Are humans naturally extroverted? Do they crave to be with people even if they claim they want to be alone? When you are left alone and you're just sitting with nothing but your thoughts. That feels like human nature to want to be alone but being alone has been proven to drive people mad. It's uncanny to be left alone just with your thoughts. The show samurai jack revolves around him being all alone and stuck with his thoughts. Truly man's greatest fear is to be alone and hunted.

Comparing the scene in Lord of the Flies where Piggy dies and Ralph is kind of kicked out of the group and left all alone. In the new series of Samurai Jack (Season 5) it picks up where Jack left off trying to find a way to a portal back home except since the evil Aku rules the world in the future and wants Jack dead. So Aku sends assassins to kill Jack but Jack usually finds a way to defeat them. I’m comparing this to the scene where Ralph is hiding from the boys and says “He jerked his head off the ground and listened...He knew he had heard it before, somewhere but had no time to remember.”(196)

In the novel, during this encounter, Ralph is scrambling around running away from Jack’s evil possible because they are trying to kill him. While he’s hiding and trying not to get caught, the boys still look for him. The reason why this part is so very intense is because it shows how alone Ralph is and how scared he is, in this point in time. He’s all alone and no one can help him, everyone is against him and there is nothing he can do about it. It’s very interesting how things changed to when everyone was on at least ok terms and the next thing you know Ralph is running for his life filled with fear that he’s going to end up like Piggy and Simon. What are you supposed to do if everyone you know is trying to kill you? Just like animals, when people are cornered they’ll do anything to get out.

Many other characters from different stories and movies go through this kind of thing where everyone is trying to kill them. Mostly with strong characters like John Wick, who is being hunted by all the assassins in the area, or as I said Samurai Jack who’s being hunted and he’s seen as a criminal and no one is on his side. It’s a very interesting change of pace when you don’t have a person who can take out millions of people or is virtually untouchable, and you replace him with a small child, who has never fought a day in his life, is physically average for his age, then send a bunch of people to hunt him.

You see this in the hunger games when you have a moment where Katniss is hiding from Cato just after she blows up their stockpile with mines. In that moment where Katniss is just watching this unnamed character get yelled at and then killed for something he didn’t do, I can compare this to how Ralph felt like when he was all alone, and watching the boys run around looking for him with their sticks sharpened at both ends. In general there are a lot of parallels between the hunger games (the part with the actual fighting) and the events where Ralph is running and hiding from the boys. Even Katniss in the first part of the hunger games struggles with the idea being alone, when she first starts and is sleeping in a tree, she has to find her own way. The thought of her being alone scares her but she does it anyway because what other choice does she have if she want to survive.

“Someone cried out Ralph Jerked his cheek off the ground and looked into the dull light”(198). I think this is an excellent moment because it adds to the fact that Ralph doesn't even have time to inspect who cried out or lift his face off the ground softly he just gets up and books it, he’s in instinct mode and what I think why he’s in such a panicked mode is just apart how humans react in general to dangerous situations. For instance back when there was early man there was no reason or talking you either fought or ran away.

A real life example of people panicking because they feel alone and the world has betrayed them. A case study in 1989 talks about how they had two young adults put in a room, no windows, no people, just a bed and what happens was the 2nd patient after nine hours he started to experience hyperventilation, and starting acting violent in contrast to his cool demeanor at the start of the experiment “It’s been a day now let me out!” a quote he says when it's been in the 9th hour. They let him out early and is surprised to see that it hasn’t been the full 9 hours yet. “I’ve never been alone for that long in my life, I started to panic thinking I would never get to see society again”. This proves my point even more in the novel during the last chapter Ralph starts to get more desperate and is at a showdown on page 198 when he is debating what should he should do. The quote is “What could they do?, beat him? So what? Kill him?”. You can tell how broken a character is, if they are debating to kill them by the end of the book.

Is there a person you know that is popular? Why are they popular? Is it because they’re attractive, intelligent, kind, or aggressive? Do you ever wonder why or how that person is so popular? All of those traits above have a positive connotation, except for aggression. Aggression is something that anyone can have. Surprisingly, it can make someone more popular, whether their aggression is used as entertainment, or simply to set a standard.  Although aggression is usually seen as a negative trait, it is actually the most important quality for a person who is seeking to gain power.

In chapter eleven of Lord of the Flies, there was a scene with a conflict between the group of boys where it ended up with Ralph and Jack fighting each other. Then, Roger decides to pull something up his sleeve resulting in Piggy’s death, and the conch being smashed to many pieces. “See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone -”... “I’m Chief” (181). The cause of this was the aggression between the two sides: popular vs. unpopular. Studies done by APA concluded that popular teens or kids seem to be more aggressive compared to their peers. In the beginning, the conch was what lead to Ralph being chief and the most popular. Also, Ralph was pretty aggressive during the beginning of the book, especially towards Piggy. As time passed, Ralph grew to his senses and became more understanding towards Piggy. Jack used that opportunity to become more aggressive towards them both, which ended up to him gaining more power and popularity, leading him to make his own decisions. With Ralph starting to stick up for Piggy and the conch being smashed, he drops in popularity and lost possession of the one thing that could’ve help him in his status. Words like viciously, fiercely, and wildly were used because of the fact that most of Jack's popularity comes from his aggression(181-182). Also his desire to hunt and have fun ends up winning over the boys.

Donald Trump shows a displacement of aggression all throughout his campaigns. He made all kind of statements and comments, but his intentions were clear and bold. Many of his speeches consist of the wildest and craziest ideas, over and over again, especially about building a wall. “I will build a great wall - and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me - and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.” Everyone knows about Donald Trump and his intentions of building a wall. People took this information in many ways, but it all makes him more known, talked about, and overall popular. With his aggression towards making a wall, a lot of people could look at it in different viewpoints. Many jokes were made about this and things just went around. The more they went about it, the more his popularity grew. So with his aggression towards certain things, it will help him in getting power with popularity.

Jack is pretty violent and aggression in many situations. In LOTF, Jack had taken the boys watching and fire and added them into his hunting crew. That ended up in a disaster because they were watching the fire and a ship passed by. Ralph was frustrated, but when Piggy said something Jack beat him up. All Jack really want to do is have fun and hunt. “Jack stood up as he said this, the bloodied knife in his hand. The two boys faced each other. There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics… Jack transferred the knife to his left hand and smeared blood over his forehead as he pushed down the plastered hair” (71). Even tho being rescued was important, Jack still stuck onto hunting, providing food, and having fun. He was pretty straightforward about it. With this because of Jack’s obsession with hunting and his aggression towards it. It gives him power because the hunters, or kids would look at him with admiration. What he is trying to do is have fun and survival which wins over the kids.

