When a civilized person is moved to an environment where civilization does not exist, they will eventually become savage because their mind adapts into the environment, has a chance to go insane, and only care about what they want when they go into this situation. When you the reader will look into the past, you see that we (humans) were/are savages, but now we have evolved and became more civilized, with our minds adapting into high kinds of people filled with different kinds of emotions. So when we think about it, there were alot of times that mankind turned in savages. In this essay, there is about 2 big moments in history that humans were considered savages.

In the book Lord of the Flies, written by Golding, William, and published by new york penguin, in 2006, is about a group of boys, whose plane got shot out of the sky during a war, where on the island their on has no adults, and a group of boys who are in the church choir, back where ever they lived, and later on in the book, their “leader of the group” Jack, becomes bloodthirsty and savage. This somethings happens in our world, here are 2 or 3 examples.

Cortez killed and enslaved the aztecs even though they gave them gifts, even though they were defined as savages, yet cortez killed and them in ways that today in the modern world, and probability was looked on in shame back then as well. Knowing this, you can somewhat understand why it is savagery since, when he got gifts, he then murdered them all. I the writer define it as somewhat savage.

The other time that might of, or was savage, was the Freddie Gray, he was handcuffed in the back of a van without a seat belt. By the time he arrived at the police station a half hour later, he was unable to breathe or talk, suffering from wounds that would kill him, and those wounds did kill him. The van made about 2 or 3 trips until they got to the police station which was 30 minutes after. When he got to the station, he was unable to breath or talk, and the case of this tragic story, is still going on today. When you see the full report, you can think it was savage for several reasons. 1: When he was first arrested his leg was hurt, and officers were dragging him in a position that would look like it would make it hurt more. 2: When he was put in the van, he was handcuffed, and wasn't put in a seat belt and was in their for 30 minutes. 3: He had asthma, and when he asked for it, it was denied to him. This is like savagery for a few different reasons. The first one is how he was dragged like how jack killed the pig by engaging it in a circle -or a cage, like how Gray’s injuries were caused from being in the back of the van. How he was treated which was savage (not the roasting type, the old age type, or from the book in the lord of the flies).

This is why there is some savagery in our world still. It takes different shapes, and it always exists. Most of us, think savagery is the opposite of civilized which in some cases it is, but in other cases its just power hungry turning savage like, what happen with jack when he became a leader of his “own” tribe, and started spilling blood and killing his the others who don't agree with his intentions about the island.

What if laws no longer existed? Would people have the same beliefs as to what is right and wrong, or would their actions change? If there were suddenly no rules against what people consider to be bad, they would slowly accept those behaviors. Some do what other people believe to be wrong but not themselves, while the majority do not just because it is illegal. Which elucidate the impression that some actions are only wrong because they are forbidden. Is everyone capable of doing  the ‘wrong’ thing without remorse? In theory, the ability for humans to kill each other is always present. It is believed that what prevents that behavior is organized civilization, which has rules against killing. So if humans are placed into an environment where killing is not prohibited and has no consequence, they could potentially find themselves capable of taking a life.

Kids are young and can be easily influenced, if given the chance, would they be capable of taking a life? In William Golding’s “Lord of The Flies,” kids went from an organized and civilized environment to the complete opposite. It changed them by stripping their away their innocence. By chapter nine in the book, the second death occurs but it is the first murder. The boys killed their fellow peer, Simon, out of fear because they mistook him for the beast. “The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws”(152). Technically it is ‘accidental’ because in their minds, they were killing ‘the beast’ out of self defense. However, does that justify their murderous actions? This kill may be debatable but the second one definitely is not.

When Piggy dies, the conch shatters, signifying all the order and control and civilization in the story. Once the conch is smashed all chance of civility is gone to the point of no return. In addition to this, Piggy was the voice of reason, with him gone it indicates the end of rational thinking. “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee: the conch exploded into a  thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”(181). Roger Kills Piggy because he can, and has realized that no one on the island can or will limit his cruelty. There is no fear of consequence, therefore, no fear of action. Nevertheless, this is talking about a piece of fiction, yet it speaks to many, why? The reason is simply because there is truth to it. Furthermore, if there are no consequences, then people will start to think their actions are not wrong and will not learn or change for the better.

Nikolas Jacob Cruz is a 19 year old boy who has already taken the lives of 17 people, most of them being his old classmates. Was he always capable of a mass murder or did his environment influence it? According to an article from sun-sentinel.com, who interviewed Cruz’s family and peers, Nikolas wasn’t an easy child. He had been diagnosed with a string of disorders and conditions: depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional behavioral disability and autism. His mom told sheriff’s deputies he also had obsessive-compulsive disorder and anger issues. How did these ‘issues’ develop? By the time Nikolas was 3, he was diagnosed with developmental delays, and by the time he was 6, he'd suffered the trauma of witnessing his father's death. In eighth grade, he was assigned to a school for students with emotional problems. He badly wanted to attend a “regular” high school and his wish was granted, the school he shot up, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, was that school. By the time he was 16, he was preoccupied with wars, death and killing. Later, his girlfriend left him, his mother passed, and he had been kicked out of his dream school. Nikolas was lonely, angry, and surrounded by negativity. Reportedly, Cruz once took a dead bird into the kitchen of his home and cut it open, saying he wanted to see inside. A similar example of this behavior also took place in the novel, when the boys brutally killed a pig. “All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy. Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close. The chant rose ritually, as at the last moment of a dance or a hunt. "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!"(114). Both, the boys from the book and Nikolas Cruz, were bloodthirsty. However, neither of them were always like this, not until a change of environment for the worse occurred. Killing the pig quick and easy is one thing, but making it slow and painful is torturous.

To conclude, the fictional book, “Lord of The Flies,” is not as fictional as it seems. One example is used to connect the book into the real world, but no doubt there are plenty more. Almost anyone could be one if pushed far enough. In the book, the beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. It is Golding’s intention to illustrate the intuitive evil inside man. In almost all cases of murders and/or mass murders, the suspect has some kind of “mental issue” that is connected with the environment they were raised in and/or the negative experiences they have had. Is everyone capable of evil? Is civilization and their rules the only thing stopping them from becoming ruthless savages? This essay started off as a reflection of two things, the boys from the novel, and Nikolas Cruz. Nonetheless it has ended with a reflection of oneself. If put in a position such as the one listed above, anyone could be able to commit the crime.

Works Cited:

Golding, William. Lord of The Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Have you ever been so frightened you’ll never forget that moment in your life? Fear can have a long-term effect on people’s mental health and can affect their physical health as well. Fear is a very powerful emotion that can be very well a positive thing a can be a very much a negative thing. This is also present in real life when people dream because when they have a nightmare it can stick with them  When people are dealing with a threat to their existence, they let fear rule their behavior. As a result, they cannot fully be themselves and the threat of the fear will constantly haunt them.

In the “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding there are a bunch of boys stuck on a Island and the main character is a guy named Ralph.  In this scene there are two twins who are names Sam and Eric. They are talking to Ralph about their “encounter” with the beast. ”The beast moved too-’ That was awful. It kind of sat up-’ The fire was bright-’ We’d just made it up-’-more sticks on-’There were eyes-’ Teeth-’ Claws-’ We ran as fast as we could-’Bashed into things-’ The beast followed us”(100). You can see obviously that the boys were scared and all that jazz but what the boys didn’t know was that there was literally nobody following them. When they were mentioning the description of the beast, that was just their imagination and you can see it’s having a mental effect on their brains because what they are describing didn’t happen. They probably just heard some noises and they thought that was the beast and started running, either way there wasn’t any beast in this scene.

A little later in the book there is a scene where there is a boy that is named Simon who is having a conversation with a dead pig alone in a forest, which is called the Lord of the Flies. ”We are going to have fun on this island. So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else-...Simon was inside the month. He fell down and lost consciousness”(144).  In this quote you can see that fear has affected Simon too because he is literally talking to a dead pig and the reader is to believe that the pig is talking to him. Simon’s fear got to a climaxing point as you can see since he put his head in the dead’s pig mouth and went unconscious. If they never even heard or saw the beast this whole scene wouldn’t have happened. You can see that Simon is not himself and isn’t functioning fully since he is in this state. This beast senario is having mental issue with him and is having a hard time in this scene.  

