Novel Response

The strongest horror is the horror. In Apocalypse Now, Kurtz did horrible things in the Vietnam War. This let other people feel they were under the horror. People became crazy in the war because the horror was floating above them. In Lord of the Flies, Jack did almost the same thing where the beast was the horror in the boys' mind. Because of this, the boys chose to join Jack's tribe instead of Ralph's. Jack behaved like a savage and even burned the mountain to catch Ralph. Jack just wanted to grow horror in every boys' mind. Therefore, the boys had no choice but to follow Jack. If the boys didn't stand with the horror, they died. Most of the bad things people did, began with horror.

Character sketches

Piggy:

Piggy is a fat boy and he is shorter then Ralph. He has been wearing specs since he was three. He is the only boy in his school that has asthma. "Piggy" is the name that other people used to call him. He couldn't be the leader because he cannot sound the conch. He got killed at last. He is a flat character.

Piggy is wise and he always come up with good ideas. He is a good friend of Ralph and he always follow Ralph and support him. Piggy is the only boy on the island that can use glasses to make fire. He didn't have power to let others listen to him but he is smarter than the other boys and that is why he is important to Ralph. Jack used to stole Piggy's glasses and there are some conflicts between them.

Napoleon:

Napoleon is the leader pig in the animals' revolution. He is the antagonist of the story.

When the animals succeed in revolution, Napoleon has become one of the leader of Animal Farm. He controlled the animals as his citizens and some of the animals believed every single word he said. Boxer believed that Napoleon is right. The sheep didn't stop spreading the rumor said that Napoleon is right as well. He used forces to make up animals' mind to listen and obey. His ambition never disappeared and the power in his hand is unstoppable.

The 4th quarter

Synopsis

The animals believe in what Napoleon said and work hard all year. Napoleon told the animals to rebuild the windmill project but it was only Benjamin who refused to grow enthusiastic. However, the pigs start to sleep in beds which is against “The Seven Commandments”. The Squealer explained that the rule is not against the bed but rather it is against the sheets which are a human invention. As November came, the work at the windmill had to stop. One day after the animals woke up, “A terrible sight had met their eyes. The windmill was in ruins.” Then Napoleon made a speech where he said that Snowball is their enemy because he destroyed all of their works. Napoleon further said they should finish the project anyway and that the animals are going to work through the winter, whatever the weather. After that, Snowball became the pig that was blamed for everything. Whatever was broken or damaged, the animals believed that Snowball did it. Snowball became a kind of  invisible influence in every animal's mind. The Squealer told the animals that Snowball was in the league with Jones from the very start. Then, Napoleon kept changing the rules and the animals don't have any opportunity to against them. The animal farm had a battle with the men. The animals were at breakfast when the attack came. The animals had won, but it was a big hit on the farm. The windmill was destroyed, lots of animals were bleeding and some of them were killed. Boxer was injured but Napoleon refused to take him to the hospital. Instead, Boxer was taken to the knacker's. Napoleon didn't care about the animals' life anymore even though he had a really rich life himself. Finally , Napoleon started to do business with man and eventually forgot all about animals.

Characters:

Squealer: 

He is kind of like Napoleon's mouth. When Napoleon made some decisions that are against "The Seven Commandments", he explained the decisions to the animals and made Napoleon always right.

The fierce-looking dogs: 

They don't have names and they are kind of like Napoleon's arm. When Napoleon is giving a speech, the dogs stood behind hem and ready to bite the animals which were against Napoleon.

Sheep: 

They have no brain and never stop shouting"Four legs good, two legs bad".

Boxer: 

He is a very hard-working horse and he never stops working. He was injured in a battle and was taken to the knacker's at last.

Benjamin: 

A wise donkey. He was very angry and he had never been excited like that  when he saw Boxer had been taken for slaughter.

Point of view:

The point of view of the story is the third person. The readers receive a clear image of each character.

Setting:

The story happened in a farm and the characters include both men and animals. At first, the reason for the conflict between the animals and man is that the animals suffer due to the poor care from their host. However, the exact same situation repeats even though the leader changed to a pig. After becoming the leader, the pig behaved more and more like a human and starts to do the things which the host used to do. Finally, Napoleon changed completely to a human except the appearance. With animals and men together, the main idea is shown more clearly.

Notables on writer's style:

The writer used this story to refer to a true situation in history and that these things actually happening in the world.

Theme:

The leader pig in the story became farther and farther from the other animals and fall apart from them at last. This does not mean the pig brings down the animal farm. In fact, if the leader was a hen, it would lead to a same result. People hope to build a world like animal farm, but it doesn't work in practice, only works in principle.

