Gulliver's Travels - 12th blogging

from page 95 to 154

           Gulliver sets another journey and ends up arriving at Brobdingnag. Then, a farmer discovers him and treats him like an animal. Gulliver is carried to the market place and then to the metropolis. He is sold to the queen and the queen presents him to the king. They provide him a place to live and he talks about his home country and how much he loves. This gets him to a quarrel with the queen’s dwarfs. Many events happen from this point on. To point out the general scheme, he suggests for an amendment for the map, execution of criminal, and so on. The queen, especially, likes his musical talents. Then, he finds out that this country’s laws and affairs are very loose and imperfect. Especially, their military is so weak and the facilities for training the soldiers are way small. Throughout the story, the author depicts the scenes more like gruesome rather than adventurous since looking the world with a magnifying glass would be totally horrifying because one gets to see things that he or she did not even consider.

           If I were Gulliver, I would be horrified with my vision since I get to see all the unnecessary stuff such as pores on skin, dusts on table, and so on. Realizing the difference between the attitudes of Lilliputians and Brobdingnags, I think that size matters a lot. Lilliputians considered him as a hero and respected him while the Brobdingnags treated him just like an animal, without care or respect. It is just amazing that they live peacefully, lacking rules and disciplines. Maybe, it is just “trust” that governs the people. In our society, trust is hard to find in real lives. Everyone seeks for different things and has different intentions. People are surreptitious that they want only the good parts while seek to sneak out the bad things. They lie, fight, and even murder. Perhaps, the lack of trust among people led to the enforcements of laws and disciplines.

Gulliver's Travels - 11th blogging

I finished the story of Lilliputian Island. Gulliver, with giant body size and strength, became part of the military and eventually succeeded in defeating the enemies. He got awarded and the small Lilliputians made him a suit. He talked about their society and the nursery system. They were pretty similar to those of “Brave New World,” except that they had emotions. After a while, the palace burned. Having left his jacket in his home, he couldn’t extinguish the fire immediately. He talked about the wines that he drank that were extremely good and extinguished the fire with his urine. Even though he saved the palace, he was going to get punished by the Emperor but soon pardoned him and let him leave. Gulliver built his boat and left and headed England, his home.

           I totally love the descriptions that the author used. Not only the content itself was interesting, but also the way the author depicted the scenes are more hilarious. When he talked about measuring his body size to make a suit, I could totally imagine what was going on and picture the scenes. I felt as if I was reading a comic book, not a novel. It is funny how Gulliver coped with problems humorously. I thought he was going to blow the fire off when there was fire on the palace, but he ended up peeing there and extinguishing the fire. I really love the author’s imagination. As I read more and more, the story just reminded me of “Alice in Wonderland.” As I said before, the contents are really similar except that Gulliver was a man and Alice was a girl. I am looking forward to reading the next journey of Gulliver!

Gulliver's Travels - 10th blogging

from page 3 to 64

Gulliver travels to the Island of Lilliput. There, he magically meets people who are 6 inches tall. The natives think that he is some kind of foreign creature and tie him on the ground. When, Gulliver tries to stand up, breaking the tiny ropes that the natives had wrapped around, he gets shot by the needle-like arrows. He lies down and stays still while the people let him have some food and drinks. Since the people could not satisfy Gulliver’s endless appetite, Gulliver is being sent to the Emperor. He meets the Emperor and ironically, becomes the helper of their military. With his massive body-size, he leads the battle into a victory.

I just thought the story line was very hilarious. It kind of reminded me of the book “Alice in Wonderland,” where people are smaller (and bigger) than the normal people. Throughout the story, I was sort of upset at Gulliver’s benevolent attitude toward the dwarfs. If I were him, I would have killed everyone who bothered me. Since they are smaller than I, I would have been the kind of their land also. I don’t understand why Gulliver was so submissive. I hope he finds his true nature and comes up with more realistic solutions to cope with problems.

A Christmas Carol - 9th blogging

The Whole Book

           Old Scrooge had a bad reputation from others for being so frugal and cynical. One night, Marley, in a ghost form, came to him and told him that people like them would have to suffer after death by wandering the Earth due to their greedy lifestyles. Marley told him that there would be three ghosts visiting. After meeting the Ghost of Christmas Past, he remembered his ex-girlfriend who abandoned him because of his obsession with money. Then, he met the Ghost of Christmas Present, who somewhat indirectly convinced Scrooge to change his mind. Last but not least, he met the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come and found dead future Scrooge and people discussing about his charities and inheritances. He realized that he needs to change himself, regretted, and mourned. He came back to the present day Christmas and decided to celebrate it without any concerns about money, which made his neighbors surprised.

           Even though the story itself seems very childish and nonsense, it definitely gives moral lessons. People should be benevolent and kind to each other not like Scrooge who was very mean and stingy. He realized he should not living life that way finally. Although I dislike Scrooge at first due to his mean personality and way of saying stuff, I think he is a likable and cute character. When he desperately asked who the man in the grave was to the Ghost of Christmas Yet to come, he was just like a typical desperate old man different from my original first impression toward him. I think the story was generally very straight forward with a clear theme and moral lesson. 