During one of Donald Trump’s speech, he spoke about Mexicans. He talked about what he thinks they are and what they’ll do. This relates to why he suggested we build a wall. It’s mainly to keep out immigrants and most of them are from Mexico which is why he threw flame at the Mexicans. “Mexicans are bringing drugs, they’re bringing criminals, they’re rapists,” said Trump. The aggression he puts towards them is very violent and like bullying. This form of bullying is formed into a  way where people will joke about it. Through research, it’s said that bullying can be a form of popularity. Some people take bullying as a joke or as a source of entertainment which leads to them being popular. So trump being aggressive ended up him being in more position of power.

Overall there are many characteristics that can result in popularity throughout the society. Aggression being one of the characteristics has to lead to people becoming new leaders, like Trump and Jack. Their display of determination and aggression towards a certain goal has won over the people in many different ways. It made these new leaders more popular, known and spoke about. Even tho aggression towards something would usually be concerned as negative, it can be used in many different ways especially for people who want to gain a certain goal or become a leader.

Works Cited

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

Winerman, L. "Among young teens, aggression equals popularity." Pardon Our Interruption. American psychological association, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.apa.org/monitor/jun04/among.aspx

Power is an inevitable element in society. People’s need to have such power in order to control or influence others is a natural human instinct. The need for power always changes the actions of people. It can either alter one’s morals or feed to their fear of distrust. The way one deals with power shows how people deal with situations they don’t understand. The world has seen their share of lack of leadership, and their share of leaders who many should stand up to. These communities all deal with that change in different ways, whether it’s savage or civilized. A savage reaction would be acts of violence and no control. Civilized points to organized control. Overall in systems with unidentified rules, people act in savage ways when they don’t understand a situation, hold the want for continuous power, or are told to from a leader.

William Golding tackles these ideas in his novel Lord Of The Flies, where a group of young British boys crash on an island without any adult supervision. Ralph, one of the boys, gets everyone together by blowing into a conch shell, leading all of the boys to meet on the beach. The first thing the boys take action on is deciding who will be their leader, as an act for the need to have someone to look towards. This vote is concluded, “Every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air. Ralph counted. “I’m chief then”(23).” Without the obvious power being in adults, since there are no adults, the first instinct of the boys was to figure out who would take that place. This action plays into the idea that people feel the need for a leader to look to for guidance. When the idea of leadership and power arises, then someone will come out and proclaim leadership. This is much like how Jack immediately said that he should be leader before the boys voted, “I ought to be chief, (22).” This is a want to have someone to look to in order to have control and order within a group.

After the boys decide on Ralph as leader, they set up camp and build a signal fire. A few days into their survival, two of the boys come back to the camp claiming to have seen a beast. The other boys react to this discovery, “The circle of boys shrank away in horror. Johnny, yawning still, burst into noisy tears and was slapped by Bill till he choked on them... “This’ll be a real hunt! Who’ll come?” (100-101).” The boy’s reaction to the discovery of the beast is of extreme shock and horror. This is one of the main fears that the boys deal with throughout the novel. They seem to not know how to approach it until Jack takes the lead on going to hunt “the beast,” and presents his idea as bigger and better than the rest. This action of hunting represents how we, as humans, attack things we don’t understand, and follow the lead of whoever steps up, even if it is savage in nature. After Jack receives backlash for his idea, he attacks those going against him by saying, “You’re always scared (101),” and “This is a hunter’s job (102).” This was the beginning of the power struggle between Jack and Ralph. It comes to show how Jack’s belief in holding power is to push down others in order to put down their stance on their own power. His power changes him to begin taking steps of savagery. The attack on the others in the group by Jack is a result of his own fear of the beast and losing power.

We see his savagery as a result of power come to life when he gets most of the boys to join his tribe of hunters. The group with Jack is continuously very frightened of the beast and sees the reaction to the situation as automatically killing it. When they kill pigs for food, they chase and chant around them. This ritual continues when they find “the beast” in their eyes, or Simon in ours as the readers. They overlook the appearance of “the beast” as Jack’s fear takes the lead in immediately reacting to this unknown creature. “”Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” Now out of terror rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind (152).” Jack’s fear of losing power has led him to act in savage ways and immediately react to everything with violence. This role of leadership also leads those under him into savagery. He forces them to kill, kill, kill, and they follow since they look to him for guidance. The boys are scared of the beast almost as much as Jack is of losing power, therefore they listen when the savage acts come to be Jack’s decision.

These themes of leadership and savagery can be seen in the real world by looking into the situation in Myanmar. Following a military coup, the rule of law was eliminated almost entirely. Burmese women were mistreated and abused on a wide scale. Small militarized enforcement began to occur where the “law enforcers” of certain districts abused their power and took over the people, telling them what to do and enforcing rules that were never legally put in place. People looked to these people of leadership for guidance despite their savage ways, which then led to a population of violence. These people in power then reacted to a small group they didn’t fully understand, a muslim minority. The militarized enforcement abused, raped, and tortured people of the Muslim minority. These savage acts were based off of the want to marginalize people in cruel and unjust ways, and was held because of a government who hasn’t had a democratic leader until recently. This situation is representative of how the savagery was enforced by power, promoted by fear, and spread by other’s fear looking to the position of power.

By looking into savagery as a result of leadership in Lord of The Flies, as well as Myanmar, we see how people look to positions of power for guidance, and follow the savagery. When people fear something, they immediately look to and follow whoever gives a solution that is informed as the most powerful. One in power may use savagery as a form of showing this power, as a result of their own fear of losing it. When savagery is promoted, there is a constant battle of more power between the people. This fear with savagery also turns to things we don’t fully understand. This comes to light when people’s immediate reaction to the unknown is to attack, much in the way the boys attacked the unknown beast.

Works cited

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

"Stanley Milgram: Obedience to Authority Or Just Conformity?" PsyBlog. N.p., 18 Dec. 2011. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/02/stanley-milgram-obedience-to-authority.php

"No Rule of Law." No Rule of Law | Social Watch. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017. http://www.socialwatch.org/node/10920

Kill or Survive

What does survival mean to you? In some cases people turn against each other, no matter how little or large they have of each other. There are many ways one can survive, but there are often situations where one doesn’t try and takes the easy way out. How does one survive with a group of people? Given a moment in certain situations, some may act civilized while others may not. Some may think about themselves only. While others who often has interactions with other people such as family, have a habit of caring for and thinking of others as well. Just like in the novel Lord of The Flies, many scenarios are given when the boys have choices among survival. Even so, when it comes down to survival in any case, the killings of other living things do not really come to mind because of the crave that they have for their own survival.  

