12-2-13 Post #13 Out of Order

        At the end of William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the true savagery of human nature comes out in full form. In chapter ten, Piggy's ordered mindset pushes the boys to try and find a peaceful solution with the other group of boys to improve their chances of survival. This was a very good and mature idea, yet the boys cannot communicate with any sense of maturity. "The shivering, silvery, unreal laughter of the savages sprayed out and echoed away," (Golding 182). The boys who took Piggy's glasses are now not even referred to as boys, but as savages. Ralph and Piggy do their best to have a peaceful interaction, but cannot overcome the primal instincts of the boys that used to be. The interaction comes to a fatal end when Roger, one of the savages, pushes a rock of the cliff and onto Piggy. Crushing the only two objects left that symbolize any sense of order/civilization; Piggy and the Conch shell. In the next chapter, Ralph loses his small sense of order and decides to take revenge. He finds the Lord of the Flies, the real beast of the Island, and compares it to the conch, "...looked steadily at the skull that gleamed as white as ever the conch had done...," (Golding 190). The flies had eaten away all of the flesh of the sow head, revealing the shiny, pure underlying skull. Just like the boys grew a flesh of barbaric and flesh over their innocent skin. Yet, unlike the sow head, nothing was left to clean them; until the navy appeared. "The other little boys began to shake and sob too," (Golding 207). All it took was one adult to end a savage assault to cease instantly. Every boy on that island was involved in a violent assault just minutes earlier, yet now peace flooded the beach. The naval officer helped Ralph realize that the way they were acting was completely crazy according to their everyday lives, yet on the island, it seemed inevitable that the brutality would erupt. This goes to show how the smallest slip in order can lead to a total collapse, especially when immaturity flourishes among the culprits.

Journal 11-14-13

What symbols are emerging in the novel? How are they changing in meaning? Think of how much Piggy is changing, or the conch, island, etc. 

In the beginning of the novel, Piggy was always very timid. He was afraid to speak his mind and never even considered standing out for himself. Now, through Chapter 5, he is beginning to grow a little confidence. He has no problem with giving his opinion, even if people turn him down instantly. At one point, Piggy even has an angry outburst towards Ralph. This shocks everyone, yet people still wont recognize that he is smart and should be listened to. People will not respect him yet he could be a very useful asset. One symbol emerging on the story is the beast, or snake-thing. This often-talked about object is a point of fear for the boys. Some say a monster lives on the island and is planning to attack, others don't believe it. The symbol is fear of the boys as well the distrust they have with each other. Only Simon seems to understand the atmosphere of the island.

Friday Free Write Part 1

Friday free write.

A: As a child, my family loved to camp. Each memorial day we would travel to northern Michigan in our camper with some friends. I loved all of it. The fresh air, the water, the campfires, everything. “Come on!” I yell to my cousin as she gingerly tests the water with the built in thermometer that everyone seems to have in their big toe. “Its too cold!” She replies. Finally her brother comes up behind her and shoves her into the lake. She was too cold to yell at him. At dinner each night we could laugh and joke about the events of the day. We laughed about my mom’s phobia of frogs as we bragged about the size of the frogs we had caught that day.  One Memorial Day, on our way home, something very unexpected happened. We were driving along the highway when the tire blew out on our very large and heavy camper...

Jack Merridew (Ch. 1)

~ Select one characther from chapter one and write about him in detail. Use two citations in your discription. Write at least eight sentences...

   In the first chapter of the book, Jack Merridew, the head of the Choir Boys, stands out as someone who wants attention and to be a leader. Jack thinks that he will automatically be the head of the children when they all gather for the first time; "I ought to be chief!" (Golding 20). His arrogance puts himself in front of others in all situations. This may be a symbol of how the children on the island will begin to fall from their simple innocent into a deeper evil that they are not accustomed to. Jack also seems to be the most mature in his selfish ideas, however not in his mindset of helping everyone. "Kids' names, why should I be Jack? I'm Merridew" (Golding 19). He is trying to think like an adult, but he cannot. Jack desperately wants to be treated like an adult because he feels he is the most important. It is these types of people who tear society apart. Selfishness, arrogance, pride, all these personality traits can bring down the strongest of systems. The first chapter is using Jack to foreshadow how the kids may begin to fall prey to these traits.

