Lord of the Flies: Chapter 12 Journal

I didn't really like how the novel ended because it was all action and suspense and they get rescued and The End. I also don't like how we don't know what happens to the boys after they are discovered. I think that Ralph cries at the end because he is so overwhelmed by everything that happened and just lets it all out when he sees that they are finally getting rescued. The character that I despise the most is Jack because he was so caught up with competing with Ralph to get to be chief and once he achieved that, he was the violent kind of leader. The reason that I don't like him though is that once he turned into a total savage, he turned all the other boys savages and violent too. I would not recommend this novel to someone else unless they'd have someone that could explain it to them because there is a lot of symbolism and they could get lost and not get the meaning of the novel. However, if they did have someone to explain it, I would recommend it because it is a very fun and interesting book and we could all learn from it. 

Lord of the Flies: Chapter 11 Questions

1. Ralph's group decides they must go up to Jack and his tribe and demand that he give back Piggy's specs so they could make a fire so they could have a signal in order to get rescued.
2. The twins are "seeing Ralph for the first time" because they think that Ralph is forgetting what they want to do. He is becoming more like Jack in that he is more demanding and is a bit more viscous when talking to the other boys. He isn't the boy that they elected chief at the beginning of the book. 
3.  They boys' plan to retrieve Piggy's glasses is bound to fail because they didn't really think their plan through. They sort of just said we are going to go up them and tell them to give us the glasses so we could make our fire to signal and be rescued. They didn't think what they other boys could do or what they would do if they decided to attack when they tell them their plan.
4. Roger pushes the rock off the cliff because he wants to be part of the action and wants to show what he can do and the power he has.
5. The destruction of the conch is symbolically significant because the conch represented order and was a sign of civilization. By destroying the conch, they are moving farther away from being civilized. They have now gotten rid of the only source they had to keep order among themselves and I think that they will all lose the side of themselves that is still attached to their civilization.
6. Most of the boys want a chief because they want someone to follow. A chief tells them what to do and what should be done. Many of the boys might not know what they would need to do because they don't feel comfortable making their own decisions on what they have to do in order to survive.
7. "Jack, why do you resort to violence all the time?"
"Do you not want to be with Ralph because you want to act like a madman and hunt and kill all day long?"
8. Diary Entry:
Life on the island is not the same as it was at the beginning like when everyone had first gotten there. The island is not the paradise place like it was at first. In fact, now it might be the worst place I've ever heard of. Jack keeps on telling Ralph that he has to stay on his 'side' of the island. The beach where we were settle at first is Ralph's and anyone who decided to stay on his side while Castle Rock is Jack and his tribes'.However, everyone is free to travel around the island as long as they don't attack one another like Jack did to Ralph at night because that creates trouble.
The relationships that everyone has with each other isn't that good either. There is always tension in the air. Jack is very aggressive now and is resorting to violence. His savage side is taking over his civilized side. He and his tribe are all savages, they even paint their faces and enjoy violence. Ralph is kind of losing it too. He isn't remembering what the top priorities are and seems to be into the activities that Jack and his tribe do. As of now, Simon and Piggy are dead. They were the ones that understood everything and sort of tried explaining how they should live and what they should do to keep sane while they were on the island. Overall, everything is chaos on the island.

Lord of the Flies: Chapter 10 Questions

1. Ralph knows that Simon was killed that night and that he was killed because the boys that went with Jack did it thinking it was "the beast". However, Piggy doesn't want him to say anything about it. "'That was murder.' ' You stop it!' said Piggy, shrilly. 'What good're you doing talking like that?'" (Golding 156). Piggy says "'that's what it was. An accident'"(Golding 157)Piggy is trying to convince himself and Ralph that they don't have any fault in the death of Simon and he wants to believe that the others did kill him but it was just an accident. Samneric don't want to mention or even remember what happened that night. All they kept saying was '"We were very tired so we left early"' (Golding 158).Although, they do mention the feast and the dance, but ignore it and try to change the subject.

2. Ralph and Jack have different feelings and thoughts about the death of Simon. For one, Ralph feels guilty that the boys beat Simon to death and he keeps saying "'That was murder'" (Golding 156), while Jack tells his hunters "'He came-disguised'" (Golding 160). Jack doesn't even care that they murdered Simon, in fact, he thinks that it was the beast coming as Simon just to catch them of guard while Ralph is overreacting about the situation.

3. Jack is becoming more and more savage each day. He is now also becoming ruthless. Jack is probably losing control of his anger and letting it get to him. One of the boys says "'He didn't say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up.'" (Golding 159). I am starting to feel that whenever Jack gets mad from now on, he will resort to violence and become an abusive leader. In the book, it says," The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffling noisily in the background." (Golding 160) This shows that even though Jack and the others beat Wilfred up, they don't care that he's in pain and don't feel guilty. They think it's actually funny that Wilfred was tied up and beaten.

• Jack is the new chief because he is the one that the other boys listen to now. They even call him 'chief' instead of 'Jack'when referring to him.
Piggy: He tried to avoid everything due to his asthma.
Ralph: He was being attacked so he tried to fight to fight back with them.
Sam: He hid himself in a corner and avoided fighting.
Eric: He thinks he was fighting with someone but was actually fighting with Ralph.
Jack: Invades Ralph and leads the other boys away carrying Piggy's glasses.
Roger: Helps invade Ralph and marches away chanting and doing cartwheels.