Survival being a huge deal to many people, people often do anything humanly possible for survival, even if it means killing other living things. In China, the Chinese people engage in killing and eating dogs. These dogs are either kept as pets that are torn apart from their owners or they are strays that roam around the streets. They call this tradition. They beat the dogs, they let it bleed out, and they use the blood for meat. “Dog meat is considered a delicacy in China, and traders deliberately kill them in the most painful ways possibly so the animals die filled with adrenaline; the Mirror noted”. They cage up the dogs allowing it to lack dehydration and exposure which led to kill hundreds of them at each killings. Although some may buy dogs not to eat but to keep as pets to campaign the cruelty towards animals, they are often taken from owners when food becomes desperate. After the death of the dogs, they are slaughtered, some even boiled alive, and then taken to markets to be sold. Some markets would take them alive and kill them in front of the people at the market when the buyers come to buy them. At first they claimed that the dogs were “emergency food” for when food becomes scarce, but over time this tradition of killing and eating dogs got out of control. Calling these happenings a tradition, they enjoy the flesh, bones, and blood of dogs. They believe it is a tradition for the survival of their lives dated back from years ago when food was actually scarce. But now they enjoy the killing and slaughterings of the dogs to soon eat for their survival. It turned into such a common thing that the majority of the Chinese people no longer cared about the lives of the poor living things.  

This same action is done in the scene where the boys kill the pig and felt the proudness and excitement from doing so, especially Jack. He took the the twins with him to go kill the pig and led them back as they carry the pig that has been killed to eat. As he explains to Ralph how intense when the boys begin to chant “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” In moments of this scene when Jack and the twins brought the pig to Ralph’s presence, Jack grows in excitement for his achievement, in a constant matter. Quoted in this moment of the scene, “Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrelevance but too happy to let it worry him.”We can light the fire again. You should have been with us Ralph. We had a smashing time. The twins got knocked over-” I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it” (69). From this quote, the cause of excitement that falls on Jack in this moment comes from his desire of being “big and proud.” He felt irritated when Ralph commented on his success and instead of giving any mind to it, he continued to brag upon his success of killing the pig for food. As British schoolboys, they do not ideally kill animals on the daily as a necessity. In this situation, Jack believes that he has the ability to do so with no adults to take matter into their hands. Given the fact that he brags about the killing in excitement makes him think that it was okay to kill a living animal since it was for their survival’s sake. He no longer gave any care to the animal. He describes how the killing went down to Ralph and for a moment he seemed to be uncomfortable being a British schoolboy, “I cut the pig’s throat,” said Jack, proudly, yet twitched as he said it.” This specific line from the previous quote expresses how he may have been uncomfortable killing the pig when he twitched as he spoke, yet still proud for the actions he’s done.

In China there are annual festivals to celebrate “dog meat”. At this festival, they kill over about 10,000 dogs, slaughtered, boiled, beaten, and bled out. This is no longer the fight for scarce food. It is now profound as enjoyment. To declare a whole festival where dogs are killed in front of cheering crowds is no longer a fight for survival. It is seen more as just enjoyment for the celebration they are not being stopped from. To the Chinese people the killings of dogs are found normal, but in certain scenes of the novel, killing pigs or attempting to are not normal nor realistic to happen for British schoolboys. Jack mentions how the pig squealed as the the boys crept up on her to then kill her. The chant that they made “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” This chant brought the most similarity to the wrongdoings of the Chinese dog killing traditions. “Kill the pig.” They wanted the pig dead under any circumstances. “Cut her throat.” They wanted the pig killed in a humanly way. “Spill her blood.” They wanted the pig to suffer and bleed out to watch it be tortured. Relating back to the Chinese people standing in crowds to watch the dogs being killed and tortured so that they would soon be able to eat them in celebration. The inhumanly cruelty that both the characters in the book and the Chinese people have are because of their carelessness towards the living animals. They believe it is more important for them to survive. The only difference falls upon them when the the characters of Lord of The Flies had no choice, but to kill and eat the pig whereas the Chinese people had choices not to do so.

Survival. To survive is to do what it takes to keep living even if it means killing other living things. In Lord of The Flies, Jack and the boys kill the pig in excitement having done that, as in killing a live animal, for the first time. In real life, people in China kill, torture, slaughter, and boil dogs almost on the daily. Both scenarios started out as the fight for survival, then it turned into advantages, advantages for an easier life, for an enjoyable life. After the death of the pig, their characters become more fierce throughout the book in having to kill other living things. Also after the killings of the dogs, the Chinese took advantage of not being stopped to do so and started up a whole tradition and festival like celebration for the killing and eating of dog meat. In doing so, these people did not have empathy for the living animals anymore.

Works Cited

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

Francis, Nathan. "Dog Boiled Alive: Shocking Video From China Shows Greyhound Being Slaughtered Before Cheering Crowd At Public Market." The Inquisitr News. The Inquisitr News, 07 Sept. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.inquisitr.com/3491289/dog-boiled-alive-shocking-video-from-china-shows-greyhound-being-slaughtered-before-cheering-crowd-at-public-market/

Cooper, Rob. "Dogs Destined for the Table: Horrific Images Show Animals Being Killed, Cooked and Served up as a Meal in Chinese Tradition." Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 25 June 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2164353/Horrific-images-dogs-killed-cooked-served-meal-sick-Chinese-tradition.html

What makes an individual or a culture uncivilized? Some people may say lack of order, while others could say not socially advanced. However, what does someone consider to be savage? Stripping families from their home lands? Not allowing the conservation of one's culture? Physically abusing others? They all can be seen as unacceptable acts by those in the “civilized” world, and yet they are all acts that were perpetrated by supposedly “civilized” colonists as they [describe what they did]. However, killing for no reason and screaming threatening chants are no great deeds either. Readers of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, view the boys on the island the same way colonists view the “savages” they colonized.

In the scene where the boys on the island portray the killing of a pig, the “beast” emerges from the forest. This beast is no beast at all, but fear disguising Simon as a monster. "At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, no movements but the tearing of the teeth and claws (153)."  Here, the reenactment has turned into an execution of the "beast". The boys do not try to make peaceful contact or communication with the foreign living being in front of them. The vulnerability of the "beast" as it comes out of the forest is not taken into account by the boys, that maybe the "beast" has feelings and is scared. The adjectives get more intense as the scene goes on, using words like demented, dark, blind, urgent, unbearable. The intensity of the adjectives reaches a climax right before the “beast” is killed and when the boys turn into animals. Their fear blinded their better judgment, and enabled them to look further than the rumors of the beast. This caused them to kill one of their own, who was on his way to them to clear the air about the suspicions of the beast in the first place.

This behavior in the novel also happens in the real world. European pioneers encountered Native Americans, and much like the boys on the island killing the beast, almost destroyed all of the Native Americans. “[...],European conquest shattered many Native communities through forced relocation, warfare, broken treaties and foreign-brought diseases. Most Native communities were completely wiped out,” says Indian Youth.org. Europeans came into a new territory, claiming it as their own without thinking of the lives already present there. With this mindset, they did everything in their power to get rid of anyone who didn't look like them or embrace their culture while degrading them in the process.