The Great Expectation - 8th blogging

From page 3 to 108

           The story begins with the interaction between Pip and a convict. As the convict intimidated him to bring food and a file, Pip was so horrified and obeyed on everything. The next morning, he gave the convict what he wanted and went back to his home. Then, Joe and Pip went to Christmas dinner and encountered a group of policemen. Pip got terrified and believed that they were going to arrest him. However, his anticipation was wrong and everything went on smoothly. Later on, Pumblechook, his uncle, took him to Miss Havisham’s place, Satis House. There, Pip met Estella and fell in love although Estella’s attitude toward Pip was not good. With the assist of Biddy, his friend, Pip got interested in education and showed strong desires to learn. Then, he met a stranger stirring his drink with the same file as the convict’s. The stranger gave him money and he hoped people won’t find out his relationship with the convict.

           Throughout the story, matching his age, Pip’s attitude was so innocent and cute. If I were Pip at that age, I would have done the same thing as what he has done: obeying to a stranger, getting terrified easily, and so on. The one thing I disliked about the story was that the author, Charles Dickens, used a lot of long descriptions that often made me bored and sleepy. Even though the story itself was funny and interesting, the way he portrayed stuff and his styles did not fit. Because the descriptions were often very long, I had hard times understanding what he meant and got confused easily. On the other hand, those descriptions sort of made me imagine things better sometimes. Since he used a lot of description-related adjectives and phrases, the imagery the novel portrayed was more vivid than any other novels. 

The Pearl - 7th blogging

Chapters 5 and 6 

Juana tries to throw the pearl away and Kino gets angry at her attitudes. Finally, he ends up hitting Juana and killing an attacker. Since he killed the man only because the man intimidated him, the death was a murder. The next day, the whole family attempts to leave the town to escape penalties. They try to avoid the trackers by sneaking out silently. However, as Coyotito cries, one of the trackers shoots him and Coyotito dies. Juana mourns and Kino feels guilty. At the end, they together throw the pearl to the ocean.

The pearl was a real evil to test the greediness of human beings. If Kino had sold the pearl to the dealer on the first hand, then the whole journey and the death of Coyotito wouldn’t have happened. Because Kino’s desire toward the pearl was so mighty, he put all of his efforts into himself, protecting the pearl. This made him to lose a good reputation as a husband and a townsman by hitting her and murdering another townsman. The pearl just totally ruined the whole family. 

The Pearl - 6th blogging

chapters 1,2,3,4

When the poor family Kino finds the greatest pearl, the family gets famous soon. Even the doctor, who ignored Kino’s ill son, Coyotito, envies the pearl. As soon as Kino finds the pearl, he decides to have an official marriage and to give education to his son, Coyotito. Also, Coyotito gets medical diagnosis from the doctor, who anticipates a great amount of money out of the pearl. When Kino finally decides to sell his treasure, he gets enthusiastic. However, when the prices called by the dealers were not enough for Kino’s anticipation, he gets angry and insists that the dealers are cheating on him. So, he stubbornly refuses to sell and keeps. On that night, an intruder comes in and hurts Kino. Then, Juana takes care of him and asks him to sell the evil pearl. However, still stubborn in his opinion, Kino refuses to sell and maintains on the fact that he will get a better price at the capital.

           Even though the greatest pearl brought wealth and fame to the Kino’s family, I don’t think it was a true wealth. People approached him because he financially changed, not a pure approach. I was also disappointed at the doctor because he immediately changed his attitude toward Kino after the news that he found the pearl of the world. Furthermore, I agree with Juana that the pearl is an evil pearl. It just made Kino greedy that he refused to sell his pearl at a thousand peso, which is a great amount of money. The pearl totally made him a greedy and obstinate person. On the other hand, I was surprised at Kino’s proposal of what to do with the money. If he were a normal poor person, he wouldn’t have thought about providing education to Coyotito, but rather material wealth to him. He thought the education was the only hope for them to get rid of the financial discrimination. I am looking forward to reading the next plot. I hope Kino doesn’t lose the innocent minds like at the beginning of the chapter.

The Great Gatsby - 5th Blogging

Chapters VII, VIII, IX

As Gatsby’s obsession toward Daisy grew stronger and stronger, the relationship between Daisy and Tom became more and more awkward. When, Tom finally encountered the situation with Gatsby, Daisy changed her mind that her husband is Tom and she has to be faithful. Then, the car accident happened. As Daisy was driving, she hit Myrtle. However, still in love with Daisy, Gatsby decided to take the blame. When he went back to home, the servant was asking him whether it would be okay or not to empty the pool. Not having enjoyed swimming for the whole season, Gatsby decided to swim and when he was on the air mattress, Wilson shot him and committed suicide. The surprising thing was, at his funeral, no one came except for his father, former servants, and Nick. Even though he threw out and sponsored massive parties and seemed like he knew everyone in East Egg, the social relationship was really shallow and no one really paid attention to him in reality.

