THANK YOU

This book club wasn't bad actually. I had fun reading Lord of The Flies, it was a good book. So I just wanted to thank all of our book club members for not really doing anything. Also I have some suggestions for for our next book. How about To Kill a Mockingbird, The Hunger Games, or Twilight (I have a thing for vampires)...

Book Club entry #4

~The governed have a responsibility for their governance:
This is a very important statement that is basically saying that the people being ruled are responsible for their ruler and government. The government should help the citizens by giving them certain necessary things. People being governed need protection and security along with many other things. Ralph and Jack are both leaders of the boys at different times and the boys treat these two leaders very differently from each other.

The beginning of the book is a perfect example of how people being ruled are responsible for their government. When the book first started Piggy and Ralph found the conch. Ralph blew the conch and that is how all of the boys found each other. The boys decided to vote for a leader. "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things."..."Let's have a vote."(22) The boys are making a good decision by voting for a leader. As I have said many times before there needs to be a form of monarchy and one absolute leader, because that is the type of government that works the best.

"I got the conch! Just you listen! The first thing we ought to have made was shelters down there by the beach..." (45). Piggy is giving his opinion about what some of the priorities are. He is helping out the governance by telling the boys what should be done. Shelters are very important and it was a good idea to build them.

Later in the book the beast is mentioned by a littlun. It was the responsibility of the governed to warn his governance of a possible threat, like the beast. The littlun did his job by mentioning the beastie and telling Ralph what he was scared of, so that the ruler could help make his governed happy. The thought of the beast scares everyone and people try to comfort themselves and the others. Ralph's way of comforting others is to deny any possible existence of the beastie. Piggy uses science and logic to also deny the beast's existence."'Life...is scientific....I know there isn't no beast...but I know there isn't no fear, either....Unless we get frightened of people.'" (76). Jack has a different method; he uses the fear of others to obtain power. He keeps telling the other boys that if there is a beast that they will go and hunt it
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Even though at some points in the book they boys were working together to help each other that fell apart quickly. They boys got tired of working and just wanted to have fun. They told their leader what they wanted, but never helped him obtain it. They no longer cared about the rules that were established at the beginning and they didn't want to help their governance. This made Ralph very angry because he could feel the power and respect sliding away. When the group of boys decided to build shelters no one really helped out and Ralph was irritated. He began to complain about how no one was pulling their weight. "'They're hopeless. The older ones aren't much better. D'you see? All day I've been working with Simon. No one else. They're off bathing, or eating, or playing.'" (50). Everyone began to care about themselves and doing things that only benefited them. This is exactly what I predicted to happen, because human nature is very self-interested.

When the boys split up, Jack took over and became the new chief. He wasn't as flexible with the boys and never really let them speak. He didn't ask much from them, so they never really disappointed or failed him like they did to Ralph.


~Philosophies of leadership are determined by beliefs about human nature:
This is another important statement that relates to the book. What this statement basically means is that everyone has a different set of beliefs, and from those beliefs they arrive to conclusions. Leaders usually have either mine or Locke's thoughts on human nature. Depending on how they think people are they will come up with philosophies about proper leadership. As I mentioned before both Jack and Ralph were leaders. They were very different from each other. They had different rules, priorities, and also treated the governed differently.

Ralph was more of a democratic leader, since he was elected by the other boys in the beginning of the novel. He wanted to hear others' opinions and see if what they had to say could help in any way. He used fairness and equality to gain respect. Ralph had different priorities than Jack, the most important thing in Ralph's mind was to get rescued, and that meant making a fire. Ralph also believed in the best of people, he reminds me of John Locke. Since Ralph believes in more of a Locke philosophy, he treated the boys much nicer than Jack. Ralph in my opinion gave them too much freedom. When people questioned his leadership, he should have made them shut up or punished them. "He's not a hunter. He'd never have gotten us meat. He isn't perfect and we don't know anything about him. He just gives us orders and expects people to obey for nothing. ... Who thinks Ralph oughtn't to be chief?" (127). This was when Jack questioned Ralph authority, if Ralph was thinking he would have done something to show Jack that he wasn't allowed to do that. The governed felt like they didn't really have to respect him, because they no longer took him seriously and they weren't afraid of being punished in any way.

Jack on the other hand was more of a dictator. I have to give him props for that. Unlike Ralph Jack used the 3rd party rule, which is the best form of government, because it makes things so much simpler. He didn't listen to anyone, he did not care about what the other boys thought or had to say. Unlike Ralph, Jack used fear and threats to gain power and respect. He used violence as a form of punishment, which I don't necessarily agree with, but it did seem to work for him Jack is more pessimistic and thought of the worst from people. The philosophy he believes in is very similar if not the same as mine. Jack's priority was to hunt, and he would make sure there was always meat available.

Jack and Ralph were very different, but they also did have some similarities. They both wanted respected from others, they had a set of rules, and they wanted to have power, so that the other boys would listen and obey them. I personally like Ralph more than Jack, but if Ralph just had listened to my philosophy instead of Locke's then we would have succeeded as a leader.