Savage was a term used to describe the Native Americans. It is a word that was also incorporated into Lord of the Flies. In this scene, Ralph is furiously trying to avoid being caught by Jack’s tribe. “A smallish savage was standing between him and the rest of the forest, a savage striped red and white, and carrying a spear (195).” This depiction of a feral, small mammal of some sort is a complete one eighty compared to the seemingly innocent boys who crash landed on the island. Jack’s society has turned into a group of boys who smear the blood of animals on their faces, kill for sport, and who kill anyone who doesn’t agree with their ways. In other words, being brought up civilized does not mean that children stay civilized without the guidance of an adult at an age where they're malleable. The “savage” nature will be forced away when the children would be brought back to society. However, the after effects would still be traumatic and possibly cause the children to question what's right and what's wrong after Roger mercilessly killed Piggy in front of many witnesses, who did not necessarily protest, because Piggy did not agree with the conceptions of the new tribe under the leadership of Jack.

This representation of a savage correlates with the European perspective of Native Americans. National Humanities Center.org encourages students to watch 1990 Academy Award winner, Dances with Wolves as opposed to 1992 adaption of James Fenimore Cooper’s 1826 novel Last of the Mohicans. The novel was based on the earliest meetings of Europeans and Native Americans. “Besides a sympathetic white hero in line with Cooper’s own Natty Bumppo, it starkly contrasts “good” Indians (the ever-so-noble Lakotas) and “bad” Indians (the villainous Pawnees, with their roach-cuts and face paint making them look like English “punks” on a rampage).” The painting of faces, and spears are something commonly associated with the “savage”/ “bad” Indians. Familiarity struck with this portrayal, which fit the description of Jack’s tribe. However, the Iroquois Confederacy is what the current Democratic Republic is based off of here in the United States. European philosophical ideas that Locke and Rousseau published were established from Native American ideas. The Europeans called Native Americans savages while they were the ones who published Native Americans ideals, captured Native American land, and took Native American lives?

Overall, biased information can change lives. Decisions based on prejudice won’t necessarily benefit the human race as a whole. Claiming things that aren’t your own, also does not benefit one or more groups in the situation. This is something learned since childhood. However, sometimes it takes people a long time to learn one lesson, and they often have to learn it the hard way.

Works Cited

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

2. Dippie, Brian W. "American Indians: The Image of the Indian, Nature Transformed, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center." American Indians: The Image of the Indian, Nature Transformed, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center. National Humanities Center, May 2008. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntecoindian/essays/indimage.htm>

3. "Chp 4: Ennobling `Savages', Native America in European natural-rights philosophy, "Exemplar Of Liberty"." Chp 4: Ennobling `Savages', Native America in European natural-rights philosophy, "Exemplar Of Liberty". N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <https://ratical.org/many_worlds/6Nations/EoL/chp4.html>

4. "Traditions & Culture." Traditions & Culture | Running Strong. N.p., 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. <http://indianyouth.org/american-indian-life/traditions-culture>

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, a  group of boys became wild and aggressive when being left alone without adult supervision. Would being alone create a person to go insane? Personalities changes the heart of the human because of the heart and the brain are connected to each other and makes new choices. William Golding tries to make the characters go against each other, where they end up killing each other. People can see their “correct” actions as a good idea but can be an act of darkness. Their behavior shows that humans cannot have a set personality and can change based on those around them.

There are two teams on the island and each team represents hunters and those who wants to go home. The people on the island has to pick a team of who they want to be and what best suits their personality. In the beginning of the story, most went to Ralph’s side, who wanted to find a way home, but there is fear present were all the children changed sides to Jack, the hunters. They were not forced physically but mentally threaten where the children thought Jack was the better team. Two boys named Sam and Eric traded sides but still showed affection towards their former leader. “Memory of their new and shameful loyalty came to them. Eric was silent but Sam tried to do his duty. You got to go, Ralph. You go away now” (187). What this shows is how people will go against their side to help those that are not on their team. They understand that it’s not right to help the wanted opponent, but they knew that helping was better than killing them. Darkness can be a dangerous place but will have a better outcome for at least on side of the party.

Looking out into the real world, people have conducted experiments that were similar to the plot line in the Lord of the Flies, where they have two teams. Philip Zimbardo created an experiment called the Stanford Prison Experiment, having two teams; prisoners and officers. The experiment was created to show how fast people would react to living their new lifestyles. Explorable.com explained, “Social and ideological factor also determined how both groups behaved, with individuals acting in a way that they thought was required rather than using their own judgment.” The purpose of this was how people expect to look one way, but doesn’t turn out being the same due the the change in enrollment. The moral values start to be forgotten, but there are a few people who made it out with the same personality just with a different mind set. Being in the a new environment, it can cause people come to desperate times. Although they didn’t make the correct decisions, it helped them in that point in time.  

As the darkness is rising to the surface of the skin, there are ways to bring it down and only shine like the sun. In the middle of the novel, Simon went out of his way to find the thing that everyone feared. People hid from the bad and let the fear roam. Some could say it’s okay to run from fear but better to stand up. Simon came into this new environment scared, yet he was the only one to find the power to go find their unknown fear. “‘You shut up, young Simon! Why couldn’t you say there wasn’t a beast?’..’I been in bed so much i done some thinking… He can’t hurt you; but if you stand out of the way he’s hurt the next thing,” (93). Simon used to be a very shy boy, but the fear has changed him, not becoming into a careless person but to someone could help. The upsetting part is the group disagreeing to go alone with his plan. People around them can affect the final outcome of the choice as a whole group. Their choice of not following Simon’s idea lead them to killing one of their best men.

Killing your own men can lead to vulnerability. Risking a life instead of staying together with more power creates more possibilities of things going wrong. Amy Novotney from American Psychological Association wrote an article about avoiding malpractice and vulnerable. Method #4 is about covering up the vulnerability that is there. She states, “There are many things that can go wrong very quickly with these patients, leaving psychologists who work with them more vulnerable to board complaints and malpractice claims.” The thought of a doctor saying this can be difficult because of several reasons, knowing that things can go wrong at any giving time. Nothing can ever be for sure. These type of experiences can change people. One day, a person could enjoy him or herself. The next, that same person could completely hate being themselves.

Things change, nothing stays the same for as long as it lives or exists. The same is true for humans. People change as they experience new things or learn new things. People reaction when they realize that they might be wrong and need to change their ways. Personality is affected by this new experience and information. Humans, then, do not have a set personality and can change their ways based on events and people.

Works Cited:

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

Martyn Shuttleworth. “Stanford Prison Experiment.” Roles Define Your Behavior. Jun 22, 2008.

<https://explorable.com/stanford-prison-experiment>

Raymond Rochester

Spanish

Mrs. Hernandez

March 20, 2017

Esta es mi pared que haría mi arte público. Está un poco lejos de mi casa. Todavía está en North philly pero no exactamente el "Hood".

This is what I would put in on the wall for my arte público with great reason but there's a lot of connections that need to be made. North Philly along with some other parts of philly is thought as the hood. The hood is thought as of where thugs and gangsters like to hang and just live. Tupac was a thug, but he took it a step farther. This man is an inspiration and he knew the true meaning of being a thug. But not only that he was such a smart, intelligent, brilliant man. And a lot of people who weren't exactly cool with him or what he stood for missed that because of his thug mentality. The missed the scholar within him and it wasn't something all that easy to miss. He died way before his time and he deserves some commemoration.

