate the actions, I myself should first change and appreciate living things whether they are huge animals to the tiniest insects. This quote helped me to reach to another thought. I do not only think that the humans cause the animals disaster and cause dark clouds over their lives. By reading the book I have noticed how much pigs take advantage of the rest of the other animals over shelter, food and labor. Pigs act just like humans, maybe even worse. I conclude that although humans only consume from animals and seem to cause their lives to be miserable, pigs can act the exact same way.

Question 5 Animal Farm

*What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

The overall mood of this story is dark and gloomy since it deals with the issue of dystopia. There were several situations in the novel that made me feel this way. First, when Boxer was taken to the slaughter house I felt sad and depressing. I wondered how they could be so cold-hearted to the horse that was most devoted of all the animals at the farm. After that, chickens and some pigs were killed by Napoleon and I was irritated and disheartened. He punished all the animals those that reserved him. Although Napoleon was a selfish and hypocritical ruler, nobody disobeyed him. If animals were braver and initiated one last rebellion to overthrow Napoleon, the farm would have become a little brighter and peaceful place with a new leader. I was devastated to see Napoleon gaining total authority over the farm whereas later in the end his social status corresponds with humans concurring uniformity with their utmost supposed enemy. However, the main reason I found this story dark and gloomy is because I know that the novel actually portrays the real life of this world. There are still many people out there who don’t care about anything else but for their own success and desire. I hope to see that one day the world will change and become a peaceful place to live in creating an idealized perfection – Utopia.

Question 4 Animal Farm

*What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do the events of this novel make you feel?


The moment when Napoleon banishes snowball from the Animal Farm would be considered a climax of this novel. Napoleon wanted absolute authority over the farm but Snowball was the biggest obstacle to him since Snowball was intelligent and compatible enough to combat with him. In order to make the condition advantageous to him, he decides to expel Snowball from the farm and brings into action right after the "Battle of Cowshed." Snowball’s completed project plan of windmill is acquired by Napoleon, and Squealer becomes the spreader of propaganda and gains power and maintains political control through twisting the truth. After the expulsion of Snowball, everything starts to disintegrate and it foreshadows the future that there is going to be a political chaos in the Animal Farm . Later in the story, pigs start to possess human items such as playing cards, clothes, drinking alcohols, beds, and eventually make peace and unite with humans. First I felt sad when Napoleon expelled Snowball that he only focus on his benefit and didn’t care about other animals ease. But gradually I became angry of his greediness and selfishness. This story gave me a message that it is impossible to make a classless society where a men’s desire for power never disappears.

Question 3 Animal Farm

*Who are the main characters in the novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

There are many characters in this story. They all have different personality and special features. Out of all the characters, Napoleon is closest to being the main character. Other main characters would be Squealer, Snowball, and Boxer. Napoleon is the ruler of the Animal Farm, He is selfish, cruel and hypocritical. He uses military power (which means a loyal attack dogs) to intimidate other animal and consolidate his power. Moreover, he violates seven commandments and punishes the animals. I hate this character because he is two-faced, and oppressed animals that were weaker than him. Squealer, another important character, acts as mouth for Napoleon, in other words he is spokesperson. He spreads Napoleon's propaganda and twist the truth to maintain social control. His habit was mentioning Mr. Jones like "Surely none of you wishes to see Jones back?" I bear hatred of him because he acted craftily. He always defends Napoleon from the animals by any means and tricks them into working harder. That's the reason why I hate Squealer as well as Napoleon. In contrast Snowball was an intelligent and passionate ruler competing with Napoleon. He challenges Napoleon for control of the Animal Farm. Later on Snowball was used as a Scapegoat for animal’s troubles. I like him because with his intelligence he had chance to take over the authority by deceiving other animals yet, he decided to stay less subtle and cunning than Napoleon. Instead, he used his knowledge to make the animals comfortable and therefore won the loyalty of the other animals. In the novel, Snowball had made plans to build a windmill to lower the burden of work for the animals and promised them the retirement age to be earlier than ever. However, all his plans were stolen by Napoleon. Lastly, Boxer is a cart horse with a credible strength, dedication, and loyalty. He is bit slow-witted and much devoted. He's motto was " I will work harder", and "Napoleon is always right." I liked him because he was honest and devoted however, I feel something about his character was lacking. I would feel less sorry for him if he had a brighter side in him and be more enthusiastic about life. Boxer was one of the best characters in this novel for his positive attitude and always being helpful even when he was sick.
These animal characters are revealed in universal human experience. For example, we can compare the characters with the people in the work place. Napoleon, as high officer, who never works and instead of that only give orders to subordinates acts as a boss. Squealer can be revealed as an employee who does whatever he can to be promoted at work even if it’s an act of bribing or telling lies to other co-workers. Then Snowball would be the counterpart of squealer (other co-workers) who is betrayed by those who play the devil. Boxer can be also revealed as employee in a different way. Among many employees some will stay devoted as Boxer and only focus on what need to be done not caring about anything else but their own duty and responsibility.

