Semester Reflection

Throughout this semester, a lot happened. Literature form all sources and genres came together into an overall study of allegorical meaning and the importance of literature, and everyone learned a as much as they could. The first piece of literature we all read was The Hero's Journey, an interview with Joseph Campbell conduced by Mr. Moyers. It was a short interview explaining Joseph's idea of The Hero's Circle, a cycle every person has to go through to accomplish their own personal goals. I liked this piece of literature the second most out of all of them, Lord of the Flies being the first. The next piece of literature was Johnathan Swift's A Modest Proposal. It was a style of satire, with which Swift is credited to have fostered. It was a sarcastic criticism proposal used to expose the horrible things happening to Ireland by the English. Seeing how convincing this was, and how much humor it held, it shows how effective satire can be, and how influential it can be to a group of undecided people. Swift was sarcastically putting forward the solution for the people of Ireland to simply eat their children, as to reduce labor and hardship on the mother and to solve the hunger problem that ravaged most of Ireland. He was literally trying to prove the point that Ireland was being starved to the point of almost resorting to cannibalism by the English. I enjoyed this piece, but I didn't connect to it on so much of a personal level, and found it hard to fully grasp the aspects of satire. The only full book we read, which is now in my top five favorite, is Sir William Golding's Lord of the Flies. This book changed my life. Granted, it did depress me a bit, but the whole meaning of it really got to me. I feel like I have a much better understanding of not only allegory, but human nature and myself also. The last piece we read, to help us tie them all together in our synthesis essay, was Solzhenitsyn's One Great Heart. It was a short speech on why he thought literature was important not only to ourselves, but to the world as a whole. I had never thought of literature as this, but after connecting it to what we are learning in history about the printing press and all the other innovations of the scientific revolution, I see it could possibly be the single most important invention of all time.  
All these pieces of literature have brought me to the conclusion that reading and writing is important, but why really? This is what we have to synthesize for our final, and now that I have a strong overview, I can prove this many ways. Literature, is the link of the world to itself. It bonds us all. It brings people of all nations together under the idea to serve us all and to improve our ever-expansion and movement. (NOT FINISHED)

Lord of the Flies Reflection

Throughout the ending of Lord of the Flies, it seems to be wrapping up the story, but also wrapping up the whole deeper meaning of the story too. In the last few chapters, Ralph and Samneric are trying to keep their small tribe of youngins together. Ralph tries to rely them on keeping the fire going, but with only the three of them able to keep it going it seems futile and they decide to let it go out for the night. Leaving the fire out for the night is the first part that puts the island into complete madness. In the night, the boys are obviously scared. The island has become a lot more evil, and death is seen more plainly. It becomes even more menacing for the boys when Jack and his hunters decide to attack them and steal piggy's glasses. It is too dark to tell if it is one of the hunters, the beast, or one of themselves they are fighting. At this point, the hunters become defined as hostile for Ralph and his lingering tribe. "From the darkness of the further end of the shelter came a dreadful moaning and they shattered the leaves in their fear." (Golding, 168) This is just showing how the boys are beginning to see how much danger they are in. They are starting the decent into complete terror and loss. The next morning Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric decide to go to castle rock and confront the hunters. Piggy is practically blind, and can only trail behind carrying the conch. When they get to castle rock, a lot of arguing occurs. Ralph finds himself in a fight with Jack after they take Samneric and all Piggy can do is clutch to the land-neck and conch trying to restore order throughout the boys. As tempers continue to rise, order is thrown completely out the window. In a tangle of anger and battle, the rock is released on the neck of land and Piggy and the conch are knocked down forty feet into the sucking sea. "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. " (Golding, 185) This is when order is completely lost. Piggy was the only voice of reason on the island, and the most grown up. Piggy represented the only system of law and repentance on the island, and now with the conch gone too, the only symbol that banded them together, the island is now in a free-for-all. All order is now obliterated, just like the shell. At this, the hunters turn on Ralph. He is chased away back to the far side of the island, but comes back to see Samneric. To further Ralph's digression, Samneric are now part of Jack's hunters. They seem a little sorry for Ralph at first, but they also have respect and a more partial duty to attend to with Jack. Ralph tries to talk to them over the edge of the wall, but they leave him with only a piece of meat from their last hunt. The last thing Samneric tell Ralph is to run. Jack and his hunters will be coming for him tomorrow. Ralph is scared. He is now more scared of Jack and his hunters then he is of the beast, or other supernatural entities on the island. He sleeps on the edge of the jungle near castle rock, as to be safe from the beast, but also safe from the hunters. In the morning, Ralph hears the hunters coming. He crawls under the rock that crashed into Piggy for cover, and protects himself in the tangle of branches pointing his spear towards the only entrance. He is found, and starts his crazy flee across the island. They hunters are still coming, and Ralph knows he can't hide forever. In a blaze of crazy rage Ralph sprints through the line of hunters and onto the beach. The hunters have already burnt down most of the jungle, and he burst through Simon's place of peace. Ralph bursts onto the beach still blind with emotion and lands at the feet of a Naval Officer. The other boys stand silently behind him. He doesn't know what to say. This is when the boys are rescued from their own madness and fear. The presence of an adult, someone who can support order, puts them back to the kids they really are deep down. The masks can't hide what they really are. Adults see it as one big play that they need to give up. "And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of a man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." (Golding, 208) This is when all the boys have to face their own life, and what they've done. They have to repent for what they have done in their madness. The boys are now, truly, sadly, men.