Additionally, include at least one idea from each of the three lenses that you buy/accept.
Lastly, what ideas will you lead with tomorrow during the Lord of the Flies forum? Answer with 150+ words.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
Literary Lens—due January 31
Which literary lens (Freudian, Marxist, Feminist, Deconstruction, Orientalism, Structuralism, other) are you wearing most? Why?
Additionally, include at least one idea from each of the three lenses that you buy/accept.
Lastly, what ideas will you lead with tomorrow during the Lord of the Flies forum? Answer with 150+ words.
Additionally, include at least one idea from each of the three lenses that you buy/accept.
Lastly, what ideas will you lead with tomorrow during the Lord of the Flies forum? Answer with 150+ words.
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101 comments:
Glen 2
I am wearing the Freudian lens more than any of the others. This is because of the different conceptual ideas that Sigmund Freud completed that pertains to psychoanalysis. Meaning, he studied the theme of which the environment of a person affects their behavior as they grow up. For example, I support the theory due to what I witness with many different types of people that I have met throughout my life. Some individuals do not have as much parental support in their homelife; therefore, they may not try as hard in school. Contrastingly, a person who has such may exceed in school, as well. The environment of an individual, I believe, does affect how a person may act when they grow up. In Friday’s Forum, I will discuss the differences in the environment that the boys grew up in before and during their life on the island. An example of the Freudian ideas support the theory that the boys were calm, collected, and mature before they crashed onto the island. Once the boys begin to live on the island, in the wild without parents, they begin to go wild and no longer pay attention to morally correct behavior, which supports my selected choice of literary lens.
DeWitt 1
The literary lens that I am wearing the most is Freudian. The three main boys (Jack, Ralph, and Piggy) to me relate to the id, ego, and superego. I look at the boys as one of each of these ideas. Jack is more of the id or instinctual responses to problems; Ralph relates more to the ego or realistic responses to problems; and Piggy is the superego or moral responses to problems. I agree with the Freudian theory that the ego is the main controller and that the id is our unconscious desires. I also agree that the superego is used to help give our ego better responses and shut down the responses the id requests. In the book we see Ralph acting like the ego with Piggy helping with the superego side of things and Jack trying to cause mayhem with the id side of things. For the Marxist theory, I agree that Ralph and Piggy could be the ruling or higher class and Jack and his associates could be the working or lower class. Jack seems like he could also be a leader, whether good or bad, yet he is shunned by some because he doesn't have the looks that Ralph has (especially in the beginning of the book). I agree that higher and lower classes are used in literature to describe the conflicts of the current government system of the author's time period. For the Feminist theory, I agree that the sow may have represented a female and that when they killed the sow with the spear, it was representing the degrading of females and also could have represented the raping of females as well. I agree that women in literature are generally seen as weaker and less likely to defend themselves but I also agree that now in literature we are seeing more strong and independent female characters that can take charge by themselves. Lastly, for the forum, I am going to lead with looking at all the hidden meanings behind the events in the stories. Take the killing of the sow for instance. I am going to look at how killing the sow could have been a metaphor for female rape as the boys love stabbing and abusing the sow while also sticking the spear up the sows butt. I want to dig deeper into the events and see what hidden meanings could be connected to problems relating to the time when the book was written.
Poncelet 2
I believe that the literary lens that I am wearing is structuralism. I believe this shorts story has more examples of structuralism than anything else. Structuralism is the interpretation and the analysis of human behavior and cognition. Structuralism focuses on the contrast between reflective patterns and superficial diversity. The example of structuralism I have in this short story is the behavior of Jack versus the behavior of Ralph. Ralph is the leader and the natural born chief and person to lead others. While Jack is almost the exact opposite of a great leader, he is thick headed, strong, and very dangerous if others turn their back on him. Jack would have no problem killing anyone that got in his way if he so pleases. The contrast between the behaviorist patterns of these two is structuralism. During the Lord of the Flies forum I will start off with what Jack does and how he acts behaviorally to what Ralph says about Piggy and what will happen next.
Ask 7
One lens that really stuck out to me during this book would be the feminist lens because not only is there not a single girl on the island but the way they treat the female pig also surprised me. Since there are no females on the island, Golding illustrates some of the boys more feminine like Piggy, Simon, and Ralph for example. In the book, the author describes Piggy and Simon in a way that makes them not sound masculine and strong compared to the other boys. Throughout the whole book, these three boys also take care of the younger children. Ralph is not described as being feminine like the other two. Ralph acts as the motherly figure trying to keep things in order while Jack is more like the dad(older generations). Ralph is taking care of the kids, creating shelters, making sure people are eating and bathing, etc. while Jack is off having fun hunting instead of helping out “at home”. Not only are characters feminized in the book but the way the boys kill the female pigs is slightly disturbing and brings up the feminist lens. Roger, a sadist, takes the spear and shoves it up the pig's butt. I feel that this shows that the boys have gone savage. The feminist lens also comes up when thinking about what if there were females around would they act different, would they fight more, would they have become savage, etc.? I believe Golding put all males on the island to show what all this testosterone in one room can cause and to show that women help not only calm men but help them see a clear picture when making decisions. This book is strong feminism in showing that when men rule, it leads to violence. Another theory I accept would be the Freudian theory of the id, ego, and superego. In the book the id is Jack, the superego is Piggy, and the ego is Ralph. In the story, Jack acts on instinct he doesn’t thoroughly think through how this affects everyone while Piggy, on the other hand, thinks with logic. Ralph, who is the chief, has to take these sides and decided what to do. He has to reason with both sides and come to a safe conclusion. The ideas I am going to lead with tomorrow will be how this story has multiple lenses, but the two mains ones I saw were the two above.
Each literary lens is very unique. They all make a person think in different ways than they usually do. There is a lot of different literary lenses a person can wear. Most of the time you are wearing more than one but maybe one is more dominant than the others. I think I am wearing the Freudian theory the most—especially when reading Lord of the Flies. Sigmund Freud’s theory says that the events in our childhood are what shape us for adulthood and I completely agree. You might also say that the people that are around you also shape you for adulthood and if you are no longer around those people then you lose some of the morals they have taught you. The id, ego, and superego in Freud’s theory represent the three main boys in the book, with Jack as the id, Ralph being the ego, and Piggy as the superego. When the boys crash on the island they are no longer around anyone that is making them follow rules so they end up doing things that they usually would not have done. Another theory that shows up in this book is the feminist theory. As I read I noticed that there were no females on the island other than the female pig who they did not treat very well. The ideas I plan on leading in Friday’s forum, are the literary lenses I have already stated and the behaviors of the boys relating to the Freudian theory.
Kellogg 2
I have mostly been wearing the literary theory of structuralism. Mainly, I try to break apart literature into its own unique works and decide what kind of category it fits best into. I do this to better understand the literature itself and connect it to other works, realities, or histories. In structuralism, the purpose is to analyze certain aspects of human behaviors, cultures, and experiences in order to compare and contrast them with underlying concepts. I believe that the actions of humans do symbolize a broader system and that works of literature can represent a given reality. I believe in the deconstruction theory, which is the breaking down of ideas to find hidden truths lying beneath them. I also believe in the Freudian theory of personality development. The three fundamental ideas of the mind, id, ego, and superego, are all existing in the same setting, but not necessarily working together. On Friday, during the Lord of the Flies forum, I will lead with the ideas of religion, including God and the devil, and ideas of civilization and order, along with savagery.
Huntimer 2
The symbolism and messages included in The Lord of the Flies are important in understanding the basics of human behavior and morals. I viewed most of the novel through the Freudian lens; there was a lot of damage done to the mind and behavior of the boys while on the island. It can be viewed through the characters and the events that happen in the book; William Golding wrote about how the characters can represent the three levels of the mind. Piggy is the “do good” EGO, Jack represents the “savage” ID, and Ralph is the interpreter of both being the Superego. The falling action of the book was the group of boys hunting Ralph for sport. Having the constant threat that Roger has a two sharpened spear, we could assume Ralph’s planned death would be similar to a pig; the boys would place Ralph’s head on the spear and present it to “the beast”. I thought it was very odd that civilized (or as civilized as kids can be) children could revert to savage survival instincts and severe paranoia. The “beast” was not actually real, but psychologically, the boys were able to convince themselves that there was a creature that meant them harm. It was Simon that first concluded from an odd psychedelic state that the “beast” was—in fact—their imagination on page 143. The head of the pig told Simon, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!”, representing the psychological conflict within him—and the other boys. After adventuring up into the mountain to discover that the dead paratrooper was the mysterious “beast”, Simon was murdered by the other boys during their “dance”. This represents that their minds were compromised by fear; this blocked any source of reason during their attack. A common saying that relates to the boys is: you are not actually afraid of the dark, but what is IN the dark. Fear also was the reason Piggy was killed; Jack’s ignorance (ID) was overcome by savagery that he didn’t consider a civilized sense of reason. The book even talked about how on page 62 that Roger was conditioned to act a certain way in society, “ Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins”. The psychological mindset of the boys directly influenced their actions, and the outcomes of others. During the forum, I will include the questions I thought while reading the book: The behavior shown was ridiculous, but would a civilized human from today turn to that? How does the experience on the island affect the boys psychologically for the rest of their lives; How does Ralph recover psychologically? The Lord of the Flies is a brilliant novel that reflected the true underlying psychology of survival instincts within everyone.
2 Cushing
I believe that I am most wearing Freudian because often times I see my surroundings in each of this lens and try to access what is best for the situation. I accept this in the book because I see this all throughout the novel. Sigmund Freud’s theory of id, ego, and superego it is seen in lord of the flies. There are three main characters Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. Each one part of Sigmund Freud’s theory. Jack is most notably Id, the primitive instincts. This is seen in jacks love for hunting and savage lifestyle. Ralph is most notably ego, the part of id which is modified by the influences of the external world. Ralph does this throughout this entire novel. The fire is a direct symbol for Ralphs correlation to the ego. It is an adaptation to his surrounding. Piggy is the most notable superego. This is seen as piggy is the one who is constantly making the moral decisions in the book. He is always telling Ralphs what the right thing to do it is. On Friday I plan to discuss how so many the characteristics that the boys pick up from being unsupervised we see in children online today. Kids have so much access to things adults can no longer oversee at all times and this book is a perfect example of what happens when children lose sight of how they should act.
I believe I wear Freudian lense the most while reading books; the Lord of the Flies was no exception. Throughout the book, I was constantly wondering what was going through their heads that made them act the way they did. What made Jack so power hungry? How come Simon is so afraid to say what he thinks? I have no actual answers to these questions. I am left to assume that their previous environment formed the way they think. One can see that Jack is power hungry from the very beginning, when he makes his whole choir stand there in line until someone faints. Looking through a Feminist lense, I think they are very against women. They kill female pigs, which are necessary for supplying them with more pigs to eat later. Looking through a Marxist lense, I think Ralph tries to run a dictatorship using Marxism. For example, Piggy hardly ever does anything for the good of the community besides speak his mind, and he still gets to eat. I plan to bring up the mob mentality in our forum. I find it very interesting that no one wants to go against the crowd when they have the opportunity to as a group, but when they are alone they start making their own decisions. They all seem to agree during meetings but then they leave and continue on as they please.
I have trouble seeing through the literary lens’, but I would say I wear the Marxist lens the most. The Marxist lens is the one that I wear the most because it is the easiest lens for me to see through. One example of the Feminist lens that I accepted was that Nala should be the king/queen in Lion King. We discussed in class how it was clear that she was more fit and was kept out of the role specifically because of gender. I noticed class conflict in Lord of the Flies which represents the Marxist lens. Ralph and Jack are fighting over who should be the leader, while the other bigguns are stuck choosing sides and the littleuns don’t really even matter in deciding who gets power. Lord of the Flies can also be easily seen through the Freudian lens when viewing the three main characters. Jack represents the Id, Ralph represents the Ego, and Piggy represents the Superego. I look forward to our group discussion about the book because I am interested to hear how the other students perceived the ending of the book. I intend to bring up the last part of the book in the discussion to find out if the other students thought it was a fitting ending.
