Monday, May 21, 2007
Irony - Chapter 10-12 (Themes/Symbols)
There seems to be an overwhelming amount of ironic situations within this book. The most obvious one in the last chapter of the book is that the fire that finally gets them rescued by the naval officer was made in the first place to try to kill Ralph. It seems so paradoxical that after all this time of Ralph nagging on all the other boys to get the fire going and to keep it lit that in the end the reason they get saved is not because of Ralph’s efforts to make the fire but because the rest of the boys are trying to kill Ralph, and an officer sees the "smoke" (Golding 224). As well I think it is ironic how the reader doesn’t truly understand how important piggy who seems so insignificant really is the one keeping the peace of the island. We see as the book progressed how much piggy grew in his confidence and his courage. He was always the one who believed most strongly in the conch and its power to unify the boys and to keep them working together in a collective democracy. When Piggy is killed though the last hopes of democracy are shattered, "there [is] no Piggy to talk sense" (218). It was evident that Piggy as well as the conch were the only things that kept some kind of democracy alive. Lastly another ironic event to me is how these boys who at the beginning seemed so well mannered and well bred turned into such savages. Initially Jack and his “choir” seemed so uptight and well mannered. They seemed very prim and proper and it is very ironic how in the end they ended up turning into such savages. It demonstrates how living on a desolate island for an extended period of time can change a person and in some cases drive them to do things they would never normally have done. In general I believe this book emphasized the unexpected. It demonstrated how we cannot be quick to judge a situation because we never know how one will react. Irony seemed to be a very common theme within the story.
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3 comments:
Interesting analysis on the last few chapters, Rebecca. The sense of irony at the end of the book truly serves to bring it to a dramatic close. This especially is evident in your points on the fire and piggy's death. These seem to serve as symbols that remind us of order we never really seemed to need, but once it is gone, our life is chaos. The boys also becoming savage is another interesting point of irony you chose to touch on. When we truly stop and think about it, are these boys at fault for their actions? Granted, anyone capable of murder could be held accountable, but the way these boys lives had been precisely documented and taught surely has something to do with the way they acted on the island and became problematically unruly. My analogy could go as saying that if we force someone into hard work their whole life, the second they get a chance to rebel with no repercussions, they will. In the most extreme case, we see these boys live out their deepest urges of death, blood, and heroism all because they have been forced to live the opposite.
In the end, I think this novel can teach us about the importance of balance in our lives. We cannot always live forcing the unknown out, for when given no other choice, we will amplify it with horrifying measure. Essentially, Golding is telling us that living in moderation and balance is the only way to truly overcome the conceited nature that surrounds us. He means to say that we are all capable of such awful acts.
When I was reading the last few chapters of the novel I was being to notice the irony. Rebecca made a lot of the same connections that I did with the conch and the fire. I completely agree with Rebecca when she said “It was evident that Piggy as well as the conch were the only things that kept some kind of democracy alive”. The conch symbolized order and control, when the conch and Piggy were gone I knew that the kids were going to continue with their bad behavior. Fire was a symbol of hope for Ralph, in the last few chapters when the officer saw smoke he went to the island. Ralf knew all a long that if they were able to keep a fire that has smoke someone would see and come. Sure enough that happened. One point that Rebecca made which I thought was very interesting was when she said how the boy’s personalities changed, they were very proper choir boys. Once they were on the island they began to have barbaric behavior and were extremely aggressive. I think that Rebecca made some good points about the irony of the novel and they importance of some of the characters.
~Melissa
I agree with the comments that Rebecca made. The boys had become savages and it was strange that they turned this way even though they had been brought up in the English society which is well known for there manners. I also thought that it was a little ironic how the boys were saved not by their efforts to keep a fire going but by their efforts to kill each other. They were saved at a point were if they were not saved I don’t think they would have lasted much longer on the island. Until Rebecca mentioned it I never really thought about how much Piggy changed or how much of a difference he made to the other boys. He came to the island as a shy little boy who never wanted to be called Piggy again, to a young man who began to not care what those around him thought about him. He was able to help and keep some composure on the island; he helped Ralph when he needed help controlling the other boys, or the help make life on the island more livable. I also never really thought about how many similarities there were between the symbolism of the conch and Piggy. The conch was there to keep order to the island, and that’s all that Piggy wanted. He still thought that even though the island had divided itself he still had hope that they would come together again and be rescued.
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