Verbal-visual

-->

There are many kind of conflicts in Lord of the Flies. One of the main conflict in this quarter is Person VS Person which is Jack VS Ralph. "I gave you food, said Jack, 'and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?" (P166, William Golding, Lord of the Flies) Jack thought that position of leader belongs to him and he really want it back. Ralph was selected by voters and he built all the rules to make sure it goes in an order. But Jack used his ability, the leader of hunt team and he was wondering to fight against Ralph to reach his goal. He told the boys that he can give them a good life on the island and invited them to join his tribe. The dark side of his heart was growing and this was the beginning of his action.

                                                        

-->

2. Jack has agreed the decision that Ralph could summoning the boys by sounding the shell. But he still remain the thought of disagreeing with others. “That's what I said! I said about our meetings and things and then you said shut up--” (P43 Lord of the Flies) Piggy is a wise boy and he knows what he should do at that time. His brain was clear enough to get everything done properly. But Jack did not. Jack started to lose his mind since he step in a wild world because there was no adults. When he was no longer under control, he will show his negative characteristic. That' s the reason for all the conflicts took place.
   

   

   
   
   
   

   3.Napoleon has become the new leader of the animal farm and he started to gave more special interests. "Milk and apples contain substances absolutely necessary to the well-being of a pig. We pigs are brain workers." (P23 George Orwell Animal Farm) The animals were confused that the pigs were not equal to the other animals. This was the first time for Squealer to explain a negative decision that Napoleon made. Napoleon now was in a level which is above all of the other animals. However, Napoleon didn't talk to animals by himself. Instead, Squealer helped him. This is because Napoleon wanted to pretend that he was busy and has lots of work to do. In addition, he knows that he can never stay in that position without helpers. He need to build a group that controlled by him and they have to share what they get. That is where the government comes from.

   

   
   
   4.The animal farm has been shut down by the loss of duty of pigs. “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which.” (P95, George Orwell, Animal Farm) The true animal farm no longer exists and the resources were sold to human. Napoleon started to cooperate with man. The animal farm has changed to a completely opposite direction compared to the purpose when the animals first built it. The reason of changing is that the power is concentrated in Napoleon's hand. When the power is extremely unbalanced, no one can stop what Napoleon wants to do, in order to rich himself, Napoleon finally chose to abandon all the other animals and live like a man.

   

   
   

   
   

The 3rd quarter

Synopsis

  Mr Jones owns a farm and the farm has pigs, horses and hens live in it. There is a pig called Major. Once Major gave a speech to the animals in the farm and said that animals shouldn't be like this as "nearly the whole of the produce of their labour is stolen by human beings." He also says that man is the enemy of animals and tells them that he has a dream of the earth as it will be when man has vanished. At the end of the speech, Major sang a song called "Beast of England" which is the song he used to sing when he was little. Three days later, the pig called "Old Major" died in his sleep. After the speech, the animals were to prepare a secret activity and the farm had been given a completely new outlook. There are two clever pigs, Napoleon and Snowball, which are labelled for sale. They both have become the new leader of the animals. One night, Mr Jones is drunk and the animals start to attack him. The animals win the battle at last and the farm is now controlled by them. The two clever pigs are still the leader, They make new rules for the animals called "The Seven Commandments". The animals start a new life and they use tools to create things. However, the leader pigs start to grab the apples and milk. Animals are angry about this but Napoleon explains it that they need those things to make their brains work well. There are two pigs controlling the farm. However, it is the time to decide which of them is more powerful than the other. When Snowball is telling the animals about the project of windmill, Napoleon uses dogs to bite Snowball and make him leave the farm.

Character

Napoleon: Napoleon is one of the leaders of the animals. He is a fierce pig and is also the antagonist of the story

Snowball: Snowball is the other pig leader who is more vivacious than Napoleon

Mr. Jones: He is the owner of the farm but he is defeated by the animals

Old Major: A pig who created the thought saying that animals should be free. He is a flat character

Boxer: A horse that always believes in the leaders and says that "Napoleon is always right." (Flat character)

Clover: Another horse but more careful than Boxer

Benjamin: He is a donkey and he is the first to realize that nothing will change even they are no longer controlled by man

Point of view

This story is told by a third person's view so that it could show all of the changes to the farm and the leaders.

Setting

This story happens in a farm located in England.

Notables on writer's style

One of the special thing in this story is the use of personification. The major characters are all animals. Unlike the other novels, Animal Farm uses less words to render the environment. Therefore the main part of the story shows up very quickly and every section is connected very closely to each other.