  I think it was wrong for Gatsby to try to regain Daisy’s affection. Even though he was really desperate for Daisy, I still think he should have accepted the reality and given up. Also, at the same time, I think Gatsby was the victim of the media. People exaggerated things that he has done and made out rumors that made him suffer. Even at his funeral, the reporters made up the news about his death with exaggerations. I still do not get why he was the great Gatsby. I think everything he has done was very tragic. He only tried to catch one’s mind with his power and wealth. Is that considered great? 

The Great Gatsby - 4th Blogging

Chapter VI

           The chapter begins with how Gatsby became the Gatsby now. During reading the descriptions of Dan Cody and his relationship with Gatsby, I realized that Gatsby is really a stubborn person. Even though he was poor at first, he finally achieved his goal, which was to be a wealthy successful man. This kind of made me to question that Daisy could be another goal for him. Because he thinks he can achieve everything what he wants and did achieve, he is enthusiastic in everything. Perhaps, his love is not a true love but a jealousy that she lives with her husband happily while Gatsby has to live by himself despite his millions of dollars.

           I think Gatsby is truly a sad character He never experienced a true love; at least, he doesn’t seem to experience. Also, it was really sad that he thinks he can do whatever he wants with his money. Even though everyone wants to be a millionaire like Gatsby, no one wants to lose his or her emotions including love.

The Great Gatsby - 3rd blogging

Chapter IV, V 

The romance between Gatsby and Daisy is rekindled.  Gatsby tells Nick about his pasts and Nick gets puzzled. Gatsby tells him that he was inherited all the money and legacies from his parents and relatives. Also, he tells him that he was educated at Oxford College. Then, the conversation turns to his past romance with Daisy. When he used to be a soldier during the World War, Daisy was the prettiest girl whom everyone fell in love. Gatsby then asked Nick to arrange tea meeting with Daisy. When Daisy arrived, Gatsby got really awkward and talked to Nick privately while Daisy was still there. Nick scolded him for not being mature. When Gatsby and Daisy reunion again, their relationship got better and Nick left and let them be together.

To me, Gatsby’s personality was unbelievable. Rich people tend to boast themselves and are actually happy. However, Gatsby acted as if he were a boy. When he talked to Nick individually, leaving Daisy alone, he was just like the Wily Wonka in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even though the two characters are rich financially, they have sad pasts and often reminisce about their memories. They show that there are something more than to look good physically.

2nd blogging - inkblotz

             I read one of the short stories by Jihyun Rhim. It was about a mom who was so obsessed with her son’s grades. It kind of reminded me of my mom and I. She always asks me what grade that I got and tries to persuade me to go to other academies to study SATs. I never can make a rebellion because the consequences are more severe. Just a few days ago, when the edline reports were updated, my mom called me right after school. When my phone bell rang, I knew that she would say something to me because I couldn’t make straight As. I think such obsession is natural for Korean moms.

             Some people call such competition makes the nation stronger. Because everyone needs to step on someone else in order to achieve one’s fame, money, or other values, some people say the competition is being ruthless and unemotional. I think Korean society is above and beyond the standard of competition. Not like Americans, Koreans put all their efforts into education to achieve success.

             Dues to the pressure that students get from their families, some even commit suicides because they couldn’t resist the obsession. I think it is really sad to be like that. Even though some pressure aid one’s academics, bombing with pressure is definitely not good. I hope the Korean society to change its values gradually so that no more students would suffer from their families academic pressures.

The Great Gatsby - 1st blogging

Chapter I, II, III

Having read the first three chapters of “the Great Gatsby,” I became somewhat interested in this novel even though it only talked about the settings and characters generally. I thought the settings were very paradoxical. Although the East Egg and the West Egg were next to each other, they had totally different characteristics; the East Egg represented noble antiquity while the West Egg represented a new rich extravagance. Not only the two Eggs but also the valley of ashes and the New York City were exactly the opposite; valley of ashes was corrupt and poor while New York City prospered and flourished financially.

           Throughout the three chapters, the descriptions of the Great Gatsby made me fascinated and confused. Why did he sponsor huge parties and watch people enjoying and invite people whom he doesn’t know. Why is he portrayed as a sublime and luxurious character that is using awkward words in speeches such as ‘old sport’? I was a little annoyed because the book didn’t tell me why. I should find out about him more later in the chapters.

Brave New World - Comments

Comments

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Soojin L. (3)
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Brave New World - Significant Passage

* 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.

I had hard time choosing the significant passage because everything was significant to me since they all described the differences between the new world and our world. I thought the major difference was the religion part.

