Mills, Ajanae

Pahomov

English 2

05 April 2016

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In life, there’s always those who are superior or those who are the weaker link. As humans we have a common instinct to ignore the weaker link or help them, but whose responsibility is it to actually help that person? The answer is, there isn’t really one set responsibility. The strong take care of the weak if they feel they have a moral responsibility to do so.  

As people, we are sometimes put into situations where we are at that time the stronger person, so we are looked at as if we have a responsibility to take care of those weaker. In Lord of The Flies, a book written by William Golding, a character named Jack took on the responsibility of leading the boys due to the fact that they looked at him as the much more stronger and adamant boy out of the group. Jack recites.. “We’ll get food,” cried Jack. “Hunt. Catch things.. until they fetch us.” (Page 30) As we can see, Jack had no obligation to care for the rest of the boys because one, he was a child himself just like them and he does not know what he had to do to fend for himself in the wild and secondly, he was not the cause of their crash landing onto that island but because he felt morally responsible to help a group a of boys who looked to him as a protector or adamant ruler aka “the stronger person” he took on the responsibility of the group.

As we get deeper into the book, things start to spiral downward. The original elected leader Jack, turns evil or a term we have used previously to identify these actions, “savage”. Jack had clearly separated the island into 2 groups. One called followers and the others called leaders. Despite all of the bad Jack was doing, people still followed behind him like lost puppies while stronger minded characters such as, Ralph decided to step up and take matters into his own hands. Jack had left Ralph, Piggy and some other children behind while taking majority of the boys along with him. “We’ll live on our own. The four of us-” Just like Jack in the previous example Ralph felt as if this was his time to take responsibility being the stronger person out of that small group of kids and step up to protect them. Jack’s tribe was too busy focusing on the slaughtering of pigs and all other types of savage activities that they lost focus of the meaning of strong and the point in taking responsibility. It was not necessarily Ralph’s obligation to take care of these kids, because there was already someone who had vowed to support the boys while on the island but, when he realized responsibility was falling short he stepped up to the plate.

Not relating to the book is a real world example. As US citizens, we know how strong the US is in military, economy and governmental ways compared to a lot of other countries who are fairly behind us. In 1945, at the end of a long known as World War Two, the US bombed Japan twice due to the fact that they would not surrender. This bombing caused the total destruction of their country. Later after this bombing, the US helped in the reconstruction of Japan which later included the occupation of Okinawa by the US military. According to the US department of state, “ Between 1945 and 1952, the U.S occupying forces led by General Douglas A. MacArthur enacted widespread military, political, economic and social reform.” This shows a prime example of moral responsibility held on the backs of a stronger person but in this case society. The stronger person was the U.S and they had every right to feel responsible, seems though they were the ones to originally bomb Japan. In this situation, readers can only guess that guilt drove the US’s moral choice. Maybe they were guilty for the killing of all the innocent children and adults when they bombed them, or the total destruction of a place people called home. Not even long after the bombing of Japan was the US there picking up the pieces they had left behind because they had chosen to.

We will use another example of the US deciding to help with a national interest. That national interest being the Syrian Refugee crisis. The US had taken action along with multiple other countries to help take care of these refugees. Organizations from the US such as WFP (World Food Program) had sent food packages to the Syrian Refugees, the US even arranged areas where these refugees can settle in at, here in the US. This is prime example of shared responsibility. The US took responsibility of this tragic epidemic for one or two reasons, the first reason being it is a national interest and the second reason being morality. The US is known for being a big helper or supporter when it comes to events like that or terrorist attacks and they’re the first there to reach out. Simply because they have a reputation to help others. If a country is that big with lots of resources, why not help the people who are clearly suffering?

Coming to a conclusion, we can see that morality plays a big role in choices people make and things do not always boil down to blame. You do not always have to be the cause of something for you to simply want to help or take the responsibility for it. Throughout Lord of The Flies, we’ve seen multiple choices made by various characters in this book who has made choices based on reality and in real life we see choices made off of morality every single day. Morality is something that plays part in our everyday lives, sometimes we as people need to just open our eyes and look.