Theme

The theme of the story is that the balance in the controllers hand must be broken if one of them want to receive greater benefit.

Lord of the Flies

2nd quarter

Synopsis:

ŸThe boys were afraid since the two boys said that they have seen the beast at that night.

Jack’s hunt team has caught a pig. The boys had a feast that night and Jack invite Ralph and Piggy. Jack killed the pig, cut its head off and put it in the forest. He said this is the gift for the beast.

Simon walked through the forest and he met the Lord of the Flies. He was told that he would get killed by seven boys including Ralph and Piggy.

After the feast, Jack had a talk. He asked all the boys who want to join him and they will have meat; also they can get protection from the hunters and keep them away from the beast. Ralph, Piggy had a battle with Jack about this. But still, a lot of boys joined Jack’s team.

Simon came back at night time but when the boys saw him, they thought he was the beast and killed him.

Ralph was really sad and felt guilty about Simon’s death. Ralph kept telling himself that he murdered Simon. Piggy still in Ralph’s side and he said to Ralph that it was only an accident. He wanted Ralph to calm down.

Ralph and Piggy asked Jack to give the spec and the glass back to Piggy. But Jack no longer treated Ralph as chief. He rejected. Piggy shouted to Jack and said that he was the thief. This let both of them angry with each other. At last, Piggy was killed by Jack.

Jack wanted to catch Ralph, so he burned the mountain. Ralph tried hard to escape. When he was almost got caught, he met an officer who was standing on the sand. He was saved. He and some little boys were in the cruiser and began to sob when they thought about Simon and Piggy.

Characters:

Simon: He knew that there was no beast and he wanted to tell everyone what the truth was. But this didn’t do any good to him, and he was killed as a beast by the boys in a “dance”. He represents the truth but truth never exists long.

Jack: He almost became a savage in the end. He started to lose his human nature once from he failed to be the chief. He did all the things he can do to get this position back. He wanted the boys to join him and his excuse was providing meat and safe. This is much more attractive than the hope to be recurred.

Ralph: He represents the positive side in the story. But he was defeated by darkness. He lost his two friends. He owned nothing but the opportunity to run at last. He wanted to build rules and wanted to be recurred but they were all been destroyed.

Piggy: He is wise. He gave the right suggestions to Ralph but he got no power.

Point of view:

The point of view of the story is third Person’s view. This will give readers more information about the story, including the thoughts of each character, the connections with them and the whole idea of the story.

Setting:

It is an island without adults. At first, everything goes along with an order but when the beast starts to go into boys’ mind, they have been changed. “The littluns” are controlled by a strong force which leads them to a wrong trend.

Notables on writer’s style and structure

The writer raises a sharp question using a simplified model. The model is a shadow of the real world. The main characters represent different kind of people in a closed system.

Statement of theme

The theme is the source and growth of darkness. The rules were built at first, but it got ruined at last. There is no beast in the world but there are beasts in people’s mind. The beasts are created by human. They look all right when they are hiding in somewhere but they will finally show their real face once they take their skin off.

The 1st Quarter

-->

Synopsis

• A plane which carried a group of boys crashed and left the boys

alone on an island

• Ralph was chosen to be the leader of the group by those boys
• Jack was told to be the leader of the hunt team
• One of the boy said that he saw a monster but no one believe it
• Ralph told the boys to build a fire on the mountain for signal. They collect wood and use Piggy’s glass as a lenses to gather sunlight to burn the wood
• Ralph, Jack and Piggy had a sharp conversation because Jack didn’t keep an eye on the signal fire. Jack had a serious resentment towards Ralph and Piggy from now on

Jack wants the position of leader at the beginning but he failed. So he seldom obeys Ralph’s idea or advice. When the time passed, he accumulate more and more resentment to Ralph.

Characters

Ralph: The protagonist of the novel and the chief in the story. He is smart and thoughtful.

Jack: The antagonist of the novel. He was in charge of hunting at first. There is always a kind of fierce hide in the bottom of his heart.

Piggy: He follows Ralph all the time and he always support Ralph.

Point of view

This novel uses third person’s point of view.
The author in this story acts as a narrator and he is telling this story to readers. This is like the author saw what happened and he is describing it.

Setting

The story took place in a desert island. There is no adult but only a group of boys.

We want to see what will happen if there is only a group of boys on an island. There are no rules or governments and this teaches the boys that if they want something, they fight for it. Finally people will back to a wild life.
Notables on writer’s style and structure

The author uses lots of psychological description and symbolism in the novel. As well as dialogue descriptions.

Themes

Authority and control

The growing of wild ambition