Esto es lo que pondría en la pared para mi arte público con gran razón, pero hay un montón de conexiones que deben hacerse. El norte de Philly junto con algunas otras partes de philly se piensa como la capilla. La capilla se piensa de donde los matones y los gángsters tienen gusto de colgar y apenas vivir.Tupac era un matón, pero dio un paso más. Este hombre es una inspiración y conocía el verdadero significado de ser un matón. Pero no sólo que era un hombre inteligente, inteligente y brillante.

Y un montón de gente que no era exactamente genial con él o lo que él representaba perdieron eso debido a su mentalidad de matón. El perdió al erudito dentro de él y no era algo fácil de perderse. Murió mucho antes de su tiempo y merece un poco de conmemoración.

Vivo en el norte de Filadelfia. Se conoce como la capilla y el gueto, pero primero quiero empezar diciendo que me gusta donde crezco. Viví en el norte de Filadelfia toda mi vida y creo que es un gran lugar para el amor. Ahora sí, es peligroso, y las inyecciones de armas son bastante comunes, y hay algunos ins de ruptura, asaltos, robos, cabezas de crack, borrachos, y otras cosas como eso, pero creo que crecer en lo que se ve como la capucha es una buena cosa. Pero honestamente, ¿qué lugar no tiene ningún crimen? ¿Qué puedes considerar un "lugar seguro" para vivir

Creo que puede ser un buen pensar para crecer alrededor. Le hace consciente de su entorno y darse cuenta de lo que son algunas de las cosas que pueden suceder a usted por ahí. La gente llama a esto la campana debido a las cosas malas que suceden por ahí, pero no hay en cualquier lugar que esto no sucede. La gente allí es gente agradable en donde vivo y no puede ser la gente no tan agradable aquí como en cualquier otro lugar. Casi todo el mundo habla cuando su chillin justo y la gente camina por. Norte de Filadelfia o ¨la capilla¨ no es tan malo como la gente lo hace basarse en estereotipos.

En mi opinión tengo una bonita casa con un montón de espacio. Es sólo mi tío, mi mamá, mi hermana, y yo y yo hemos estado allí toda mi vida. Esa casa es donde me criaron toda mi vida. Lo curioso es que el Contar la historia es hace años y años que se utiliza para ser una oficina de médicos para el público. Entonces era una casa para una madre familia antes de que fuera una casa para nosotros cuando mi tío la trajo.

Christina Santana

Miss Pahomov

English 2

31 March 2017

The Victor and The Victim

Innocence. A state so simplistic in its nature, but yet so intimidating and complex to others. It seems baffling, seeing as how innocence is seen as such a positive trait in children, but viewed as a weakness in adults. The complexity of this trait confuses people and makes them doubt themselves, causing them to direct their anger towards their counterparts that radiate innocence. When outbursts of conflict arise, innocent people get killed because the malice and ignorance of their counterparts overpowers their limited ability to protect themselves. In many cases, the people who are affected by these outbursts of violence are bystanders to the madness, victims who were harmed for no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although they could have also been attacked due to their killer’s disdain for them, using their innocence as a dehumanization technique, and counting them as no more than targets who won't fight back. Things like bias and pre-existing prejudices act as a catalyst in the underlying fear that causes people to go after things they don’t understand. In a world where dominance can always overpower innocence, nice guys finish last.

In the novel Lord of The Flies, by William Golding, a group of boys get stranded on a deserted island due to the dawn of a new world war. As conflict arises and order deteriorates, it is up to them to create a makeshift civilization that will protect them from any problems they may face in the future. After having his glasses stolen by the savages, Piggy goes on a conquest to retrieve them. The savages, a group of bloodthirsty adolescent boys, have no empathy for Piggy and no intention to give him his glasses back. As Piggy continues to plead for his glasses, one the savages releases a boulder that crushes him to pieces, killing him in an instant. While the savages were unbothered by his death, Piggy’s friend Ralph was distraught. "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) the narrator says. This quote shows us that Piggy’s death was a shock to Ralph, and the end of a support system. Especially because Piggy was the smartest and most innocent person on the island. He wouldn’t have hurt a fly. The savages’ self-loathing attributes and their want for power overrules their once keen senses that prevented them from hurting others. They see the innocent being as the easiest target to take down on their mission to rise to power. They have no worry that there would be a backlash of attack. This situation is comparable to the Syrian War where innocent people are being killed due to the ignorance and malice of others. They’re lives are taken out of account as they become another number on a death toll, meaning nothing to their murders. Just like the savages, the fighters in Syrian War care more about themselves than the people they are effecting. They take the lives of others with the intention of making an impact for their cause, but instead they take the lives of innocent people. People who did nothing but try to stay out of trouble.

In an article listed on BBC, they referenced The Syrian War as the “Deadliest Year For Children Yet”.  According to UNICEF, about 8.4 million - 80% of Syria’s child population - have been affected by this war. Which leads to the question, how could these innocent children be expected to defend themselves when their enemies attack in packs, using weapons and explosives to kill thousands at a time? Fear. The fear of not accomplishing their goals, the fear of the consequences they will face it they go against their leader, the fear of losing. Leading them to go after targets who they know they could win against. Targets who are too young to defend themselves or petrified enough to render them defenseless. After being so fearful to others, attackers being to get scared of themselves. They create facades to hide them from reality, and use them as a way to become a new person. During a roam around the island, the boys discover paint. Jack, the hunter of the group, became enthralled with this new discovery and decided to use the paint to create a mask for himself.  As the narrator says, "The mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness" (34). By looking at this quote, the reader can see that the mask is what Jack uses to “become” a savage.. It acts as a trademark of his savagery, representing the liberation he receives from forgetting the morals he once valued so deeply.

Statistics show that Syrian children are showing symptoms of psychological strain from the traumas of witnessing war. From observing the mannerisms of the characters in Lord of The Flies, we can see that multiple characters have been affected by the constant threat of violence that surrounds the island. They even show symptoms of anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. The traits of their disorders are especially shown after one of the boys gets scared by something they saw in the woods. Leaving a outburst of fear on the island, due to the impending predator that they call now call  “The Beastie”.  In order to calm down the panicked and fearful children Jack says, "Fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island. Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!" (79) As displayed in the quote, Jack is clearly insensitive towards the feelings of his companions. He dismisses their fear and quickly devises a way to ignore their persistent cries for help. This is a common occurrence, not only in Lord of The Flies, but also throughout our society today. Specifically in the Syrian War where the Syrian government ignores the their civilians attempt to gain help from the enemy. This relates back to innocence because people in positions of power take innocence as a sign of weakness. They view it as something that makes people inferior to them. Something that makes them easy to take down. Innocence is looked at as something to be taken, a prize to be won, a medal to be displayed to represent the impact of the action at hand.