Baker Quote Analysis

“’History,’ said Joyce’s Daedalus, ‘is a nightmare from which I am trying to wake.’ But we do not awake. Though we constantly make a heroic attempt to rise to a level ethnically superior to nature, our own nature, again and again we suffer a fall- brought low by some outburst of madness because of the limiting defects inherent in our species.” (Baker XV)

This quote from Baker XV describes how humans are imperfect. However, he notes that we choose not to believe this. Humans cannot outrun nature, because our own nature brings us down. It summarizes the human thought process of how we are better than nature and each other. The quote also says that outbursts of madness are a defect in our species. This is probably getting at how humans think irrationally and with emotion. We are always in a form of a nightmare, one we cannot escape. Imagine having a nightmare about a nightmare, you always wake up in a worse situation. This is how Baker describes human's natural flaws.

A Modest Proposal Essay

           Satire is a tool used by many to expose an ill in society. However, it is rarely effective. Sometimes, different ethical and political views make Satire very hard to be influential. Usually however, Satire is not influential because of the ignorance of its target audience. Ignorance, or the lack of knowledge, is very common in political, ethical, and social environments; this makes Satire ineffective. Certain Satire recognizes this, but still cannot get a point across because of it. Satire is ineffective because the targets of it are the same people who don't understand or don't care about the Satire.
      Ignorance in the political world is a common target of Satire. In Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal, Swift tries to explain to the people of Ireland how the British government is slowly destroying them. He does this by explaining how the British are causing more children to be in poverty, which is a major problem for the Irish's economy. Swift has no problem with children in real life, but he uses them to make a point about the British. "I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children... is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom... someone must find out a fair, cheap and easy method of making these children...useful members of the kingdom" (Swift 1). This quote, however wrong in its ethical values, is really jabbing at the government in it's deeper meanings. Swift uses other examples to try and force the governments to react, however gets no response. At the end of the piece, he says, "... I have not the least personal interest in... the work...having no other motive than the public good of my company" (Swift 9). This is perhaps the most obvious Satirical jab at the government. He uses sarcasm to explain how he wants the country to improve, but is not willing to do much about it. Swift is trying to explain that this is how the governments acts realistically. Because of this ignorant mindset, the government truly isn't going to anything. That is why Satire is not effective against political ignorance.
    Ethical ignorance is also used in Satire often. Swift introduces the concept of eating infants to help improve the economy. He explains how eating them will get them off the streets so no one will have to take care of them, and how this would solve the food crisis. In the piece, he makes this sound very plausible; as if people wouldn't think twice about following this awful plan. He is mocking the ethical ignorance of the people by suggesting that they would be ok with literally eating babies. Swift is aware of other ignorant ethical decisions society makes, so why can't they follow along with this one? In a YouTube video by Matthias, they mock the way that companies like Apple market their products. They try to expose how Apple can make very few changes to something, and still sell millions of them. "It is amazing how much we are able to get away with, and we push that, as far as we can" (Matthias Youtube). Matthias uses irony to describe this producer/consumer relationship as well as sarcasm to try and make the citizens feel dumb about buying Apple products. This video came out before the actual release of the new iPhone. People would expect that videos like these might have an effect on the sales of the Phone, however it was quite the opposite. Because of the ignorance of society, the new iPhone is the best selling yet. Selling over 200 Million iPhones in less than one month. 20 Million in the first weekend alone. This proves that people pretend to care, but really don't. These are all reasons of why people's ignorance towards ethics makes satire ineffective. (Youtube Video Link)
     The social environments are another area where people show much ignorance. "Then as to the females...would soon become humble breeders themselves..."(Swift 5). Swift explains in part of A Modest Proposal how women could come and act as breeders to produce babies, the new "currency" of Ireland. He is almost implying that even in realistic Ireland, people often objectify women and people of poverty. Swift understands that people make awful social decisions, such as women being objectified or objectifying themselves, and pushes it over the edge. He also explains that the poor children can be bought and sold like livestock. Implying how people treat those who struggle with poverty. Another social ignorance Swift points out is how only the upper-class will eat the babies, because they have "refined taste." (Swift 6) In a deeper meaning, this means that the upper-class will care the least about this plan because it barely effetcs them. The satire here is that the upper-class do not care what is happening as long as they make more money; no matter what cruel things are happening below them. Because the upper-class don't care about what happens to others, the satire is ineffective to a large part of the population. People choose to be ignorant, or rather choose not to be informed. This can lead, once again, to satire that is not influential.
     In conclusion, politics, ethics, and social ideas are all things that people lack knowledge about. These ideas make Satire, a tool that could be useful, ineffective. It is unfortunate, but people refuse to be told what to do. The Greek philosopher Socrates once said, "True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing" (Socrates). If people took this to heart, and yearned to learn and do what's right, Satire may become useful. Most people cannot stand others trying to influence them. This ignorance among society ruined the fantastic idea that is Satire.