Now a little after the previous scene we see Simon again with the Lord of the flies on his head is trying to tell a group of boys about a dead man on a hill. ”Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill. Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!...The beast struggled forward, broke the ring, and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water...they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand.”(152-153) In this quote you can see that the group of boys were definitely not themselves because they were chanting a really morbid chant. They were so blind that they didn’t realize that the person they was hurting was there fellow comrade Simon. Then later in the scene he ends up dying because of their ruthlessness and how much fear had control them to the point where they took a life of a person, their own friend. They were so obsessed with the beast that they were going to kill it no matter what but the things is there was never really a beast.  

A real world example of this is dreams. In some of the websites it was explaining that the environment can affect people’s behaviors and how they function. Also, dreams are also powerful because if you remember them it can stick with you. This is important to remember because when you have fear it can have a mental and physical impact on you.”The environment can influence mood. For example, the results of several research studies reveal that rooms with bright light, both natural and artificial, can improve health outcomes such as depression, agitation, and sleep.”(Found here) It said this in one of the articles and basically it’s saying that being in a good environment can improve your health physically and mentally. “The environment can create or reduce stress, which in turn impacts our bodies in multiple ways. This is because our brain and our nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are constantly interacting. As neuroscientist Candice Pert puts it, "What you are thinking at any moment is changing your biochemistry."(Found here) This is also stating evidence that depending on the environment it can decrease or increase stress. When your stressed you can’t fully be yourself and you’re going to be worried about every single thing in your life just like in the novel.

Having fear in your life can have a very dangerous impact on you both physically and mentally. When you’re being threatened, it can cause you to do things you wouldn’t think of doing until you’re in the moment. In that moment fear is ruling their behavior and it is allowing to dictate their actions and choices that they make. Just like in the lord of the flies dreams in the real world can impact you to the point where you act out of your normal character.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies, New York: Penguin, 2006.

Kollmuss, Anja. “Mind the Gap: Why Do People Act Environmentally and What Are the Barriers to pro-Environmental Behavior?” Https://Www.tandfonline.com/Doi/Abs/10.1080/13504620220145401.

“What Impact Does the Environment Have on Us?” Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing, www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/explore-healing-practices/healing-environment/what-impact-does-environment-have-us.

“Impact of Fear and Anxiety.” Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing, www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/security/facing-fear/impact-fear.

“The Impact of Dreams on Your Social Life.” Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dream-catcher/201105/the-impact-dreams-your-social-life.

Maddy Malloy

Jack’s behavior proves that “crazy” behavior does not happen randomly -- it is a natural reaction to emotional and stressful situations. If you are put under a lot of stress in an unresourceful environment like the jungle in Lord of the Flies, you will become distressed and act out like Jack has done. Throughout the book, Jack has become emotionally distressed and acted out in violent ways such as killing pigs in a heinous way. Anyone who sees someone that is involved in violent actions, they will automatically register it as that person is crazy or out of their mind. The way society runs and how people react to it determines the madness of people; along with stress contributing to the violent actions, which in this case is Jack acting out by viciously killing pigs.

In the show Naked and Afraid, you are placed on an island with absolutely nothing with just your brain trying to tell you how to survive. Along with trying to keep up with surviving, you do not have any provided food or water. This adds on to stress because these are the regular necessities to survive everyday. As the show comes to an end, you can see that the once nourished and healthy faces of the contestants, are now the hungry and worn down people that had participated in the game. “Thompson-Nelson is seen throwing a tantrum and verbally threatening Lautakoski. Producers for the show intervened and asked Thompson-Nelson to "tap out" or withdraw, which, according to Thompson-Nelson, was a first for the show.” This is an example of what happened to a contestant due to not eating properly in seven days which drove her to go a little insane and lashed out at another contestant; you need the right amount of nutrients everyday, and be in a stable environment to function normally, or you will become violent just how this contestant has become.

At this point in the book of Lord of the Flies, Jack lashes out at Piggy and calls him “Fatty”, and even physically abuses him. “This from Piggy, and the wails of agreement from some of the hunters, drove Jack to violence. The bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able to last to hit someone, struck his fist into Piggy's stomach. Piggy sat down with a grunt. Jack stood over him. His voice was vicious with humiliation." You would, would you? Fatty!"... Jack smacked Piggy's head.” (pg. 71) Like in Naked and Afraid, the contestant had lashed out at her teammate, verbally abused them, and then quickly after was told to tap out. In the Lord of the Flies, this moment represents another moment  in which his innocence is slowly decaying from him; lashing out at his close friend, verbally and physically abusing him.

Going into more depth about people who act out in violent ways, contestant Honora Bowen threw all of her tools to help her and her team survive into a river. When placed on the show, Naked and Afraid, you are stripped of your clothes and can only take one thing with you. In this case, Bowen had two other men with her which made the group have three items to carry onto their island. These three items included a knife, machete and a water bottle; three essential items to help her and her team survive. This compares to Lord of the Flies when Jack and his friends got into an argument and Jack acted out in a violent way; Bowen had gotten into an argument with two of her teammates, and as a result, Bowmen acted out and threw important items to survive in the river. Although it was not as violent as what Jack was going to do, Bowmen still acted out by doing this.  

At this point in Chapter 3 of Lord of the Flies, the kids are hungry and want food; specifically pig or any sort of tasty, substantial food at this point. The conversation in this scene happens between Jack and Ralph, and quickly spins into an enraged conversation because of how Jack responds to him. “Jack Flushed. "We want Meat" ...The Madness came into his eyes again. ...." You wouldn't care to help with the shelters, i suppose?" " We want meat" " And we don't get it" " But I shall! Next time! I've got to get a barb on this spear! We wounded a pig and the spear fell out. If we could only make barbs-" (pg 51-52) In this quote we can infer that what Jack is saying is considered violent and this is where his personality is similar to what we would consider as insane. Jack comes up with other violent ways in which to kill the pig that they wanted for food, which hints that Jack is too violent. Like in the show, Naked and Afraid, Bowmen lashed out at her teammates, and threw all of their items into a river.

Crazy behavior does not happen randomly. From my two examples of Naked and Afraid, it is clear that without the regular resources that are provided for us in everyday life impact us if we are without them for too long. Another example that ties into this is when people get headaches from not eating for a long time and this ends up affecting their mood; they lash out at people. This is similar to my previous examples, except that being malnourished for several days would intensifies people’s actions, such as lashing out at close friends and teammates. The surroundings and lack of nutrients a person needs is what really affects others who act out in violent ways.

WORKS CITED

1. Cummings, Tommy. “Controversial Texas Contestant on 'Naked and Afraid' Upset with How She Was Portrayed on Show.” GuideLive, 12 June 2016, www.guidelive.com/reality-tv/2016/06/10/controversial-texas-contestant-naked-afraid-laura-thompson-nelson.

When choosing a leader, you should look for certain qualities, but what are the qualities a leader should have?. A leader should be honest, reliable, and loyal. Sometimes leaders have bad qualities as well. Being a leader means that you have a lot of responsibility. Leaders have to stand strong on their good and bad days. Furthermore, leaders should not be full of themselves. If they only care about themselves, how can they be a leader to others. A bad quality can be pride. A leader with good qualities can have pride as their downfall.

The novel Lord of the flies is written by William Golding. This novel is about boys on a stranded island. The main characters that I will focus on are Ralph, piggy, and Jack. They meet other boys along the way. All of the boys stick together to survive. There are moments when They see bad things. While on the island they have hope someone will come rescue them. There are no adults so the boys do not have any supervision. Without order the boys go crazy. The boys have their own freedom to do whatever they please.

In chapter one of the novel Ralph and Piggy find a conch. When the two boys return to the crowd Ralph says “ Shut up, Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things” (30). Ralph was the first person to get everyone together. The boys always listened to the boy in charge. Since Ralph had the conch it was easy to get everyone to give him respect. Since they were 12 year olds they obeyed ralph because he was leader. The person with the conch is who everyone respects.

As a new leader, leaders realize that it will be a challenge to lead people. Ralph was struggling at earning respect from the boys.  He kept repeating “I’m chief” over and over. Meanwhile nobody was paying him attention. Ralph did not want to share his power with anyone. In fact he had a competitor try and take his spot.  Jack also wanted to be leader of the tribe. Jack wanted to be leader because he thought was smarter than everyone else. Unfortunately, Ralph got the most votes for chief. Jack only received votes from the choir boys. The choir boys felt their loyalty was for jack. In addition to this they felt obligated to vote for him and not Ralph.  

