Friday, January 27, 2012

Lord of the Flies Chapter 4 Reflection
1. Symbolism: When Jack sees Roger after the incident with Henry, Roger is described as “a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin” (57). What does this symbolize for Roger? Describe Jack’s face painting. What does it represent? How does the paint change Jack?

Piggy is described as wearing “the remainders of a pair of shorts, his fat body was golden brown, and the glasses still flashed when he looked at anything. He was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow. The rest were shock-headed, but Piggy’s hair still lay in wisps over his head as though baldness were his natural state and this imperfect covering would soon go, like the velvet on a young stag’s antlers” (59). What does this say about Piggy? What does he represent?

After Jack kills the pig, what does he do? What does this symbolize? Why is the fire so important? What does it represent? ("From Lord of the  Flies Discussion Questions," www.morgan.k12.ga.us)

14 comments:

  1. Jack's face painting changed him. When he put it on, it kind of became like a covering that represented his uncivilized side. Undernethe was the civilized side that he was getting rid of.
    The rest of the boys hair grow and they start to look unorganized. Piggy's does not because he represents orginization and good ideas.
    Jack puts his arms in the pig blood after he kills it. I think this represents the fact that he is starting to become more cruel and brutality is starting to come easier to him.

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    1. Keep reading for more examples of Jack's cruelty, Amber.

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  2. After Roger opened his eyes to Jack standing over him with a mask on Roger described him as “a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin” (pg62). Jack with the mask on symbolizes the dark side or evil that I think we will progressively start to see come out in the characters. Jacks face painting is red on half of his face and white on the other with a black streak going from his right ear to left jaw. The mask represents dark/evil (red) and good (white). The black line could represent Jacks personality, half is one the evil side and half is on the good side. The mask changes Jack because it conceals his real identity of Jack the choir boy and changes him into Jack the hunter. When Jack wears the mask he feels he can do anything. He likes the mask so much, "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarl" (64). Jack's "bloodthirsty snarl" is an indication that he is becoming an animal once he puts the mask on.
    After Jack kills the pig and returns with it to the mountain. Ralph and Jack start a dispute and Piggy tries to stand up for Ralph so Jack ends up fighting him. The fight and the fire being out can symbolize the existing power is being brought down. When the new fire that is lit means a new power is coming to rise.
    After time on the island all the boys begin to look more savage like except Piggy. Piggy remaining normal looking can symbolize order and organization.

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    1. Great interpretation of the mask's symbolism through color, Madison.

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  3. The mask of paint, "behind which Jack hid, liberated (him) from the shame and self-consciousness" (pg64). In other words the face paint concealed Jack's evil and uncivilized side, while allowing him to hide from the shame that he felt about it. When Roger describes Jack presence as “a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin," he is referring to the same principle. Roger is saying that there is something evil that lies within Jack, and his skin, just like the mask, covers it up. The colors that Jack chooses to paint his face with also have symbolism. He uses white, which represents purity and red, which typically symbolizes sin or evil. This could possible mean that Jack is not completely lost all his civilized qualities, but is headed in that direction.

    All of the boys, except Piggy, have long unkempt hair. This symbolizes the chaotic and rough nature that is growing on all of them as a result of being on the island. Piggy’s clean appearance represents that he is the only one left who hasn’t fallen into the savage ways. Piggy stands for the innocence and pureness that remains.

    When the hunters returned, Jack “noticed blood on his hands and grimaced distastefully, looked for something on which to clean them, then wiped them on his shorts and laughed.” This again shows that he is becoming less and less civilized. When the book started, Jack couldn’t kill the pig because he wasn’t comfortable with the brutality and violence of killing another living thing. Now he is so proud that he brags of the amount blood shed when he killed the pig and intrigued by watching the life drain away from the poor animal.

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    1. The blood on Jack's hand, and his reaction to it, would make an interesting comparison to another blood-handed character from this year, Lady Macbeth.