“Feeling that it was time for him to do something, Bernard also jumped up and shouted: ‘I hear him; He’s coming.’ But it wasn’t true. He heard nothing and, for him, nobody was coming. Nobody-in spite of the music, in spite of the mounting excitement. But he waved his arms, he shouted with the best of them; and when the others began to jig and stamp and shuffle, he also jigged and shuffled.” (pg.84)

This was very similar to Christian worshipping services. Their god, Ford, represented Jesus of Christianity. People praised and worshipped Ford as if he created the world. When twelve people gathered there, they began their praise by having somas. Everyone consumed somas and it made them to hallucinate as if Ford was coming toward them. People danced and harmonized each other, making twelve of them as one.

From the research, I found out that Ford was a person who first invented the car and merchandised cars. (It might be wrong but…) Anyway, it showed that their first priority was the development of technologies. Also, they used After Ford as a time measurement just like After Death that we use nowadays.

This paragraph was about his feelings when he attended the solidarity service. Although everyone was praising Ford, he saw nothing. He just did not know what they saw. However, in order to harmonize with them and look normal, he had to lie to himself that he saw Ford. It was a little odd that everyone except for him were “seeing” Ford.

At first I thought people were tricking him because he did not look like an alpha man. However, I found out that they really “saw” Ford that they truly worshipped him. Then, I found out that there was something special for Bernard. Since he had questioning and curious minds from the beginning, I thought he would be the one who will change the world with his innocent thoughts.

Overall, this paragraph was significant that showed people’s priority was to invent and develop technologies as well as the fact that there was something noteworthy difference to Bernard from other people.

Image:http://www.statistics.gov.uk/focuson/religion/

Brave New World - Climax

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

I think there were a few climaxes in the story that built up as one climax, which was the explosion of John’s feelings toward the brave new world. To describe the conflict throughout the story, he struggled with the society and people of the new world. At first, he was curious at them and thought they were cool with the whole new technologies. However, as time passed on, he started to feel sad toward their apathetic attitudes. Thus, he felt a strong sense of need to rebel against their laws and enlightened people to pursue real freedom.

The first climax started when John was irritated by Delta kids who were getting trainings for death. They kept asking if Linda were dead or not. John, annoyed by their indifference toward one’s death and emotionless attitudes, chided them to get out. Because the Delta kids did not do what John asked them to do, John finally stood up. When someone was distributing the somas, John took the somas and trashed them. He explained that the somas are the drugs that make you physically and mentally ill. However, Delta kids did not what he was talking about, which they got angry at him. To analyze this part of the story, this was John’s first time to actually rebel against the people. He was eager to enlighten people but he could not. This event ensured readers that he had this strong and indomitable will that he will enlighten the new world.

The second climax was when John talked to Mustapha Mond, one of the ten world controllers. They had a conversation about literatures, arts, religions, and other things that these people did not have. From the conversation, Mustapha Mond concluded that in order to pursue happiness, people have to give up them. However, John thought it was better to feel unhappy and have them. Throughout this dialogue, which was his second action, he showed his strong feelings toward literatures especially Shakespears, arts, and religions. This made him to leave the new world.

The third climax was when John whipped Lenina when she came to see him at the lighthouse. Although Lenina tried to understand him as much as she could, John’s thought, which was people living here are all emotionless, did not change. Even though he tried to refresh people, he could not endure his deep sorrow toward these apathetic people. Eventually, he hanged himself.

I thought his actions were all significant that they should be considered as climaxes that built up the solutions for the conflict. It was sort of sad for me that he committed suicide even though he tried his best.

Image:http://infinitequest.blogspot.com/2007/09/from-here-to-here-turning-toward.html

Brave New World - Theme

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

The theme of this novel was the eternal happiness. Can there be an eternal happiness? “Call it the fault of civilization. God isn’t compatible with machinery and scientific medicine and universal happiness. You must make your choice. Our civilization has chosen machinery and medicine and happiness. That’s why I have to keep these books locked up in the safe. They’re smut. People would be shocked if …” (pg. 234) According to this quote of Mustapha mond, he claimed that in order to live with universal happiness, he had to give up everything else except for the technology and scientific medicine. Is it really impossible to make everything coexist peacefully? Because people have different values, characteristics, sexes, and other differences, they cannot act the same. However, in this novel, a drug called soma could make people calmed down and feel good. Perhaps, this is the biggest reason why they could live without arguments.

Also, the hypnopaedia method, which was the principle of sleep-teaching made people brainwashed. It made people to adapt everything without any hesitation. That was why people, no matter what their castes were, could be happy and consider themselves as fortunate. For instance, Lenina, who was a beta woman, was keep saying, “I am glad that I am not an Alpha. I don’t have to work that hard. I am glad that I am not Gammas, Deltas, or Epsilons because they are stupid.” Everyone could labor hard because they were happy to get grams of soma for their payments.

To me, they were machines that worked spiritlessly for their goal, which was to get grams of soma. They did nothing painful. They did not have to learn because they learned everything through the sleep teaching. They did not have to feel sorrow or scared of death because they were educated to feel nothing even though one passed away. They did not have to become old and ugly because the soma made them immune to getting old. Lastly, they did not feel love because they did not know what a true love was and they did not have parents who cared for them with love. They were just apathetic.