I believe that, for the most part, I wear the Freudian Lens, at least for the entirety of reading Lord of the Flies. I wear this lens for the most part because I really had to delve into the psyche of all of the characters when reading. This is because there were no adults on the island, so the kids had to go into roles that would not normally go to a child. The older children had to grow up much faster than they should have because they needed to act as adults for more comfort for the younger children. An Idea that I believe from the Freudian Lens is the Id vs Superego idea where two parts of the brain constantly fight each other to decide whether or not a person does the right thing. An Idea that I believe from the Feminist Lens is that everybody has feminine characteristics that make them better people. An idea from the Marxist Lens is that people will do what they know by how they were raised. Tomorrow, I will lead with how, unintentionally, Jack caused the childrens' rescue by doing exactly what he and his hunters were avoiding by lighting the entire forest on fire in an attempt to hunt Ralph.
I have been studying the Lord of the Flies in the Feminists lenses mainly and studying the characteristics of each character. The most feminine character of the book, I think, is Piggy. Piggy is always looking out for the littluns and making sure they are okay. He wants to sit and talk about what they should until everyone has come to an agreement. Because of this, masculine figures, such as Jack, are able to walk all over them. Ralph and Simon are also considered feminists characters because they know what they should do to get rescued. Feminist characters are considered the best because they considered the feelings of everyone. However, I do the believe the Freudian lense as well, along as the “id”, “ego”, and “superego” ideas. The ego is the middle guy, the one the “id” and the “superego” are trying to get him to listen to themselves. Ralph is the ego, Jack is the id, and Piggy is the superego. This is because Jack is considered the “villain” and he’s trying to convince Ralph that the best thing to do is to hunt, and eventually goes off on his own when Ralph doesn’t take his side. Piggy is considered the superego because he’s the nice one, he’s the one who to convince the trying to get rescued is the best option and to keep the fire going.
Crapser 1
The lens that I use the most is Freudian. I like looking into the mental stand points of things. To me the ideas of what is going on inside their heads. What people do for different reasons is very important. The experiences and ideas that come from a person are critical to understanding a story. It is also very interesting in the Lord of the Flies story looking at the internal fight going on between all the boys. This can be seen in Jack, who wants to kill the pig. Who went so fast from being a proper boy to being what many would see as savage. While others would not go though this change as quickly. Piggy stays very civilized for almost the whole time. This can show that people have many ideas in their heads. Jack and Piggy represent the many things that Ralph has to pick from. The represent the two paths that the boys can go down when he is like this.
Geringer 1
I am wearing the Freudian lens more than any other lenses because I believe that parenting greatly affects the way children behave. For example, if parents are pushing their children to do well in school the children will more than likely try their hardest to complete all of their homework and do well on tests and quizzes; however, if parents do not care how their children do in school the children will more than likely not care either thus resulting in missing/late assignments and bad grades on tests and quizzes. On Friday I will be suggesting that the way the boys behave might be because of the way they have been raised. Maybe Jack is the way he is because he had extremely strict parents that wouldn’t let him do anything, or maybe his parents did not care at all what he did so he is used to not following rules.
Johnson 1
There are many literary lenses that are expressed in this book. However, the one that I am most buying is the Freudian theory. I am following this one the most because it is the theory that the person is changed by their environment. I think this lens is most used because the boys are constantly changing from the first time they get there to end. Also, all the boys came from an environment such as how Piggy was kind of babied by his auntie meanwhile Ralph is more laid back and mature and takes care of himself well and Jack is savage. But, since the boys are trapped on an island they must change such as Ralph needs to learn how to hunt and Piggy needs to learn how to do stuff on his on. You also see the Freudian theory with how Piggy tries to make sure Ralph doesn't do anything bad meanwhile Jack is trying to get Ralph to be a savage which is an example of ego and superego. With the Marxist theory, I see the boys as a family type thing. Piggy gives off a grandma like complex because he is always worried about what's going on, Ralph gives off a mom type of complex always controlling everything and Jack is like a dad doing the hard work like hunting. I see the feminist lens with all the boys. Piggy is the most feminist in my idea just because he was raised by his auntie for so long that he kind of loses touch with his masculine side.
I believe that you can wear many different lenses in your lifetime. You may not look at things the same now versus when you were a kid. I think I am wearing the Freudian lens the most. The Freudian lens deals with having ID vs. superego. Superego means having a conscious of the decisions you make. ID means not having a conscious of your decisions. I think I display more of a superego because I tend to do the right thing in situations. I don't like cheating people out of deals, I want to be as fair as possible. Tomorrow during the Friday Forum I will talk about the lenses and how they relate to the Lord of the Flies. The first one is the Marxist lens dealing with having power in a story. Lord of the Flies shows power with Ralph being in charge at the beginning of the book then later on Jack being in charge of a group. I will mention how the story portrays the Freudian lens. Jack displays more of the "ID" part and Piggy is "superego" and Ralph is considered "ego." The third lens I will discuss is the feminist theory and Ralph and Piggy especially have more feminist qualities to them. Those are the ideas I will discuss tomorrow.
Harvison 1
With all the literary theories available to choose from, I would more likely associate myself with the Freudian theory. I find it interesting how he uses the surroundings of people to explain certain ways they act. I agree with this as I believe where and how we were raised greatly impacts how we will later act in the future. For example, going to school at Brandon rather than Washington, the traits we learn here compared to ones that we don't learn there (good or bad). Tomorrow for the literary discussion I will bring up the political side of Lord of the Flies. In reading this book, you can see how they end up switching from several different political categories, like democracy to dictatorship to communism. For example, when Jack and his "gang" go on the hunt and get the pig, they reluctantly share to others, even though others did not do the hunting, you could make a case that this is a slight form of communism, where everybody is equal.
The literary lens that I am wearing the most while reading Lord of the Flies is the Feminist lens. I have been able to notice a lot of theories even though there are not any women in the book. You can obviously tell that some characters are more feminine than others such as Piggy and Simon. They are the more caring ones and aren’t as concerned with hunting as the savage boys are. Even though girls can be interested in hunting, I am just using the stereotype. Also, these two opinions are never really heard or accepted because of the weak feminine persona they give off. These two are also the ones that die at the hands of the savages because they feel their masculinity is being threatened by them. I accept the ideas of the Freudian, Marxist, and Orientalism theories as well. You can see Ralph struggling with his inner thoughts, battling against the ID and Superego that is Jack and Piggy. The Marxist theory is shown with the want of a dictator (Jack) to completely control the island with savage ideals. I also buy the idea of Orientalism, that the boys, mostly Jack’s clan, are taking over as much of the island as they can and also taking Ralph’s fire. They feel the need to obtain as many resources for themselves and are willing to do whatever to obtain them. Tomorrow I will lead with my Feminist ideas while also talking about the other theories.
Graber 2
The literary lens I wear most is the feminist one. I wear this one most because Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are feminized characters. They have feminine characteristics. These characteristics are qualities that are needed for them to survive, succeed, and thrive. We see these characteristics in Simon when he goes into the cave to get alone. It’s like a mother that needs to get away from her kids and family. I also accept the idea of marxist, Freudian, and orientalist. I accept the idea from marxist because Roger and Ralph are like the mom and Jack is like the dad. I accept Freudian in the way that Jack is masculine and Piggy is feminine. I accept orientalist because he boys were competitive to live and did everything possible and necessary to survive. Tomorrow I am going to talk about the irony of Piggy’s name in the way that they kill pigs for food, and he ends up getting killed.
Graber 2
The literary lens I wear most is the feminist one. I wear this one most because Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are feminized characters. They have feminine characteristics. These characteristics are qualities that are needed for them to survive, succeed, and thrive. We see these characteristics in Simon when he goes into the cave to get alone. It’s like a mother that needs to get away from her kids and family. I also accept the idea of marxist, Freudian, and orientalist. I accept the idea from marxist because Roger and Ralph are like the mom and Jack is like the dad. I accept Freudian in the way that Jack is masculine and Piggy is feminine. I accept orientalist because he boys were competitive to live and did everything possible and necessary to survive. Tomorrow I am going to talk about the irony of Piggy’s name in the way that they kill pigs for food, and he ends up getting killed.
I am wearing the freudian lens while I read The Lord of The Flies. While I’m reading I focus on the Jack and Piggy and how they are polar opposites. Jack is the id and Piggy is the superego. The differences are depicted by how they speak in the novel and the actions that they embody. Ralph is somewhere in the middle representing the ego. He has characteristics of Jack and Piggy, and he is placed somewhere in the midst of the two. This is why I believe that Ralph is the chosen leader and makes the most important decisions. I accept that violence leads to violence as depicted in Marxist theory. In the novel violence certainly leads to more violence, through the actions of Jack and his hunting. I also believe that there is strong feminist theory throughout the novel. Piggy, Ralph and Simon embody feminist ideals by showing more caring towards the littluns and have their mindset on things other than hunting boars like Jack. Orientalist theory is displayed when the children have a desire to conquer the entire island. They display characteristics of destruction, viciousness, and competition while inhabiting the island. I will lead with the symbolism of the fire upon the mountain and how the dying of the fire leads to the dying of the companionship between the island inhabitants.
The different theories we have been taught have surely stretched my thinking. The one I agree with most is Freudism. Sigmund Freud had a lasting impact on the world with his psychoanalytic theories. In the Lord of the Flies, Freudism comes up a few times. The characters, for example, relate to this theory. The Id is Jack, the superego is Piggy, and the ego is Ralph. The Id is usually the “devil”. Ralph is harsh and violent. He has to go against what everyone says. Ralph does not think before he speaks; his mind is unconscious. The superego is used to balance out the Id’s actions. It is the “angel” of the mind. Piggy is the angel in this book. Piggy tries to persuade the other boys to not make a bad decision. He also is very timid and shy and gets emotional often. Lastly, the ego is Ralph. Ralph likes to make decisions himself. Things always have to go his way.
Grode 2
I am wearing the Marxist lens the most when I read The Lord of the Flies. I am wearing this one the most because I can really see the different classes in the novel. Ralph leads the democracy with the conch representing order. Jack leads the totalitarianism and is very savage and ruthless. The working and ruling class are clearly represented in the novel. The ruling class is Ralph and Piggy at the beginning and Jack is the working class. The working class becomes disgruntled and starts another group. Freudian theory is seen with Jack and Piggy and Ralph. Piggy is trying to get Ralph to do good things being the ego, and Jack is the superego trying to get him to do bad things. Structuralism shows the change of the boys over time. They were from civilization and forced into isolation making them change a lot. I will be going into tomorrow with the ideas of Marxism. I think they are clearly shown in the novel and I will be talking about it.
I am wearing the orientalist lens the most. I am wearing it because I did most of my research on that theory because I thought less people would research it and it was interesting to me. In the book the boys are like the European Imperialists who conquered cultures of the East. In this case the boys are conquering and enslaving the island. As the novel goes on however, we can see how the boys change from a civilized high end group to a savage and dangerous group. This is ironic because the boys made a full dynamic change and are now in need of “Western Civilization” to step in and save them. I can also buy the Ego idea from the Freudian lense. It is quite obvious Ralph is the ego in the story and is being influenced by piggy, the superego, and Jack the Id. Jack shows the masculine characteristics of violence and savagery. Piggy shows the feminine characteristics of calmness and sensible thinking. I will lead with the orientalist lens tomorrow in the discussion.