Works Cited

1. Office of The Historian. "Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945–52 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." Occupation and Reconstruction of Japan, 1945–52 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. Office of The Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2016.

Zoë Chernowski

Silver Stream

On the Flip Side

There are always two sides to the same coin, which means that there are always contrasting views in society. One of these strong contrasting views is savagery versus civilized behavior and what they are. One might argue that certain things are savage, such as specific aspects of a religion, while another would view them as civil. However, in truth no one person can decide for the commonwealth what is wrong or right. The definition of "savage" is truly relative to everybody else in the society.

In the beginning of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of schoolboys are stranded on an island. Two of the more popular boys, Ralph and Jack, decide to have a vote and see who should be leader. Ralph wins and the boys gather together and Jack and Ralph agree to form one large group. However, later in the book there were many arguments, and different values prompted Jack to break off from the large group with his group of hunters. Jack and his tribe eventually steals another boy, Piggy’s, glasses to start fires. Ralph and his group is outraged, for if Jack’s tribe wanted fire, they could’ve just asked. Ralph’s group decide to go and confront Jack and his tribe at Castle Rock, Jack’s tribe’s home base. “‘Which is better - to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?’ The great clamor rose among the savages. Piggy shouted again. ‘Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt a kill?’” (180) Here Piggy asks the questions to Jack’s tribe to try to convince them they are being savage. However this is only Piggy’s viewpoint of the situation. To Piggy, rules and a signal fire is the most important thing they should have on the island. Piggy is trying to make it sound universal; that agreements are better than hunting. His thinking of yelling at the boys and making his statement universal is obviously flawed because he’s trying to push his ideals onto people who don’t believe the same. Also consider the argument that all of the children on this island are high class European boys. Their idea of savagery is different from everyone else’s who isn’t a high class European boy, because they are exposed to a certain environment. If savagery is truly defined in all of society, then why were these conflicts of savagery versus being civil created and still exist today?

Connections can be between Lord of the Flies and the real world also. World War II, perhaps one of the most famous wars in world history is one of many examples. One case in point is in the book Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II by Keith Lowe. It explains how Europe was ‘savage’ after World War II based on the author’s research and inferences as a British Historian."As Keith Lowe makes painfully plain, Europe in the months and years after the end of World War II was as much a cauldron of hate, murder and despair as it had been during the reign of Nazi Germany." Lowe likes to argue how Europe was still considered 'savage' even when things were supposed to be 'civil' because the war ended. This is again, another British perspective on the events that followed, and naturally views would be different if someone was not British. Lowe describes a moral collapse of the people, but who is he to judge whether or not other people’s morals ‘collapsed’? Much like Piggy in Lord of the Flies, Lowe is projecting this idea that certain people are savage because they are acting differently than him. The fact that people might be bitter about a war recently lost suddenly makes the losers savages and the people moving on and not reflecting on the recent past, civil. The same values of having these so called ‘rules and order’ make people have this great image of being civil. However, the question must be asked, who makes the rules and does this reflect on the image of being civilized?

Now, back to the points presented in Lord of the Flies. The large group of boys have an assembly to discuss the events and the fear of the beast. However unknowingly to the boys, there is no ‘beast’ and it is nothing more than a dead fighter pilot. However they are all overshadowed with their fear and what to do. In the middle of this fearful debate Ralph and Jack start to question his authority in this time of supposed danger. “‘He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.’” (126) Here Jack criticizes Ralph, his leadership, and how he’s a coward. Jack exclaims later on that Ralph even said the hunters were useless, but he never retrieved meat for the large group. So what can be seen here is the clear differences in the boy's’ values; Jack values survival on the island and hunting for food, although to Ralph and Piggy, this seems savage because his values are different from their personal ones. Because of these conflicting values and how savagery is relative, these boys tend to clash against each other. Jack is seen as bloodthirsty by the boy’s whose priority is to get rescued, meanwhile Ralph and Piggy seem weak and powerless to the boy’s whose priority is to hunt and survive. This in turn causes the group to crumble and weaken because no one is willing to put everything into other’s perspectives.

