Happy Thanksgiving

I just wanted to take a moment and tell you that I count you among my many Thanksgiving blessings.  I hope you have a wonderful, restful Thanksgiving with those you love the most.  Please share a book or play that you feel has blessed/enriched your life and tell us why. (The deadline to post a response is Friday, November 29, 2013.)

I have always had to rely on the kindness of strangers...

Is Blanche a victim of her own self-delusions and Old South attitudes? Or, is she the victim of males who take advantage of her, deceive her, or abuse her? Explain. (The deadline to post a response to this question is midnight, Saturday, November 23, 2013.)

Capricorn and the Virgin

It is clear that Stanley and Blanche are polar opposites. What do you believe Tennessee Williams is conveying about people, the South, and motivations through these two characters?  (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Nov. 20, 2013.)

Arrival in New Orleans

In Scene One of A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanch DuBois arrives at her sister's home in New Orleans.  What can you infer about Blanche's standards and her social status from her descriptions and reactions to Stella's flat and her conversations with Stella, Eunice and Stanley?  Give one line that you feel most conveys this revelation?  (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Nov. 15, 2013.

 
 

In the end...

William Golding said in his lecture at the end of the novel, "...that the only that matters is what you (the reader) get from a novel..."There are many themes in LORD OF THE FLIES. Among them are good versus evil, the importance of unity, the importance of law and order, survival of the fittest, the evil of mankind, the belief in hope, the loss of innocence, and the process of maturity. Which theme in the novel did you find most interesting? What did you learn through LORD OF THE FLIES about this theme? Explain which scene(s) in the book helped you to fully see this theme and how. (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Thursday, November 7, 2013.)

Oh, Piggy!

Few people can read Lord of the Flies without getting attached or feeling kinship in some way to Piggy.  What does Piggy represent other than intelligence in the novel?  Why do you think so many readers select him as their favorite character or connect with him?  With that being said, why do you think Golding spends only two paragraphs filled with pig imagery to convey his death?  (The deadline to post a response to this blog question is midnight, Nov. 5th.  Please note there is another blog directly below this one that also expires on this date, so give them both a shot; you are already here.)

The beauty of the written word...

We have read Chapter 9, in which Simon is murdered.  At the end of the chapter, Golding writes four beautifully descriptive paragraphs.  I have included them below.  Comment on the Golding's use of diction(word choice) to create mood in these paragraphs. What mood does he create and how does he do it?  (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Nov. 5, 2013.  No credit will be given to plagiarized comments.)

"Towards midnight the rain ceased and the clouds drifted away, so that the sky was scattered once more with the incredible lamps of stars. Then the breeze died too and there was no noise save the drip and tickle of water that ran out of clefts and spilled down, leaf by leaf, to the brown earth of the island. The air was cool, moist, and clear; and presently even the sound of the water was still. The beast lay huddled on the pale beach and the stains spread, inch by inch.

The edge of the lagoon became a streak of phosphorescence which advanced minutely, as the great wave of the tide flowed. The clear water mirrored the clear sky and the angular bright constellations. The line of phosphorescence bulged about the sand grains and little pebbles; it held them each in a dimple of tension, then suddenly accepted them with an inaudible syllable and moved on.

Along the shoreward edge of the shallows the advancing clearness was full of strange, moonbeam-bodied creatures with fiery eyes. Here and there a larger pebble clung to its own air and was covered with a coat of pearls. The tide swelled in over the rain-pitted sand and smoothed everything with a layer of silver. Now it touched the first of the stains that seeped from the broken body and the creatures made a moving patch of light as they gathered at the edge. The water rose further and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble. The strange, attendant creatures, with their fiery eyes and trailing vapours busied themselves round his head. The body lifted a fraction of an inch from the sand and a bubble of air escaped from the mouth with a wet plop. Then it turned gently in the water.

Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world the sun and moon were pulling; and the film of water on the earth planet was held, bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide moved further along the island and the water lifted. Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out towards the open sea.” 

Just for fun...

Take the quiz and post your character.  I did, and I am sure you had no doubt about it...I am PIGGY! 
http://www.qfeast.com/personality/quiz/7090/Lord-of-the-Flies-Personality-Quiz