Chapter 12 Journal

My reaction to the end of the novel was disappointment. I don't want to sound harsh, but I was hoping Roger and especially Jack would die. I think Ralph cries at the end of the novel because he is realizing what they have done since they first arrived there. I think he had already given up hope that they would be rescued. He believed Jack and the savages would kill him and being rescued saved him. I despise Jack the most. It was under his influence that Roger and the boys became even more savaged. I would absolutely recommend this novel to a friend. I have learned a lot from the novel and its been a while since I read a book that actually made me critically think.

Ch. 11 Questions

1. Ralph's group decides they need to keep the fire going. For that they must go to the savages and call an assembly.
2. The twins see Ralph for the first time because Ralph was always the strong, calm leader and now he seems hopeless and scared.
3. The boys attempt to get Piggy's specs and keep the fire going is bound to fail because the savages will not bargain to remain calm. Things are already tense and the boys going to the savages will be chaos.
4. I think Roger pushes the rock off the cliff because under Jack's influence, Roger has become even more of a savage. I think he also wants to impress Jack and seem like he has power too.
5. The destruction of the shell is symbolic because it is the end of civilization on the island.
6. Most of the boys want a chief because they feel like they have order and a mini civilization. A chief makes decisions for them so therefor they have someone to blame if things don't work out.
7. When you're out hunting and killing do you think about what your mom and family would think? Do you still want to be rescued?
8. Dear Diary,
             It feels like we've been on this island forever. Our thoughts of this being fun and full of freedom have vanished. We live in constant fear. Of ourselves, the "beast", not being rescued. I personally am afraid of Jack and the savages. They have killed Simon. Well we have killed Simon. It was a mistake, we were caught up in the moment and it happened. I feel guilt while it seems like everyone has brushed it off.
            I don't know if we will ever be rescued. The smoke has not worked and I'm starting to believe it was a silly idea. I miss home so much. Home, I forget what that word means now. All I have are these boys who I believed where my family. Now you can't trust any of them. I'm scared and I want to go "home."

LORD OF THE FLIES CH.10

1.Ralph feels guilty about what happened the previous night. He knows something is not right. "That was murder" (Golding 156).

Piggy knows it was Simon hutbut believes it was just a mistake or accident. "It was an accident," said Piggy stubbornly, "and that's that" (Golding 157)

Jack acts like nothing happened the night before. He says it was just the beast. "He came-disguised" (Golding 160).

2. Ralph recognized it was a murder and it was wrong. He knows it was Simon just like Jack knows it too. When Ralph says "It was dark. There was that- that bloody dance. There was lighting and thunder and rain. We was scared!" (Golding 156) we see how he feels guilty of what happened. On the other hand, Jack doesn't really care and keeps his story that it was the beast that came in disguise. "-and then, the beast might try to come in. You remember how he crawled-" (Golding 160).

3. Jack didn't give reason as to why he beat up Wilfred. "I don't know. He didn't say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up" (Golding 159). Even the hunters that tied up Wilfred didn't know why. In (Golding 159) it has a conversation between Roger and Robert:
"He's going to beat Wilfred."
"What for?"
Robert shook his head doubtfully.

4. Piggy: "My ssays who took em!"
Ralph: "Get your bloody hands off me. You ain't even got the conch, I'm still chief."
Jack: "Shut it! I am a hunter therefore I am the chief."
Roger: "Chief we ought to get back, we got our fire."
Sam: "We did them well Ralph-"
Eric: "-they won't be back soon."

Article Summary

The maid idea of this article is how many people are so caught up in their own little world that they don’t notice what is going on with the people around them. For example when 15 year old Bart Palosz killed himself, with a shotgun after his first day of sophomore year, everyone including his family and friends found it as a surprise. They didn't notice the signs he had been sending, especially through his Google account. He sent various messages regarding suicide. In one of his texts he said "I notice if I sound sad I'm normal and if I act happy, cheerful, and 'normal' there is a high chance that I will try to poison myself, cut myself, commit suicide, or jump in front of a truck :)." Yet no one even tried to help him or ask what was going one. Another example is when his sister said that he was just going through a "teenage phase" and that if the school had addressed the bullying issue at school, it might have saved his life. His family didn't pay attention to him when they stole his new phone or would come home with bruises. They would have never thought that their teenage son would take his own life.

      In addition the author states how Bart was sent to the emergency after being severely injured by a bully at school. The bully smashed his head into a metal locker causing Bart to need stitches. The school claimed it was an "accident" and no one questioned it. This also supports the main idea that everyone lives in their own little world, because maybe if someone, even just one person, would have been there for him or noticed what was happening to him Bart would still be here.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/national/connecticut-teen-committed-suicide-bullied-years-friends-article-1.1444213#bmb=1

In my opinion standardized test don't test the student's abilities. I can talk from experience that even when you know all the information on the test, once you get the test it seems like you forget everything. You can spend hours studying and studying, getting help from your teachers and still bomb a test. Tests don’t show everything to have learned. They don’t show the hours of homework you have spent, or the days of studying. Standardized tests just show your ability to remember certain information.

