10/17/2019 Fahad Shafat PD 5

10/17/2019

Sophomores 2020

Fahad Shafat

Period 5

Blogger #20

Aim: How can we, as students of literature, evaluate the value of Lord of the Flies through a dissection of themes and motifs?

Do Now: Now that you have read the story, what do you believe the major themes of the novel are? Why? 

• Today, we started the lesson by reflecting on the major themes William Golding may have wanted to convey in Lord of the Flies, after finishing Chapter 11 and 12 last night. We were asked to go up and jot down a theme on the board. My group, Guy discussed the constant presence of good and evil being together, connecting it to a previous lesson when we analyzed a Gothic biblical drawing of two figures (embodying good and evil), walking side to side having a friendly conversation. It conveyed how that no matter where anyone is, good and evil will always be there (evil will be wherever good goes and vice-versa). Cesar from Celsius 233 jotted down “hive mentality”, Shaina from Sizzling Sausages  “loss of innocence”, Greg (from my group) wrote “good vs evil” from our discussion. Meanwhile, others wrote down phrases such as “man vs man”, “power”, “greed”, and more.

• After we completed the Do Now activity, Ms. Fusaro showed a slide divided into defining what a theme and a motif is. Ms, Fusaro explained in her own words that a theme is defined as a “universal statement that can be applied to not just the work you’re reading, but other works”. She gave an example, bringing up a theme that hadn’t been written on the board to her surprise, was “power corrupts”. Ms. Fusaro mentioned how it didn’t just apply to Lord of the Flies She then asked us to think about the themes written on the board, and revise it to a phrase that can be more universal or can be relatable to other works besides Lord of the Flies. After we finished, Ms. Fusaro really saw a difference in the themes on the board, showing a lot of improvement after we learned what they should really instead of just saying one word.

What we had changed our original ‘themes’ to, much more universal and relatable messages.

• Ms. Fusaro then moved on to discuss the second part of the slide, ‘motifs’, as a recurring element, representing symbolism. It can be either expressed in many ways such as through imagery, structural components,  and language. It is specific to its own work, less broad than what would be used to define a ‘theme’. For instance, the conch, in this situation, something that was constantly recurring throughout the book as a symbol of order and civilization for the boys. Ms. Fusaro then asked us any books that we read that may have any motifs, in which none of them featured a ‘conch’ pointing it out to be specific to its own work. She gave us examples of motifs from other books such as the Snitch in Harry Potter, a popular and recurring element throughout the series, representing Harry’s amazing Snitch-catching skills (something that is part of the character that defines him in some way).

• Next, we moved on to a new term, known as ‘deus ex machina’, defined as a pilot device that abruptly ends a long-going problem in a story, as something that surprises the reader. An example of deus ex machina was the naval officer at the end of the story, whose presence makes the boys realize how much they had lost their minds and sanity. A deus ex machina can be used for a problem only if it is something that can’t be solved (what the conflict between Jack and Ralph had been) and ends the story in a positive way (it did stop the war on the island in Lord of the Flies but they never forget about what they had done, ending off with Ralph sobbing over Piggy’s death).

We further discussed the concept of Tony how the naval officer had been pulled into the story by how Jack and his hunters started a fire on the island to capture Ralph, while it was the latter who always wanted one to attract attention so they can get off the island. Jack before didn’t see it as that important and when a naval ship had been nearby before, it had not stopped by the island due to the fire has been out. The purpose of pointing this out was to show a great sense of irony in the story, how something that someone used in trying to kill Ralph had ended up saving them, attracting a naval ship to stop by to take them home. 

• Our class then watched a clip for the Lord of the Flies movie, titled the “Conch Shell” depicting the scene in Chapter 11 at Castle Rock in which Piggy tries to bring order to the hunters with the conch. Right before he gets killed by the boulder that Roger threw on his head from the cliff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipkF3xkP63M. 

• We had to discuss what we think happened with the belief in the conch representing law and order after it getting destroyed right now and anything else we wanted to reflect. In my group, we felt that the belief in what the conch symbolizes had officially been destroyed, as already the boys were with no order, losing all the civil that they had. Personally, I felt that even if the conch did get destroyed, the belief in it showing diplomacy would continue to weaken.

We ended the lesson off discussing how our exam on Monday would be and anything we had thought/learned from our reading and analysis of Lord of the Flies, what they had taken away from its tragic ending. Did anyone have a different experience rereading it for the second time? Our class had a lot to say for the conclusion to reading Lord of the Flies.

• Nataly from the group Firefighters had pointed out how everyone had returned to being ‘boys’ right after seeing the naval officer, tying it back to the beginning when they were escaping the war and how they ended up starting one that really devastated them in the end. The naval officer served as a part of civilization that reawakened the civility within them.

• Meghan from Burn Book thought of what an awkward is all the boys would be feeling on the ride back home after all the conflict they went tough throughout the book, having lost their minds and having tried to kill each other. What would they feel, reflecting back to the events that occurred on the island, wondering how they would change.

• Daniela talked about how the naval officer joking asking if the boys were having a war, having murdered two boys, Simon and Piggy. Now that they are set home, will Jack and his hunters face any consequences at all for killing Simon and Piggy and almost doing so to Ralph. This brings in what effects the rule of law in civilization could impact the boys eventually.

• Jacob in my group told us really how much his experience of the book changed, after having it for a second time, only in a much more analytical way, about how he noticed much more of the atrocities  and elements within the book (e.g. the symbolism, specific language).

• Shaina went back to the lesson on World War II, in which she said to be the most analytical, due to seeing the how Golding had established a microcosm of World War II, in which we really saw how each character was just like the most important figures of World War II (Ralph was similar to FDR; Jack was like Adolf Hitler; Piggy to Winston Churchill). That is really expressed how much Lord of the Flies really reflects off the real world.

My Reflection:

Today in class I learned the examples (and real meaning behind) of themes, motifs, alongside deus ex machina in our evaluation of Lord of the Flies after having just finished reading it. We learned these new terms in order to truly realize how they are found and are relevant throughout the book. An example can be when we learned about what motifs were, how the conch had been one, appearing several times in the story that constantly reminded us of how it symbolized the law and order that would have brought peace to the island. The information we learned today can not just be applied to Lord of the Flies,  but to the world as well, regarding how universal the lessons learned really are. For instance, the theme regarding how good and evil can’t exist without each other (no matter how good or evil someone can be) is really evident in life itself, about how no matter how many times humanity has fought to rid the world of evil (e.g. f]defeating the Nazis in World War II) it is still present in many forms just like good is.

I will really use the information I learned today for the future with every book that I read, in which I will try to analyze more in trying to discover any universal messages and symbols (moreover, what impact do they really have on the book) being shown. I will make any connections of the book to outside works to really point out the theme that the author would be trying to say, ultimately not specifying any thoughts to what I just read but to everything else.

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