What begins as a peaceful uprising ends as a mourning for loss. Leaving the once confident and innocent being harmed by the actions of its predator. It’s common occurrence in our everyday society, causing people to be fearful of their competitors, and causing them to be fearful of the unknown harm they could face. Because of the fear of the unknown, people hole up and allow others to trample over them. Thus fulfilling the statement nice guys finish last. The sad truth is that the ones who are dominant often understand their dominance, which allows them to take over the ones who are considered “nice”.

Works Cited

"Children of Syria By the Numbers." PBS. Public Broadcasting Service, n.d. <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/children-of-syria-by-the-numbers/>.

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

Moore, Jack. "Syria war death toll hits 321,000 with 145,000 more missing: Monitor." Newsweek. N.p., 18 Mar. 2017. <http://www.newsweek.com/sixth-anniversary-syrian-conflict-looms-war-monitor-says-465000-killed-or-567181>.

Pruitt, Sarah. "New Book Sheds Light on the Murder of Emmett Till." History.com A&E Television Networks, 03 Feb. 2017. <http://www.history.com/news/new-book-sheds-light-on-the-murder-of-emmett-till-the-civil-rights-movement>.

"Syria war: 2016 deadliest year yet for children, says Unicef." BBC News. BBC, 13 Mar. 2017. <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-39252307>.

The work that I did was based off many others. I thought that maybe I could reflect like a mirror image of what people do daily. What it means to be an artist to me is showing how you feel on a simple piece of paper. I used many different tecniques to make my work the way it is. All of my work was inspiration, I felt like I had to make the things I did, take a picture. I drew what I saw and I thought was worthy and was very different something no one would have though of doing. I was inspired by many but only I knew what I wanted to do.

Kamil Kielar

Ms. Pohohomov

31 March 2017

Lord of the Flies Essay

Empathy vs. Ego

For many fear is not something pleasurable which they experience. When people think of fear they add a negative connotation towards it and a sense of dislike for it. However, when it is not our fear which is on the line, the courage to overcome the fear is taken for granted and not realized by others until they are put into that same position. We always encourage our friends to face their fears, but would we ourselves take the advice we give to others? Everyone has been in a situation where they are trying to overcome one of their fears and understand the difficulty of the situation. Where is the empathy expressed with other emotions such as sadness or joy? When fear is expressed by others, empathy is lost in our response due to the desire of disbelief that we never experienced fear.

In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he tells a story of young boys stranded on an island struggling to keep their civil nature and not fall into primal instincts and savagery amongst themselves. They, however, are unable to hold onto themselves, losing all sense of morality. When one of the younger boys shows fear of a beast on the island, he brings it up to the older boys. They, however, shrug it off as if it is nothing at all. They don’t even in any way show consideration that maybe something is on the island. Jack, one of the older boys, simply tells them, "…fear can't hurt you any more than a dream. There aren't any beasts to be afraid of on this island . . . Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!"(82)

Since the older boys have outgrown believing in monsters, they understand that there isn’t a something out to get them  but they are still young enough to remember they were once that age and had experienced the same thing. Jack even goes out of his way to call these kids names for believing in such things but by doing so he proves the emotion that is going through him. Internally his ego is battling the fact that he was once like those kids and wants to forget that part of him. But through denying the existence of this monster he is avoiding having to fear it himself. For Jack, it is simply the easiest path to irrationalize the idea because then no justification is needed for neither himself nor the little kids.

Children have some of the most creative and unique minds but a majority of the time are shut out by grown-ups. Kids can come up with these crazy ideas and when brought up, they are immediately shot down with denial from their parent without actual real thought because we want to think that because they are younger, they don’t have the same higher level thinking as us and therefore cannot come up with an “intelligent” idea. This case is especially accurate through children who are not taken seriously. According to Peter Gray Ph.D., he states that “When your child screams at being put to bed alone at night, your child is not trying to test your will! Your child is screaming, truly, for dear life.” This simply shows how we react to someone else's fear without considering the possibility that it may be real. Instead of thinking about the situation, it is simpler to believe something just because it is easier. It is easier to think that as children we wanted our parents rather than we had actually been scared. The fact that so many parents do not even take this into consideration shows how much they don’t want to believe the fact as well. Fear for your own life is an extremely powerful and traumatizing emotion and to have it be a possibility of what is happening to your child's and not even considering the scenario is shocking to me. Laziness is often considered a physical not wanting to work, but the laziness of mind is the greatest selfishness someone can commit.

When thoughts on the subject of the beast had been changed to Piggy, another protagonist in the story, he had also been unable to see things from the perspective of the kids. Instead, he had decided to take a more rational approach to this by saying, "Life […] is scientific, that's what it is. [...] I know there isn't no beast—not with claws and all that I mean—but I know there isn't no fear either."(84) For this particular character, he had wanted more of a logical response to the situation which gives him the ability to avoid having to deal with emotions at all but science can only take him so far. According to Charles L. Bennett, “...science doesn’t “prove” theories. Scientific measurements can only disprove theories…”(Dr. Jay Wile) This is important because the most Piggy can do is say that there is no “beastie” but that doesn’t include anything else which may be a threat to them on the islands. Throughout the novel, Piggy considers himself the “smart one” in the group and now even he is unable to prove that there is not something on the island trying to get them. This in a way a shot to his ego and pride. He doesn’t want to believe that it is true but if this logical approach had truly been done by Piggy, he would know this is definitely true. Rather than admitting the situation and hurting his pride he chooses to deny the story altogether.

In conclusion, fear can be expressed in many ways, but what people fail to realize is how they themselves perceive it. To ourselves it is something we are going to try and stay away from, to others, it will be something we help them overcome but never will mutual understanding of fear exist. Everyone experiences fear but don’t like to admit it. It is simpler to say you are fearless because you see other people react when being fearful. Naturally, people don’t want to bring themselves down and admitting to it one of the biggest drops someone can go through. Fear will always exist inside of us and we will always have a way to experience it ourselves but the way we see other’s fears can change our very understanding of fear itself.

Works Cited

Gray, Peter. "The Monsters Under the Bed Are Real: Why Children Protest Bedtime." Kindred Media. N.p., 26 Nov. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.http://kindredmedia.org/2011/10/the-monsters-under-the-bed-are-real-why-children-protest-bedtime/

Wile, Jay. "Science Can’t Prove Anything." Proslogion. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://blog.drwile.com/?p=5725

Colder, C. R., J. E. Lochman, and K. C. Wells. "The Moderating Effects of Children's Fear and Activity Level on Relations between Parenting Practices and Childhood Symptomatology." Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 1997. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9212377

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

How could knowledge and truth be dangerous and harmful? Knowledge and truth can threaten a loss of credibility to the ones who already have it when the others find it out, but ignorance is the one which can keep them safe as well. And, in contrast with the previous statement, knowledge and truth should be shown to people because it could be beneficial to know what happens in the world and to themselves and everything that surrounds them. Knowledge being “a good thing”, it is a good which leads to a worse situation. Knowledge and truth are beneficial to be able know what is going on in the world, what is around you, what is everything, and also stops you from lying to yourself. It is frightening, when you expect a truth that you are not ready or eager to hear. It is harmful and risky when you don’t like that truth, or when truth leads to something bad. Therefore, truth and knowledge can be beneficial, but also harmful, risky, and even frightening.