I am a feminist theorist the most because many characters in the novel have feminist qualities, and they will impact the sanity of each character while on the island. In the novel, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon show the most feminine qualities and take care of the littuns. Because of this, Ralph is the most qualified to be chief. Jack believes that he should be chief, but he is the most violent out of everyone on the island. Jack is slowly corrupting everyone on the island and making them turn away from civilization, which is why he is the least qualified to be chief. I also associate with the Freudian theory and that the events that happen on the island as a child will affect them for the rest of their lives whether they know it or not. There is no doubt that numerous characters will develop PTSD from the fears of the beasts living on the island. The fears are developing in the nightmares during the night.
Larson 2
I am reading with a Freudian lens mostly. Although, I can see through the other theories. The Freudian lense sticks out to me mostly because the book is a constant struggle between power in Ralph and Jack. Ralph always tries to do the right thing which describes him as the ego. Jack is always trying to dominate over Ralph by using his power and savagery. This would see Jack as ID. Then there is Piggy who tries to have his voice heard because the smartest out of everyone. But, Piggy is often shunned and avoided making him the superego. I do not think there wasn’t a chapter were there was not a conflict between the boys. It is very easy to see this because the book does a good job of vividly characterising the three making them distinguishable. Another lens I look clearly through is the Feminist. I am kind of torn between anti-feminist and pro-feminist. There many examples in the book that support each of them. For anti-feminist, some examples include: killing only female pigs, shunning/avoiding the female acting characters, and even Ralph not reading a certain book because it is about two girls. For pro-feminist, some examples include: showing all the wrong male characteristics and how the two feminine characters are the purest ones on the island. Two other lenses I see are structuralism and deconstruction. Structuralism shows how the boys once were from a civilized place back home and have become power hungry. Throughout the book you can tell some boys still follow those rules and some do not. Deconstruction is seen because as I read, I try look deeper into the words and events that happen and how they could symbolize something or be seen as something else. Tomorrow I will lead with the anti and pro-feminism.
The literary lens I wear the most would most likely be the Freudian theory. It really explains why people grow up to be the way they are. For example, it would explain that I enjoy watching baseball more than football because I grew up playing softball. Freudian theory helps me to understand why Ralph, Jack, and Piggy act the way they do in the book. In Lord of the Flies, Jack represents Id. He goes completely off of instincts and is overly ecstatic that there are no adults around. Ego is represented by Ralph. He uses logic to make decisions and represents the reality that wants to find a way off the island. Lastly, Piggy coincides with superego. He tries to find the best way to look at everything. At the beginning of the book, he always brings up his aunt. He says his aunt told him not to this or that because of his asthma. Piggy is the complete opposite of Jack. In the forum tomorrow I will make sure to use this reasoning in our conversations.
Poppenga 2
The literary lens that speaks out to me the most is the Freudian lens. The boys have only known the destruction of WW2, which was created by man. They have not yet had the time or opportunities to grow as a person and learn right from wrong. As they develop their own character on the island, some take roles of the bad men that conquered their country or some take on the role of a caregiver. For an example of a “masculine” boy, Jack has made it clear that he is the most dominant boy out of the bunch. He portrays id, which demands immediate gratification of needs and unconscious energy that satisfies urges, needs, and desires. Being a superego character in the book is frowned upon, but they are actually the sanest people in the book. They demonstrate ideas that have been acquired from their parents and society. Piggy is superego and works to suppress the urges of the id(Jack) and tries to make the ego(Ralph) behave righteously.
Frantzen 1
When reading The Lord of the Flies I really put on my Marxist lense. Before this year I did not even know what literary lenses were. In saying this, I am still learning the best ways to look through my lenses. I am using the Marxist lense while reading this book because I think that it will benefit the way I perceive this book the most. By using the Marxist lense I can see the story more clear and interpret the book better. The Marxist theory that intrigues me the most is the theory that Jack is the dad of the island and that Ralph is the mom. Jack is very tough and acts like what he saw in his household back home which causes him to be rough and is the reason he is hard on the littleuns. Ralph is more caring towards younger children because his mom was more than likely nice to him. Tomorrow I will state my theory on the Marxist theory of Ralph being motherly and Jack being fatherly.
Brummels 1
I am looking through the Freudian lense when reading the book Lord of the Flies. Throughout the book, you have the characters Piggy (superego), Ralph (ego), and Jack (id). Piggy is always wanting to do the right thing and has a good moral compass but Jack is the opposite. He is always wanting to go out and do things on the spur of the moment instead of thinking about how that might affect the boys later. Ralph has to decide what he wants to do since he declared himself the leader. Using their past experiences, they have to figure out how to live life on this island without any adults. The boys had to grow up much faster than a normal group of boys would because they are all alone and have to take care of each other. Using the Marxist lens, you can see how Ralph wants to dictate everything that all of the boys do. Using the Feminist lens, you can see how some of the boys have the motherly instinct. Tomorrow, I will discuss that the boys are the way that they are because of how they were raise and brought up in their family life.
The Freudian lens is the lens I find myself looking through most often. I have a tendency to look at things from a more psychological standpoint. I find it intriguing that each author writes in accordance with their psychological being. Each symbol can be tied to some sort of psychoanalytic viewpoint with a basic understanding of human psychology. Analyzing the actions, descriptions, and words used by each character can give the reader enough understanding to characterize what type of character they are. Whether they are a protagonist or an antagonist, picking apart the symbols of the literature will display that. As with authors, their personal psychoanalytic behaviors can be drawn out while reading their literature. Merely looking at the way they compose their stories and the word choice they use, the reader can decide whether they believe the author is optimistic or pessimistic. There are numerous aspects of the Freudian theory that are more in depth. I do accept some ideas from the Feminist and Marxist lenses. The feminist theory shows how there has been ongoing oppression of females in our history as well as showing the superiority of the female characters in some literature and in some, but not all, cases that would be correct. The Marxist theory brings political aspects into literature which I believe can prove to be very useful when explaining the pros and cons to certain government ways. During the forum tomorrow, I plan on discussing the character roles that are taken by some of the boys. For example, Piggy is the epitome of peace and tranquillity. He could be viewed almost as the relief from the chaos the reader is looking for. Another example, Simon is the characterization of civilization. His calm and reserved attitude and personality serve as a reminder to the reader that their once was a time in these young boys lives that was free from the destruction and chaos they are now surrounded by. Each character holds their own role that ultimately enhances the audience’s experience while reading.
The literary lens that I have found most useful and interesting has been Freudian theory. The idea of an Id and a Superego living like a devil and an angel on our shoulders creates an intriguing outlook towards critiquing literature. Feminist theory also has some useful critiques on how we read literature. Feminists created the Bechdel Test to show the representation of women in fictional works. In order for a book or film to pass this test, there must be at least two women in it who talk to each other about something besides a man. If these three criteria are met, then you have a feminist approved movie! Marxist theory, on the other hand, is useful when looking at social classes within literature. Being of a higher social class gives an advantage to those fortunate enough to be born into that life and a disadvantage to those that were not as lucky. Although not fair, it is a recurring theme throughout literature, regardless of the cultural background of the work in question. As for the Lord of the Flies, I would like to look at the story through the Freudian lens and see just how decisions are made through the Id and Superego of the main characters.
2 Knutson
After examining each of the literary lenses, the one that I think I relate to most would have to be the Freudian Theory. Sigmund Freud believed in the idea that your childhood experiences helped to shape who you are as an adult. Within this theory, Freud also came up with the ideas of the id vs. ego vs. superego. After reading and carefully examining The Lord of the Flies I was able to get a better understanding of what these ideas behold. In the story, Id was represented by the character Jack. Id personalities are not affected by the reality and logic of the everyday world, but instead just immediately follow their instincts. Jack was a character who never really wanted to follow the rules and instead did things how he thought was best to do them. Next, the ego-personality was represented by the character Ralph. Ego is apart of the decision-making component in a personality. They will often comprise with satisfaction and disregard any negative components involved. Ralph tends to show this personality because he was named the chief of all the boys on the island. Lastly, the superego personality was represented in the story by the character Piggy. The superego part of personality incorporates the values and morals of society. They also control the id’s impulses and persuade the ego to look to be more moralistic. In the book, Piggy is always trying to control Jack and help Ralph make the right decisions for the group of boys so they could be rescued. Overall, as I go into the forum tomorrow I will take with me the ideas on the Freudian Theory, and how the need for power connecting to the Marxist Theory plays a strong role in the book The Lord of the Flies.
Brown 2
The literary lens that I am wearing most is the Feminist lens. I am wearing it the most because I have been exposed to this lens for the longest amount of time. My mom was a proponent from a young age for me to look at things based on equality of genders. She believed that the world had a slight slant towards men but that if she could teach her sons right, maybe that could change. I accept the ideas of the Freudian lens because it is logical that the psychological conditions of a person affect the life decisions of people. I accept the ideas of Orientalism because the Eastern viewpoint is not entirely incorrect because it is widely accepted by cultures other than Western society. I agree with Deconstruction because different parts of books could be written to successfully attack different issues. The ideas that I will lead with will be types of repetitive writing and application of Feminist lens on the book.
Bickley Pd.5
The literary lens that I wore the most throughout this novel was the Deconstruction lens. Deconstruction in literature is the ability to read beyond the words on the page to discover meaning. This lens encompasses symbolism, allusions, and underlying irony within the novel. Multiple times throughout this book, I looked further in depth about the importance of colors, locations, and changes in characters to better help me understand the novel. For example, discovering the importance of Piggy’s glasses breaking and the color pink on the island helped me to better develop an understanding for the entire novel. An idea from the Feminist lens that I accept is the concept that the characters that portray “feminist” characteristics are better leaders than those who portray more masculine characteristics. For example, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are more of the protagonists while Jack and the other boys appear to be the antagonists. On the other side of the Feminist lens, the “feminist” characters are avoided by the other boys. An idea from the Marxist lens that I accept is the idea of the separation of classes. Ralph and Piggy are the ruling class while Jack and the other boys are the working class. An idea from the Freudian lens that I accepted was the idea that Jack is the “id”, Piggy is the “superego”, and Ralph is the “ego”. Jack acts based on instincts, Piggy acts based on morality, and Ralph acts based on reality (the appropriate reaction). I am going to lead with my ideas regarding both the Deconstruction lens and Freudian lens tomorrow during the forum.
Whilst reading Lord of the Flies, I found it difficult to avoid looking through a structuralist lens; this book contained a vast sum of thinly veiled meanings that contribute to Goulding’s intended message. Akin to the metaphorical tip of the iceberg, Lord of Flies is deeply ingrained with the philosophy: man is inherently evil. As I dig deeper, I have found that nearly every facet of the book—the beast, the Lord of the Flies, Piggy’s glasses—reflects perfectly upon the central theme of evil that I believe Goulding wrote this for.
At the conclusion of the novel, the boys are “rescued” by a British navy ship, and as Ralph cries over their loss of innocence on the island, the navy officer reflects over the warship he arrived with. Through this simple ending, Goulding elegantly extends the central theme to society as a whole, massively widening the meaning that the novel conveys. Artfully, Goulding makes a comment on the Holocaust, Nazi Germany, and Britain. When the naval officer comments on the boys being British, and thus should have been able to avoid devolving into chaos, he consequently points out that because of humanities’ inherent evil, Britain could just as easily have committed the atrocities of Nazi Germany. This beautiful extension by Goulding was incredible, in my opinion.
