This was a generous semseter in terms of interesting concepts. There was quite a few that I would have liked to talk about. For the sake of time, however, the following were the three topics I found the most thought provoking. They are, respecitvely; the importance of failure, social masks, and the power of unspoken social behavior. I will begin on the importance of failure. This, to me, is an exceptionally important life lesson to teach to students of this generation. With all of the issues our country faces, particularly with student loans and unemployment, there is so much pressure on our students to do well. This message comes with what I consider to be a harmful consequence; the fear of failure. This mindset hinders students from excelling …show more content…
In fact, I found the concept fascinating when taken out of the context in the novel. I found the thought of casual everyday masks that are used every single day. My theater teacher used to say that acting is used everyday of our lives; every little white lie, everytime we try to fit in, every time we act proper in front of the queen. Let's start with the definition of a mask: something that serves to conceal or mask. So, what sorts of mask do poeple hide behind today do free themselves: mentally and physically? Alcohol that is used to inhibit ones self to have a good time, clothing to blend into the crowd to feel accepted, a bullies group of 'friends', the fame of celbrities, even the behavior of lying about how you liked a certain movie all your friends liked but you hated; these are all sorts of masks that people will hide behind in order to feel safe, socially accepted, or powerful. Most of the time people have to take what they are given at face value, but one has to keep their eyes open. There are plenty of terrifying people who would love to hurt you if you gave them the chance that put on masks of their …show more content…
I found this highly impactful for me as a young adult mostly in how I saw the two ways that this was portrayed in the novels. The Joy Luck Club uses this idea that behaviors and character are passed down from generation through generation even with cultural gaps. Parents teach their children social behaviors and norms through everyday unspoken behavior; making The Joy Luck Club's message a positive and if perhaps cautionary. Whereas Lord of the Flies demonstrates the danger of social pressures and how it can lead to a destructions of morality and justice and reason. This is why I thought this topic was discussion worthy. There is so much of my social life that I had never realized encompassed a collective social mind
A recurring theme among leaders in many societies today is that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” (John Acton, a 1700’s English Catholic historian, politician, and writer). In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, this idea of leadership, power, and corruption is put in the spotlight. Jack, one of the boys on the island, forces his way into the leadership position without actually earning it. It is clear that Jack has become corrupt as he turns into a person who is intimidating, egotistical, and selfish. Ralph, on the other hand, is a quality leader under most conditions as he appeals to the boys’ sophisticated side and has a
wrote this after publishing Lord of the Flies. It is our world, in the form of a story. The two leaders in the story are Ralph and Jack. Ralph starts off a comfortable leader of the boys, but by the end of the book, Ralph and his companion Piggy are alone facing Jack and the rest of the boys. As the novel progresses and the society on the island starts to change, so does Ralph. He begins thinking he has all the answers, but comes to realize that without Piggy he would have never gotten this far. By the end of the book, Ralph and Jack are complete opposites. Jack is about savagery and fun while Ralph is holding on to society, rules, and civilization. Appearing to be a weak leader due to defection of his followers, Ralph is actually dedicated and insightful, only loosing his followers because he could not compete with one category that attracts nearly everyone in the world: fun.
more of what is going on. He says, ‘If only they could get a message
It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.
This mask holds back all the sorrow, protects you from being further destroyed by others words or actions, and covers up the real extreme problems people are facing such as suicide and drug overdose. Both texts use these “masks” metaphorically to show how the people protect themselves.