Question 2 Animal Farm

*Are there any current situations in the world that relate to the novel? What are they, and how do they relate? Does the novel shed any light on how current situations could be resolved or "fixed"?
There are many current incidents and situations that can be related to the novel. "The ignorance of animal" can be portrayed through an example of Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, who announced that he found a stem cell yet, it revealed to be a false claim. He made people believe that his experiment was true in his false thesis. Majority of the people believed and wanted to believe that Dr. Hwang’s discovery was true and had no doubts or whatsoever until later when it was revealed worldwide that Dr. Hwang had been lying about his research. That’s when confusion started and put the whole country in chaos. In the novel, Napoleon played a similar role to Dr. Woo Suk Hwang. Napoleon claimed that he was the one who planned to build the windmill and Snowball was the one who stole idea to take over the authority. Despite of Napoleon’s sly behavior, if the animals acted wisely by not just listening and believing everything Napoleon was saying but questioned him at times the result would have been much different. The animals were foolish and it clearly shows that sometimes skepticism is necessary. This novel doesn't show the exact way how to resolve or fix current situations, nevertheless teaches us a lesson from the stories (animals mistakes and their imprudent behavior). It also teaches us that education is important in making a healthy society. Chickens, lambs, horses were foolish so they never suspected the pigs even though the seven commandments constantly changed. Therefore we can acquire knowledge from the novel 'Animal Farm' that we should learn constantly educate ourselves and progress in enhancing our knowledge to defend our country. Another fact that we can learn from the novel is that people need to actively participate. The donkey, Benjamin, had a high IQ, but he rarely participated in the animal committee. If he had been more active and shared what he knew the animals could have prevented pigs from becoming too powerful. Nowadays, there are many well informed and well educated people but who doesn't like to speak the truth to the government as well as to the society just like Benjamin. In this case we can learn that active attitude can change the society in positive and better ways.

Question 1 Animal Farm

*What is the major theme of this novel? Why is this theme important to a teenager living in 2007?

Animal farm mainly depicts human hypocrisies, selfishness and class stratification. According to the book, pigs are portrayed as human beings which look out only for one's own interests. They develop class tyranny and establish class structure. In the novel, animals expel Mr. Jones from the farm and later the social status is internally divided even though their common enemy (human) is eliminated. This clearly shows that animals form a class structure themselves, although they all promised equality before the Rebellion. Napoleon drove out Snowball and becomes the leader of the Animal Farm. He gradually changes the seven commandments for his own benefit and oppresses other animals. These actions relates to the theme of hypocrisy and selfishness. The theme delivers a message that there will always be a discrimination between social classes and the force it brings to the community (or society) threats the democracy and freedom (which resulted in totalitarianism of Napoleon in the case of Animal Farm).

'A man's desire for power leads to where a classless society is impossible.' This theme is important to teenagers because it indicates and teaches teenagers how to live in this community. Sooner or later teenagers will also become an adult, and they will be the ones leading and representing their own country. It is important to open teenager’s eyes through knowing how the dictatorship could corrupt the society and cause harm to the citizens allowing them to sacrifice. I hope that nowadays teenagers do not make those kinds of mistakes by acting like pigs. Instead of that, I expect teenagers will respect each other and make an equal society that lasts forever.