W10, #5: THE STORY IN A SINGLE LINE

For: ONLY periods 4 or 7

Set-up: By this point in time, all of you have completed Golding’s Lord of the Flies (including taking a test and seeing the original film version).  The test will be heavily focused on key quotations taken directly from the novel (in order to see if you are able to tell who said the key line(s)).

Challenge:

• Identify what YOU believe is the most important quotation in the entire novel (in terms of supporting Golding’s main argument/ideas).  Add the chapter and page #.
• Explain why this is so vital to a reader fully understanding what Golding is trying to accomplish.

Length: 5+ sentences.

W10, #4: ONE OF CHAUCER’S TRAVELERS

For: ONLY periods 1, 2 & 3

Set-up: Each of you have read all of the “Prologue” of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”.  As you’ve come to discover, the 20+ page segment serves to a) introduce each character (30, including the narrator) and b) introduce the ‘framework’ for a collection of stories told by each character.

Challenge:

• Select one of the 29 characters described by the narrator that most intrigues you.
• Explain why this character grabbed your attention.
• Use key descriptions (yes, line #’s are expected, too) to make your point.
• Finally, help the rest of us figure out what Chaucer is trying to say by his description.  This should come in a final thesis (of sorts).

Length: 7+ sentences

W8, #5: THE RIGHT ENDING?

Set-Up: To say we’ve been curious how the story was going to end would be a vast understatement. The real question has less to do with ‘what’ happens to Ralph and more to do with ‘why’ it happens.

Challenge: Do you think that Golding made the right choice in having Ralph be rescued at the end of the story?

• Part 1: Answer this question first based on your reaction to the ‘fate’ of Ralph as an intellectual consideration taking into consideration themes, symbols, and foreshadowing.
• Part 2: Once that part is done, explain whether you think it’d have been a ‘better’ story — in terms of plot and the reader’s hidden desires — if Ralph had been caught by the hunters and had to face whatever they had planned

Length: 7+ sentences

W7, #5: “LORD OF THE FLIES” MINI ESSAY FEEDBACK

Set-Up: Did you get that sneaky suspicion that this week’s in-class essay challenge — the group paragraph — covering chapters 5 & 6 in Lord of the Flies felt strangely familiar?

Sure, on one hand each of you had practiced this experience a week ago in a 2-day test run.  Hopefully this made it easier for each of you to sort out a) the how to organize group dynamics and b) how to translate many creative ideas into a single, well-worded, focused argument within a very short period of time.

But did you also get the sneaky feeling that the class experience itself was meant to mirror something on a much deeper level?

Hint: Maybe you’ll find the answer inside the text.  Perhaps Simon will tell you.

Challenge:

• Read all 12 of the mini group student paragraphs found below.
• Pick the 7 paragraphs that you believe are the most effective.
• Identify 1 specific strength from each of the 7 paragraphs you selected.
• Optional:  explain why each strength is particularly effective to the overall paragraph the group wrote.

Length: as appropriate

Ch 5: “Beast from Water” & Ch 6: “Beast from Air” small group mini-essay paragraph writing challenge (in lieu of the typical in-class essay).  Note:  all links can be found on the class wiki in the Lord of the Flies section:

Link: original quotations and assignment

• Title 1: “A State of Disarray”
• Title 2: “The De-evolution from Civilization to Savagery”
• Title 3: “The Menace Within”
• Title 4: “Descent into Darkness”
• Title 5: “Metamorphosis into a Tribal Civilization”
• Title 6: “Animals Can’t Make Fire”
• Title 7: “The Beast Within”
• Title 8: “Loss of the Supernatural Authority”
• Title 9: “Evolution of the Conch”
• Title 10: “The Call to the Wild”
• Title 11: “Devolution of the Conch”
• Title 12: “Unknown Danger”

W7, #4: MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE

Set-Up: Apologies to romantic Kevin Costner films and a classic song by the Police, I’m going to bring out the “message in a bottle” concept to see how each of you can play around with the mindset of one of the character’s on the island at this point in the story.