Red, brown, green, blue, colors that surround us everyday, yet somehow the human fascination of applying them to their face makes them seem all the more fun, and interesting. This newfound interest could even leak through to the mind beneath, giving way to a whole new person. In his 1954 novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding illustrated this idea in a way that captured the hearts of many and led the story to fame, concocting a reality that had since resided only in the nightmares of children. Inventing a world in which masks of paint were not a fun thing you got at a fair, but a living horror and uncontrollable enemy. Masks are common in our world. They are worn on holidays and to parties. Nearly everyone can recognize at least on
We try to hide our flaws, so we wear a mask to conceal our imperfections. We are hurt and unable to fully recover, so we put on a mask. We are a monster, so we wear a mask to hide our vile and devilish ways. We want to appear to okay, even though inside we are dying a little bit each day, so we put on a mask. Wearing a mask is a lot like being a wife and a mother. A wife and mother is many other things, such as a cook, a nurse, a taxi driver, a cheerleader, a lover, a daughter, a worker, and maybe even a student amongst other things. We juggle our self between all these different persona’s. In O’Connor’s, “Good Country People” many of her characters wore mask to conceal the things they didn’t want seen. Hulga pretended to be a rude, uncaring brat to hide her hurt she felt from losing her leg at an early age. Manley Pointer disguised himself as a Bible salesman to take advantage of people, when he was nothing more than a wolf in sheep’s clothing. While the matriarch of the family, Mrs. Hopewell insisted that everything was fine. Everyone has their own way of getting through tough situations and circumstances and these country people proved they were no different from the rest. “In one of her essays, “The Regional Writer” Flannery O’Connor spoke of, “the particular crossroads where time and place and eternity somehow meet.” (Driskell and Brittain, The Eternal Crossroads). These such characters in this
“Conquering the Freshman Fear of Failure,” by David L. Kirp, main idea id that every student starts college with the overwhelming feeling that they have to succeed. “This fear of failing hits poor, minority, and first generation college students especially hard. (pg.1 p.3)” I am the first person in my family to go to college in my family, and I am so driven to make them proud, and make every cent they are paying worth it. The idea of succeeding means so much to me that I would become devastated if I got even a “C” on an exam. I pressure myself to become an example to my brother and sister, so one day they will have the influence and courage to become something great in the life. I am trying to reach for the stars, but my biggest fear is my
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbolism to show that leaders have the power to put masks on their followers in order to manipulate their minds and way of thinking. The book is about a group of English schoolboys, which are stranded on an island. As time passes, the boys change their personalities. But do they really change? Or do their perfected masks slowly come off and become replaced by the mask of savageness, put on by their prefect?
Everyone uses masks to free them to do, say or act in a manner that they normally wouldn’t. People use them all the time, whether it is just changing to treat someone a certain way or just needing to be a different way to make a situation better, but can also be used in harmful ways that can be used to compel violence. Masks manipulate us to hide from our true selves, they will make the one who wears one inferior to all others. In the story, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the world is in the middle of the biggest war ever, the power of masks and anonymity throughout this time period establish the terror. They put on these masks to give them the freedom to commit terrorizing acts and have no shame, alike with how William Golding allowed his characters have their power over the others. Golding had his characters apply paint to their faces which then altered the boy's mindset to act in a detrimental way. The mindset these boys obtain leads to many cruel parts in the story, including the killing of other boys on the island. This demonstrates the effect and power of being anonymous that is provided to these blood-thirsty boys. Before Jack and the boys used their masks to release their inner-savage, they were civilized, but having anonymity enables them to kill, not only pigs but other boys.
In society rules and regulations can only be obeyed if the people of the society behave in a civilized manner, and respect authority figures and objects. In Lord of the Flies the author, William Golding uses the conch to symbolize how power and order within a society can change, when society changes and order is no longer present the savage nature of man comes out.
With the world as a dangerous place, it is easy for one to turn back to the ways of a vicious person in order to survive. The savageness of humanity comes out in almost every individual when survival is at risk. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, this is exactly what happens. The only element that can keep the brutality of humans at bay is laws. William Golding uses rules as a main point in his allegorical novel.
I picked my topic thinking of how I can make the mask look the best it can be, so I picked the pig because I can make it look the way it was described in the book. It was described in the book as a severed pig’s head on a stick. This topic stood out to me because of the symbolism it displays. It displays the inner evil in every boy on the island. I connect to this mask because there are some times in my life where I feel like there is a part of my mind that is trying to take control over the rest of my mind at some times. This is exactly how the boys felt about the beast in the novel. I had also thought about making the masks of Jack, Ralph, or Piggy. I didn’t choose to make them because I felt like there would be too much conflict in the detailing
Individual differences in self-identity and personality construction are modified by the social environment and genetic heritability (Scarr, 1992). The development of niche-picking allows children to self-select their own experience based on their genetic predisposition, and the process of constructing self is altered through different age stages and life events (Scarr, 1992). However, the novel demonstrates how self-identity and personality can be shaped through social experiences and uses classical psychoanalytic theory and theory of self-discrepancy to explain the development of the characters. First, Freud’s classical psychoanalytic theory offers an explanation to illustrate the development of personality theory. To elaborate, individual’s mental life can be described with the id, the ego, and the superego, which center around the importance of sexuality,
Any created society has rules to stay mobile. Within this informative selection of words you'll see examples of how a society was and how it should be based on the novel "Lord Of The Flies" and how they fell apart within the journey. The examples are their rules and the other is unstable relations of the inhabitants, these cause the hindsight score to be perfected on the backtracking of the lost sensibility. Now follow the tale of words that give the sight of how this society should've rolled on with.