Well, how does this relate to the example of World War II? Just like how Jack and Ralph had different views, the opposing countries in the war also had this. There is the other viewpoint on how World War II was 'civil' and actually created a lot of opportunities and sparked a national movement for minorities. This is greatly debated, just like the boys and the view of hunting is savage; the war was savage. However, to prevent the collapse of two different views, put the ‘civil’ parts of the war into light. History, Art, and Archives: United States House of Representatives published information about Black Americans in Congress. A lot of the information given was actually about World War II and how it sparked such a great change in the United States. "It brought economic opportunities and opened new avenues for participation in American society… Wartime experiences also mobilized black political activism." These so called civilized events were all created due to World War II. These events could be represented by the values of the boys in Lord of the Flies; specifically Jack. While the War might seem savage (such as Jack), it actually had a lot of civilized behavior associated to it and not all of the outcomes are considered bad.

So as a whole, savagery and being civilized is relative to what people believe and people’s morals. Ultimately, not just one group of people can consider something concretely bad or good. In order to get the whole picture, one must be willing to look at it in many different perspectives, do not become separated by ignorance like the boys in Lord of the Flies. There’s always three sides to a story after all; yours, mine, and the truth’s.

Works Cited:

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. New York: Penguin Group, 2003.

Yardley, Jonathan. "“Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II” by Keith

Lowe." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 07 July 2012. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinion/savage-continent-europe-in-the-aftermath-of-world-war-ii-by-keith-lowe/2012/07/07/gJQAihmBUW_story.html>.

"The Second World War | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives." The Second

World War. U.S. Government Printing Office, 2008. Web. 05 Apr. 2016. <http://history.house.gov/Exhibitions-and-Publications/BAIC/Historical-Essays/Keeping-the-Faith/Second-World-War/>.

What makes a good leader? Men and women who can hold their own and bolster the attitudes of their subjects. They can put the needs of the people before their own, even going as far as to put their life on the line to save others. They are truly remarkable people, except when it comes to electing them. In some countries, like the United States of America, in order to be given the title of chief, eligible individuals compete by entailing the way they will help the group to future voters. However, when they start to describe the many ways why they are better than the other candidates, this is when the crazy stuff starts happening. They begin to tarnish the reputation of the other competitors in order to make themselves look good. By using degrading tactics on their fellow combatants, they can prove their own reasons why they can be the best head of the group. Therefore, all potential leaders do is slander each other so they can make each other look bad in the eyes of the people they’re supposed to be governing.

In the book “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, a good number of boys are stranded on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash that happened to kill  the adults. One of the boys, named Ralph, explores the island and finds a conch. He uses this newfound tool and to summon all of the children towards him. The kids then vote Ralph the leader of the group, much to the dismay of another boy, named Jack. In Chapter 6 of this book, this dismay transforms into spite. After hunting for a supposed beast in the forest area of the island, Ralph, Jack, and another boy are discussing their adventure. But when Ralph talks about the hunters in a negative fashion, Jack becomes indignant. The latter calls his own meeting with the other boys on the island and takes Ralph’s words and warps them in order to use them against him. “‘...Ralph said my hunters are no good.’ ‘I never said that!’”(126) This exchange between Jack and Ralph shows how one potential chief will slander the other to look better in the eyes of the public. When trying to convince his fellow islanders that he should be the new and consistent leader of the big group via displaying his own leadership skills by leading his small group of hunters failed, he turned to dirty tactics to get his way. By warping Ralph’s words and shouting them to the group, Jack implanted the thoughts in the boys that he needed them to have: Ralph has no faith in them. By doing this seemingly little action, Jack has infected the boys’ minds with distrust in the other candidate. This is exactly how Jack was able to start his own group later on. He swayed most of the boys’ opinions to his side by slandering Ralph’s reputation and making him look unfit to lead. This is how he became the leader of the bigger group.