"He (Swift) is mocking the ethical ignorance of the people by suggesting that they would be ok with literally eating babies."

Well this is Uncomfortable...

In each Satire presentation, there were multiple common themes. One was how each video/article explained a flaw in humans. Specifically society and how we act in it. Many of the presentations explained how American's desire to fit in, or how we are lazy, or why we do so many ignorant things. Satire brings out the ignorance in many people. For example the Daily Show about gun control made one specific man look much dumber then he most likely is. Satire also can make people think about their own flaws. For example, there was a video where a little kid shows no imagination. This made me think about my own though process when it comes to imagining new things. Maybe this applies to me? I thought. I believe that all satire will do this in some way.

Another thing I noticed about all of the presentations is how satire can make people feel uncomfortable. In one video, an African American girl mocks a white man for committing "white-collar crimes." She explains how people may racial profile him because he is white. When really the satire is exposing the ill of more common racial profiling due to crime. The visiting ground zero video showed the ignorance some people have towards history of even our own country. These types of edgy jokes make people remember them, which is what makes satire so powerful. Making the audience feel uncomfortable is a great way get to them on a deeper level.

Jonathan Swift Internet Search

5 Facts:

1.) Born in Dublin, Ireland.
2.) suffered from Meniere's Disease. 
3.)Worked as a dean in a catholic cathedral.
4.) Began undergrad college studies at age 14.
5.)His one love, Esther Johnson, was 15 years younger than Swift. They met when she was only 8 years old.

Citation for all facts: ("Jonathan Swift." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Oct 07 2013, 03:51http://www.biography.com/people/jonathan-swift-9500342.)
3.)

Quote about Swift:
"Swift subjects to devastating satiric treatment the central tenets of thought--that man is innately good, that guided by modern science human beings will progress, and that progress depends upon deliverance from old beliefs that do not meet the test of reason."
(Crook, K., H. Erskine-Hill, and C. Fabricant. "Swift, Jonathan." Enlightenment Revolution. MediaWiki, 3 Apr. 2008. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. <http://enlightenment-revolution.org/index.php/Swift,_Jonathan>.)


Quote from Swift:
"There are few, very few, that will own themselves in a mistake."
("Jonathan Swift Quotes." BrainyQuote. Xplore, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2013. <http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jonathansw155273.html>.)

Fooling America

       This video is a parody of the Apple iPhone commercials. Literally, the video explains how the new iPhone is almost the same as the old one. "We started with an idea we loved, and then stopped," explained one actor. They explain how the S in iPhone 5S stands for "same." These ideas express the cunning tactics of Apple, not necessarily the American people. Another literal idea they express is how there is no need to continue improving. How the american people "don't wan't change."However perhaps the most sadly true joke they make is at 1:18 in the video, when they say "There is a profound beauty to how much we can get away with, and we push that, as far as we can." This "joke," like most satire, is entirely true. Why do we need to get the new product? Maybe because we want to feel perfect? Or accepted? These truths are more greatly revealed in the deeper meanings of the video.