Challenge:

• Pick a character that you are beginning to figure out in terms of their inner feelings and motivations.
• Write a private letter from them to ’someone’ in the real world.  Note:  they have secretly put this note into a bottle that will to be  tossed into the ocean in hopes of being read one day.
• Offer a hint of how this character is privately seeing the events on the island unfold and what they really think about the group dynamics, chances of survival, etc.
• Bonus: can you write it so that it ’sounds’ like their personality (as well as what they are thinking)?

Hint: Tell us right away how far you’ve read so that we have a sense of what you are familiar with as the letter is written. Try to focus on their inner mind, not just the plot of the story.

Length: 7+ sentences

W7, #2: HIDDEN IN THE JUNGLE

Set-Up: We’ve crossed a certain point in the Lord of the Flies experience — by the beginning of chapter 5 — where it seems that every page is intentionally loaded with imagery.  Seems that something vital is cleverly hidden in the jungle by Golding at every turn of the pig trail and curve of the horizon line.

While we don’t pretend to ‘get’ everything he’s throwing our way quite yet, we are developing decent radar for ‘tracking’ a few gems hidden in the creepers along the way.

Challenge:

• Point out 1 thing that you think is really clever on the part of the author in terms of weaving together a many-layered story that obviously is hinting at something fare more complicated than just having ‘boys on an island’ try to get ‘rescued’.
• Tell the rest of us what it means and why you think Golding is doing some pretty solid work as a writer in terms of pushing well beyond basic plot/action to hint at something bigger at the end of the novel.

Length: 7+ sentences

W6, #7: CAN HEROES TRUST JOSEPH CAMPBELL?

Set-Up: We’ve just begun to explore Joseph Campbell’s concept of the “hero’s journey” in class this week as a way to better understand the universal elements that all ’story’ heroes — regardless of culture, language, plot, medium, etc. — seem to have in common.

Over time, we’ll see that this extends beyond literature/movies to include ‘real’ people from history, entertainment, etc. Yes, pop culture fans: even Britney. [wink]

With that said, I’m curious if you can find a single book or movie that has a majority of Campbell’s “hero’s journey” stages in it.  More importantly, I’m curious if you can creatively analyze a book or movie to find these even if there is no actual ‘knock on the door’ or ‘phone call’ (so to speak).

Challenge:

1. Review your “hero’s journey” notes from the slide show.
2. Optional: if you prefer, you can cleverly become really, really, really smart by doing a deeper dive into the “Heroes” page found on the class wiki [wink, wink; nudge, nudge] or by at least considering each of the stage links found down below [wink, wink; nudge, nudge again]
3. Identify 1 book or movie that definitely has a minimum of 8 of these stages.
4. Note: you may NOT use any of the following stories for your answer:  any Matrix, any Harry Potter, any Star Wars, any Hobbit/Lord of the Rings, or Beowulf.  All of these will be covered in class extensively over time so let’s see what else we can come up with together.
5. List the 8 stages you found; identify any scene(s)/situation(s) that prove each of the stages you selected.

Length: Varies

Links:

Ch 1: Departure

The Call to Adventure (1/17) | Refusal of the Call (2/17) | Supernatural Aid (3/17) | The Crossing of the First Threshold (4/17) | Rebirth (aka “The Belly of the Whale”) (5/17)

Ch 2: Initiation

The Road of Trials (6/17) | Marriage (aka “The Meeting with the Goddess”) (7/17) | Woman as the Temptress (8/17) | Atonement with the Father (9/17) | Apotheosis (10/17) | The Ultimate Boon (11/17)

Ch 3: Departure

Refusal of the Return (12/17) | The Magic Flight (13/17) | Rescue from Without (14/17) | The Crossing of the Return Threshold (15/17) | Master of the Two Worlds (16/17) | Freedom to Live (17/17)

W6, #6: ANALYTICAL GROUP THINK

Set-Up: In class this week, all of you were put into random groups with the challenge of anaylzing a quotation found in either Ch 3 or 4.  Additionally, each group had to write a single paragraph (7-10 sentences long with the topic sentence acting as a thesis) that fully analyzed the significance of the quotation.

Challenge:

• Select a different group than you were in that wrote something you respect or learned from in a positive way. It does matter if it was the same quotation you had to analyze; additionally, it does not matter which period you select.
• Offer constructive feedback or a reaction.  The key is ‘constructive’:  useful, respectful, suggestive, specific, etc.  Note: negative or dismissive responses will not be published or given credit.