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  4. I think Jack's face mask represents the two sides of him that is conflicting inside is head. The pure naive boy side, the white, and the blood thirsty killer who would literally kill to be the leader, red. The black streak across his face represents the situation he was put in that makes the conflict between the two sides so stressful for Jack. I wasn't completely sure on what Golding was trying to achieve with the description of the "littluns." When Roger was being described I think it was put into the novel to inspire Jack to become more of a stalker while hunting the pig. The personal evil within Jack manipulated Roger's innocent stalking into slaughtering that pig.

    The description on Piggy symbolizes that the uncivilized nature of most of the boys on the island, isn't effecting him. He is the only that still has a rational way of thinking. He isn't power crazy, like Jack, or stressed from being captain, like Ralph.

    After Jack kills the pig he becomes a lot more violent out of nowhere. He couldn't handle being responsible for letting the fire go out and the boys missing their chance of being rescued off the island. Once Ralph confronts him, and Piggy cosigns like always, Jack starts attacking Piggy. He also breaks one side of Piggy's glasses. This symbolizes that Jack is becoming more and more uncivilized by the day. The fire is hope in this situation I think, or the goodness in people, like in "The Road?" Only time will tell what Jack will do next and if Ralph is strong enough to stand up against him.

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    1. Nice connection with "The Road," Danielle. We have certainly read a variety of literature this year dealing with society's negative side -- The Road, Macbeth, and now The Lord of the Flies.

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  5. I think jacks face paint gives him more confidence, it changes him. By putting the face paint he felt like he was able to finally catch and kill a pig. I think it represents his good side and bad side.

    The fact that Piggy's hair isn't long and shaggy and dirty, i think, shows he is the only one who still cares and who hasn't fell into the state everyone else is in. He is almost in denial, whereas the other boys have accepted it. But on another hand it shows how Piggy is still well organized, hitting on the point where he should be the leader because he has the right mentality to lead just not the right social appearance.

    Once jack kills the pig he almost has a complete personality change, he becomes very aggressive and angry. He doesn't want to take responsibility for the fire even though its his fault. If the fire wouldn't have gone out they could've possibly been saved, which leads into the fire representing hope.

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  6. The fact that Piggy's hair doesn't grow at all has symbolic ramifications, some of which we touched upon in today's class.

    Jack's personality changes aren't finished yet. Keep reading.

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  7. Roger symbollizes an inner demon beginning to manifest itself, in a way that foreshadows upcoming events. The white in Jack's mask reminds me of Phantom of the Opera (although I've never seen it), in which underneath a mask of purity hides a hideous beast. The red in his mask is an example of his bloodlust, like he mad desire to hunt and kill a pig. I thought that the red streak, white dots, and the black lines were symbollic to the Nazis, considering Golding wrote this after the war. When Jack puts on the mask, it releases a sadistic, animal side of him.
    Piggy's lack of hair growth is meant to represent the civilized gentleman, who keeps to his wits when in duress. Piggy begins to represent the tie they have to the adult worldview.
    Jack's obsessive pride in killing the pig clashes with the duty of his hunters to protect and keep the fire going. It shows how the balance of power is tilting away from equilibrium. The fire represents mankind and order, like in the Road, and if it goes out, if people don't "carry the fire", then any hope of salvation is gone.

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  8. Nice connection between the fire of "The Road" and the fire in LOTF, Joey. That's a perfect AP-level comparison.

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  9. Jack's face paint shows his inner savage. He represents the break from civilization and is becoming quite the antagonist, and just all-around dark character. Jack is all about bloodshed, and the red in the face mask is a symbol of this. From the description of his paint, one draws the image of a heathen or warrior. This is exactly the look Jack is going for.

    Piggy has a "clean" appearance when compared to the other boys on the island. His head appears as if it should be bald naturally and he has his all-important spectacles. He represents someone who will always be civilized. His appearance comes to mind as a sort of nerdy-sciencey image, and that's just the character Piggy is.

    After killing the pig, Jack notices that he has a fair amount of blood on his hands, but he isn't really bothered - he likes it. He wipes it on his shorts proudly. In his first encounter with a pig, he was hesitant and couldn't kill it, but now he has developed a full-on lust for blood, and he enjoys seeing the amount of it that spills from the pig he kills in this chapter.

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    1. We'll do an exercise at the end of the book that deals more with the symbolism of the masks, Estlin. Sharpen your Crayons. :)

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