The deeper meaning is the satirical truths that are revealed under the surface. For example, at 0:56, when they say "So it would be stupid to change what is already perfection." This is a real problem in American society. Most people don't feel the need to improve what is already working. This is most likely due to increasing laziness among the people. People want to improve their own self-image, but not the "greater good," or "big picture." Another example of this deeper meaning comes at the very end of the video when he explains the new cable. "You're new cables will no longer work, introducing the lightning, (dramatic pause) S." This jabs at apple's ability to make millions without doing any work. Force people to buy a new charger cable that they need at $30 each? Sounds like easy money to me. This shows what many people want in our society; making money without much work. In conclusion, this video describes the obvious flaws of Apple, while discreetly poking at the major social issues with the American image.

In & Out

        In most of the Hero Projects, one thing that stuck out was how the call to adventure was an internal call. For example, in our movie The Incredibles, the character is called literally by a human; however it is his drive to do good that he is motivated to fight. In another groups project, they explained how Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas, felt like he was missing something in his life. This caused him to start his adventure. Both of these examples come form the characters heart, not from an external/literal call.

Another reoccurring theme is how the boon/elixir is also internal. In The Incredibles, his boon is the idea of family importance. In Life of Pi, Pi's boon is remembering what is important in life. This is not a physical boon, like in The Hobbit where Bilbo finds a ring.

In each poster, the groups explained a mentor. For most groups, the mentor was very obvious. For example, Bilbo Baggins relies on Gandalf to help him though. Gandalf clearly was a key to Bilbo's success. However in other movies, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Will Turner thinks that he hates Jack Sparrow, when Jack is indirectly helping Will determine his destiny.

This is similar to our movie in how Mr.Incredible see's Mirage to be a friend in the beginning, then an enemy, then a friend again. Because of this, he has many mixed feelings about her. She does work for the man trying to kill Mr. Incredible, however saves his whole family in the end. Mentor's are a very important part of life, especially to people who don't know it yet.

Bourne Confusion and Camping Kids

9-19-13

Write about the film you think would be best for the hero’s journey project.

A: I think that a good movie to use for this project would be the movie The Bourne Identity.  I think this would be a good choice because the hero is often unsure that he is the hero, which makes his actions seem even more outstanding. Jason Bourne was a government project gone wrong. He was made to be an assassin, however was knocked out of his “brain-washing” and realized that what he was doing was wrong. He then turned his life around to figure out who he really was and stop this horrible killing spree that the government was on.

9-20-13

Friday free write.

A: As a child, my family loved to camp. Each memorial day we would travel to northern Michigan in our camper with some friends. I loved all of it. The fresh air, the water, the campfires, everything. “Come on!” I yell to my cousin as she gingerly tests the water with the built in thermometer that everyone seems to have in their big toe. “Its too cold!” She replies. Finally her brother comes up behind her and shoves her into the lake. She was too cold to yell at him. At dinner each night we could laugh and joke about the events of the day. We laughed about my mom’s phobia of frogs as we bragged about the size of the frogs we had caught that day.  One Memorial Day, on our way home, something very unexpected happened.

Superman?

What does the word “hero” mean to you? What do you think about when you think of heroes? What do you see…?

A:  In my mind, a hero is someone who will stop at nothing to help. It doesn’t always have to be a serious thing. Even the small acts of heroism are important. For example, my grandmother is a hero to me because she took care of her five younger siblings when her parents died from alcoholism. She got married at sixteen and kept her younger brothers and sisters under her wing. She is a hero to me, but more to the people she protected. When someone says the word hero, the picture of a muscular man flying through the air with a red cape pops into my head. These fictional characters may be fun to watch, but their morals and values are true to any real hero. For example, like Superman puts his life on the line to protect common citizens, our nations military follow the same role.