Note: Paragraphs will be in ‘rough draft’ mode until the end of class on Thursday.  Please comment on the ‘final copy’ of the group you select – this can be done anytime from Thursday afternoon forward.

Length: 5 constructive ideas/reactions (1+ sentence each)

Ch 3: “Huts on the Beach” & Ch 4: “Painted Faces and Long Hair” small group brainstorming & paragraph writing challenge:

• Per 1 Gr 1: “You let the fire go out.”
• Per 1 Gr 2: “If you’re hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling…”
• Per 1 Gr 3: “Meetings. Don’t we love meetings?…”
• Per 1 Gr 4: “They walked along, two continents…”
• Per 2 Gr 1: “They don’t smell me. They see me, I think…”
• Per 2 Gr 2: “If you’re hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling…”
• Per 2 Gr 3: “They walked along, two continents…”
• Per 2 Gr 4: “Meetings. Don’t we love meetings?…”
• Per 3 Gr 1: “Meetings. Don’t we love meetings?…”
• Per 3 Gr 2: “If you’re hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling…”
• Per 3 Gr 3: “As if the beastie, the beastie or the snake-thing, was real. Remember?”
• Per 3 Gr 4: “They walked along, two continents…”

W6, #5: WISDOM OF CROWDS

Set-Up: Ever get that feeling that no matter how closely you read/highlight a book the first time around, there are still dozens upon dozens of things ‘under the surface’ that you can’t quite put your finger on? Well, if you do, you’re a healthy human being.  At the same time, all of us are working very hard to grasp the deeper mysteries found on the island right now…even if we only have a few chapters, a couple of class discussions, and our gut instincts to guide us at this point.

Clearly there is something to be said for employing the ‘wisdom of crowds’ when where trying to figure out the hidden ideas that a novelist weaves into his/her story that go far, far beyond plot/action.  In fact, there even is an amazing book by that title if you’re curious how groups (even anonymous groups of average people) are ’smarter’ than individuals (even experts).

With that said, let’s help each other out with a series of questions that one of your classmates asked me recently.  Something tells me that a few others might find these really intriguing/helpful.

Challenge: Pick one of the following Ch 3 & 4 questions (or more, if you’d like) that were sent to me by a fellow student. Offer a solution/idea.

Here are the questions:

• On pg 62, there is this random part about Roger throwing rocks at Henry. I think that I must have seriously blacked out when I was reading because it has no relevance to the story!! Arg. Is it showing how childish they are or foreshadowing or something because that would make a lot more sense than Golding randomly putting in a kid throwing rocks. Is there a relevance to the fact that he missed? Golding says, “perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw”.  Does that mean he’s missing on purpose?

• Jack is obviously more savage now. He’s constantly talking about hunting and and how “we” need meat when it’s actually just him. If he has an entire army of choir members, then why is he wasting time trying to explain his military tactics on page 63 to the youngest boys on the island? At first I thought that jack was going to be some sort of evil dictator, but now he’s confusing me with his strange kindness.

• What is Simon doing on page 57? All that I see is that he sits down in the grass as the sun is going down and he gets up. I noticed that as Simon gets up, the same “candle buds” he mentions to Jack on pg 30 open up. What does that mean?

• On page 56, Golding compares Simon to Jack two times saying, “his feet were bare like Jack’s” and “he looked over his shoulder as jack had”. Why? Why does Jack force Simon to eat the meat on pg 74?  Well, he told everyone to eat it, but he tells Simon directly.

• What does Simon mean by “it wasn’t a good island” on page 52? Why are the boys so surprised to hear him speak? They did invite him into their ‘group’ on the first day. I still don’t get why they did that by the way. Simon isn’t exactly special. All that he did was faint, so why is he included?

Length: 7+ sentences

CH. 1 “THE SHELL ON THE BEACH” DISCUSSIONS

You’ll find the Ch. 1 “The Shell on the Beach” discussion notes from period 1, 2, & 3 on the wiki.  Go to the Lord of the Flies link.

Thank you to the 3 students who typed these notes (for 2 days each) while everyone else was able to take notes in their books!