One example in History is Scientific Revolution. Many discoveries and theories in various scientific fields have challenged the Catholic Church’s beliefs. One example is heliocentrism challenging geocentrism, many scientists contradicting the Holy Scriptures, like Galileo Galilei and Nicolaus Copernicus challenging the Church. The Catholic Church banned books contradicting their beliefs and teachings, which showed how they hid truth and knowledge from believers, and how knowledge is forbidden. One of the reasons for that could be the loss of credibility from believers, and Church’s biggest fear was people questioning their faith after finding out the truth. They knew that saying the truth to believers could raise questions about what else they were hiding or lying about. For instance, in Lord of the Flies when you compare the rest of the boys to Piggy and Simon it becomes clear that the rest of the boys are ignorant  but think they know everything because of that knowledge, which made their situation even worse. As the English poet Alexander Pope said, “A little learning is a dangerous thing; drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring; there shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, and drink largely sobers us again”. This quote means that people having a little knowledge think that they know a lot because they think that that knowledge is the only truth. Another demonstration of this in  Lord of the Flies is when Piggy, the character which symbolizes knowledge, is always interrupted and can’t express his opinion or a fact. This situation happens many times in the book, for example when Piggy is trying to talk and Jack Merridew, the chief of the Hunters, interrupts him saying: “You are talking too much. Shut up, Fatty.” (21) even if Piggy had barely talked because they always make him be quiet, and in this way knowledge stays unknown to the others because they force him to hide it in some way.

The issue is not only how knowledge and truth are hidden, but how they are treated in society. Something else in the book is Piggy’s death, or in symbolic terms, knowledge’s death. Another example in the book is Simon’s death, who represented kindness and truth as well. They are killed in the moment when they are going to release truth or say something wise and logical. The violence against knowledge is showed when Roger is about to slaughter Piggy: “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (180) and then when Piggy is brutally murdered and the conch is broken: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after  it has been killed. Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.” (181) At this point, after Piggy’s death in the second to last chapter, knowledge, wisdom and truth are not only hidden, but they are gone and won’t come back in the rest of the novel. This and the break of the conch, which kept them together and “in peace”, set a sort of chaos, where Jack does not show any kind of regret, but pride, and sounds really harsh and cruel. Simultaneously he declares himself as the definite leader: “See? See?  That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone -- I’m chief!” (181)

Another example in the real world is the Global Surveillance Disclosures incident, mainly caused by Edward Snowden, starting on June 2013. He leaked top-secret documents about the global surveillance in which the NSA, CIA and foreign organizations are involved. As the time passed the topic became more and more known internationally when he released those documents on the Internet and shared them with recognized newspapers in many influential countries. This awakened the important representatives of those countries, and made them realize that secrets have consequences once they are discovered. These new findings gave rise to fear and made people feel sort of threatened, watched, and controlled. People just discovered that many powerful governments of important, developed countries have been spying the whole world. This example shows that no matter when you say it, it will hurt, have bad consequences and negative effects.

These examples demonstrate that truth can hurt more than a lie, and both options, saying it and not saying anything, would have negative consequences, and the only difference between those two actions is the moment where it is said. The consequences of having and not having knowledge, and learn why knowledge is necessary, important, but at the same time risky is necessary because as Alexander Pope explained, having a little knowledge makes someone think of themselves as wiser people than they actually are, and makes them ignorant. It’s an important point because everyone should have the right to know, but total transparency is never an option. In politics, for example.  It’s almost impossible for them to know what is people’s reaction going to be, that’s why they know that it’s risky saying what they are about to say, because everything can change from one moment to another. Because of that, they feel obliged to lie to protect the society. But then, why do we always want to know, even if we expect the worst as an answer?

Works Cited

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

"Censorship of Government Scientists Spreads to the United Kingdom." Union of Concerned Scientists. Union of Concerned Scientists, 30 Mar. 2015. Web. 29 Mar. 2017.  Censorship of Government Scientists in the United Kingdom

Kreis, Steven. "Lecture 10: The Scientific Revolution, 1543-16." Historyguide.org. HistoryGuide.org, 2002. Web. 29 Mar. 2017. Scientific Revolution

Martin, Gary. "'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing' - the meaning and origin of this phrase." Phrasefinder. The Phrase Finder, 2017. Web. 29 Mar. 2017. A Little Knowledge Is A Dangerous Thing

"Edward Snowden: Leaks that exposed US spy programme." BBC News. BBC, 17 Jan. 2014. Web. 29 Mar. 2017. Edward Snowden - BBC Article

Many symbols exist in society that prove this exact point. Human creations like religion and cults use symbols to accompany their beliefs, which often become focal points in their worship. Looking at the most popular religion of Christianity, the cross that is most often thought of when thinking of this religion brings many a people together under it. Christians worship God as well as this cross and honor it as a token to their religion. Christians seem to be united under this symbol. On the other hand, those who disagree with this worldview, have come to disrespect or even hate this symbol. It symbolizes something they believe to be false and therefore are united with others who also disagree. These two unified groups of Christians and non Christians are divided in their beliefs. The cross brings those who respect and those who disrespect it together with those who share their beliefs, while simultaneously dividing those two groups of people.

Not only does religion show the power of symbols. As demonstrated in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, symbols also play a role in an imaginary society. In the book, a group of boys is stranded on an island. They start out as one group, but after two leaders emerge, Ralph and Jack, the one encompassing group is broken into two. After Jack’s crew and Ralph’s crew split, Piggy, who is Ralph's advisor, discusses the idea of taking the conch to Jack, with the hope that Jack will release his possession of Piggy’s glasses. “You let me carry the conch, Ralph. I’ll show him the one thing he hasn’t got (171).” The conch has become a very powerful symbol. It was used in the beginning to show leadership and authority, and therefore Piggy has the idea to use the conch to show Jack “what’s what.” Piggy’s original plans involve retrieving his glasses from Jack, and Piggy wants to use the conch to show that he is more powerful and people should obey him, and therefore giving him a greater chance of obtaining his glasses. The fact that Piggy then takes the conch, “with pride,” confirms the idea that whoever has the conch is to be respected. However, when confronting Jack with the conch, Jack’s crew started to throw stones at Piggy and the conch. Looking at this whole event, we can see that, while bringing Piggy, and his friends together against Jack and his group, the conch divided Piggy’s crew from Jack and his crew.