President Trump is a prime example of a leader. He makes decisions that people disagree with. After reading an article  about him I saw that he has a lot of pride. In the article he states “ he sees himself as a winner “. In other words he is always right and everyone else is wrong. Some people describe Trump as sensitive to others. However there were times when decisions he made, citizens were not thought of. Sometimes trump let his pride cloud the judgement of others. Due to this citizens of the united states are struggling more and more.

Sometimes leaders can have too much pride. They will believe they are better than others. Pride can get in the way of how you treat others. Certain leaders think too much of themselves. They put people under their leadership down. While reading a leadership article, I saw that pride can be a reason leaders fail.  For example, leaders can think they are above everyone else. There can be many types of leaders big or small. For instance there can be a team leaders who does not support their team. Instead of encouraging them to say they are strong, they bring them down.A team leader can have a main focus of winning.

 Later in Lord of the Flies, Ralph enhances in leadership skills. He starts learning how to share power. Jack and Ralph divide up the rest of the boys into 2 groups.

However, there is a time when Ralph talks about Simon who is under his leadership. On the island the boys meet another few boys.  He calls him “ delightfully gay, and wicked.” As a leader there shouldn’t be any negative about others. Others saw Simon as a helpful boy.  Ralph was talking down about his teammate instead of bringing him up. Towards the end of lord of the flies piggy questions ralph's leadership.  He says “i voted you for chief now do something”.

Ralph and Jack are completely different leaders. Jack only wants to be leader because he can a c- sharp and has a good voice. He brags about singing so good. That is an example of pride as well. Jack thinks He’s better than everyone else. Readers could view this as him being prideful about himself. Furthermore, the author refers to Jack as arrogant.  Jack uses his special hunting skills to fetch food on the island. Ralph has his own set of skills to guide the boys.

In the real word Directors are another type of leaders. They boss people around all day. A director’s purpose is create their own vision of someone else. Directors will shout and scream, if something is not right. They do not care if they hurt someone’s feelings or etc. Directors can be good and honest, but still be unsuccessful. People who work for directors get bossed around a lot. People do not normally hear directors say hey your doing a great job or a pat on the back. Instead they deal with being yelled at 24/7 and getting told mean things.

Leaders can have good qualities and be a big success. They can lead people towards greatness with the right qualities. Anyone is eligible to be a leader, as long as they are honest, reliable, and good. Someone who doesn't like responsibility should not be a leader. If you are a prideful person, be careful how you treat others. Being prideful can be good or bad and it shapes your successfulness. Let's say that you are always about you then nobody else will want to help you. Furthermore, be careful when choosing a leader for anything. Remember a leader with good qualities, can still have pride as their downfall.

In the third quarter we were assigned to create eye, optical illusion, bike, mandala and shading drawings. The main focus throughout these drawings was shading. More specifically being able to distinguish different shades of color and then apply your knowledge of shading through the assigned art pieces.

Week 1-2 we were assigned to draw a picture of a bike. We had to find a picture of any type of bike you wanted and draw it to the last detail in full scale. For this drawing I chose an old fashion bike, because I admire the look of those types of bikes. First, I drew a draft of my bike on a piece of printer paper. Then I had to the bigger version, which was extremely hard. I spent about two days putting detail into the bike. Although, this drawing was very time consuming, I recognized that something like this was meant to take the amount of time it did. One thing I took away from drawing my bike, was, to not doubt myself. While drawing my bike I would continuously draw a certain part until I thought it was perfect. By the time it was done, there was an extreme amount of detail, yet I still felt I need more. I was proud of the outcome, but I wanted to make it better. Sometimes you just need to take the time you have, put in the effort, and if you're already proud with the drawing go with it.  Which I can personally say, definitely paid off.

Week 3-4 we had to draw two optical illusions, one being a square and the other being a sphere. First I drew my sphere, I started to think an optical illusion of a sphere was the same as a 3D circle. I watched a video on how to turn a sphere into an optical illusion, then showed Mrs Hull. With advice and redirection from Mrs. Hull I quickly realized I was drawing my sphere incorrectly. My shading was off, and what I thought was an optical illusion, wasn't. Eventually I was able to my sphere correctly, and had no problem with the square. I learned to, not refer to a video of someone draw a optical illusion version of a sphere, but rather look at a picture. This is because the person and myself had very different perspective of the sphere. I wasn't looking at what the person was looking at for them to draw the sphere the way they did. I was only looking at how the sphere was being drawn. Where as, if i'm look at a picture of sphere, I already know what it looks like and can tell that which direction im looking from. That way I could draw from my own perspective.

Week 5-6, shading forms. This assignment wasn’t particularly hard or time consuming. Following direction from the given pdf and taking what I learned the last two weeks, it was pretty easy. One thing I was proud of was the way the shading forms turned out. One thing I took away was, when you put in the effort to get better in a concept, whether that means practicing or asking question, you will always get better in that concept.

Week 7 we were assigned to draw an eye. However not just any eye, our own eye. We had to take a picture of our eye and then in as much as possible, draw your eye. When drawing my eye, I decided to veer away from the examples given and really take a look at my eye and see what was really going on. This really helped when trying to my eye not necessarily perfect but realistic in my own way. One thing I took away from this assignment was, a lot of people consider the term ‘realistic” as being something that is perfect, practical , real, as if there is only one version of what an eye looks like. However, there are many types of realistic, as well as many interpretation of what it means. In terms of my eye drawing, my interpretation of a realistic eye drawing, may not match others, but my version of what an eye looks like only pertains to me, considering its a drawing of my eye. Just like my version of real may never be your version of real, whether we have a similar mindset or not.

Week 8-9 was the last drawing, and we had to create a mandala. This was something new to me, so I decided to draw something low in complication but not simple. After drawing my mandala, I felt as though it looked a bit rough. I continued to had detail, and make certain part stick out more than others. I also decided to color it with a variety of different colors,  to make my mandala more appealing. I purposely made my color selection very eccentric, to give my mandala an exotic look, where different shapes and figures that normally wouldn't go together, are put together. One thing I recognized was that mandala’s in general look very exotic and normally, I wouldn't have given my mandala a colorful but odd look. However, the type of art mandala is, influenced my explore my artistic ability and forms of expressing art.

Fear; an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause mental or physical pain. People fear different things, some people fear deadlines and dates, some people fear loneliness and isolation, some people fear death, and for children a common fear is a monster underneath their beds waiting to hurt and scare them. This emotion is a plot-driving element in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Fear is a recurring element that revolves around an image that the boys created known as “the Beast.” The Beast was powerful because of the fact that it was something unknown. The fear of the unknown is something that is much greater than fear of tangible situations because something unknown cannot be expected.

In the novel, the boys on the island are young, aging from ages 12 and under. As children, they have huge imaginations causing ideas to grow out of proportion. The Beast is an unknown creature that terrified the littluns at first until the image formed into something terrifying enough that even the bigguns were scared. Eventually the fear built up to the point that they killed one of the boys named Simon cause they believed he was the beast. Ralph the leader of the boys and Piggy his closest friend and the most intelligent among the boys discuss the situation regarding the beast.“‘But s’pose they don’t make sense? Not here, on this island? Supposing things are watching us and waiting?’ Ralph Shuddered violently and moved closer to Piggy, so that they bumped frighteningly. ‘You stop talking like that! We got enough trouble, Ralph’” (92) Children fear many things when they are young, but what makes the children brave are when their parents reassure them that the fear is just in their head. Most of the time on the island, the boys were not afraid of being stuck on the island or even starving. When some of the bigguns start to believe the Beast, there is no rational person to convince each other that is in their heads. This allows the Beast to become something much scarier than it first was. They had no control of their situation. If the boys had never feared the image of the Beast and if they’d learned to control their fear Simon wouldn't have died.