Playing Against Myself

    Throughout my whole childhood, I felt like all of my friends had "their sport." In other words, each of my friends seemed to have a natural ability for a certain activity, and they stuck with that. I, on the other hand, never seemed to find my fit. This was true until last spring, when I picked up golf. I tagged along with my dad and his friend one day when they went to the golf course. I decided to try it out. I had always imagined golf as a sport for old men and people with too much time on their hands; until I tried it. It was one of the hardest things for me to learn, and I loved the challenge. The feeling of getting better after each practice hooked me. I began practicing for hours each day, and realized that maybe I finally found my sport. I dabbled with football, lacrosse, and even soccer. However I never considered myself to be competitive, therefore I didn't enjoy athletic competition. Now? I can't get enough of it. The best thing in the world to me is being on the course with my opponents, playing my own game, and knowing that there is no one that can stop me. The thing with golf is that you compete against yourself. Not with or against a team. It's comforting for me to know that I don't have to rely on others, or have others rely on me. This takes out all variables of competition. If I played my best, I won.

This clip from the famous movie Caddyshack, pretty much sums up my writings. "How do you measure yourself against others?" the locker room attendant asks. I believe that this sentence is the problem with most peoples mental approach to sports, and is why I enjoy the form of mental torture that is my favorite sport, Golf.



Another one of my favorite things is movies. My favorite movie is Warrior. Warrior is about two brothers who come from an estranged family and end up fighting for the UFC championship. The thing I love about this movie is the passion that each brother has for life because of past events. They both work hard for themselves and their families. They go back to natural instinct which is to fight with 110% to stay alive. (Or in this case, keep their homes and support themselves.) Warrior steps out of the box of normal movies by keeping the relationships within the family very realistic. Most movies would have the brothers forgive their abusive dad half way through the movie; however Warrior makes everyone fight for forgiveness, (literally and figuratively.) Another thing I enjoy about this movie is the final scene. The final scene, however predictable, is very inspirational. Naturally, the two brothers make it to the final fight, so they must fight each other to win. The brothers were separated young, and not under good terms. Because of their estranged past, they have an anger against each other that cannot be matched. Both fight valiantly, but there must be a winner. Both cannot stand the though of losing to the other, or losing the five-million dollar purse. Once the fight is over, they walk out of the ring as brothers once again, not as enemies.

The movie makes this transition of enemy to brother very subtle. It is as if the fight enabled them to break all tension and renew their relationship. This is the last thing you see on the screen before the movie ends. Yes, it is obvious that physical damage was done, however it is clear that emotional healing is happening. This song plays throughout the whole last fight, and adds to the intimacy of the whole thing. I highly recommend watching at least the final few minutes of the movie to understand what I am trying to explain.(Warning: slightly violent.) The other part of this scene that adds to the sadness is the the abusive father who tore his own family apart, watches his sons fight over his wrong doings. In conclusion, the movie Warrior will always stick out in my mind as a favorite because of its blunt honesty and fantastic realism.



The best experience of my life? It has to be when I took a missions trip to a deaf village in Jamaica. The deaf population in Jamaica are treated as outcasts. It is very sad to see how these people are forced to live. Although America is far from perfect, this particular type of discrimination is almost gone. In the mountains of Jamaica there is an entire area where 90% of the deaf people live. We arrived at the deaf school where we would be living while the students were on spring break. This was bitter sweet. It was bitter simply because we didn't have the opportunity to spend time with the kids. However, it was sweet because we now had more time to get stuff done around the campus. We built new staircases, painted, built new sandcastles and playgrounds, cleaned, etc. It was very fulfilling to help out the people in this community. It was apparent that they were very grateful. The day after we arrived was easter sunday where we visited the deaf church. One thing that was curious to me was certain mannerisms that all of the deaf people shared. For example, none of them would use their real voices, however all would laugh. Whenever someone signed something funny, they all laughed. It seemed that laughter was the only way they could express themselves vocally. It seemed that laughing instantly brightened the moods of these normally solemn people.

This picture is of the deaf village where we stayed. It is cool to see the different things that we accomplished just in this one picture. All the fences, staircases, and paint was done by us.Overall, this trip was the best experience of my life because of the life lessons I learned and the people I met. I learned that patience can be a great virtue to all; deaf or hearing. Also that laughter truly can be a great medicine.