This is not the only example that is presented in the book. Earlier, when the two groups were in their early stages of separation, someone reported the sighting of a beast within the forest. Now, one company took this report as a serious threat, and everyone within it began to fear this beast, even though there was no confirmation. The other gang wasn’t so sure of this report. “Well then—I’ve been all over this island. By myself. If there were a beast I’d have seen it. Be frightened because you’re like that—but there is no beast in the forest (83).” Half of the boys believed this report, and half of them rejected it. This beast goes on to become a symbol of fear in the boys makeshift society. As time goes on, most of the boys adapted to view this theory as truth. There are still a few boys that didn't believe this beast to be true. Simon, one of Ralph’s band, is one of those boys. "I'll go if you like. I don't mind, honestly. (117)" Simon still believes this beast to be fictional, and shows this when he volunteers to go into the forest for the rest of the boys. After this event, and others like it, Ralph’s club starts to doubt this beast’s existence. Jack’s party remains in their beliefs that this beast’s presence is no lie. This beast figure has become a symbol that has unified the boys, but, at the same time, divided them in their view on its reality.

Shifting the view away from that of the fictional world, another non fictional symbol fits this puzzle. Pepe the Frog, or just Pepe, after being taken from the comic series Boy’s Club by Matt Furie, has blown up as a popular internet meme. After the internet enjoyed these memes for a time, Pepe started to be hated. Pepe was taken out of proportion and now remains in the Anti-Defamation League’s list of hate symbols. Pepe the Frog has become a symbol for those of the white supremacy group. As with every symbol, there are people who agree with it and disagree with it. In this way, those who are with this white supremacy group respect this symbol, and those who are against it loath it for what it stands for. Those groups of people are, while unified with others in their point of view, are divided from the other side because of their different beliefs.

Symbols can play many roles in society, one of them being their unifying qualities. Many symbols often stand for something like a religion or an idea. Those who use this symbol to show their own views will respect and honor their created symbol. Those who decide that this symbol contains no truth or disagree with what it stands for, have no respect or care for this symbol. Therefore, symbols that stand for something in society, both unify those who agree with it and disagree with it, but yet divides those two groups in their beliefs on the subject.

Works Cited:

A compromise is an agreement between two sides, usually with both sides winning and losing some. Compromises are made with hopes of a semi-peaceful ending. What happens when one side is not willing to compromise? It depends. In certain cases, this could result in both sides losing things. In other cases, if one side is weak, the possibility of a compromise between the two sides is less likely. The weaker side, not having much to give, might not see the point in compromising with the stronger side. On the other hand, the stronger side might already have everything they need, and see nothing to gain from the compromise with the other side. While compromise is important in some situations, either one of the sides in the conflict won’t be willing if they don’t think they could gain from it.

The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, in which a group of boys are stranded on an island with no supervision, provides many examples that show why a side in a fight between two groups would not be open to compromise. In chapter ten of the book, Jack, one of the “leaders” of the groups, steals the glasses from his rival side’s advisor, Piggy, so that his “tribe” could make fire. In the next chapter, Ralph, the other “leader”, and Piggy go to get Piggy’s glasses back from Jack. Once they arrive and confront Jack, he demands for Ralph to leave. “You go away Ralph. You keep to your end. This is my end and my tribe. You leave me alone (176).” Even though not much had happened between the two groups in this scene, tension had already risen because of Jack’s previous actions and Ralph, the conflicting group, appearing in Jack’s “territory”. Since Jack stole the glasses from Ralph’s group in order to get the thing he wanted and needed, fire, more conflict was created between the two groups. At this point in the book, Jack’s crew is much larger than Ralph’s and Ralph makes it clear that he would have been willing to compromise with Jack if he had just asked to use the glasses. This demonstrates that the stronger side in a fight might not compromise with the opposing side because compromising wouldn’t benefit them.

Another example from the book that showcases issues regarding compromise is the scene soon after Ralph and Jack meet face to face with each other. During this scene, the two boys begin to argue, which leads them to start jabbing at each other with the butt ends of their spears. This continues for a short while before Ralph tries to reason with Jack again. “Listen. We’ve come to say this. First you’ve got to give back Piggy’s specs. If he hasn’t got them he can’t see. You aren’t playing the game—(177)” This quote further shows that Ralph would have been willing to cooperate with Jack and his crew. Ralph hoped that if all the boys were a big group again, things would operate smoother on the island. Instead of reasoning with Ralph, Jack continued to hold his grudge against Ralph, and did not want to change the “superior” way that he had built up his tribe. In this case, the weaker side wanted to compromise so they could be on equal ground as the stronger side. However, the stronger side in this scenario, Jack and his group, see no point in compromising with Ralph because they have nothing to gain from doing so. Compromising with Ralph would not have aided Jack’s agenda on the island any more than being forceful would. In fact, Jack believed he was strong enough that he didn’t need to compromise.

The conflict between Jack and Ralph in the book is not the only example of want and rejection of compromise. The Melian Dialogue was a meeting between the Melians and Athenians during the Peloponnesian War, with the Athenians wanting to compromise with the Melians and the Melians wanting to stay out of the war. The reason for The Melian Dialogue caused a very similar situation to what happened in the book, except it is reversed. Instead of the weaker side, the Melians, wanting to compromise, the stronger side, the Athenians, asked to compromise instead. The Athenians were going around offering to form alliances with other groups of people, relying on force to subdue them if they refused (similar to how Jack decided to steal Piggy’s glasses, except without the asking part first). Melians, inhabitants of Melos, wanted to be and stay neutral while other areas struggled with the Athenians. Eventually the Athenians targeted them to be allies as well. The Melians refused the Athenians, using their honor and hope as an excuse.

The Melians did not see how compromising would benefit either themselves or the Athenians. The only thing the Athenians promised them if they became allies was to spare Melos. The Melians were a small group of people and didn’t have much to give to the Athenians. In this event, the weaker side saw no point in compromising with the stronger side. The Athenians warned the Melians that they would take Melos by force if the Melian’s final answer was to not cooperate with them. The Melians figured that Melos was so small and weak compared to the Athenian forces that they would have nothing to give if they were allies, and nothing to lose if they refused. In the end, the Melians rejected the Athenians proposal, and the Athenians took Melos using force.

Compromise, in many cases, will help both sides reach their goal. When compromise is not an option or not an accepted tactic, usually one group comes out on top. More often than not, this group is the stronger one. The reason compromise is not a possibility is because while a strong group relies on force to get them what they want, the weak group depends more on hope to get where they want to go. These reasons prevent compromise between the groups. Regardless of which side is asking which to compromise in situations like these, the group being asked to compromise will not because they believe there is nothing to gain from working together.

Works Cited

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

"The Melian Dialogue". Colorado.edu. N. p., 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. http://www.colorado.edu/classics/clas2041/Lecture%20Outlines/LOMelian.htm

"The Melian Dialogue". Mtholyoke.edu. N. p., 2017. Web. 31 Mar. 2017. https://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/melian.htm