A similar incident occurred regarding the fear of a unknown or mythical being only this time it was not in a book. In 2014 a 12-year-old girl from Wisconsin was stabbed 19 times by two of her friends. The girl was left for dead, but she had managed to crawl to a sidewalk where she was found by a bicyclist. The girls stated they were trying to impress Slenderman, a fictional character found in horror stories. According to CNN “One of the suspects told the police that Slenderman is the site’s supposed leader, and to climb into his realm, a user must kill someone.” The two girls had attacked their friend out of fear of Slenderman. Slenderman being a very popular figure has had lots of online users create images with him, making him seem more realistic giving the girls more reasons to fear him. After seeing these images and reading the stories online about how he murdered and abducted kids, they hoped that with killing their friend the girls could enter his realm where they could be safe.  In his realm, they would not have to fear being killed or hurt by Slenderman.

There are many ways people attempt to overcome fear. According to the University of Minnesota there are a few key strategies; promoting positivity, find meaning behind the fear, go for a walk, and getting support from others.  A strategy often used with children is finding support and sharing it with an adult. Often parents try to reassure their children that they will protect them and that they should have nothing to fear. However, In Lord of the Flies the children’s fear is made worse with the children repeating the idea of the Beast. At one point the boys even put a pig's head on stake as a tribute to the beast so they would be safe. The support they try to build with each other just made the fear worse, especially with no authority figure telling them that they have nothing to fear and that they will be protected. With the two girls who stabbed their friend, they had no parent or authority figure reassuring them that they were safe because they never tried to get support. Slenderman was seen as an authority figure to them who could protect them if they entered his realm, similar how the boys left the pigs head for the Beast so they would not be attacked.

The Beast was only powerful because the fear of something unknown is worse than the fear of something realistic. Fear is caused by the unknown outcomes and possibilities in life. The Beast was only able to gain control over the boys because they had no reassurance that it was in their heads. Similar to the Slenderman story, the girls had let the monster control them and it led to the attempted murder of their friend. Fear is something very powerful and has the capabilities of controlling people and destroying people. People need to grasp ahold of their fears before they build up and begin to become a practical reality. In both scenarios, following strategies for overcoming fear, especially getting support can prevent these figments from maturing.

Work Cited

1. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

2. How to Deal with Chronic Fear and Anxiety.” Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing, www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/enhance-your-wellbeing/security/facing-fear/how-deal-chronic-fear-and-anxiety.

3. “Fear.” Dictionary.com, Dictionary.com, www.dictionary.com/browse/fear.

Niya Petty

Miss. Pahomov

English 2

April 4, 2018

How does this voting system work?

In William Golding’s “Lord of The Flies”, there are kids who are stranded on an island at their own survival without adult supervision and with being on their own, they have to take on some responsibility. At a point in the book there was a time that a leader had to be elected for the group. Someone to take charge and be there if things go wrong. So the kids had an election for who would be chief. Everyone picked Ralph. Wondering, what makes Ralph a good leader? Was it  based on intelligence, skills and attractiveness? Comparing this to a real life situation, we as U.S. citizens have to elect a president. We pick a specific person as a leader of the United States. What qualities do people value that makes them vote for a specific person?

In chapter 1, Ralph and Piggy meet the choir boys and Jack. They had assembled to retrieve roles as a pack  and vote on a chief. When chief is heard by Jack he immediately thought it should be him due to the fact that he was already “chief” of the choir boys. “´I ought to be chief ,´ said Jack with simple arrogance, “because I’m chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp”(22). In the novel it seems as none of the choir boys wants Jack to be chief but they could not think of a reason for Ralph to be chief. They also look forward to Piggy due to his intelligence. Then they come to a decision that Ralph is attractive and has the conch. “There was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch.”(22)  Of course Jack tried to debate because it was almost obvious the Jack should have been chief since he knew what he was doing. Which bring us to the point when there are rules and priorities are involved and how they are pointless due to the method of voting the boys use to elect chief. It comes down to why he is chief is because he brought them together and since Ralph is chief he gets the conch is very important to the kids. Then again, everyone could see who was voting for who at this point which made people not go with true self towards who they wanted to vote for. Even though Jack wasn’t chief, he was still in charge of the choir boys and their hunting job which sort of made him a chief of something.

In the process of electing a president in the United States of America, americans are to go to a voting poll and vote for who they think shall be America’s next president. There are three requirements for being president in the U.S. given by the Constitution; the citizen must be 35 years of age, a resident of the united states for over 14 years, and a natural born citizen.  But as we get ready to vote, there is a purpose why we choose who we choose to be president. What values do these candidates bring to make people feel a certain way about them and want them president. What qualities should we look for in our given candidates which we elect. Some people look at the was they could manage the presidency. Or if they are great campaigners which could help to people of the United States make a better decision in what they want. Voting itself is a very organized process here in the U.S. knowing that we have an Election day which always falls on the first Tuesday in the month of November. US citizens have the right to vote. Some people use that opportunity  and others don’t. US citizens must be at least the age of 18 in order to vote. The process of voting, voters are put in private voting booths where they are to fill out their ballots. No one is able to see who is voting for who.From there, the vote is counted for whomever is voted for.

In conclusion, The way the voting process works between the novel and the real word is very different. In the novel, children are running an assembly of voting for chief were not everyone is eligible  to to be chief and everyone feels guilty if they do not vote for someone who everyone else's is voting for where in the real world when voting for president, everything is much more private with the citizens vote. Not knowing who voted for who and having to wait for who is the winner of the election. A similar  topic run by two different ages and processing can make a huge difference in results of voting.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

Dickerson, John. “What Does It Take To Be a Good President? Four Things, Mainly.” Slate Magazine, 26 Sept. 2012, www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/features/2012/how_to_measure_a_president_/what_qualities_should_we_look_for_in_our_presidents_.html.

According to this website, there are some ideas given to what it takes to be a good president.

“To Choose A President.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2012/summer/archivist.html.

This website explains how we choose a president

“Voting in Person on Election Day.” USAGov, www.usa.gov/election-day.

How we as Americans vote in America

Voting with a taste of decay

Voting is one way that people choose who gets all the power without using any sort of violence. It's a way to select someone who the people believe has both the skill and mind to lead. Although sometimes it just becomes a beauty show where people just pick who looks the best and sounds the smartest out of the other candidates. It could goes as far as kids just raising their hands and saying ‘’yeah that guy looks good’’. So one must ask himself, how does voting affect who gets the power? The answer is that there are many different ways to vote that lead to different outcomes.

The voting situation in Lord of the Flies by William Golding is very easy compared to other ways of voting used nowaday. A simple raising of hands for the one that should lead the boys who have no adults there to lead. The obvious person to lead is Jack, because he was the leader of the choir and he is older than most of the boys on the island. But there's something about Ralph that makes everyone vote for him instead. The narrator says, ‘’While the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet powerfully, there was the conch.’’ (22). The boys voted for Ralph off his appearance that gave off a more powerful leader than Jack and because he held the conch that rallied them all together which they turned into a symbol of power.    

Having an anonymous ballot makes a vote possible for people who aren’t comfortable with others knowing who they voted for. It takes the stress off of people’s shoulders by having a ballet that nobody knows who voted for who. For example, the American voting process has a voting system called secret ballots. This is what people normally use to vote without their information being shown outside and personal info compared to other voting systems. Some states like the United States do this as well like United Kingdom, France, New zealand and Australia. ‘’The voting boxes are required to be of certain dimensions and closed, the only aperture being a small slit at the top.’’ by the encyclopedia Britannica which provides lots of information on different voting and political things. Though the box method has changed a little since then, but the box method is still used in certain places like school. Nowadays we use computers that have tarpes around them so people can’t see who your voting for and have questions like, what do you support? Does this law seem fair?. This style has made the Box method much more anonymous and stress relieving than ever before. If the boys had a type of voting method like this they wouldn’t have so much guilt on their shoulders and feel bad about that guilt.         

Elections can even be persuaded by fear of some sort. There are many types of fear that make people vote a certain way. A fear of corruption, a fear of invasion of privacy, or a fear of losing freedom can make a voter feel very stressed about who they should vote for and even cause some chaos. Jack uses the fear of the beast to have the boys vote for him to be chief instead of Ralph, and tries to make the boys believe that he isn't afraid of the beast when in reality he is just as scared as they are. But he doesn’t show it, so they believe in his words and think he truly isn’t afraid of the beast. To turn the boys to his side he starts by stating they hadn’t caught the beast that night and Ralph called the hunters ‘’no good’’. ’’The next thing is that we couldn’t kill it. And the next is that Ralph said my hunters are no good.’’(126). Then he tries to make him look worse by saying that Ralph said they were cowards. ‘’Ralph thinks you're cowards, running away from the boar and the beast.’’(126). To top it all off he uses the dislike of piggy to unite the boys to choose a new chief. ‘’He’s like piggy. He says things like piggy. He isn’t a proper chief.’’(126). After trying to turn the crowd against Ralph, he holds a vote to see who still wants Ralph to be chief. It backfires because everyone felt awkward at how serious he was and the only response was silence. Angry he runs away from the group crying from the embarrassment. The way he tried to turn the boys is very similar to how some candidates will take things other candidates had said and twist it to their favor. They will even go as far as to use dead voters to increase their votes or mess with the voting system by increasing their votes and decreasing their pants.          