This example from “The Lord of the Flies” can be likened to a different example in the real world. The example of a real election happening right at this very moment between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. These two candidates are the frontrunners for the Republican spot in the Presidential election in the United States of America. Due to this, both of them are trying their hardest to convince the people in every state in the country that they are the best choice for the most taxing job on all the Earth. However, while each of their campaigns were used in a positive manner for a good amount of time, once the going got rough for both of them, slander took its roots in the situation quickly. A few weeks ago, a nude picture of Donald Trump’s wife Melania went around circulating the internet, ridiculing and berating her. Trump was annoyed by this. To retaliate, he falsely accused Ted Cruz of using this picture in an ad of his. On Twitter, he said “Lyin' Ted Cruz just used a picture of Melania from a G.Q. shoot in his ad. Be careful, Lyin' Ted, or I will spill the beans on your wife!” In order to take attention off of himself and his family, Donald Trump had to use slander to put this same attention on his opponent Ted Cruz. This way, all of the eyes in the nation would be on him, awaiting his response, instead of on Trump. This also causes the public to think what secrets Cruz could be hiding from them, and not think about Trump’s wife being the first lady. While at first, Cruz reacted normally in this situation and politely complimented Trump’s wife, he soon followed suit in Donald’s slander and began calling him out, calling him a coward. All this does is prove how easy it is for potential leaders to slander each other in order to make themselves look like the better person to lead to the rest of the public, even in real life.

In conclusion, in both real life and pure fiction examples, potential leaders barate each other and tarnish each other’s reputations in order to get the people’s vote. They do this by slowly putting the negative thoughts of the other candidates in the public’s heads, helping them come to a decision not to vote for them. They can also do this by outright instigating the slander, getting their opponents to react back at them. This makes their opponents look like children in the eyes of the nation instead of themselves, causing the nation not to vote for the opponent. By using slander, future chiefs can have an easier time swaying the people than by saying the good qualities they posses themselves. For this reason, it can officially be said that all prospective heads do is smear the reputations of other people so they can look unfit to lead in the eyes of the subjects they’re supposedly caring for.

Article

Behind all of the beautiful colors, saris and dialogues lies a patriarchy, where men are given the meaty roles and the women are left with the bones. Kangana Ranaut is determined to change that. A girl from a middle class family, often looked down upon simply for biology she can’t change. From a young age, she noticed the difference between the girls and boys in her family. Her brother was supposed to be the breadwinner, savior and everything else. She and her sister were an accident, in attempt of a son. She knew that her parents didn’t have many hopes for their daughters, except to one day get married and have children. She envied that her parents wished only success for her brother and didn’t turn around to encourage her and her sister to do the same. In this anger and frustration, she left her home and went out to follow her dreams.

It took her some time to breakthrough and figure out who she really was. She started from scratch and had a lot to learn. Putting her broken English into pieces and discovering acting changed her life. At only 17, she landed the leading role in a crime drama. The movie (Gangster)]was a box office success and Kangana made her mark as a raw and honest performer in the industry. Throughout her career, her most notable performances include a schizophrenic actress, drug addicted model and villainous shapeshifting mutant. She has time and time again proved her versatility, standing as a strong symbol of a hard working woman in the Bollywood industry. However, her film “Queen” had the biggest impact on audiences. In this film, she essayed the role of a young woman who gets dumped the day before her marriage and decides to go on her honeymoon by herself. It showcases the growth of Kangana’s character Rani and how she discovers who she is. The movie put spotlight on independent women and the importance of being yourself. Through her roles, Kangana has sent her fans and critics alike strong messages of feminism.

Kangana has always been known to speak her mind, without the fear of being politically correct. She has repeatedly talked about the disparity between her paycheck versus her contemporary male actors. She says, “[Men get paid] triple [the amount actresses do]. No one can guarantee the success of a film. So why such discrimination?” This is completely true. After the success of Queen, Kangana’s film Tanu Weds Manu Returns earned over $36 million at the box office which made it the most financially successful Bollywood film with a female protagonist. With each film and interview, Kangana is breaking all boundaries that are set for women and is actively helping to change things in the Indian film industry for women.

Work Cited

"'I Am A Bad-Ass,' Says Kangana On Feminism, Films And Fairness Creams: Full Transcript." NDTV.com. Web. 17 Mar. 2016.