I did not think this matters to nowadays teenagers but I did think that this would be a problem after a century. I was a little scared that the world will become like this. Although people were feeling happy, indeed, they were feeling nothing because they were just used to it. It cannot be a brave new world because it was just a dead world. The title was definately a paradox.

Image:http://futuresteve.wordpress.com/2007/10/

Brave New World - Characters

* 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?

Bernard Marx – Although his caste was Alpha, he was always ignored by other castes because of his weak and inferior body. He liked Lenina that he went to the Savage Reservation with her. Before he found John, the Savage, he was always an outsider who was lonely and depressed. When he brought John and introduced him to the new world, he became popular as well as arrogant. He satisfied his grudge of being inferior to other Alpha men. As soon as he brought John, people started to admire him but some people were worried at his exaggerated arrogance. His popularity totally changed him. However, his fame did not last long. When John refused to meet other people, people criticized Bernard that he was so irresponsible. After that event, Bernard started to be corrupted and returned to his original state.

At first I liked Bernard’s thoughts that were pretty unique. He was questioning about their lives. Also he did not want physical love with Lenina. However, as he got famous, he trashed all of his unique thoughts and acted like a typical Alpha man. I did not like his attitude as the time passed. At first he was somewhat thankful to John. However, when John refused to meet others, Bernard became furious about the fact that John is not obeying his commands.

John – The Savage, John is a son of Tomakin, the director, and Linda, who was lost during the savage trip. When Bernard and Lenina found John, they brought John and also Linda to the new world. John, at first, was very curious about the new world that he agreed to go without any hesitation. When they arrived to the new world, John became very famous and was asked a lot of questions from the reporters. However, as he lived there longer, he felt awkward and soon hated the world. He could not understand why they were not allowed to read books, why they flirted with a lot of people, why they were so merciless, and so on. He tried to rebel and enlighten people that he argued with Mustapha Mond, who was one of the ten world controllers. He could not endure this awkwardness, which he left the new world and lived in the lighthouse by himself. However, people soon found out and interviewed him. He also saw Lenina but due to his loath of the new world, he whipped and killed her. Finally, he committed suicide.

John was a significant and the most dynamic character here, who destroyed the utopia so far. He could not adapt himself to this world. He tried to persuade people to live with feelings but they denied.

Lenina Crowne – A typical Beta woman. She flirted to almost every man but was strongly attracted to John the Savage.

Fanny Crowne – A typical woman in the world state. She was a roll model who followed the rules. Thus, she persuaded Lenina that it was right to flirt with many men.

Mustapha Mond – One of the ten controllers of the world state. He understood John but persuaded him to follow the rules of the world state, which promotes the happiness. He claimed that he gave up arts, literatures, religions, and others in order to pursue the happiness.

Helmholtz Watson – An alpha lecturer. However, he was too intelligent for his job. He was a friend of Bernard. He thought it was meaningless to live a life like this because he thought it was very boring.

Linda – She used to be a beta woman but when she was lost in the Reservation, she had a baby, which was considered as perverted in the new world. Thus, she was very hesitated to go back to her home.

Director (Tomakin) – He was a powerful character who commanded people. However, when John revealed the secret that he was Tomakin’s son, he became opened to attacks from others.

Image:http://www.tubecad.com/2006/10/blog0082.htm

Brave New World - Current Situations

* 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”?

At first when I thought about the caste system, the first thing that came into my mind was the ancient India. The Indian caste system was very similar to this. With rigid hierarchies, Brahmins and Kshastriyas ruled the country while Vaisyas and Sudras (untouchables) labored and had inferior jobs. They could not argue with their varnas nor change them. Also, they could not marry with the different castes from theirs. In addition, their marriages were unlawful too. A man could kidnap a woman and marry. This was considered as legal, which women were treated as objects.

Also, I could compare to the polygyny. According to the polygyny, a man could have more than one wife and this was legal too. Although people in the new world did not marry, the idea was the same, which a person loved more than one person. People from the new world did not feel true love but a fake and physical love, sex. Since that was what they were like and they were educated to be, there were no solutions.



To compare to our modern world, this brave new world resembled today’s North Korea. North Koreans were brainwashed from their birth that their president, Kim Jeong Ill, is the mightiest person ever. Also, North Korean commoners were not allowed to use Internets, books, and other internationally associated things. Even though people were curious at what was going on outside of their world, people had to obey the rules because if not, people in higher position would murder them. Perhaps, internationally associated people were the ones who isolated commoners from the outside. If they knew how different outside people were, they would absolutely begin the riots. Although Kim Jeong Ill is dictating his people, maybe he was trying to create a utopia. According to the research, socialism was the ideal system to form a utopia. Socialism was a similar government as communism, which used the idea of distributing properties equally. However in North Korea, it didn’t work because there were a huge gap between the rich people and the poor people. In this sense, the new world and the North Korea were very alike.
Image:http://www.sodahead.com/poll/49230/

Brave New World - Settings

* 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.

