This is my second blog for English class. I am finding these blogs very docile so far. This week, in English we started reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding out loud in class, which is a very bizarre and uncommon for me. To me, the book is not an insipid book but rather very interesting. It starts off introducing Ralph, a handsome, well-built boy who is stranded on an island with a group of boys, including Piggy, a gregarious boy, and Jack, a tall and ugly boy. All of these characters seem to play a major role in the book, and have unique characteristics. We also got the essay prompt, which I have never gotten before finishing the book, so I was kind of shocked to receive it. The prompt read "Analyze one of Golding's characters in his novel Lord of the Flies. Specifically, describe Golding's process of characterization, how does Golding characterize an individual during the novel?". We are taking notes that will help us answer the prompt and I have a feeling that at the end of this book, I will have all the notes I need to write an essay on characterization. Unlike my first essay on To Kill a Mockingbird, which I wasn't able to complete in the time I was given. Furthermore, I looked up any real life events that connect to Lord of the Flies, and I found an article about 16 people who were stranded on an island in 2003 in Tibet, here is the article: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200309/22/eng20030922_124673.shtml. They faced a severe shortage of water, and some of them had caught the cold and had high fevers. There were worries that the rescuers wouldn't have been able to reach the group in time, because the island was in a mountainous area. I find this story to resemble Lord of the Flies because they are stranded on an island just like the Ralph and the boys and they are short on water. I read many stories about people being stranded on islands in danger of dying and I realized that the events that take place in Lord of the Flies, occur in real life too, and there are actual people who die due to being stranded somewhere without the tools that they need to survive. I believe that as humans, we need to be aware of this and not just think that it's all fiction and only happens in books or movies. Everyday, someone gets lost or stranded without food or water, and they can't contact anyone for help, and us as humans need to work harder on finding these people instead of leaving them to die. To conclude, I look forward to reading Lord of the Flies next week, and to learn more about characterization and the characters. That is my blog for this week, and I hope to keep improving on it as the school year progresses. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you enjoy the next one even more.
