Socratic Notes

The information that I picked up from our socratic seminar today that I can use in my life is plentiful. The main realization that I myself came to today is that I need to do a little more introspection on my life and how this class can help prepare me for the real world and what I can accomplish once I'm thrust into it. These discussions have shown me that every person must make these choices for themselves and no one can make them for them. I have flourished in this class to an extent, but not as much as I'd like to see myself do. I have all of these tools to utilize right in front of me, yet I've only scratched the surface. This is a valuable lesson for anyone in life. You can't just sit back and let someone tell you what to do as much as they'd like to. You need to be active in making what you want to happen, actually happen.

Lit Analysis 4: Lord of the Flies

1.  Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel written about a plane full of young school boys that goes down on a lost island which causes them to attempt to survive on their own with no adult supervision. Their wills to survive and even their humanity is tested. At first, the boys see a use for an attempt at civillized democracy, however this soon begins to crumble. The boys' adolescense comes into play as their rules break down and fear of a beast on the island destroys what little control they have left. At this point some of the children are injured and ostracized. However it still gets worse. Humanity is completely abandoned when the one boy still hlding onto civillized views is killed. After this tragic event they are rescued and forced to come to terms with what they have done. But did they leave one world of animosity to another?

2.) The theme of the book is how we are all animals inside, and as much as we think that we are civillized, really we aren't. It is showing us that human nature itself is flawed, and no matter how much one person tries to fight this (Piggy), nothing will change until we all fight our inner animosity.

3.) Golding's tone was one of pessimistic apathy. He simply stated things as if he were an uninvolved observer who ended up being disgusted in what he saw. For example:

• "Ralph did not take the hint so the fat boy was forced to continue." (Page 11). Instead of feeling bad for the "fat boy", the author simply stated the obvious with no remorse. 
• "For now the littluns were no longer silent... They begun to cry in sympathy, two of them almost as loud as Percival." (Page 87).
• "He used all the bad words he could think of in a fit of temper that passed into yawning. How long could you go without sleep?..." (Page 190)

4.) Six techniques very critical to the novel were personification, imagery, foreshadowing, motif, dialogue, and irony.