The previous two weeks in my English class, we worked on our To Kill a Mockingbird essays. As I mentioned in my last post, Week 1, I choose to write my essay on the theme of racism. My docile English class was taught how to write every part of an essay until we knew how to create a whole. Then, our next assignment was to put all of our notes and knowledge together to form an in-class essay on To Kill a Mockingbird. Similar to most of my classmates, I didn't completely finish my in-class essay; I only completed about half of it.
Furthermore, during the previous two weeks, we were also assigned to an outside reading group. Each group has to pick their own book from a specific list of novels to read and write an in-class essay about. Each outside reading group is required to read and analyze four novels throughout the year, one at each quarter. For this quarter, my group chose to read the novel Black Boy. Black Boy is an autobiography of Richard Wright, in which he explores his childhood and young adulthood. Within the novel, he also explores the racial relations in the south at the time when he was growing up.
The below video gives many people's perspectives on the author, Richard Wright.
This week in English class, we started reading and analyzing the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding.
My English class mainly focused on analyzing Golding's process of characterization. The initial descriptions of several of the main characters show his first step to creating and developing a character. So far, to the point where we have read up to, Golding has introduced many extraneous characters along with three significant characters: Piggy, Ralph, and Jack.
Golding describes Piggy to be very fat and shorter than Ralph. Piggy is portrayed to be gregarious and very caring, especially of what others think of him. His asthma and glasses are very symbolic to his character and play a major role in his life. The description of Piggy's background allows the reader to infer that he originates from the middle class. Based on Piggy's character, he is an easy target to boss around and bully. For instance, all Piggy asked of Ralph is to not tell the others about his nickname, Piggy, however Ralph goes against Piggy's desires and tells them. In the real world, there are many people similar to Piggy; where they don't have a mean bone in their body, yet people treat them badly. Also, similar to Piggy, many people are bullied not by physical abuse but by verbal abuse. While bullies may think verbal abuse is simply banter, it is not funny at all for the person being hurt. The following ad campaign shows how words, or verbal abuse, can hurt.
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| This is a picture of Piggy from The Lord of the Flies movie. |
Ralph is described to be a well-built, handsome, tan, fair haired, and young. From his actions, the reader can imply that he is non-chalant, confident, and leader-like. The actions of Ralph blowing the conshell and everyone coming to him may prove to be very symbolic. Ralph talks like a boy, yet he is fairly mature. Judging on the fact that his dad is in the navy, the reader can infer that he is probably upper middle class.
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| This a picture of Ralph from The Lord of the Flies movie. |
Golding's initial description of Jack is very negative; Jack is described as tall, thin, and bony with a crumpled face. His unattractive looks seem to be a symbolic aspect of his character. Jack acts as if he is automatically the leader and most powerful person among this group. The uniform implies that is very wealthy.
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| This a picture of Jack from The Lord of the Flies movie. |
Besides reading and analyzing The Lord of the Flies, my English class has to write an essay on the novel that corresponds to the essay prompt. The essay prompt instructs us to analyze one of Golding's characters in the novel and describe his process of characterization. This essay will be written outside of class, which personally I feel increases the quality and quantity of the essay.