Reinschmidt 2
The lens that I am wearing the most is the Freudian lens. The main parts that I can relate to are the id, ego, and superego. Through these lenses they give people the opportunity to confront different situations with different skills and ideas. I believe that each part of the Freudian lens is present in our school each day. We have the kids that only care about the power and themselves, the kids who are only worried about what is going on outside of this building, and the kids with the morals to push through each school day and represent the superego. This has been very evident in the book The Lord of the Flies. The three main characters each wear their own lens. Jack is mostly known as the id with his idea of just wanting to hunt and to stay on the island: primitive instincts. Ralph falls into the ego category because he is mostly concerned about getting off the island and going back to the real world. He uses the smoke as his hope to be saved from the island. Piggy is 100% the superego. He makes the most moral decisions throughout the book. He always has the right idea in mind that would be best for the group. I will bring these ideas into the forum to discuss the main characters and the symbols they represent. They easily represent many kids in today’s generation as each kid has their own personality, characteristics, and morals.
I believe that I am wearing a Feminist lens the most during this novel because all of the characters are boys and men. I found it strange that not a single woman is in the novel. I thought Golding did this to emphasize the internal conflict between civilization and morality and savagery. This conflict is best shown in men because, at the time, they were the only ones that could make decisions that would affect society. Women did not have a place in elections and high-importance positions. Therefore, they would not feel natural making those types of decisions. I think this novel is trying to show that men in power can easily become corrupt, even if their intentions are good. When reading this book, I also used the Marxist, Freudian, and Orientalist lenses. These make the most sense because the book shows separate classes of society (Ralph, Piggy, Jack, then the littluns), morality struggles (id, ego, superego), and the different culture of Europe (English language, phrases, and ideals).
2 Andresen
This story has me wearing the Orientalism lens because it clearly is portraying men as the best and the most superior. There are not even women in this story, so they do not even have a chance at being the best or even being brought up in the novel. Orientalist portrays white European men as the most superior race and you can visually see this in many different types of art. William Golding may have written this book with an Orientalist lens. However, maybe he did not and it just came off that way. But there is clearly a reason (which is unknown) why there are no women in the story. It is hard not to think that women are left out on purpose and to think what the outcome would have been if he included women. Jack, Ralph, and Piggy are being shown as the most superior in this story and they are all men in charge. Ralph is the chief and he is clearly shown the one all the boys and little children are inferior too. During the forum tomorrow I will look and reflect on the idea that the 3 men are all seen as superior but why Ralph is shown as the best, and why towards the end this is not the case. This idea will bring good conversations and will also lead to the fact that no women are present and why.
Ackerman 5
I think the literary lens that I am wearing most is the Freudian theory lens. Specifically when reading Lord of the Flies because the Freudian theory states that children are shaped for adulthood from what they learn in their childhood. The id, ego, and superego are represented in this book by three of the main characters. Jack is the id, Ralph is the ego, and Piggy is the superego. Jack represents the id because he is the one with primitive instincts which shows during the exploration of the island and when he is hunting. Ralph represents the ego because throughout the novel he is the one most influenced by the outside world. Piggy represents the superego because, throughout the entire novel, he is the only boy making realistic choices. He always states his opinions within the group, even if they are not taken seriously. When the boys are alone on the island, they all take different jobs and try to make things go as smoothly as possible without the direction of any adult figures. Ideas that I plan to lead with tomorrow are seeing what literary lens my peers are experiencing this book through and why they feel that way, specifically.
Olthoff 5
The literary lens that I wore the most throughout this novel was the Deconstruction lens. Deconstruction in literature is the ability to read beyond the words on the page to discover meaning. This lens encompasses symbolism, allusions, and underlying irony within the novel. Multiple times throughout this novel, I looked further in depth about the importance of colors, locations, and changes in characters to better help me understand the novel. For example, discovering the importance of Piggy’s glasses breaking and the color pink on the island helped me to better develop an understanding for the entire novel. I accept the ideas of the Freudian lens because it is logical that the psychological conditions of a person affect the life decisions of people. I accept the ideas of Orientalism because the Eastern viewpoint is not entirely incorrect because it is widely accepted by cultures other than Western society. Marxist theory, on the other hand, is useful when looking at social classes within literature. Being of a higher social class gives an advantage to those fortunate enough to be born into that life and a disadvantage to those that were not as lucky. Although not fair, it is a recurring theme throughout literature, regardless of the cultural background of the work in question.
Laabs 5
I wear the Freudian lens the most. I enjoy trying to decipher the characters and categorize them into the 3 parts. To wear a Freudian lens you have to be able to look deep into a character's personality. Analyzing everything that makes them them. I accept the idea of feminist theory. There is no reason why men should be greater than women when they can both handle the same tasks. A second lens that I accept is the deconstruction lens. To truly understand some things you may have to break it down to the bare fundamentals. Breaking it down so far that nothing can be hidden. The final lens that I buy is the Orientalism theory. In a lots of media, Arab culture is seen as sometimes crazy and too uncivilized when compared to U.S. culture. I will lead with the idea the the island tried to change the children into men and some broke from it and some thrived.
I believe I am wearing the Structuralism lense because the book has much more to it than just the words. Structuralism focuses on the idea that the words are symbols and ideas that demand expansion. I accept the Freudian theory that Piggy is a feminine quality and that Jack is the masculine quality of the group. I also accept the feminist theory that the world ending is a masculine idea and that the characters are the feminine fight against it. I also was drawn to the orientalist theory that the boys are the imperialists when you take a look into the history and parts of this theory. Tomorrow, I am going to lead with many different ideas. A few that I am certain of are those that portray the savagery of not only the characters but the savagery of them relating to myself. I think an important part of literary discussions is being able to relate the ideas and assumptions of the books we read to ourselves.
Bunker 5
While reading through Lord of the Flies I was wearing a Freudian lens. I used the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud. The three boys, Jack, Piggy, and Ralph, represent the id, ego, and superego. Jack represents the id. He does what he wants based on his own personal benefits and beliefs. He does not care if he hurts others while achieving things for his own benefit. For example, he abandons the signal fire in order to go hunting. Ralph represents the ego. The ego is the mediator between the id and superego, and Ralph does just that. Ralph tries to maintain both by being chief. Although he would sometimes get caught up in the savagery of hunting with Jack, then he always listens to the logic of getting rescued from Piggy. Piggy represents the superego. He is always calm and focused on keeping everyone civilized and focused on getting rescued. After he is killed the sense of civilization is thrown out the window and everyone resorts to savagery except Ralph.
The lens I am using the most to examine The Lord of the Flies is the Freudian Theory. I believe that this theory is beneficial to the book because of the way it examines their personalities and how it relates to their childhood and the ideas of id, superego, and ego. Most of the characters exhibit one of these prominently. Jack is a clear representation of id because he asks on impulse without logical thought about the outcome. Superego is represented by Piggy as he focuses on morality and good choices for everyone. The two act as devil and angel sitting on the ego’s shoulder. The ego is Ralph as he tries to maintain a balance. Another lens I see in the book is the Marxist theory because the children are behaving in the same manner they were taught based on the class they grew up. The feminist theory is the other lens I see clearly based on the motherly instincts in Simon and Piggy. In the forum, I will lead mostly with looking into the characters personalities and how it affects their outcome and success on the island.
Spencer 5
The literary lense that I wear most is the Marxist. I see the boys as a blended family Jack is the dad that comes home after work(hunting). Piggy and Ralph I see as more of the moms in the family, I believe Piggy is more of the mom then Ralph. Then you have the older kids(who follow dad and hunt) in the family and the younger ones(who play all day). Feminist is another Literary lense that I use because some of the boys act more like girls than they do boys; an example is when piggy is stuck at home and has to watch the littluns while everyone else does other work. Piggy is like a stay at home mom, which shows the stereotypical role of women in the world. I also use an Orientalism lense while reading the story. The reason I see orientalism appropriate for this story is that the boys turn violent toward each other like they are having a war among themselves when Jack and his crew killed Simon and when Jack steals Piggy’s glasses Some of the ideas I will bring up tomorrow is how they are like America having a civil war amongst themselves.
I wear the feminist lens the most. I am constantly advocated for equal rights and making sure people understand the meaning of feminism. Often times, people misinterpret feminists to be overbearing and believing that women are higher than men. However, I try to squash that notion and make people understand that it is the basis of equality between the sexes.
Marxism has two types of people. The Bourgeoisie (haves) are those who control the world's natural, economic, and human resources. The other group is the Proletariats (have nots) who are living in substandard conditions and have always performed the labor that benefits the wealthy.
Structuralism has the belief that things do not work on a small scale, but rather as a larger picture or structure.
Deconstruction is breaking down the language to try and better understand an idea. Communication can cause confusion and one way to alleviate the muddle is to analyze the text closely.
I would like to lead the idea that had the group stranded been girls, things may have run more smoothly. However, on the flip side, it may have been worse. I’d like to get others’ opinions on how things would have been handled if females were in charge in The Lord of the Flies.
Olivier 5
I am wearing the Marxist literary lens the most, I think that it is the easiest to comprehend and I see the separation of society easily. I think that it is easy to wear Marxist lenses because there is a lot of separation of power and rank in American society. The poor are always treated worse than the rich, and people with more power will always be above the people with no societal power. I accept the Marxist lens because it is relevant in our society. I also accept Orientalism lenses because, as an American, I look down on other peoples society and culture, I believe that America is the best country and no one else can trump us. I accept feminist lenses especially in classic literature because women were below men. Tomorrow I will lead the discussion with ideas about how Jack and Ralph are the higher powers in Marxist theory, they control and distribute the goods evenly, just like communism. The littleuns do not have a choice but to follow the older kids and do as they say.
Burchill 5
I'm definitely wearing a Marxist lens more than any other lens when reading Lord of the Flies. Our American education in the past 5 years has taught us more about CapitalismvsCommunism, USvsUSSR, Cold War, WW2, Vietnam, all things related to how our country has responded to Marx's ideas than anything else. It seems our education has led to the expectation that we as students make the decision for ourselves if we agree with the anti-marxist/anti-communist identity of the United States or if we choose to defer to other social goals, if that makes sense. Lord of the Flies, through the lens that our education wants to teach us about our history fighting communism and how it impacted the world, shows us yet another example of a good, decent, respectable "tribe" (Ralph, Piggy, Simon), fighting against the evil, savage, opressive nation representing communism and authoritarianism in the world.
I definitely buy the feminist theory that the good characters have feminine traits and the bad characters have masculine. Also, the Freudian idea is present in the battle between Jack and Piggy in Ralph's mind, that has deliberately been placed for a purpose. The battle between "brains" (Piggy) and "brutes" (Jack) can easily be connected back to deconstructionist theory, a representation of the importance of strength over smarts in the savage world and smarts over strength in a civilized world.
Kocer 5
I’m wearing the literary lens of structuralism. Structuralism is the analysis that individual and collective behaviors emerge from some underlying behavior. I’m wearing this lens because I believe that the way characters behave must be due to what their life has been like in the past or specific life experiences that make them behave a certain way. One idea from structuralism that I accept is that a character’s past influences or structures them to who they are in the present. I will lead with this idea in the discussion tomorrow by talking about the boys and how their past affects them on the island. Piggy was raised by his aunt which gives him his more feminine qualities. These qualities allow him to think things through and not go savage on the island. His hair even stays short showing how he keeps his innocents. Ralph’s background also affects his character on the island. His father is in the navy so he most likely grew up with discipline and order in this household. This behavior shows as he becomes chief and tries to maintain order while the other boys become savages forgetting about the goal to leave the island.