Book Club entry #3

Simon had a very important role in chapters 8 and 9. In chapter 8 Simon talks to the pig head on the stick that Jack left for the beast. The image of the sow disturbed Simon and made him feel sick. He began speaking with the pig head, talking to himself aloud. It was the only way that Simon could speak his mind and what he felt. The sow's voice was what everyone else thought about Simon. Since Simon had different opinions from the rest of the boys, he always kept quiet, so he never really got to speak his mind. In a way Simon was warning himself, trying to convince himself that he should act like the others, because he knew that if he didn't something bad would happen. This is a very important part in the novel, because for the first time "the lord of the flies" is mentioned. The lord of the flies is the sow’s head on a stick who claims to also be the beast. I believe that the pig head has valid opinions about human nature. I agree with what he is saying to Simon, the sow seems to believe that human nature is selfish and ugly. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” (143). This quote shows how people are really only looking out for themselves. The pig head is saying that the boys don't really care about Simon and that he is alone. The pig is saying that the beast is within people, it's not an animal or thing, it’s in every human being.
In chapter 9 Simon dies. At the end of chapter 8 Simon fainted and then later woke up after having an epilepsy attack at the beginning of chapter 9. Simon spotted the other boys who were feasting on the pig Jack and his hunters had killed. He came stumbling through the forest to tell the other boys about the beast (the dead parachutist), while the boys were chanting and dancing like savages. The boys were hooked on the dancing, and they couldn't stop. When they saw Simon in the center of the circle they had created with their bodies, not one of them did anything to stop the other boys. They all had a group mentality, which affected their morality. They chanting boys were overcome with the intensity and excitement of what they were doing. This led to all the boys brutally beating Simon to death. "The water rose farther and and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble...The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plot." This quote shows why Simon's death is such a crucial part in the book. His death is one of the turning points in the story. Simon throughout the whole novel gave us hope, he didn't think like the other boys, he was superior, almost like a god. When he died, all the hope of the boys staying together and taking care of each other was gone. “At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leap on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." (153). Simon's death was also important because it showed us how evil and primitive the little school boys from the beginning of the book had become. This event demonstrates the loss of innocence. The words in the quote (bit, tore, teeth, claws...) seem to be describing a beast. This is what the pig head was talking about, how the beast wasn't a thing, but a something evil in all of us. Like i have said before, when people are put in a bad place, they will do bad things.

Book Club entry #2

Dear book club members,

Our last meeting would have been much better if the tee wasn't cold...just saying. Anyway in the book there were two characters I really wanted to discuss. Jack and Ralph, these two characters are very different from each other. At the beginning of the novel Jack and Ralph are working together, side by side. Later on tension grows between them and finally towards the end they become enemies. Ralph is this typical boy, who wants to be in-charge, but also care about others. Jack on the other hand is a perfect example of human nature. Jack is a very strong and aggressive character. If he wants something done he will do it himself. He wants power and will do just about anything to get, he doesn't think of the circumstances. Jack is selfish, unlike some of the other boys, he doesn't care about any one, he only does what is best for himself. You see the person Jack truly is, once he is put in a bad place. Throughout the book Jack turns into this evil creature. "And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing-"(91). First he began by talking down to piggy and always telling him to shut up. He started hunting pigs for his own entertainment. Then began to challenge Ralph's authority and tried to get everyone against him. In the end he turned the boys into the savages and with his power helped them do cruel and unbelievable things. With Jack's guidance they killed Simon and Piggy. At the end overlooking his evil ways, Jack did good as a leader. He got everyone to obey him, by using the 3rd party rule, which as I have said before is the most effective form of government. Ralph had good intentions, but at the end he failed, all of the boys were against him and ready to kill him on Jack's command. Locke, I disagree with you when it comes to Ralph. Yeah, it is true that he was a good guy, but the longer he spent in the island the worse he became. Compared to Jack he was a saint, but he did do bad things. Both Ralph and Piggy, even if they don't want to admit it, were accomplices in Simon's death. Also at the very end of the book when Ralph was hiding from the other boys, he was about to strike anyone that came near him with his spear. I'm telling you when it comes to protecting yourself, people will do anything. Ralph knew it wasn't good to kill anyone, but when it came down to his own life, his morality wasn't strong enough. Human Nature is ugly, wake up and smell the coffee, there are no saints out there.

In The book there are many symbols like the conch, Piggy's glasses, and the pig head. The conch is one of the most important symbols, because it was what brought all the boys together in the first place. It represents power, who ever has the conch has the right to speak his mind. The conch also shows how at the beginning of the story the boys were civilized. They took turns listening to each other and respected the rules. As the book continued the conch seemed less important to the others boys, but Piggy and Ralph were still attached to it since they were the ones who found it. "'Let me speak...I got the conch!' 'I tell you, I got the conch!' He shouted" (179-180) . Towards the end of the book the conch has a different meaning. Right before Piggy gets killed he drops the conch and the conch shatters. "See? See? That's what you'll get! I meant that! There isn't a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone-"(181). In my opinion this symbolizes the end of rules and hope and at the same time the beginning of brutality and evil. People can only be good for so long...

The beast is mentioned a lot throughout the whole novel. At first the beast is part of the littluns imagination (the smaller boys have nightmares about the beast). At meetings when the smaller boys claim that there is a beast Jack and Ralph get upset, because they think the littluns are just being stupid. Later the older boys start to believe in the beast also. The beast changes a lot according to what different people claim they see. The boy who went missing said he saw the beast and that it was a snake. Another littlun said the beast came from the sea. Simon said that the beast was inside them. "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.'"(80) Others said that the beast was from the sky, and some said they saw it from within the jungle. All this talk about the beast makes all the boys very scared and they refuse to go in the jungle at night. Jack starts to think that he is more important since he is a hunter who can protect the boys from the beast. Jack and Ralph begin to fight more...