『A squat grey building of only thirty-four stories. Over the main entrance the words, CENTRAL LONDON HATCHERY AND CONDITIONING CENTRE, and , in a shield, the World State's motto, COMMUNITY, IDENTITY, STABILITY.
The enormous room on the ground floor faced towards the north. Cold for all the summer beyond the panes, for all the tropical heat of the room itself, a harsh thin light glared through the windows, hungrily seeking some draped lay figure, some pallid shape of academic goose-flesh, but finding only the glass and nickel and bleakly shining porcelain of a laboratory. Wintriness responded to wintriness. The overalls of the workers were white, their hands gloved with a pale corpse-coloured rubber. The light was frozen, dead, a ghost. Only from the yellow barrels of the microscopes did it borrow a certain rich and living substance, lying along the polished tubes like butter, streak after luscious streak in long recession down the work tables』

This passage was the most significant setting throughout the story. Starting the whole story, this setting was the most descriptive and memorable. The first paragraph depicted the state’s motto, which was community, identity, and stability. Later on the story, people kept saying this phrase, “Every one works for every one else. We can’t do without any one.” This represented the community of the world state. Also, identity was the caste system, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, and Epsilon. Lastly, the people from the new world stabilized themselves by artificial incubation of human embryos using the fertilized ova and male gametes.

The second paragraph described the mass production of human beings. The description was so realistic that I could easily believe in. However, I felt somewhat bitter because human instinct of developing technology was so infinite and brutal. These days, scientists are obsessed with cloning and genetics. I was a little scared that there would be this “brave new world” after a century. Maybe this book is foreshadowing our future lives but I hope not. Living without true love, mercy, and other feelings would be terrible. The last three sentences of the second paragraph described human’s endless inspiration and curiosity toward the scientific and technologic development.

Throughout the story, the author, Aldous Huxley, excelled at every department such as biology, sociology, literature, and so on. I heard at that time when he was writing, people were inspired by the technologic inventions such as cars and radios. Also, it was the time when people started to question traditional morals and sex. Thus, I believed he himself was also curious that he made the setting as an imaginary future. However, although the content itself was very exaggerated, he conveyed what he believed in very well. The distopia is occurred by human instinct of development. With detailed descriptions from the beginning, the story was so credible to me that I was kept thinking about the future world.

Overall, this passage made me fall into this novel when I first opened the book cover. I thought it was very unique to write about the future. Since the descriptions were so true and detailed, I could make a movie in my head when I finished the book.

Image:http://www.abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=4148365

Lord of the Flies - Comments

Comments on
Tanner M., Jane K., Hannah N., Jenny S., Jun Do, John Shin

Lord of the Flies - Setting

* 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.

"By the time Ralph finished blowing the conch the platform was crowded. There were differences between this meeting and the one held in the morning. The afternoon sun slanted in from the other side of the platform and most of the children, feeling too late the smart of sunburn, had put their clothes on. The choir, noticeably less of a group, had discarded their cloaks." p32 ,

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"
The tribe was dancing. Somewhere on the other side of this rocky wall there would be a dark circle, a glowing fire, and meat. They would be savoring food and the comfort of safety. p 186

The two settings definitely contradicted each other a lot. The first passage described Ralph's assembly while the second passage described Jack's group celebrating the successful pig hunt.

According to the first passage, everyone was a decent boy at one time. When Ralph blew out the conch, boys joined for the assembly and shared ideas. Even though they were hot, they knew it was decorum to put their clothes on. Also, the choir refused to gather only with themselves and joined Ralph's assembly to cooperate. At this point, the setting proved that they worked hard, being complimentary to one other. Although they disagreed with one other often, they did not commit a riot or physically attack someone. They tried their best to plan the survival thoroughly.

On the other hand, the second passage talked about a community totally out of control. They were enjoying their comfort and celebration rather than working. I thought the phrase 'a dark circle, a glowing fire, and meat' represent the natural instinct of being wild and savage. The song itself was also an example of savagery that the boys could not have thought about before.

The most conspicuous difference in physical setting was that the first passage was during the daytime while the second passage was during the night-time. I thought the author set the time like this to enforce the difference between good and evil.

The environment and tendency gradually changed but changed a lot. It conveyed the author's intention perfectly, which was every human being has some sort of inhumanity or evilness embedded within him/herself.

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Lort of the Flies - Symbols

*Entry of your choice - symbolisms

There were a lot of symbols in this novel, Lord of the Flies. Without any exaggerations, the content was full of symbolic materials and ideas.

First, the conch, which Piggy found and suggested Ralph to blow and summon boys, symbolized the democratic idea and a rule. Since the conch was used as a right to speak during the assembly, it gave everyone a chance to speak equally and a chance to be treated equally. During the meeting, only a person who held the conch shell could speak and everyone had to listen to him. This gave them a sense of order in their society. When the conch was crushed by the boulder that Roger rolled, the democracy and the rule were destroyed that Jack's group, which represented anarchy to flourish.

