LOTF Chapters 9 and 10

            In chapter 9, there was a very sad event. It was dark and the boys were having there feast when Simon staggered out of the woods. He was trying to tell them that the beast was just a dead body, but he was stabbed and killed by the group. It was unclear who exactly killed him or did the most damage to him. These boys have officially gone insane. I guess this somehow ties in with Jesus being killed.
            In chaoter 10, I niiticed tyhat Ralph forgot why the fire was important multiple times. Piggy had to keep reminding him that it was to put off smoke so that a boat could see them if they passed by the island. Also, three people from Jack's group, I think it was Jack, Maurice, and Roger, attacked Ralph's group in the night. They got into a brawl in the shelter, and Jack's group ended up stealing Piggy's glasses. Now Piggy can't see, and they can't keep their fire going. I wonder if Ralph and his group will try to get them back.

LOTF Chapter 8

            In this chapter, Jack decided that he had had enough of being ruled by Ralph and went away from the group. Pretty much all the hunters went with him (Roger, Maurice, etc.). They killed a pig and invited the other group to a feast. I still don't realy know why they would want them at their feast.
           The end of this chapter was very strange. I think the pig or the pig head was the Lord of the Flies, but it started talking to Simon. I don't know if Simon was dreaming or just imagining things, or if the pig's head was actualy speaking to him. Either way, it said some weird stuff, and also said that it was going to get angry. Maybe this could realte to Piggy somehow?

LOTF Chapters 6 and 7

            In these chapters, the main focus was the beast. It started with the twins Sam and Eric claiming to have seen the beast. Some of the boys decide to make an expedition to try to find and kill this beast that keeps poppng up. We find out some things about some of the boys when reading about their expedition.
            One thing I was suprised about was when Ralph stabbed and wounded a boar and was so riled up about it. He kept talking about how he definitely hit it and wounded it. He almost seemed to act a little bit like Jack when they killed their pig. I didn't expect Ralph to react to stabbing a pig like this. It seemed like he wanted to hunt more after that.
            None of the boys ever want to admit their fear. Fear starts to become a big thing that the boys talk about. They often say, "You aren't scared, are you?" It is an embarrassment now to most of the boys to be afraid.

Reading Times

Lord of the Flies:
11/14    p. 32-58    75 min
11/15    p. 58-76    60 min
11/25    p. 76-95    60 min

Total Time: 195 min

Reading Focus: Fear

            My reading focus for Lord of the Flies is fear. Chapter 5 definitely involved a lot about fear. The littluns were talking about the beast that they are afraid of at night at the assembly. Most of the older boys don't believe any of it at all at first, but you can tell that some of them are a little scared of what the young boys are talking about.
            You can tell that Jack is somewhat scared of this beast by the way he keeps asking the young boys questions about it. If he doesn't believe in it at all, why would he be asking so many questions? It suprised me that Piggy seemed not to be scared of this so-called beast and says that he doesn't believe it exists at all. I thought Piggy would be the one who would be most frightened and start freaking out.

Midterms

            I feel like I understand the summer reading I did pretty well. I did well on the first essay we wrote about Nation and I understood the books I read. I also feel pretty confident about the short stories and interpereting them.
            The main category that I should review more is the literary analysis. I am a little confused about exactly what the main goal of the paper should be and how I am going to put it together. I also will keep reviewing Lord of the Flies and make sure I keep up with where we are in the book as a class.

LOTF Chapter 5

            In this chapter, I noticed a lot of talk about fear which is my focus. They talked to the little boys about the beast they claim to have seen. The older boys are not convinced at first, but they begin to become afraid that this beast may actually exist.
            Ralph talks about how they all have begun to loose order and fun and have started to become scared and unorganized. He realizes this and tries to talk tp the boys about it in the meeting. I think this shows traits of a good leader.