Van Hulzen 5
When I read the Lord of the Flies I used most commonly, a lense that made connections in religious allusions. This lense uses aspects of Hermeneutics, a way of connecting literature to biblical texts. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, the spiritual differences of the light of the morning, and the dark of the night serve as a foundation for a Godly and demonic presence in the novel. Ralph can be seen as a God character, and Jack a devil character. Ralph wants peace and harmony for the tribe of boys, while Jack wants bloodshed and chaos. Ralph uses reason and a moral compass when using his authority to govern the boys. Jack would govern with a hunger for more power and to make others his slaves. Jack, like the devil’s jealousy of God, is jealous of the power Ralph has. Jack desires greatly to take over authority to bring about more hunting. Like the devil trying to overthrow God, Jack tries to steal authority from Ralph by taking the conch. Jack then separates from the group, like the devil being cast out of heaven. Jack also calls for followers after he is cast out, those that follow Jack are like fallen angels who decided to follow the devil and not God. Jack and his followers participate in dances, chants, and offerings to the beast, similar to how a satanist would worship the devil and demonic powers. The beast itself could also represent the devil or a demonic figure.
I think that the lens that I am wearing the most is the Marxist lens. I think that I use this lens the most because I understand economics and politics well and I am intrigued by the battle between communism and capitalism whenever I study it. This book is interesting through this particular lens because as the story progresses, you can see that they slowly become less and less governed and more savage. I also see myself using the Freudian lens when looking at the differences between the characters. Jack, being the more instinctive and brutal of the boys, is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum as the more feminine and logical characters like Piggy. This relates to the feminist lens as well. Jack exerts more stereotypically masculine traits as Piggy has a motherly nature about him. Jack is treated much more highly than Piggy which shows that the boys are in favor of masculinity over femininity. On Friday, I will lead with the ideas that I have accumulated while wearing the Marxist lens as I feel like most people will not have used that lens as much.
I am wearing the Freudian lens most of the time. Each lens could offer a different perspective, but the Freudian lens has seemed the most relatable in this novel. The book tells the story of savagery and early beginnings, which shows how the environment affects human beings. Freud’s idea of psychoanalysis is almost entirely seen in the progression of the boys on the island. When the boys are left without supervision and have no modern conveniences, their way of life and personality dramatically shifts. The reason for people’s actions is something I question while reading, so the Freudian lens is how I look at things. I also believe that the feminist lens can offer a different viewpoint in this novel. There are no girls mentioned throughout the book, but some characters appear more feminine than others. For example, Piggy thrived more than the others because of his caring and concerned nature. I also can accept the Marxist theory and applied this throughout the novel. The characters roles are discovered and readers can see Jack’s desire for power and his separation from the perceived uselessness of the little ones. Tomorrow, I will discuss the reason for many of the character’s actions and my view through the Freudian lens. I also believe I will discuss how there are so many viewpoints readers can have in this novel.
Alex Kolbeck
I will be using my Feminist lens. The other lens did not yield as many compelling examples. I found it much easier to find pieces of evidence that feminity is seen as a weakness within the novel. The eventual chief, Jack, is regarded as having pure masculinity throughout the film. He completely disregards any important responsibility the entire novel and sees the necessary tasks as boring and saved for Piggy or the more feminine characters. His hunt throughout the novel is almost entirely useless. Gathering fruits and plants, a traditional job for women in the stone ages, was a job for the "littluns" and was enough for the whole group to survive. Jack takes the traditional job for men, hunting and is almost completely unsuccessful the entire novel. He only kills two pigs the whole novel. Jack has plenty of other examples and being overtly masculine and Piggy has many more examples of being feminine.
I would say that I wear the Freudian lens rather than other literary lenses. I feel that this lens is the easiest for me to see because I tend to think things over a lot which I believe makes me more keen on seeing things in this way. The Constant battle between id and superego seemed very clear to me as I was reading Lord of The Flies. It is clear that throughout the story Jack represents the id and Piggy represents the superego. The id is the savage side of us and Jack clearly fits the bill with how savage and bloodthirsty he becomes throughout the book. The superego is the civilized and reasonable side of us that is shown through Piggy in the story and is continually the voice of reason throughout. Both characters have an influence on Ralph forcing him to listen to one or the other. His decisions to choose between both sides makes Ralph a very stable character and gives him a combination of both feminine (superego) and masculine (id) traits. I believe the combination of these traits makes Ralph the most capable of making the best decision for the scenario.
The literary lense I am wearing a majority of a time is structuralism. Lord of the flies is a prime example of showing how without structure things can fall apart. When little kids don’t have structure they aren’t sure as to where to go for the future. Without structure small children follow the oldest person. We are so used to having the oldest person lead us, that when there is no leader, we aren’t sure who to listen to. I feel as though the youngins in Lord of The Flies, are only listening to the older boys because they are used to always being led by the older member of a group. I also accept the fact that there is feminism in Lord of The Flies. They are showing that Piggy and some of the other boys that lead the group are more feminine. They are only able to lead because a boy will tend to listen to a female influence more so than one of their piers.
I would say that I am wearing a feminist lens the most because there is a strong feminist message in lord of the flies. There is a definite separation between the more feminine characters and the more masculine characters. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are the have the most feminine characteristics. Piggy, being by far the most feminine character, wears glasses, has asthma, and is overweight. Looking through a feminist lens, one can argue that these characters are the smartest and most logical of all the boys. They hold structure on the island and keep the boys alive and well for most of their time on the island. Once jack takes over and starts his own tribe Ralph, Simon, and Piggy stay true to there original order they had when they started on the island and did the responsible thing of keeping the signal fire going. In the Freudian lense, I see that jack in the ID, Piggy is the superego, and they are pulling Ralph (the ego) in opposite directions in is decision making. In the Marxist lens, I see that jack is a dictator over the other savages. In tomorrows forum ill mostly be talking about the feminist part of the book and piggy’s role.
TeKrony 7
I am mainly wearing the Freudian lens. I have been using psychoanalysis to try and understand why the characters act the way they act. You can clearly see Sigmund Freud’s theory of the id, ego, and superego displayed in the book. Piggy is the superego because he tries to get Ralph, the ego, to make good decisions. Jack is the id because he is the evil side that tries to influence Ralph in a negative way. I have also been looking into how each person could have been raised to see if that is an explanation of how they act. Tomorrow I am going to lead with talking about some of the boys and their background. A lot of the way people act could be related directly to how they were raised. Jack could be acting out because that is what he is used to, or maybe because he had strict parents and this is his way of doing whatever he wants without any consequences.
The lense I am wearing most when reading the novel Lord of the Flies is the feminist lense. I wear this lense because in the story there are a lot of female personalities even though the characters themselves are all males. Piggy for example has a motherly instinct to take care of the little ones when everyone else is only worried about themselves. He is the most feminine character in the way that he likes to think things out before taking action unlike Ralph and Jack. On the other hand, Ralph also has some feminine qualities in a way that he cares more than others think he does. He tries to play a tough character because he knows he has to be a strong leader for the group, but he is not as masculine as you think. Inside him he likes to think about the best things before taking action on the island and he thinks about others more than he cares about himself on the island. The ideas I plan on leading in Friday’s forum, are the literary lenses I have on the feminist theory and how it applies to this novel in many ways.
While reading this book, I have been wearing Marxist lenses. I have been reading this book with the Marxist theory in mind because of the idea of the battle of the social classes. A great example of Marxist theory in this book is the battle between Jack and Ralph to become a leader. When the boys discovered each other on the island, Ralph was voted a leader. Jack, another boy on the island, was jealous and wanted to be the leader of the island. Jack rebelled and accomplished this. I believed feminism is not encouraged in this book because there isn't a single girl on the island with the boys. The only female that is mentioned in the book is Piggy's aunt towards the beginning. Although there is a lack of female figures in the book, some characters have more feminine traits than others. I can also see the Freudian theory in this book because Jack portrays the "id" with his instinct. It is also easy to see that Piggy is the superego and Ralph is ego. Some ideas I will lead within the Lord of the Flies discussion are the symbols that are portrayed throughout such as the color pink and the value of the conch.
As of right now, I think I am wearing the Marxist lens the most. As I am reading I am trying to find ways that would be involved in Marxism. I think I am wearing this lens the most because it is the least that was talked about during class with this book. I think that Jack is acting like a dictator and therefore this is apart of the Marxism theory. I am also wearing the feminist lens without even realizing it. While reading I have found a lot of examples of feminism, especially with Piggy. Piggy acts the least like a “man;” he does not try to go out and hunt or find firewood. He tries to tell people what to do but does not actually want to do the work. I am going to plan on talking about the Marxist theories the most. I will also talk about feminist theories. Those are the two that I have picked up on most throughout the book; however, I have also found a lot that I could talk about with the Freudian theories. I have an idea with all lenses and when brought up in the discussion, I think I will be able to add onto the discussion.
I think that I am wearing the Freudian lens the most while reading Lord of the Flies. I am wearing this lens the most because I think it is interesting to how the boys are constantly changing in the way they think and act throughout the book due to the environment they are in now and the environment they were raised in. Another idea that is interesting from a different lens, the Feminist lens, is the fact that the more feminine characters, like Piggy, are treated differently than the more masculine characters, but are acting more cautious than the other characters. I also accept the Orientalism theory because I believe the idea that different cultures are represented differently in literature and we should look at things from other viewpoints to improve our knowledge. Tomorrow, I will start by talking about why I believe each boy acts the way they do because of the environment.
The literary lens that I wear the most is structuralism. Structuralism is the techniques used to write the book. This means most books start with background information, and then rising action, clixax, falling action, conclusion. I accept this theory because I can see it in almost all of the books I read. Even some of the older books follow this technique. It has stayed the same through history. You can see this in the book from the events that happen. It starts by getting to know the characters, their looks, names, and some personality types. Then it moves on to events leading up to the climax. Another lens I can see in this book is the feminist lens. You can see this from the characters. Some characters (Piggy and Simon), and feminized. These characters are treated differently from the rest of the boys because of this. There are also no girls on the island, it is entirely inhabited by boys. Finally, I think that Freudian theory is present in this book because there are dreams and subconscious thoughts in the story
Talcott 2
I am wearing the orientalism literary lens because the Lord of the Flies depicts the boys becoming like savages. The boys are on an island in the eastern world, which is viewed as uncivilized to the people in the western world. As time goes on and the children are becoming more like savages and losing the ways they learned from society. Without parental supervision, the children are free to do whatever they want and they abuse that right. They are wearing less clothing and they are even painting their faces. Some of the kids fall in love with hunting and start chanting after they kill pigs. From the feminist lens, I accept that Ralph, Piggy, and Simon all have feminine characteristics. Also, I accept the Marxist lens that Ralph is acting like the mother and Jack is like the father. From the Freudian lens, I agree that Jack goes with id and piggy with superego. For the discussion tomorrow I am going to ask if people agree with the orientalism literary theory lens and ask what they thought about the ending of the book.
Campbell 7
I agree with the Freudian theory and put myself in that lens the most because of that the ego is the main controller and that the id is our unconscious desires. I compare very closely with that theory because it relates to the different thoughts and decisions that are made throughout the book. Masculine figures, such as Jack, are able to walk all over them. Ralph and Simon are considered feminists characters because they know what they should do to get rescued. They have a better idea of what it comes to as survival, and smartness to certain situations. I accept the ideas of the Freudian, Marxist, and Orientalism theories as well. You can see Ralph struggling with his inner thoughts, battling against the ID and Superego that is Jack and Piggy. The superego part of personality incorporates the values and morals of society. They also control the id’s impulses and persuade the ego to look to be more moralistic. Choosing between right and wrong in some situations can be very difficult. But, not only that, there come situations of which our ego can get too ahead of our id and we make the wrong decision. I accept orientalist theory because the boys were competitive to live and did everything possible and necessary to survive, which will be talked more about tomorrow with the group discussion.