In addition, Piggy's glasses were also an important symbol. His glasses represented the scientific side of a society. With his glasses, the boys were able to light the fire. This gave the boys a sense of hope to get saved. When the Jack's group tried to steal his glasses but could not, the glasses were cracked, which also cracked the intelligence of boys. When the Jack's group finally stole it from Piggy, they abused the science and intelligence.

More importantly, the fire had two symbols; one was hope while the other one was destruction. At first when Piggy used his glasses and sunlight to make the signal fire, it gave them hope as mentioned before. They set the fire in hope of being rescued and going back to their own society. However, as time went on and as they paid a little attention to the signal fire, the original goal of the signal fire disappeared. Soon, the meaning of the fire turned to the opposite, destruction. Jack set the forest fire to capture Ralph and kill him. This use of fire was really unexpected for me. When I began reading this novel, I thought they would use the fire effectively for the survival, which was very opposite to their reality.

Lord of the Flies - Significant Passage

I had two memorable passages that I wanted to analyze and share. First one was a dialogue between Simon and the Lord of the Flies and the next passage was about Jack’s internal conflict when he had the first pig hunt, which happened prior to the first passage.

“ Simon’s head was tilted slightly up. His eyes could not break away and the Lord of the Flies hung in space before him.
“What are you doing out here all alone? Aren’t you afraid of me?”
Simon shook.
“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast.”” p143

Although talking with a pig’s head is impossible, this dialogue was the most important symbolical passage. The Lord of the Flies intimidated Simon that he will kill and confessed that he himself was the beast. The beast represented the natural evilness in people’s mind. Thus, the concept of the Lord of the Flies was not a concrete object but an abstract idea.

Through the dialogue, Simon realized that the beast that the boys were afraid of was actually the fear of inhumanity. The Lord of the Flies talked as if he was the one who caused this problem, which ensured that he was the symbol of evil. Enlightened with the discovery, Simon wanted to inform the fact to other boys. However, the boys misapprehended that Simon was the beast and that they murdered him.

I felt the boys were too into the wilderness. I could not understand them because they murdered Simon without a minimum rational thought. If the boys thought rationally, then there would be no such crime. I was very disappointed at them. How could a person kill another person who used to be his or her friend? Due to their cold-heartedness, I thought the murdering part was too fictionally fabricated.

" He noticed Ralph's scarred nakedness, and the somber silence of all four of them. He sought, charitable in his happiness, to include them in the thing that had happened. His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink. " p70

This passage was a certainly significant part of the entire novel too. This described how Jack felt after killing the first pig. Although he claimed he is supporting hunting because it provides meat to the entire group and is essential for a survival, now he is obsessed with it. At this point, he is involved in hunting so much that he cannot get rid of the thought of killing the pig.

He started to show the natural instinct of human savagery. From this point on, he was more exhilarated in killing pig rather than providing meat for the entire group. Later on, he painted his face to look wilder. Although it was not necessary in hunting, since he was so obsessed with it, he could not control his savage instinct.

Because he was busy with his hunting job, he forgot to manage the signal fire. If he managed the fire well, they could have been saved because the ship just passed by when the fire was out. Although it was his job and Ralph was so furious at him, he did not even listened to him and did not accept his fault but self-praised his first successful hunt. Indulged into and proud of his hunting skills, Jack started to pay no attention to the whole group and manage his hunting life.

I was surprised because Jack changed a lot in this short period of time. If I were Jack, at least I would not betray my friends. I thought it was a little awkward because Jack acted in his own way even thought he knew it was necessary to work in a group.

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Lord of the Flies - Climax

* what is the climax of this novel? what happens? how do the events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of this novel was when Jack's group burned the forest and chased Ralph. Jack wanted to kill Ralph because he believed Ralph ignored himself and became the leader. Jack gave everyone a job even Sam and Eric to capture Ralph and kill him as soon as possible. When Ralph was hiding, a naval officer found and saved him.

Without his best friend Piggy, Ralph had to endure by himself. Even Sam and Eric, used to be his side, left Ralph and joined Jack's group. Although they liked Ralph, they had to leave him because they feared Jack's group might attack them as well. This part sort of saddened me. To save Sam and Eric, they and also Ralph had to give up their friendship. In addition, I thought this symbolized some aspects of our human nation too. People tend to sacrifice themselves to save others. This somehow represented Christianity also. Ralph was alone, advocating the right thing, just like Jesus did to his people. Being the last conflict in the novel, this showed the result of every conflict that had happened.