So does voting affect who gets power? Yes. Different voting systems can lead to someone getting the power and making the rules. Whether they got it fair and square or cheated and blackmailed their way to the top, the type of voting and types of candidates affects who wins and who loses. But as the story goes on, and things start to get crazy, voting starts to lose its purpose and the boys start to split into two different tribes that focus on different things. Lord of the Flies is a good example of different types of tactics that people will use to get power. Everyone starts to careless about what the others think, which leads to a big conflict at the end. This decides who truly leads the island, and who really is the sore loser. Over the course of time, things change for better or for worse. But people start to see things clearly as the problems start to show themselves and things fall apart some problems take time to sort themselves out or people will unite to fix a problem.  

Work cited

1. Golding, William Lord of the flies. New York: Penguin, 2006

The Power Of Chanting

The power of repetition can come into play in several ways. At times, it can be used when studying to remember material for an important test. At others, it can be used to get a point across, such as in a speech or debate. It can even be used in the context of religion or a strong belief, presented as a means to symbolize the importance of said thing.. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, chants are used as a way to instill fear or as a forewarning several times throughout the story, establishing the beliefs and behaviors of the group.

In one scene, the boys discover they are trapped on an island in the middle of nowhere. One by one, little boys are making their way to each other, when someone realizes there needs to be a leader to keep everyone in control. Without one, things would become hectic. They desperately try to find materials to survive, to: make a fire, a pig to hunt and kill, and suitable shelter. They get in the habit of having to hunt, as as they’re hunting and killing the pig, something interesting happens. Savagely the boys chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” (Pg 69). This act of describing what they’re going to do to the pig reoccurs frequently throughout the book. These boys, who are no older than 12 years old, are dancing and singing while taking a living animal’s life. They’ve never known what it was like to have to truly depend solely on each other to pull their weights and capture this animal. None of them knew what it was like to have to rely on what little knowledge they had about hunting. The desperation of hunger took over, and turned those boys into people they weren’t. The boys are mysteriously placed on what seems to be a deserted island and have to figure out a way to survive. Chanting and dancing while killing a pig is far beyond “normal.” Everyone has subconsciousness that partly make up the worst sides of them. After being boxed out of society, the boys don’t necessarily have to follow all of the previous norms and rules, which allows their natural capacity of evil to take over their entire beings piece by piece--those rules seemingly now non existent. The power of chanting these minimal words is a way to keep their sanity. Since they’ve never had to take another living animal’s life before, they have no idea what’s going on. They’re feeling overwhelmed, and by chanting, they learn to with it.

In many religions, chanting is something the participants of that religion practice. Most of them would even say that chanting religiously is extremely popular and helpful. For some chanters, they believe that chanting will help them through their hardships, hoping for their voices to be heard by a higher being. In a case study that was performed to see what would happen to the moods of Buddhists if they were being shown negative or neutral pictures while chanting Amitābha or Santa Claus silently to themselves, it stated, “Results showed that viewing negative pictures (vs. neutral pictures) increased the amplitude of the N1 component in all the chanting conditions. The amplitude of late positive potential (LPP) also increased when the negative pictures were viewed under the no-chanting and the Santa Claus condition.” According to this study, viewing negative pictures can cause the brain to go through some sort of PTSD trauma. It can sometimes make the purest souls become evil. Amitabha, which translates into Pure Land Buddhism, is a pure place. Santa Claus is an adult who gives back to children who deserve his gifts. Together, they’re the most saintly of things. Having them together, chanting them separately, and looking at negative pictures all together, have changed their moods in a positive way. It has raised their LPP. The negative pictures were affecting with their mental state, and by chanting Amitabha or Santa Claus’s name, calmed them down and relaxed their soul. Yes, their mood still changed, but they weren’t as triggered by what they were seeing.

Later on in the book, the boys have taken a turn from innocent and clueless, to reckless and dangerous. It seems as though they can’t tell the difference from right and wrong. Right before this happened, some of the hunters were climbing up a mountain when they discovered pig droppings. After that, they decided to hunt a pig, which they did. The only problem was that they were unable to kill it. With its tusks, it cut Robert on his forearm. The boys chant,  “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (Pg 114). When Robert gathered the others and told them what happened, they started throwing jabs at him, made a ring, and started stabbing him with the butt of their spears chanting. The evil surrounding them on that island took control over their decision making. It was making them see and do things that they wouldn’t have normally done. They were willing to kill one of their own, which is why the chanting came into play. They could see the blood on his forearm and thought he was a pig. The excitement and fear kicked in, and chanting was the only thing they had left to get back to their regular selfs. After they did so, they stopped torching Robert, and decided to hunt and kill a real pig.

In conclusion, chanting is a powerful source of meditation. Chants calm and relax the body, are relatively easy to remember, and there are different ways to partake in one. In Lord of the Flies, chanting is mainly used to symbolize how important an action or an object is, but it’s also used to calm and relax the bodies of the children It  isn’t only used in fiction, though. A lot of religions use chanting as a way to reach out to the figures who are higher than them It sometimes can even alleviate people’s negative emotions, and cause them to have positive perspectives. When something like that happens, there would be more peaceful and senseful citizens in the streets.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

“Symbolism in Lord of the Flies .” Symbols and Symbolism in Lord of the Flies Lord Flies Essays, 123HelpMe, www.123helpme.com/assets/9704.html

Bremner, J. Douglas. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, Les Laboratoires Servier, Dec. 2006, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181836/

Gao, Junling, et al. Frontiers in Psychology, Frontiers Media S.A., 2016, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5223166/

Geduld,, Marcus. “Why Do People Chant in Various Religions?” Quora, 30 Dec. 2012, www.quora.com/Why-do-people-chant-in-various-religions-What-is-the-origin-of-this-practice-and-What-are-the-reasons-people-do-it-for-Is-it-helpful-and-how

“Saint Meinrad Archabbey.” History of Chant - The Monastery | Saint Meinrad Archabbey, www.saintmeinrad.edu/the-monastery/liturgical-music/history-of-chant/.

Soard, Lori. “Cheers Chants and Songs.” LoveToKnow, LoveToKnow Corp, http://cheerleading.lovetoknow.com/Cheers_Chants_and_Songs

What causes human beings to change their behavior? The most considerable influence comes from our environment.  Our society depends on structure and governing rules; however, when in isolation of civilization, human beings will change their behavior to fit their circumstances. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the author tells a story of a group of schoolboys stranded on an island, isolated from their society, who must learn to survive in an environment to which they are unaccustomed to. Though they try to bring order and rules to their isolated world, they are unable to obey them and, consequently, the boys change from rigid schoolboys who follow orders to savages. Human beings will revert to an uncouth state of being when isolated from rule and order.

In chapter 10 of the book, Jack and Piggy are trying to get a grip of themselves over the killing of Simon, who was mistaken to be the beast (the “monster” the schoolboys began to fear) by Jack and his tribe. Also after the murder of Simon, the tribe gathers around Jack. It reads, “The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red.” (160) Before, Jack was only the leader of the choir, which can only be assumed that this means they grew up the Christian way, which in society, is seen as a civilized organization to take part in. This includes believing that God is a spirit creature that can’t be seen and to be modest in clothing. Here, this quote shows quite the opposite. Instead, Jack and the tribe are naked, not even thinking of what they are displaying to each other. Also, in this chapter, they talk about satisfying the “beast” by giving a head of the pig on a stake to it and have a dance to keep the beast away from them. Throughout history, rituals and sacrificing food are ways to worship a god. God cannot be seen as an image. This and the clothing can only be possible because of the isolation from civilization and its rules and order.