I think that I wear a Marxist or feminist literary lens the most. I am not sure why this might be. I believe it might be because this is one of the easier symbolism and theories to find in literature, for me at least. Marxist theory is more so about social conditions and how our capitalist society works. I think all literature has some of this in it. Everyone battles with society and the conditions of it. I believe it would be hard to write a story without things pertaining to the Marxist theory in it. I also believe that Feminism is something that is easy to pick out in literature. It may be because I myself am a female, and find things such as sexism extremely disgusting. There is usually a difference in men and women though, whether it is in their physical and mental abilities, or in the way they appear. I think these differences are easy to pick out in literature, whether its the feminism in the male characters or vice versa. I believe in and accept feminism. Lastly, I am going to lead with lots of the symbolism ideas tomorrow in our Lord of the Flies forum, but especially with the color symbolism.
Vogel 1
I wear Structuralism mostly because I am naturally separating and picking out ideas to connect with other ideas while reading. I even tend to do this when I watch movies. During the movie for lion king I was constantly picking out things and I am doing the same for the lord of flies. If I do not pick out things with the structuralist lense it is the feminist lens that I use. I use these lenses often and equally. I use the feminist lense, because I am naturally born as a female and my mom is in a male-dominated field and often I hear from her that men in that field are paid more than a women and the promotions often go to the men first even though I find that my mom is the kindest and smartest person I ever met. I feel like in the movie Lion King shows this because Nala I totally more deserving of King then Simba, but because females can not rule on their own in Lion King Simba is the one to become king. I also wonder what would happen if females were placed on the island of the Lord of the Flies in the book. Would the females be like Ralph or would some be like Jack? Would the females have a more civilized way of things and would everyone follow along with them? These are questions that would be interesting to ask in the Lord of the Flies Forum for tomorrow to see what everyone else in my group would think would happen.
Throughout the novel, I have tried to use many lenses. However, I find myself returning to the Freudian lens the most. The Id, Ego, and Superego are so apparent in this novel, that it is hard to ignore. Ralph has the Id and superego (Jack and Piggy, respectively) persuading his decisions throughout the entire novel like a devil and angel on his shoulder. My second most used lens is definitely the Feminist. The motherly attitudes of Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are obvious from the beginning. They are nurturing and care for the littluns. Simon most of all seems to care for the littluns, and in my opinion is the best and most feminine character in the novel. Another lens I wore was a political lens. One of the major plot lines in the book is the power struggle between Ralph and Jack. An eerie similarity to current political struggles was apparent to me. Like opposing political parties, the two boys had different ideas on how the island (or country) should be run. The power switched back and forth between the two and each disagreed with the other’s “policies.” Tomorrow I plan to talk a lot about how the boys grow into savagery. This relates back to Freudian theory. The Id takes over each boy one by one until most of them have joined Jack’s group. Ralph seems to waver between following his Id and holding on to his morality, but at times it slips, like when he hunts the boar. Ralph’s insight shows us how easy it must have been for the other boys to succumb to their Id because his morals are strong yet, he almost did.
I am looking in the Freudian lens the most throughout the book. The main thing that sticks out to me is Sigmund Freud's idea of the id, ego, and superego. Ralph is the ego because he is influenced by both positive ideas. Jack is the id in the book because he does not think before he acts and causes Ralph to make poor decisions. Piggy is the exact opposite of Jack, he is the superego. He always makes decisions based on reason and what he thinks will have the best outcome. Tomorrow I am going to discuss all of the literary theories and how each one relates to the book. I will explain how the different characters are seen through different lenses. For example, what makes Piggy a good person is how he was brought up from his Auntie; him losing his parents could relate to his actions as well.
Ellingson 5
Before this class, I had no idea what these lenses even meant. Now that I have been exposed to the different types of lenses and how people view things, I think differently. I do not like the idea of just choosing one literary lense because I like to feel like I used all of them every time I read. Since I have to choose, I would say I wear the Ecocriticism lense most often. This lense is where the reader analyzes the text and compares it to nature. For example, the conch symbolizes power and winning. Ralph got a hold of the conch and he is also the genetic lottery winner because he was just picked to be the leader without having any real talent. Tomorrow, I will lead with the idea that the boys are just savages inside their hearts. They might not think they are or want to believe so but they all have a little savage in them. Jack is the most savage. He wants to be the leader and does not care who he has to hurt or go through. Ralph is savage towards Piggy because he is so mean to him and wants everyone to get along with himself so he puts others down.
Ziegeldorf 7
I am wearing my Marxist lens the most. This book is a remarkable example of Marxist theory. Within the boys’ society, there are different classes. The bigguns and the littluns are the upper class and the lower class, respectively. There are established roles, such as Ralph being the leader. With Ralph being the leader and Jack being an aggressive, overbearing boy, there is a great power struggle between the two. Over and over again, Jack tries to assert his dominance over Ralph to the boys. He repeatedly tries to prove himself as a worthy leader, even going so far as to ask for a re-election of chief. Jack’s overall anger and jealousy towards Ralph creates chaos and destruction on the island. When wearing a Freudian lens, it is quite obvious this plays a big role as well. The id, superego, and ego are very apparent, Jack being the id, Piggy the superego, and Ralph the ego. Ralph acts as a sort of mediator between the superego and the id, and remains the most realistic one. Jack constantly acts on instinct, and Piggy has great intelligence and reasoning skills. The book is anti-feminist as well. There are no females on the island, and the only feminine one, Piggy, gets ridiculed and eventually killed. Tomorrow, I will lead with ideas heavily regarding the marxist aspect of the book. There are many evident and obvious points to be made about this and I plan to ask others what they think of them.
Law 2
I would most relate myself to the Freudian lens because I feel like at times especially when I was younger I did a lot of what one may call “boyish” things. Some of my favorite things to do were to play hunting games, gun games, video games, all kids of sports, and even dress in basketball shorts and a t-shirt most of the time. I find it important to have traits of the different sex at times but I also believe that there is a great difference between the two. There are many things women do better and many things that guys do better naturally but I do believe that anyone can do anything if they really put their mind to it. As we can see in the book Lord of the Flies the Freudian lens is very much feasible. Tomorrow in the discussion of the novel Lord of the Flies I will be talking about some of these theories and how they have played a role and affected the characters in the book. Showing how some characters say static with certain mindsets or sticking to one trait, where others are dynamic because they hold many different traits and show that through the decisions they have made.
I believe the literary lens that I have been wearing most frequently is the Freudian lens. Within the Lord of the Flies an apparent theme of internal as well as societal struggle is frequently present. Some of the main characters in this novel such as Jack and Ralph seem to portray the poles of humanity in regards to the basic human psyche. The ID is obviously portrayed by Jack and his followers in this book written by William Golding. Completely savage and obsessed with brutality, these boys contaminate every ounce of civilization that Ralph and Piggy had worked so hard to convene. They thrive off of chaos. On the other hand it is apparent that Golding chose Piggy and Ralph to portray the human superego. This is the part of our psyche that tells us what is right and wrong, and in some ways aims to please society and civilization. These two bigguns portray civilization and have common goals to seek rescue and refuge throughout the book. Aside from the Freudian lens, I have also come to buy into the idea that the mother sows in this book contribute to the idea of feminism and therefore the feminist lens. The only female in this book is the sow. Treated as a pawn and viciously attacked, this sow may represent the brutality of rape and sexual abuse many women unfortunately endure. I have also come to accept the orientalistic idea that the boys are placed on the island with the idea in mind to conquer it. They see themselves in some way as conquistadors and want to spread their european ideas to this barren land. This gives off the idea that the white man is the best and most civilized. This idea is obviously ironic considering the great lengths the boys go to, to destroy the once Eden like island and destroy every ounce of sanity and civilization. An idea that I am excited to talk about tomorrow during the forum is the idea of orientalism in many ways. For example, aside from the basic “White Man’s Burden” idea, I believe there may be some evidence to show that Jack and his followers may be portrayed as the American-Indians of history. With face pain and spears, I believe Golding was doing more than just painting a picture for his audience. Perhaps he was referencing history.
The literary lense that I primarily use the most, especially for The Lord of the Flies, is the Freudian lens. The reason I use this particular lens is that almost all content in the book supports the theory. The entire narrative is the observation of a small group of people slowly devolving from their previous societal norms into following their id (primal urges). An amazing example of this transformation is the moment of Roger throwing stones at the little boy but purposely missing. Later in the novel, he purposely rolls the large boulder down from Castle Rock and hits Piggy. His complete lack of care for the consequences shows that he had changed from earlier and now only cares for himself.
Another lens that I accept is the feminist lens. The author himself says that women are better than men so he purposely chose to tell the story with a group of boys in order to show the undesirable traits of man. He also makes all of the rational and smart leaders purposely have feminine attributes. This shows that feminine qualities have a positive impact on the miniature society of the island, which is like a world concentrated onto one island.
The Marxist lens is also one that fits this novel. I feel the structure of the society that the boys create at the start of the book perfectly shows a class divide on a small scale. The older boys do all the work, like build the huts and look for food. Meanwhile, all of the littluns just run around and play all day. In this way, I believe that the little boys represent the upper class because they get everything, but don’t actually do anything to earn it.
Tomorrow I will lead with my Freudian lens and provide evidence to support it. I may also speak about the symbolism displayed to start a deeper discussion to see how others interpreted it.
I wear the Marxist literary lens the most. In the story the Lord of the Flies a group of boys is severely influenced by their new surroundings. The civilized society that they once knew slowly shrivels away as there are no longer any adults around to regulate them. As all normal human beings would do these stranded boys find their strength in numbers and herd together but once united naturally a leader is needed. The two main characters who exemplify stereotypical leadership traits are Jack with the bronze and Ralph with the bronze and brains with Piggy being by his side as his advisor. There is an inevitable power struggle that forms between these two as they both believe in different conflicting ideologies, thinking they know whats best for everyone. Using the Marxist lens I am also able to observe that Jack and the hunters represent the working class (perleterriets) while Ralph and Piggy are the ruling class; however, their class does put in some work but it goes unnoticed and unappreciated.
Eventually Jack's jealous thirst for authority leads him to overthrow Ralph and Jack takes his thrown with a heartless violence that all human beings have within them as many of the boys follow in Jack's footsteps. He then ruled using fear and not love unlike Ralph had done. I can accept the Freudian lens as well because this lens focuses on the authors state of mind and the authors observations of his/her real world. Golding wrote this book after his experience in a war which made him realize just how dark, twisted, and corrupted human nature is. Even though the character of his novel were innocent boys, in the end it is only natural for human society to have violence ensue. The ideas I am going to lead with tomorrow involve the two I have mentioned but also the several other lenses that apply as well I bet Golding didn't even realize how many different ways his book could be perceived which is the real beauty of art.
I believe, throughout this novel, I have been using the feminist lenses most frequently. The reason, the lack of women in it. The novel is an island full of boys, however, the author manages to feminize a couple of the characters. These characters have the attributes of good leaders, yet there features are those of mothers and women. I find this very interesting because the more masculine characters are the ones fighting and arguing the majority of the time. This also parallels the adults, who are off fighting World War 3. Like the boys, most of them are probably masculine men who are not getting along and are off killing each other just like the boys in the novel. It also begs the idea, would women make better leaders? I believe this is true. Similar to the feminine characters in the novel, they would be less conflicting. They would not have their superiority complexes, and they would be more caring overall.
The literary lens I feel I wear the most is the Freudian lens. I am constantly thinking about what is going on in the minds of the characters and how this relates to their personalities and the outcome of the book I am reading. The three main parts of this lens include the ID, ego, and superego. Jack is obviously the id because of his savage ways and the fact that he is the lead hunter in the beginning. He has natural instincts of being able to survive on an island and actually thrive. The ego, or also thought of as reality, would be Ralph. A prime example of this would be how he is always thinking of the fire and how to make the most smoke out of it so a ship would hopefully see it and they could be rescued. The superego, or the moralistic character in this story, is Piggy. Piggy is always second guessing what they should do as leaders on the island and not acting very brave. He is more concerned about the outcome of the actions of others than about the actions themselves.