Timeline

• March 23rd, 1987- Born in Himachal Pradesh, India

• 2003-4- Moved to Delhi at the age of 17

• 2006- Release of first film Gangster

• 2006- Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut

• 2006 - Release of Woh Lamhe where Kangana played a schizophrenic actress

• 2008- Release of Fashion where Kangana played a drug addicted model

• 2008- National Film Award and other accolades for role in Fashion

• 2011- Release of Tanu Weds Manu where Kangana played an independent college student

• 2013- Release of Krrish 3 where Kangana played a villainous shape shifting mutant which became one of bollywood’s highest grossing movies of all time

• 2014- Release of Queen where Kangana played a young woman who is dumped by her fiance who decides to go on her honeymoon herself

• 2014- National Film Award and other accolades for role in Queen

• 2015- Release of Tanu Weds Manu Returns where Kangana reprised the role

• 2016- National Award of Tanu Weds Manu Returns

Mi nombre es Jason Lam

Me familia viene de Vietnam

Tengo catorce años

Me encanta jugar videojuegos, ver televisión, y dormir

Soy ciego, no puedo ver,

Pero yo siempre me trato mejor

Veo la sonrisa de mi prima bebé

Saboreo la tarta de manzana de mi prima

Huelo la cocina de mi abuela

Oigo la música de mi Dan Tranh

Toco abrazos de mi madre

Duermo en la música relajante de un  Dan tranh

Juegos con las lenguas que hablo

Leo el libro de la guerra y inmigración

Me siento en un lugar que se siente como un hogar para mí

Somos la gente de nuestro país

Somos de Vietnam

Vivimos en America

Vivimos en ellos, y viven en nosotros

Hablamos Vietnamita, Chino , y inglés.

Mi madre, hermano menor, y me rezan a Buddha

Celebramos fiestas no de nuestro país de origen

Somos lo que somos.

Myah:

Yo soy African American

Mi familia es diferente

Vienen de todo el mundo

MI familia me da fuerza

Ellos mi animan a lo mejor

Vienen de todo el mundo

Ellos estan separados de mi

Mi encantan mucho.

Yo veo las bellas flores y la hierba alta

Yo saboreo el frio vanila el helado de mi primos

Yo oigo la voz de mi famila

Yo toco el sol brillante en mi cara

Bailo con mi ascendencia.

Hablo con mi corazon y a traves de mi pasado

Esacapo la encruijada de yo y mi familia

Necesito el amor y apoyar de mi familia

Soy hija de las Americas

Yo no soy una cosa

Somos productos todo el mundo

Soy neva. La historia me hizo

Aunque mi familia es diferente

Nosotros todo venir juntos

Somos familia

Nada especial

Mi abuela y mis mascotas

Mi principal familia

Un secundario familia

De extrovertidos Judíos

Oigo gritó alrededor me

Veo simular sonreír

Huelo el mentiras

Yo no comprendo

Saboreo sal en el aire

Toco el tensión

“Hablo” con mi madre

Yo escucho

Hago un viaje

atravesar videojuegos

Leo el señala

Somos dividido

Somos llamaremos “Fine”

Somos siempre ocupado

Somos sabio

Sean:  Mi Nombre es Sean John - son

Yo creci sin Padre.

Mi vida no es linda.

No tengo valiosos- uh.

Necesito encanto un-o man-ero

asi-> aprendi a bailando

Bailo como-> los es-tre-llas

Yo hago lo que-> quiero

Mi vida no pue-de comparar

A algo mejor… (  fast )

pero mi madre…. Ha hecho todo mejor ( getting loud )

Contrar mi padre URG ( loud )

Quiero huir! ( loud ) y dejar los globos detras ( fast )

puedo correr porque no dejo mis rootas detras  ( fast )

No puedo correr… mi corazón está aquí!...

Because mi madre, padre and everyone else is here ( fast )

Look I can’t rap. I’m gonna have to end it here…

Don’t have much left to say. This raps done from here.

Alyssa Eastwood

La familia de Alyssa

Soy hija de padres irlandeses e italianos

Soy un niña con un hermano y hermana

Producto de Italia y irland

Salgo mercados

Las calles son de adoquines en Italia

La gente irlandesa del paso baile en la groenlandia

En casas italianas se ve un montón de gestos manuales

el aroma de la pasta llenó el aire

Somos de Italia y irland

Hablamos italiano

La lengua de la pasta y la salsa en Italia