An example of this behavior is seen in prisons today. As of today, many prisons are looking into isolations as the answer to rehabilitation for a criminal. However, according to Sadie Dingfelder’s article about the risks prisons take on the prisoners’ mental health with solitary confinement entitled Psychologist Testifies on the Risks of Solitary Confinement, it shows how it “renders many people incapable of living anywhere else.” With this, it shows how many of them aren’t able to act as society orders to. In fact, one prisoner named Anthony Graves recalled how one inmate "would go out into the recreation yard, get naked, lie down and urinate all over himself. He would take his feces and smear it all over his face." This is not civilized behavior at all. As inmates are isolated from the real world, their minds “don't live in the real world anymore.” (Anthony Graves.) Meaning, all rules and orders of society that are meant to be kept up are long gone. They do what they wish to do, despite what their society says. Just as Jack and his tribes (really all the boys) have done when they were on the island.

In chapter 12 of the book, Ralph is trying to get Sam and Eric’s attention without being caught by the tribe. When he did get their attention, the twins warned him, “They hate you, Ralph. They’re going to do you.” (188) As known in civilization, when having an argument, they are to be civilized with this. This includes no exploding anger nor acting out in anger. Instead, society puts show to that they must communicate and be mature with the situation at hand. In the novel, their situation is having people help in surviving on the island and getting the fire going to be rescued. In the beginning, though there were tensions and anger from arguments from Jack and Ralph about the situation, they’ve been as respectful as they can be to each other, with no sudden lashing out of anger. However, as time goes on through the novel and the boys decides to separate themselves, more of their anger and hostility begins to show as the situation is brung to the surface again and again. Up to this point in time, where the only solution to Jack and his tribe to solve the situation is to kill out of anger. This is not what society promotes.

This scene is similar to many prisons today. Many prisons struggle to keep down the violence within them. An article from BBC News states “For months there has been huge concern about conditions in prisons, escalating levels of violence, self-harm and suicide.” Many come into prison with violence a part of them. To tone it down, in the US, many prisons are turning to solitary confinement as a way to solve the problem. According to the article Alone, in ‘the Hole’ by Kirsten Weir, the segregation from human contact “has never been proven to make prisons safer.” Many are in constant fear of each other hurting them. So, to protect themselves and survive from  the violence, they act out violently, instead of seeking help or talk things out civilly. Whether it be instrumental violence, expressive violence, or self-harm. They need to eliminate the situation with violence, just as Jack and his tribes tries to do in the novel.

As shown, whether through the real world or through books, rule and order is needed in order for people to never revert back into an uncivilized state of being. What if everyone had a sense of mind where they think through a situation? What would happen if the logical part of us would take over, as it seems to have done with Piggy? Instead of having emotions take control of our actions, our actions can be justified with logic. As a result, even in isolation, human beings will be able to have order and civilized manners within themselves and situations can be handled properly. Just as it should be.

Bibliography

• Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

• Dingfelder, Sadie. Psychologist testifies on the risks of solitary confinement. APA. October 2012. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/10/solitary.aspx>

• Weir, Kristen. Alone, in ‘the hole’. APA. May 2012. <http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/05/solitary.aspx>

• Prison staff shortages leave jails facing 'bloodbaths' - union. BBC News. November 2, 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-37842500>
  

The Experience of Fear

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of schoolboys find themselves lost on an uninhabited island, where they struggle to survive and create order. While trying to stay alive, the boys are presented with troubles of sanity. As time goes on, they experience worsening fears. Some boys, such as the leader Ralph, take longer to truly be afraid. Why do people fear differently? For many people, direct trauma is the only way for them to feel fear. But, this is not always the case. People must have at least a memory of violence and trauma from indirect experiences in order to be afraid, because fear is ultimately based on certainty.

Towards the end of the book Ralph had been isolated from the rest of the boys, and was an outsider to the brutal force of Jack and his hunters. While contemplating whether or not the hunters would leave him be, he realized his unsafety and paranoia swept over him. “He argued convincingly that they would let him alone, perhaps even make an outlaw of him. But then the fatal unreasoning knowledge came to him again...These painted savages would go further and further.” (184) In this moment, the author’s language shows that Ralph is filled with fear at just the thought of the hunters, even though he has no direct experience of disturbing actions occurring before him. He still is very scared of these boys because he negatively associates Jack and his hunters with murder and death. He only saw them commit these actions, but never was a victim to their violence. This proves that fear can be felt even without firsthand experiences, because having snapshots of people and knowing what they have done in the past to others can induce fear.

This situation is found in the real world, with mass school shootings becoming a growing problem in America, as well as gun violence in general. Many people who have gone through shootings have been greatly changed by them, into becoming activists. But, sometimes the people affected by the attacks didn’t even experience the violence firsthand. An article about gun violence and its effects on children from the Washington Post said, “A study published in the journal Pediatrics in 2015 concluded that kids who witness an attack involving a gun or knife can be just as traumatized as children who have been shot or stabbed.” Since a psychological study was conducted and released to the public, this is an implication that young people who haven’t been directly involved in violence are increasingly experiencing distress and alarm. Without having been physically assaulted, these young people are still coming forward and admitting they experienced just as much fright after seeing harm being done to others. If youth are this impacted by images of violent attacks, parents of school shooting victims must also be considerably afraid of guns. For these parents, all the images they create in their minds come from the little they see on the news, and can include infinite possible cruel scenarios. This causes them to become fearful of guns, after having only a relation to an experience of gun violence. An example of this same behavior can be found in the novel.

In Chapter 12, after being told by previous allies that the hunters planned to come after Ralph and kill him, he started to vividly remember the murder of Piggy. This thought scared Ralph and even caused him to feel childish. “Piggy was everywhere, was on this neck, was become terrible in darkness and death. If Piggy were to come back now out of the water, with his empty head--Ralph whimpered and yawned like a littlun.” (190) Ralph was frightened to the point of feeling like a “littlun,” which is a representation of weakness and youth on the island. Ralph felt so terrified that he was brought to a youthful and foolish state, which shows how impactful indirect experiences can be. Similarly to before in the book, Ralph felt scared just by picturing the murder of Piggy, even though he was not killed or physically harmed. This mirrors the real world, where parents and children become terrified at only the thought of murder and shootings. They also do not have direct experiences with gun violence, but the images they see and the information they know about it plays in their mind, stimulating fear. Clearly people can be afraid from personal experiences of violence, but this quote is an example of how indirect experiences cause similar fears. Due to the nature of Ralph after he had these flashback memories, this demonstrates that indirect fears can sometimes be more powerful than direct ones.

In the real world, as violence and crime are on the rise, so are fear and paranoia. This leads many to question what a healthy fear is, compared to what an unhealthy fear is. Neuroscientists even analyze how networks in our brains work when experiencing fear. According to a Psychology Today article, neuropsychologist Theo Tsaousides Ph.D. stated that, “When these networks are electrically or chemically stimulated, they produce fear, even in the absence of a fearful stimulus.” Tsaousides confirmed with scientific evidence that fear can be felt without a stimulator present to cause harm or invoke threats. Our brains process fear for us, replaying certain images and memories to cause us to be scared. This is the case with Ralph in the novel, because he acted like a tough guy for the majority of the story, but only became paranoid at the end, after watching boys he had relationships with be killed. His brain processed the violent images of people close to him being harmed, and this chemically stimulated him to become fearful of the other boys. He originally had nothing to be afraid of because he had no images, memories, or associations to make, until he watched Piggy and Simon be murdered. For many who still wonder why they fear things that aren’t even threatening them in person, it is because our brain turns fear on and off, like a switch.

Feeling terror without a direct stimulator can be just as powerful, or more powerful than first hand traumatic experiences. Many people become frightened with at least some knowledge or visuals of threats, even without it being directed towards them. With Ralph’s fear of the boys who had commited murder before him, and in the real world with youth who watched their close friends be shot in school, fear impacted people similarly. These sources prove that direct experiences are not crucial to having fear, but knowing for certain that violence or threats existed is essential.

Works Cited:

1. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

2. Rich, Steven, and Cox, John. Scarred by School Shootings. The Washington Post, 25 March 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/local/us-school-shootings-history/?utm_term=.5710c768de15.

3. Tsaousides, Theo. 7 Things You Need to Know About Fear. Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers, 19 November 2015, www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/smashing-the-brainblocks/201511/7-things-you-need-know-about-fear.