Erck 5
Throughout out this novel, I have been exposed to many literary lenses, but I often find myself leaning towards the Freudian theory the most. With the Freudian theory, there are so many things to compare the novel too, especially with the three personality traits that Freud presents in his literary theory. At the beginning of the novel, we are immediately introduced to Ralph. Upon first impression, I believed that Ralph had a very strong ego, with a very high opinion of himself. I drew these conclusions from how he first spoke to Piggy, and how he first approached everything with a survival of the fittest attitude or perhaps, a very selfish attitude and outlook; however, these thoughts changed rapidly throughout the book as he began to care for the littlenuns, disperse jobs and responsibility among the boys, fight for the importance of the fire and being rescued, and listen to Piggy, even though he didn't want to. He turns into the superego of the novel, by becoming more of a parent for the boys and always telling them what to do. Piggy, in the novel, is the ego of the Freud theory. He is consistently the angel on Ralph's shoulder and telling him what to do and how to do it. Every point that Piggy makes is used by the conscious thought process and is for the betterment of the group. He is often laughed at and made fun of, simply because of the way he looks, which I think was a relay to society in this time period as people who were different or looked different were not taken seriously or given a chance, even if they had remarkable or insightful ideas. Lastly, Jack is the id in the Lord of the Flies. A lot of his decisions and motions he makes in the novel deliver straight from the pleasure principle, and the idea that once he has an idea, it has to be done at once and he has to have it at once. From the beginning, we are shown to believe that Jack is power hungry, like a lot of our leaders today. Another symbol that I also took out of the book, was a scene from the beginning. When Jack was first introduced, he is leading a pack of boys in dark cloaks with hoods covering their faces. I believe that this part of the book was meant for us to envision Jack as the devil, and the boys in the dark cloaks as dark angels; however, as soon as they are introduced to Ralph and the other boys, and Jack is denied as chief, they begin to take off their cloaks, which represents a look of cleanliness. In the end, after Jack has taken back over and Ralph is being hunted, the boys have once again covered themselves in black and green paint, covering up their pureness and resorting to their evil ways.
The literary lens that I look through the most is the Freudian theory, the Feminist theory, and the Mythological approach. I like the Freudian theory because it makes me contemplate how the characters grew up and how that affected their lives. One of the Freudian ideas that I agree with is that we try to seek out what we are familiar with; when someone has been abused as a child they will most likely be abusive to their children because that is what they are familiar with. I like the Feminist theory because it’s always interesting to look something from the other side of the coin. A Feminist standing point that I agree with is the idea that the time period in which the piece of literature was made can affect how women are represented within it. For example, during the time that The Lord of the Flies took place, women were still seen as humans that worked in factories or as nurses; women weren’t seen as equal so all the boys that have feminine qualities are seen as weak. Lastly, I like the Mythological approach because Greek mythology has always interested me and I have linked some scenes within books and movies with some Greek mythology. I agree with the statement that we use mythological stories within our literature because some of these stories are very popular and can make the reader sympathize with the characters. Tomorrow I will talk about how, at the end of the book, the boys revert to more primitive humans in the fact that they kill or run away from something they fear. They use the “fight or flight” tactic the Freudian theory goes into detail with.
I am influenced heavily by the Structuralist lens because of the way my mind is wired. The Structuralist emphasis on the text and the relationships between certain words and sentences is an idea that makes sense to me; I can get behind it. Grammar and sentence structure have always come extremely easy to me, but I struggle with topics such as symbolism and theme because they appear far too abstract. I prefer much more concrete literary analysis, and this is a central idea of Structuralism.
Tomorrow for the Lord of the Flies forum, my major talking points will be the Beast and the conch. The beast first appears in the novel as a nightmarish presence first sensed by the Littluns, and grows and changes throughout the novel until the outside world and then the boys themselves become the Beast. The conch is possibly the most important object in the first half of the novel. It portrays power and gives Ralph control over the other boys; I think it might have something to do with volume. Many children, boys especially, have the mentality at some point in their life that the loudest contender in an argument is the winner. I think the conch's volume could be significant in this way.
I believe that I am most wearing Freudian because I view this throughout the novel. The idea of Id, Ego, and Superego can be seen through different main characters in Lord of the Flies. Jack, is most definitely an example of Id. He is seen as a hunter and extremely power hungry. He is not worried about being rescued but would rather focus his time on killing and hunting. Jack is also seen as one of the first characters to go completely savage, barely remember life prior to life on the island. Ralph’s characteristics is connected to Ego. Raph is seen to often think of other things that he remembers from his past such as books and life at home. Because of his desire to reach a better life at home, he often comments about being rescued and is concerned about starting the fire at all times. Piggy is most notably an example of Superego. Piggy is seen as the most sane person on the island and seems to still have his innocence. During the forum on Friday, I plan to comment about the loss of civilization and innocence the kids have gone through.
Eichelberg 5
The Lord of the Flies along with many other literary works can be broken down, evaluated, and viewed differently through the use of a variety of lens. Each lens offers a new viewpoint that may reveal another way to take meaning from the text. The lens I wear most often is the Feminist lens in order to evaluate inequalities and differences in characters created by their gender or traditional traits of either femininity or masculinity. These varied amounts of femininity and masculinity are highlighted in Lord of the Flies and serve to show glaring differences in characters and serve to establish their roles on the island. From this feminist lens, the idea that both feminine and masculine traits shines through as some of the characters contain feminine traits such as Ralph, Piggy, and Simon, while Jack is a large show of typically masculine traits. One blatant inequality that I noticed was the gradual loss of power among characters displaying feminine traits as the boys slowly became more masculine and, eventually, savage. The point when Piggy holds the largest amount of power is when he abandons his usual quiet and thoughtful demeanor and aggressively lashes out and raises his voice. From the structuralist lens, this novel can show obvious stereotypes of the protagonist and antagonist in Ralph and Jack, and the clear sidekick is Piggy. All conform to the classic roles of their stereotypes and continue this trend throughout the novel. The final lens that I used to evaluate this novel is Orientalism. One aspect I noticed is that all the boys on the island are British, a country famous for its past colonizations around the globe. At one point Britain aimed to improve the lives of “savages” by inhabiting their native lands and imposing their “civilized” way of life upon them. In an ironic turn of events, the British boys inhabit this newfound island and become the very thing their people sought to destroy. During the forum tomorrow I hope to examine the theme of the novel as stated on page 204. This novel “attempts to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature” (Epstein 204). I want to discuss the novels possible success or failure in the goal of this theme.
Throughout the novel, I read and connected with the plot through a Marxist lens. Marxism to me is the idea of creating government and order within the story and having a structure with ranking through the characters. In this story, the election of Ralph as the leader and the tearing away of Jack and his group from the “government” shows Marxism. The way Jack rebelled and succeeded in creating a new group of boys shows that under a Marxist lense this story provides good literary ideas. The idea of echelons with the boys also exists, as the older and more suitable are in a group (biguns) and the younger less important in another (littluns). I agree with feminism in this story as, although, there are no female characters (besides the sow), the actions of Piggy can be related to feministic views and qualities. In conjunction with Piggy’s feminine traits, tags his superego, and the idea of Freudian theory in the story. It is obvious that Piggy is the “superego”, Jack is the “id”, and Ralph is the “ego”. In tomorrow’s forum, I will lead with Marxist views and the Deconstruction of some symbols in the story.
Peyton 5
I believe when I read I tend to mostly read through a feminist lens. I do this because it sometimes amazes how little female characters are used in novels. Sometimes they are not even given names in some novels. One novel I have looked back at recently for some feminism is "Of Mice and Men." This novel contains many examples of the women in the book not being seen as equal or important as the men in the book. One specific example is Curly's wife. She is in multiple parts of the book but is never given a name which shows she is looked down on and seen as someone who does not even matter enough to be given a name. Although I do read through the feminist lens a lot in "The Lord of the Flies" I read more through a Freudian lens. I see many different Freudian theories in this book and that is how I will approach the forum tomorrow.
Sonju 2
The literary lens that I am wearing the most is the Freudian lens. While I was reading, I noticed how many of the important objects in the book reflected what was happening to the boys. For example, the conch represents civilization and order, and when it is destroyed, it is complete mayhem on the island. The underlying theme that drives the characters to the climax of the book is the “beast”. Thinking about this through a Freudian lens, the beast is like the part of the iceberg that is under the surface of the water. You can not see it, but it is always there and always a part of you. The characters represent the id, ego, and superego that Freud introduced to psychology. Jack is the id, Ralph is the ego, and Piggy is the superego. I think that I will lead with questions during tomorrow’s discussion. One question I have that I am eager to hear the answers to is if my classmates think there is too much ambiguity in the book. Where should authors draw the line?
Kirkeby 2
I see this book as a pro-feminist book. There is a vast spectrum of characters and their traits. On the far sides are the very masculine boys, mainly Jack, and on the other side the very feminine traits of Piggy. Ralph is somewhere in the middle but he is a human, and therefore is imperfect and waivers back and forth letting his inner masculinity come out as rage and femininity come out as passiveness. As the book went farther along, you see the kids descend into chaos and the savagery. Apart from the feminist theory lens, I also see part of the Marxist lens in this book. As the kids descend, you see the government and leadership turn from a democracy with Ralph voted as chief, to communism and dictatorship with Jack seizing power and determining who is worthy to eat. I also believe in anti-intellectualism. Piggy is by far the smartest boy on the island but is treated poorly and ignored by most. Ralph sees the wisdom in him and wishes he owned the knowledge of Piggy. On the island, it is survival of the fittest, and all intellect is discarded. The island is a true example of the downfall of humanity and the descent back to the stone age.
I am wearing my feminist lens throughout this book because while there are no girls on the island there are many features and instances that leave me to believe it is pro-feminism. During the story, piggy frowned upon the whole time and while some might just think it is because of his appearance, if you look a little deeper it is because all of the boys are treating him like people would treat women in that time period. He is constantly silenced and his opinion isn't valued even though he is the smartest one there. Some might say that the author is pro-feminism by making piggy the smart one while being treated like a woman. They also won't let him be chief just as almost all countries have male leaders and are placed on a higher pedestal. there is almost no mention of women throughout the book and I feel as if they are purposefully left out so that the author can characterize piggy as the girl figure. Wisdom isn't valued and only the strongest among the boys prevail when it should be the brains over power. It really does show the downfall of society and how the things that should be valued most are being taken into account.
Rau 1
Whenever I read literature, I constantly tend to think of how the characters are feeling- how their mindsets are evolving throughout the story. Every time they make a decision, I subconsciously ask, “How come these characters are they acting this way?” Mostly, I’m on the lookout for bias, personal traits, and even human error within characters’ psychology. Generally, most of my theories can be described as closely related to the theories of a Freudian. For Freudians, the very thought that an unconscious conscious exists is an idea that I’ve always pondered of the people around me. I take human actions and emotions into consideration, noting their detailed behaviors. While I may be no professional sociologist, the patterns of human behavior can be easy to understand once you keep the subject’s perspective in mind to help you follow along. Similar to the story, following the behaviors of characters like Ralph and Roger, one can analyze how they both take up the roles as caregivers and leaders toward the other boys in the beginning. However, as the story progresses, the pacing of character development progresses along with it. With the urgency of the boys themselves racing through the forest, the characters noticeably start to follow their own paths of personalities and behaviors within the story.