Teachers always say how important it is to remember that we all learn different, but since we all learn different it also means we all show our intelligence differently. I don’t think bubbling in answers, captures the student's abilities. Jeannie Fulbright says “If the purpose of learning is to score well on a test, we’ve lost sight of the real reason of learning.” I completely agree with her. We get so caught up with just getting through the test and passing it, we don’t actually care about what we are learning. We look for the easiest way to remember things and coming up with shortcuts. We don’t think about what it means or why we are learning about it, all that seems to matter is “will this be on the test.” Is that what learning is about? Taking a test can be compared to living life. We can’t just go around life looking for shortcuts and just trying to get through each day. We have to learn from our mistakes and work on them, not just forget it when we think its no longer something to worry about.

Tests are usually a big part of our grade and can sometimes even determine our grade. I don’t think it is fair that everything comes down to one test. Some students are great test takers and can do a test with no problem. Other students can’t prove their abilities by filling in lines or bubbling answers. Theres other ways to prove one’s intelligence. Doing a hands on activity or doing something orally works for many students. Many things are changing to make an individual’s learning better, why not wrap our heads about this. Testing doesn’t have to be filling in lines or bubbles in a certain amount of time. A student’s ability shouldn’t have to be shown through a standardized test. 

JLC Lit. Analysis

“They are frightened...they see daughters who grow impatient when their mothers talk in Chinese...they see that joy and luck do not mean the same to their daughters...they see daughters who will bear grandchildren born without any connecting hope passed from generation to generation.” No generation is ever the same because everything keeps changing. The way people think, the things they do, is never the same. In The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, the differences between the generations pull the mothers and daughters apart, yet pulls them close together at the end. Their ideas and points of view regarding subjects like love and family manifest how unalike the two generations are. Along with the subjects of love and family come different branches like marriage, divorce, and child rearing.

To begin with, the mothers of the Joy Luck Club,were mostly a part of a broken marriage. For example An-mei Hsu never stood up to her husband and now her daughter Rose is struggling with the same problem. In China An-mei didn’t divorce her husband because she didnt dare stand up to him, so she led a long life of suffering. Now that her daughter is facing the same problem, An-mei actually advises her to stand up for what she wants and not let her husband Ted walk all over her. In An-mei’s generation divorce was rare and unacceptable, unlike in Rose’s generation where divorce was common and sometimes necessary. In this case Rose’s divorce with Ted brought the mothers and daughters together. Rose finally understood her mother’s decisions and why she did what she had to do to protect her.

Later in the novel we encounter Lena St.Clair and her mother Ying-Ying. Both Ying-Ying and Lena marry a man they don’t love, and took over their lives. Ying-Ying’s marriage was alike to Lena’s marriage because both Harold and Clifford St.Clair make decisions for them and control their lifestyles. When Ying-Ying married she knew he was a bad man, due to her ‘superpower.” She married him because she believed it was her destiny. Lena also married a bad man and her mother knows that. Lena’s marriage to Harold pulls her away from her mother. “Her wisdom is like a bottomless pond. You throw stones in and they sink into the darkness and dissolve. Her eyes looking back do not reflect anything. I think this to myself even though I love my daughter. She and I have shared the same body... but when she was born, she sprang from me like a slippery fish, and has been swimming away ever since.” In the quote Ying-Ying is saying how she sees Lena is in a fail marriage, but yet doesn’t stand up for herself. During Ying-Ying’s marriage she lived in a time where men ruled over the women, but in the present time with Lena’s marriage, women have a voice and can do what many women couldn’t do before.

When it comes to children and how to raise them, everyone thinks they know best. The four mothers in The Joy Luck Club each had their way to raise their daughters, but the result was mostly the same. The daughters didn’t know much, if anything, about their Chinese heritage. In an attempt to give their daughters the “american dream” the mothers forget to teach their daughters the importance of their pasts. Once they want to teach their daughters of Chinese customs it is too late. The girls are now American and don’t show interest in learning about their mothers pasts. “But listening to Auntie Lin tonight reminds me once again: My mother and I never really understood one another. We translated each other’s meanings and I seemed to hear less than what was said, while my mother heard more.” For example in this quote Jing-Jing is saying how far apart her and her mother are due to their cultural differences.

Throughout the novel we see how the different generations handle situations differently, but yet get similar outcomes. The mothers think they know what’s best for their daughters, but end up leading them to commit the same mistakes they made when they were young. Each generation is different, which leads us to believe we have nothing in common with our elders. Although we are completely different, if we don’t learn about our parent’s mistakes we are doomed to repeat them.

Leopard Man 9-15

9. Tom Leppard is called "Leopard Man" because he has spots all over his body and acts like a leopard.

10. Feys thinks people with tattoos and piercings are just asking for attention because they cant get attention in a positive way.

11. Leopard Man is different because he is standing up for something he believes in.

12. Leopard Man lives in an isolated cabin in the Scottish wilderness.

13. Society fear people who are different because it's something they don't understand.

14. "Fitting in" is the world's most dangerous psychological disorder. People suffer from alcoholism, eating disorders, panic attacks, and depression because they just want people to like them.

15. Leopard Man is so happy because he isn't under the pressure of society.