Society is a place for competition. Human beings leverage their power in different contexts and through a diverse set of modes. The choice is either to fight for power, to serve as a leader of a community, or to accept power from another source. Most of the time, people will fight for power because they do not want to serve under the dictatorship of another human being. As the desire for power grows, human beings strive to gain as much as they can to be at the top. This need for dominant influence is a recurring theme in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The plot centers around a group of abandoned British children stranded on an island and fighting to establish order to get off the uninhabited island. Despite the continuous efforts, no one truly ever gains the power they desire because humans are never satisfied in this regard.

The group decides to create a civilization of only themselves because there were no adults on the island. They started to vote for a leader between a boy named Ralph and a boy named Jack. Jack was so confident that he can become the best leader because he was chapter chorister, head boy, and he can sing C sharp. Instead, Ralph was deemed the chief, leaving Jack was upset as a result. In chapter 1, “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed his mind and sat down again while the air rang.”(23) Despite losing, Jack changes his mind thinking that if he tries to act like he is helpful, and remain calm around Ralph, Ralph will give him a higher position in the civilization. People would do anything to get the power that they want. Even changing their personalities, acting differently, and serving under the one who has higher power for a while to get what they want.

As the novel goes on, Jack’s desire for power grows because no one listens to him. Jack starts trying to make Ralph look like a bad chief in front of everyone else in his attempt to turn the group against him. In chapter 8, Jack says “He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a perfect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing. All this talk.”(126) Jack did not want to serve under Ralph’s orders any longer, so he tried to do everything in his power to ruin in Ralph’s position by saying how bad and imperfect he is to the civilization. He wants power so everyone can listen to him and serve him like they did to Ralph. The desire for power gains over time by the way that society governs itself. People are always trying to be on top of each other, so they can have the power to control others.

An example of this behavior also takes place in the real-world experience. Donald Trump, the president of the United States, is similar to Jack in regards to his immense and seemingly endless desire for power. Donald Trump used to live out a fairly standard  ‘rich-guy’ life. However, he didn’t accept his normal life and decided to join politics, fight for his presidency, and sit in the government of the United States. He wanted a higher position, and now that he has it he is abusing his power. According to the newspaper CNN, “For nearly two years now, citizen, candidate, and President Donald Trump have agitated for the means to build a wall on the southern border. Better yet, he told supporters during his campaign, it would be American-made and Mexican-paid ‘believe me’.” When he was a businessman he couldn’t do anything of that. But after he achieved his power in the government, he started to plan it out, and process it. If he wasn’t running for his presidency, he would not be able to plan out these things, and public his speech about it. This also proves that power is never achieved as much as humans want. Donald Trump was a rich guy, he could just stay in his normal life and enjoying all of his money. But instead, he decided to join the government to try and get even more powers.

Jack and Donald Trump are alike because they both desire power. They needed it for their goals. They also wanted it because they did not want to serve others, instead, they want to use the power to rule others. Jack and Donald Trump are different because Jack only wants the power to rule others, while Donald Trump wants the power to find money for him along with ruling people. Power makes people feel happy because it provides them with their wants and needs. It lets them make others listen to the things that they want, and force others to help them out with whatever they want to achieve. Donald Trump wanted to build the wall, and he’s using his new power of the president to try and say that Mexicans have to pay for it.

Humans all desire power, and every single one desires different types of power. Power makes people feel different because it gives them what they want. Human desire never ends, so power can never achieve all of a human’s wants. This is shown in the book Lord of the Flies and in the real-life example of Donald Trump. They both desire power to do things that they want and their goals are endless. No matter how hard people fight for the power they never reach what they want, because they never stop wanting more.

A number of people have been there: Choosing to survive or protect someone else. Humanity may tell itself that it’d prioritize others, but human urges are not something to escape. It’s easy to lose sight of values while in grave danger, so risks are taken in the sake of being self-preserving. This is a story of many human behaviors, but more than anything, it’s a story of empathy becoming a choice; an optional privilege. In the novel  “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, the young boys trying to survive on a remote island struggle to remain empathetic with each other due to the pressures of survival. It’s a story that proves, despite all socialized training to be kind to each other, humans are ultimately selfish and willing to do anything to survive.

On said island, Roger, a troubled boy, is loyal to Jack, a reckless and spontaneous leader. There’s a conflict between Jack and the other, more reasonable and rational leader, Ralph. During a clash between the two separately led groups, Roger murders another child. The narrator describes the scene as follows: “High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever… The rock struck Piggy… ” (180-181) In a moment of panic, Roger has no hesitation to murder. Roger might not have the intention of murdering Piggy, yet he leans “all his weight” onto the lever that pushes a boulder on Piggy. The narrator describes Roger to be acting in “delirious abandonment,” loosely translating to him acting in a state of disturbed incoherence that allows him to have an out of body experience. Roger’s previous behavior shows hesitance to hurt others due to fear of repercussions, but in a position where he’s unsure of how his group will survive, he loses his sense of empathy altogether and is willing to kill.

The Milgram Experiment was a psychological test done in 1963 by Stanley Milgram that displays a similar loss of empathy. According to a review done on “Milgram’s Progress,” during the experiment, strangers were told they were testing shock therapy on another stranger, and that they had to press a button when told to shock someone. They couldn’t see the person being shocked because they didn't exist. The scientist in the room with them would urge them to keep going, even though the participants heard recorded screams coming from the other room that they believed to be real. The scientist resembled authority that people were willing to respect. More people than expected continued to “shock” the person, even after they thought they killed them. These people were not put in a place of danger, but they believed that what they were doing was necessary for improvement of some kind. Stanley Milgram said himself, “It is not so much the kind of person a man is as the kind of situation in which he finds himself that determines how he will act.” Roger, a young boy who’s experiencing trauma and pressured survival, may not be a “bad” boy, yet when pushed to his limits of what he “must do,” he’s willing to become an emotionless savage. Jack, his leader, is an authority that Roger wanted to please for validation.

There is a similar act of violence later in the novel with yet another savage death. The boys, convinced there’s a beast hiding on the island taunting them, see a fellow member of their tribe struggling to come out of the forest. Somehow, they confuse young Simon with the beast, even though he issn’t doing anything but walking. The scene is described as follows: “The beast struggled forward… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (153) Not only do the boys murder Simon, a peer, but they do it in a way that makes them appear more like beasts than him. No one could tear someone to pieces with such violence and dedication while being empathetic. The fear of the beast is what causes them to react to Simon coming out of the trees with such aggression. The fear is what causes them to lose their empathy, because the beast is an imaginary threat to their survival. If the symbol of the beast didn’t exist, then the stress of survival wouldn’t be so strong, and the boys wouldn’t have murdered their friend.

Much like the boys’ struggle with the dynamic of fear and power, the Stanford Prison experiment demonstrates how quickly people can deteriorate into a state where they can remove empathy for survival. According to the official Stanford Prison Experiment website, a group of college students were split up, where some roleplayed guards and others, prisoners. With them all locked in a basement, the prisoners went insane, and the guards felt as though they had to protect themselves from said prisoners. This led to psychological and physical abuse of the prisoners due to fear. If the guards didn’t feel threatened, they wouldn’t have been able to hurt the prisoners as badly as they did. After all, each of the participants started as normal, innocent, college students. One could say the same about the boys stuck together on the island.

A point to be made just as important as the result of fear in a person is the result of the absence of fear. Eventually, after an unknown amount of time, the boys get discovered by an officer. Ralph, one of the leaders of the group, realizes the terrible things they did. It is not until he feels relatively safe, or at least not in immediate danger, does he feel remorse for his empathetic actions. After they are found, the narrator says, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” (202)  All of the things listed that Ralph wept for are included in an empathetic category. The end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the death of Piggy would not be present if there wasn’t a threat for survival. Now that Ralph is not in danger, he recognizes the lack of empathy that he now feels guilt for. One could argue that each thing mentioned, was purely out of fear to survive, yet one couldn’t say that any of it was done with empathy.

Fear is the strongest force in humanity. None are immune or can deny its lasting effect. In the case of the boys in the novel and the participants of the Milgram and Stanford Prison experiments, it leads to the loss of empathy. This lands true for most occurrences where survival is required. It is not at fault of the participants, seeing how Ralph responded to the experience once he felt safe. Humanity cannot judge the kids or those that fall victim to danger. Survival instincts are stronger than those to protect each other. It is not a choice, it’s human nature. With that being said, humans are no better or worse than those mere children, willing to do the same things the boys did if they experienced any of the same.