Runia 2
For the book "Lord of the Flies" I am using a feminist lens for most of the book. I choose to wear this lens because I believe that the story has a lot to do with savagery and civilization. The idea of feminism in literature helps me with this comparison as you may say that being savage is more masculine as being feminist means being more civilized. I also buy the idea that this book can be seen with a Marxist lens. With a Marxist lens, it can be seen that Jack acts almost as a Hitler/Stalin figure. He promised the kids meat, safety, and life if they sided with Jack. The assembly itself can be seen as a democratic assembly where everyone should get a say. Jack's tribe, however, is a completely authoritarian regime. I will lead into the discussion with thoughts about both of these lenses and how the conch represents civilization.
2 Eifert
I am wearing Marxist most because I feel that this story has a lot to do with the boys trying to build a society or system but in the end they fail to achieve it. The littluns are the proletariat (lower class) and the biggins are the bourgeoisie (upper class). The biggins treat the littluns as if they are lesser than them, because the littluns do not have as much knowledge, nor are they as civilized. The Karl Marx term “interpellation” is used in this book. This term is that as a society we are convinced by those “in control” of us that we must do certain jobs for the community because what is good for the whole society leads to good conditions for the individual. For example Ralph trying to be a leader of the group of boys and he tries to get them to work as a team, or society to help recreate the structures of civilization. When they stop doing their jobs, and do not get along that is when everything falls apart. The conch is a symbol of this order, and control that Ralph is trying to put over them to get them to work as a civilized society. I started out my forum with the different symbols in this book because it has so many symbols that can each have different meanings, and I wanted to know what others in my class thought of the different symbols, and if they thought the same ideas that I had. I only somewhat agree with the feminist theory, as I see the best character, and the ones that have the most logical thinking act in a feminist way. At the same time though, these characters are killed off such as Piggy, Simon, and even the pigs that they kill are female. I agree with freudian Psychoanalytic theory as I see how jacks unconscious self has a desire for power over all in a narcissism way. This motivates jack to act out in violent, savagery ways in order to gain power and control.
The literary lense that I had on the whole time I read this book was the feminist lense. Piggy really stood out to me because not only was he the whole groups conscience he was also the group’s mother in a way. Everytime Jack or Ralph would go look for the beast he would stay back and watch the littluns just like a mother would do. Piggy also suggested different hunting tactics but Jack would claim those ideas as his own and then everyone else would give credit to Jack for those ideas. I believe that if there were females on the island that they would survive a lot longer than the boys. The girls would have things planned out a lot better than the boys who just go savage over everything. The boys would then see that the females are thriving and then eventually join the female side.
Betanzo 1
The literary lens that I examined the most while reading the novel was the feminist lens. After discussing all of the different lenses in class, the feminist lens stuck out to me the most because it opened my mind as to how the female sex is portrayed in not just novels but all of the other forms of visual entertainment such as movies, plays, tv shows, etc. In many, not all, occurrences of a female-like protagonist in a novel, a female can be portrayed as a damsel in distress. She isn't capable of being her own independent woman due to her "weak" characteristics. Sometimes she has a weak, body figure but is all brains. Due to her weak figure, she may not be taken seriously. Other times she can be portrayed as your "typical and dumb blonde". In this instance, it takes a while for her to interpret and recall information about almost anything that isn't relevant as to how she lives her life. There have been a few cases where she breaks the feminized lens and is a smart and strong woman that isn't afraid to spark a revolution. Although in this case, she can't do it alone. She almost and always has to have a partner to complete her quest. There are different types of how certain females are portrayed. In Lord of the Flies, the feminized characters would have to be PIggy and the littluns. The reason I believe Piggy is portrayed as a feminine figure is that he fits the brains but "weak body figure" type in the novel. Throughout most of the novel, he has a multitude of ideas that Ralph and the rest of the survivors shoot down or claim as their own. He was also seen as abnormal from the rest of the characters due to his chubby-like appearance as well. The littluns are also seen as weak because they can't survive by themselves due to how small they are compared to some of the biguns. The weak figures of the littluns make them a little inferior to others who are strong and more capable of doing things on their own. I agree with the Freudian theory in the novel. Due to certain experiences, I believe some characters had a superego that played a major role as to how they acted. Jack became a ruthless and strong leader due to how he finally proved himself useful to the boys by finally catching some prey for everyone to eat. I believe the functionalism theory was also demonstrated in the novel due to the island and tensions influenced the boys to act savage like by the end of the novel. Lastly, I believe the orientalist theory was displayed as well due to how the British and sophisticated culture completely shifted in the boys by the time the naval officer found them.
I find myself wearing the feminist lens the most often. I believe that I am wearing this lens because it is interesting to see how stories can be changed just with the use of gender. Depending on if a character is female or male greatly changes how they behave and change the story. I also accept the idea of how social classes affect stories from the Marxist theory. Looking at which gender and social class a character is can inform you of their role in the story, whether it is fair or not. The lower classes are usually the “bad guys” in the story when in reality they may just want to have the same opportunities as the upper-class characters. Depending on the gender of a character can determine whether they take action or take care of the characters taking action. Tomorrow I would like to discuss what may happen if it was girls that landed instead of boys, and if this would make the book more or less interesting.
Christensen 5
I am wearing the Freudian, Marxist, and Feminist theories while reading Lord of the Flies. I am wearing these lenses because they are some of the most obvious that come through as I read the book. Also, they are some of the most interesting theories in my opinion. One idea that I accept from the Marxist theory is that Ralph and Jack are in a power struggle throughout the novel and slowly the class structures begin to dissipate. An idea that I accept in the feminist theory is that Piggy is one of the most motherly figures on the island because he takes care of the littluns while the older boys go hunting. Lastly, the idea that I accept in the Freudian theory is that Jack represents the id aspect of the personality. He becomes more and more violent as the book goes on and he acts on his own pleasure and doesn't think about anyone else but himself. During my forum, I will be going more in-depth on each of these theories and my thoughts on each subject.
I have been doing my very best to see the book through all literary lenses while reading Lord of the Flies but I am wearing most often the Marxist lense. In the novel, the whole conflict is surrounded by power and a desire for power. At the beginning of the novel, I believe that the power is given to the right person because it is voted for. At the same time, I do believe there could possibly be a better leader than Ralph. Simon is wiser, smarter, and has everyone's best interest at heart. Through a feminist lens, I do believe that Piggy is the feminine aspect of this novel. He acts week and a little helpless but is one of the smartest people on the islands. He also is a motherly figure because he takes care of the littluns. I believe in the Marxist theory in the fact that the leaders are chosen more by their social class. If it weren't based on this I believe that Simon would be the perfect leader. For the Freudian theory, Jack is the ID. He lets his savage instincts take over him completely. During our discussion, I will lead with the argument that as some people have said, Piggy would not make a good leader and Simon would be the best option because he has those Christ like characteristics.
While reading our first novel, Lord of the Flies, I have been trying to use all of my lenses. However, I find myself fascinated with the Orientalist theory the most. Orientalist theory opens the question of the production of knowledge from a global perspective. I have always enjoyed looking at the bigger picture of a novel. Using my Orientalist theory, I was able to compare the boys on the island to the men fighting another world war off the island. My Orientalist viewpoint also allowed me to compare the boys to the generations that came before them not only in their own culture but in others as well. The boys act as imperialists taking over the island and conquering all in their path. Jack killed pigs and murdered their own because their bloodlust went beyond the control of their civilized nature. Other characters, such as Ralph, remained civilized and acted as colonists conquering the new land but creating a colony in the area, building huts, collecting food, and trying to survive in this new area.
I believe I am wearing the Freudian theory. It states that the events that take place in our childhood are what shape ourselves into what we become in the future as adults. You could also explain this as the people around you are shaping you everyday and you do not even know it. Maybe start noticing, if you start hanging out with a certain group of people you start to, perhaps, turn into them. You start talking the same, wanting the same, doing the same. And if you started hanging out with other people it would happen with them too, eventually. Another theory that I find interesting in this Lord of the Flies is the feminist theory. There are absolutely no girls on the island, and the hunters kill all the female pigs. I think Piggie is a good example of this theory because he tells the others about his smart ideas (even though no one listens to him). He is telling others what to do, but he is not doing a single thing himself. He just watches, talks, and eats. Women in the olden days were viewed to “stay in the kitchen” and not work, and I think Piggie is a good example of this.
I believe, throughout this novel, I have been using the feminist lenses most frequently. The reason, the lack of women in it. The novel is an island full of boys, however, the author manages to feminize a couple of the characters. These characters have the attributes of good leaders, yet their features are those of mothers and women. I find this very interesting because the more masculine characters are the ones fighting and arguing the majority of the time. This also parallels the adults, who are off fighting World War 3. Like the boys, most of them are probably masculine men who are not getting along and are off killing each other just like the boys in the novel. It also begs the idea, would women make better leaders? I believe this is true. Similar to the feminine characters in the novel, they would be less conflicting. They would not have their superiority complexes, and they would be more caring overall.
I think that I find myself wearing Freudian lenses the most. I think that this is because I have a fascination with psychology and the ideas that Freudian lenses bring. The idea that I accept the most from Freudian lenses is of the id, ego, and superego. I think that Jack for sure represents the id, and the Ralph would represent the ego, but I think that it is actually Percival who would represent the superego. Percival is the one that is influenced most by society, at the beginning of the book he recites his address—the bit of society that he is clinging on to. However, at the end of the book, Percival has forgotten his address, because society has not been constantly influencing him to do so. I also enjoy looking through the lenses of deconstruction. One of the ideas of deconstruction would be that you need to look at the words in context, but also look at them apart from the book as a whole, looking at what the author intended, and what the reader might have perceived. Feminist theory is also something that I liked to look through in this book. I thought that Piggy and Simon might have been seen as a little feminine, even if they are not female. These would be the main ideas that I would bring forth during the forum.
Swift 7
I am wearing the Marxist theory lense the most because of the focus on leadership on the island. Each character plays a special role in their "government" that leads to crucial decisions in their development while on the island. The brawny and fearless characters are trying to lead, but their different visions lead to conflict that reflects the comparisons of capitalism and communism. The author shows how damaging communism can become for everyone in the "government" and the opposing "governments", thus promoting the idealism of capitalism and its benefits when executed correctly. Jack represents the communism approach and the inevitable violence that will result from it, whereas Ralph and Piggy represent the capitalist views and that in the end, it is the better choice. Additionally, I enjoy the Freudian lens in this novel because it is so distinct and complex. Throughout the novel, Ralph is the main leader and has to make a multitude of decisions for not only himself but also the rest of the crew and his sub-conscience thoughts run by Jack and Piggy in a way. Jack represents his ID and Piggy represents the superego. This makes you consider what the character is made of and whether he is strong enough to make the right moral decisions. The feminist lense is just as intriguing because you can find femininity in just about everyone, but the way the author utilizes that feminine aspect is so crucial to the empowerment or suppression of women in the novelor writing.
One of the literary lenses I wear the most while reading the Lord of the Flies is probably feminism. Viewing it through a feminist lens makes the most sense to me because it is pretty obvious that Piggy has many feminine traits. He is very intelligent and wants to use his knowledge to help everybody on the island. He is competing with more manly characters (Ralph and Jack) that do not fully support his ideas. The Freudian lens can be worn and easily interpreted in the Lion King because the hyenas are under the ruling of Scar. Scar is leading them, promising them a better life at the top of society instead of being drug around at the low end. There are also little hints at communism in the movie, such as the hammer being Scar and the sickle represented by the moon in one scene. Freudian lens can be worn while reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Chief, the narrator, seems like a reliable one, until you figure out that he has a mental condition that makes him hallucinate things beyond the belief of others. Therefore, we can only guess as to what he says is true or not.
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