At first, I thought the climax was when Simon died by the boys because after that point, the concept of civilization entirely disappeared and only savagery survived. After Simon died, Ralph again lost his hope. From this point on, Jack held the most power and everyone except for Piggy joined Jack’s group. Claming that the most important thing is to adapt the environment, Jack thoroughly re-grouped the kids for hunt. Even though Simon was killed by them, they did not feel any sympathy with him but to think in cold blood. Only moral and ethical Ralph and Piggy empathized with Simon and felt sorry for him. Later than, Jack’s group committed another serious offense, which were the murder of Piggy and the crash of conch. This caused Ralph to lose self-control and indulge into ferocious life. By that time, Jack burned the forest.

With endless conflicts, I thought it was natural to have a lot of climaxes. However, I thought the forest-fire one was the most intense and the last conflict that marked the end of the story. In fact, it was a very tense moment for Ralph and for me too. When the naval officer found Ralph hiding from Jack’s group, Ralph cried because Piggy and Simon were dead by Jack and Roger. Ralph thought everyone lost his innocence especially Jack. Thus, Ralph himself and everyone became sorrowful due to their intentions and actions. However, when the naval officer found them, the readers including myself could find out what will happen the next. Although the ending was sort of ambiguous, readers could assume that they went back to their own normal life habits.

I felt sorry for Ralph while reading this climax. I cannot imagine how it would feel if my friends left me alone, became enemies, and confronted me to kill. At the same time, I was so proud of Ralph's indomitable willingness. If I were Ralph, I should have joined Jack’s group even though I think it was wrong. As the boys got wild, I could assume that Ralph will experience a huge difficulty. I was glad that the officer found the boys. If there were no rescue, then the condition would be more brutal.

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Lord of the Flies - Characters

*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 were mainly six characters that represented certain aspects in our society. Used to be the team leader, Ralph represented human civilization but more generally, the good side of human beings. He wanted to settle there to survive. Also, he was the one who supported building shelters and a signal fire. Although he was full of good ideas, he failed to persuade and control others to support himself due to his lack of leadership.

On the other hand, Jack represented the natural savagery. Angered at Ralph's leadership position, he decided to rebel against him and finally gained attention and formed his hunting group. He only thought about himself and the short-term future, which led him and his group to do what they want, not thinking about the counter plans about the final outcomes.

In addition, Piggy represented the scientific aspect of our nature. Even though he was fat, ugly, and had asthma, he had a superior brain. He invented water clock and suggested Ralph to blow the conch to summon the boys. Because he was weak at speaking in front of others, he used Ralph to suggest ideas instead and worked with him.

Representing the natural goodness, often related to Jesus, Simon was the only one who knew the truth of the beast. However, due to his calm and peaceful characteristic, he could not get along with other boys well, which often led him to go into the forest and meditate.

Furthermore, Roger, being the lieutenant of Jack, represented the sadistic aspect of human beings. He often irritated or annoyed the little kids by throwing rocks at them, making them frightened. Also, he killed Piggy at last by rolling the huge boulder.

Lastly, Lord of the Flies was a significant character too. Actually, it was the pig’s head that Jack offered to the beast. It represented the human beings’ internal evilness. Through the Lord of the Flies, we could know that there are limits to people’s tendency to be civilized and have rules. It proved that the natural evilness is embedded in everyone’s mind.

In addition, the novel itself was a microcosm of our society. The older boys ruled while the little kids such as Sam and Eric had to always obey at them. This phenomenon is the basic idea of nowadays-political society.

I really liked Ralph. Although he was not successful at being the leader of the whole, he tried his best and never gave up his will. Even everyone joined Jack's group, he thought that he himself was doing the right thing and had to endure from other boys' attack.

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Lord of the Flies - Theme

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

Social and governmental faults are from individual people’s defect. Thus, a society has to have a defect and individual people who form a society control the defect.

The major theme of this novel was 'democracy verses anarchy.' For instance, Ralph's group wanted to build shelters and have rules while Jack's group wanted to hunt and be wild. At first, the boys tended to follow Ralph because he won the vote. However, as Jack rebelled, frustrated with jealousy, the group's order became very neglectful and soon disappeared. Because the boys were not mature enough, they tended to follow the lifestyle of anarchy. Without any adults who can supervise and control them, the boys became more savage.

This phenomenon is important because teenagers often rebel to their parents and dream about a world without rules and hierarchies. However, they need to realize the fact that there are no lives without rules. Immature individuals like teenagers cannot govern themselves just like this novel. There will always be a person who opposes one’s idea. If a leader cannot control such arguments, the society will fall into a chaotic situation. As pre-mature humans, teenagers lack the ability to make right decisions. Thus, teenagers will need to consider and understand what will happen if a society lacks rules and becomes chaotic.

Moreover, another major theme of this novel was the human political society. As mentioned before, younger boys had to always obey the older boys. For instance, Sam and Eric had no power so they just followed Jack's order. On the other hand, older boys always tended to ignore the younger ones. Just like today's people who are in politically higher positions, the older boys' role was to distribute jobs and control younger ones while the younger ones had to labor without any complaints.

Image:http://www.greenanarchy.info/anarchy.php