Works Cited:

1. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006

2. Levine, Robert. “Milgram's Progress.” American Scientist, Way Back Machine Internet Archive, 2015, web.archive.org/web/20150226125705/http://www.americanscientist.org/bookshelf/id.2948,content.true,css.print/bookshelf.aspx.

3. Zimbardo, Philip G. “The Story: An Overview of the Experiment.” Stanford Prison Experiment, Social Psychology Network, 2018, www.prisonexp.org/the-story/.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!” This statement is something that many children, especially boys, grow up hearing. As children, humans are taught that there is a specific way that they are supposed to act, and if they cannot act that way then they deserve to feel shame. Men specifically are expected to fit the mold of being strong and loving sports-- of being a “ladies’ man” and not showing emotion. They are supposed to be proud of being this way, even if it’s common and anticipated. If, and when, they don’t fit this description of being “manly”, it is possible for them to lash out. Pride, and thus shame, encouraged by our society drives men to hurt themselves and others over the idea of being a “real man”.

The book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, peers into the young minds of boys and shows that even at early adolescent ages masculine pride influences how children treat each other. In the novel, there is a group of boys stuck on a deserted island with no adults. At first, many of them get along, but there is consistently a single outcast- Piggy. Piggy’s character is defined by the fact that he is a weakling in both survival and social situations. He is fat and has been coddled his entire life. Even from the group’s first encounter on the island, they are rude to him, leave him out, and tease him, saying, “‘You’re talking too much,’ said Jack Merridew.” (21). This first interaction sets up the standard for the treatment of Piggy throughout the book. He is known as ‘Piggy’ for the rest of the book, which shows that though he is a major character, first and foremost he is feeble and fat. The other boys don’t see anything in him, beyond that, because he does not fit the mold of what a man is ‘supposed’ to be. Because Piggy is less than what they aspire to be, the other boys disregard his intelligence and anything else about him that might be good. They strip Piggy of his pride, and thus he occasionally lashes out to make them listen to him. It is only in these times that they give him even an ounce of respect. At various points throughout the book, Piggy grabs the conch shell, which is part of a rule that the boys set; anyone holding the conch gets to talk without interruptions. When Piggy does this, it forces the boys to listen to him, and seems to be the only way that they will hear him out. However, most of the time they talk over him anyway, and as the book goes on and the boys plunge further into insanity, their adherence to the conch rule diminishes, leaving Piggy once again left out, and eventually, dead.

As demonstrated by the boys’ treatment of Piggy, the world sees weakness as something to be ashamed of. In professions where pride and strength is valued over anything else, the stakes of being overpowered are raised. This is applicable in the case of the military, specifically male rape in the military. According to an article written by Carol O’Brien, Jessica Keith, and Lisa Shoemaker on the American Psychological Association’s website, “approximately 50% of survivors of military sexual assault are men, virtually all of the literature focuses on the assault of female service members”. This gives insight to the fact that not only are men expected to be strong, but women to be weak. Therefore when a man is overpowered, even by their superiors, they do not seek help because they want to preserve their pride, to hide from their shame. This is a double standard that makes help almost inaccessible to men. When men are told day-in and day-out that they must be durable and forceful, they learn to hide any times when they weren’t perfect, impairing their ability to get help. This relates to the novel when Ralph and Jack are fighting over who will be the most dominant in the group instead of working together; neither wants to be seen as weak or frail. This need to be strong and in power eventually is a factor that drives them insane.

Another moment of prime masculinity in Lord of the Flies is when the boys are finally rescued. Jack and his choir boys have been overcome with bloodthirst and were hunting for Ralph, setting the entire forest on fire to smoke him out. From afar, a navy vessel saw the smoke and flames, and came to see what the commotion was about. In this, the navy men discovered the group of boys that have been trying for months to be rescued. Upon the realization that they would be saved from this island, the boys began to cry. Beholding this the narrator describes, “The officer, surrounded by these noises, was moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away to give them time to pull themselves together” (202). Even in this time of reflection on the horrors endured on the island, the boys are meant to be composed. As is in the book, societies around the world say that men are “supposed to” not show emotion, because they are seen as the most stable. Lea Winerman, in an article for the APA, says, “Many boys, he [Ronald F. Levant] says, learn from their parents and from other children that they are not supposed to express vulnerability or caring.” Not only does this hurt the men themselves, possibly causing depression or other mental health issues, but can cause men to hurt others due to built-up emotion that they were shamed about upon expression. Men are human beings, but are expected to act without fundamental emotion.

In societies across the world, men are conditioned to be closed off to even their friends and family, and to feel ashamed of their emotions. They are taught vigorously to be proud of themselves from birth and to not speak about any type of defeat or vulnerability. This makes it hard for them to accept help, because the price of said help is self-shame, being patronized, and being disrespected. When they don’t receive this aid, they are forced to stifle their emotions. Men lash out against those around them to cope with the bottled-up emotions that have been brewing, possibly, for years. We, as humans, condition our men to be self-stable, but don’t expect the same of our women. It is evident through looking at most societies, humanity as a whole, and Lord of the Flies that pride and shame are two sides of the same coin that we thoughtlessly flip to decide our values and actions.

Works Cited

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin, 2006.

O'Brien, Carol, et al. “Don't Tell: Military Culture and Male Rape.” Bay Pines Veterans Healthcare Affairs, 2015. Found on the American Psychological Association website Here: http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ser-ser0000049.pdf

Nelson, Tammy. “How to Be a Man of Integrity in a Time of Toxic Masculinity.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 15 Nov. 2017, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/how-to-be-a-man-of-integrity-in-a-time-of-toxic-masculinity_us_5a0caef9e4b006a16baf1ee7.

Jaszmine Randle

April 3, 2018

Artist Statement

During this quarter I worked on my capstone a lot in this class however I was able to learn a lot of new techniques. I learned to master working with watercolor, I learned how to be more creative and unique by creating an abstract piece. All the work I created was something outside of my comfort zone. I wanted to try something new for once and challenge myself even more than last quarter. This quarter what I took from art was time management and of course hard work these two things kept me focused all quarter. You need good time management because that's the only way you can meet deadlines. All my studio time was properly spent and invested all of my projects met there deadlines. You have to invest in good work in order to get a good outcome if you don’t work hard your final product won’t be as strong as it could've been. My goal for quarter four is to end strong and reflect properly. I would like to take all corrections from my three previous quarters and use it in my future. Even if you don’t take art in the future you can still use the skills, and techniques taught from the course. I want people to take my motivation and dedication from my artwork because everything I submitted I took time and hard work to complete them.

Quarter 3 Advanced Art Reflection

The first project we did this quarter was a large scale drawing of a bicycle. My bicycle was done with pencil on paper. It took awhile to get the proportions of the bike, but after that it was easy to shade. The drawing came out a little messier than I would have like, and I didn’t really enjoy drawing the bike because I find working in pencil frustrating.

The second project we did this quarter was the optical illusion. This was a favorite of mine. The materials I used were paper, markers, and colored pencils. I first sketched out the illusion in pencil, colored in alternating sections with black markers, and then colored in the remaining sections with all different colored pencils. I really like the effect that I got in the end.

The third project we did this quarter was shading practice. The materials used were pencil and paper. The first thing I did was draw shapes and split them into sections to indicate transitions in shading. Then I shaded, changing the strength I used to press down on the paper. I learned a lot about how weight affects color with this project, and I think it turned out.

The fourth project we did this quarter was the eye drawing. The materials used on the eye were pencil and paper. I sketched the eye from a photo of mine. I then shaded, paying close attention to value and texture. I had the most trouble getting the shine on the eye right, and I don’t think it looks quite right. Otherwise, I really do think it looks like my eye, and I’m proud of the end product.

The last project we did this quarter was the mandala, and it was my favorite by far. I really felt like I could be creative with it. The materials I used were pencil, pen, paper, and colored pencil. I first drew a circle, then sectioned it off like a pizza. Then I drew a smaller circle in the middle, and drew from there. After I drew with pencil, I traced with pen and colored in with colored pencils. I’m really proud of the end product.