Editorial Response

1.) Betsy McCaughey said that the problem is that there are so many sick ebola patients that the CDC now wants to treat them at our local hospitals and that isn't okay.
2.) McCaughey offers the solutions of making the 4 bio-containments already available bigger to treat the patients trying to be treated at our local hospitals. Also the solution of having the doctors themselves design the ebola suits instead of having others because no one really wants to have to deal with a disease that might end your life like ebola.
3.) Infection expert Sean Kautman said that the CDC's guidelines for protective gear for treating ebola is "absolutely irresponsible and dead wrong."
4.) The point that Report.  Michael Burgess made about CDC's chef Thomas Frieden is that the guidelines are stupid because in Africa, the suits are more covered and that's what it should be like here because the guidelines dont say them specifically.
5a.) I do agree with McCaughey's commentary that we should save our hospitals because why would we put in danger many people's lives by tearing ebola patients at our local hospitals when we have 4 bio-containment hospitals that are build especially for that.

5b.) When I read the article to my parnts, they also agreed with McCaughey's commentary that we shouldn't have to fit our hospitas and risk many people's lives when we could just mae the bio-containments bigger. 

Article Summary

Is a Tomato a Fruit? It Depends on How You Slice It

In the news article titled Is A Tomato A Fruit? It Depends On How You Slice It, Rebecca Rupp discusses straightforwardly the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. First, Rupp Explains what we, common people, would say the difference between a fruit and a vegetable would be. According to Rupp, we might define a fruit as "an entity that develops from the fertilized ovary of a flower", appealing and tempting, and a food we normally eat as a dessert. Similarly, we might describe a vegetable as "any edible part of a plant that doesn’t happen to be a fruit" or the stuff kids play around with and hide under their food so they won't have to eat them.
Next, she explains what the Supreme Court in 1886 said where John Nix argued with Edward Hedden that a tomato was a fruit. Hedden "demanded payment of a ten percent tax in accordance with the Tariff Act of 1883". However, Nix knew that this demand couldn't be accepted because a tomato was in fact not a vegetable, but a fruit. The case made it's way to the Supreme Court and Justice Horace Gray ruled in favor of the tomato being a vegetable in 1893. Gray argued that a tomato was a vegetable in the sense that a vegetable is eaten at dinner along with the appetizer (i.e. soup, fish, or meat). The court also found beans, onions and chestnuts to be vegetables. Whereas rhubarb, carrots and sweet potatoes to be fruits because they are used to make jellies and jams.
Rupp also says that states have altered what foods fall into what category. For example, Tennessee and Ohio have claimed tomato as their official state fruit. Some have claimed it both their official state fruit and vegetable. Louisiana on the other hand named it their official state's vegetable plant. But the state that has caused the most confusion is Oklahoma, which claimed in 2006 their state vegetable to be the watermelon.
Finally, Rupp concludes by saying that where you place certain foods depends on what you think and how you eat them. Many people go for extremes for fruits, in fact it is a sin to steal a fruit. But the vegetables aren't worth the trouble.


Knowledge

I think knowledge is the foundation to almost everything, from meeting new friends to trying to figure out how things work. Knowledge is one of the most important things you can possess, because when you know something, you are not ignorant towards it. You know background or what is going on that not everyone sees. Outside of school, I gain knowledge by talking to others, social media, or simply reading books when you aren't obligated to read them. You gain knowledge through almost everything you do, even through your mistakes. I think that is the best way to gain knowledge, by learning from your mistakes because you personally figure it out and can know for a fact what to do and what not to do. You need to be gaining knowledge all the time because you might know something about a specific thing but they always keep changing as time passes by. Things evolve and get more complicated than they were when you gained that knowledge so you have to keep up-to-date to know the new things you didn't know before.

Editorial

Should Schools Be Allowed to Use Corporal Punishment?

    Sometimes kids just want to protect their dignity or reputation and they talk back to their teachers. When they are told to do something, they try to be funny or act tough and they may say something that may offend or threaten their teacher in a way. When that happens, the teacher may or may not be able to use corporal punishment. In some states, it is legal but in others, they aren't. I am on the side of the states where corporal punishments is illegal. To me, teachers being able to physically hurt their students is not something that should be allowed  in any school.

    Giving teachers the ability to hurt their students is giving them too much freedom in school. I agree that it is a good way to make students listen and learn that if they don't there will be consequences. Although, sometimes, it can get out of hand. Teachers may do it a lot just to show authority and scare the students into thinking that if they don't do what they tell them, they will get punished by getting beaten. It is scary to think that if you don't listen to what someone is telling you to do, they will hurt you and not get in trouble for doing so.

    Teachers being able to give corporal punishment is a bad idea because they may want to take advantage of being able to do. They would think that they can do whatever they want to do in class and they wouldn't get into trouble for it. They can do something and threaten their kids. Also, if they don't like a student or have a history with a family member they may hit them even if they didn't do anything.

    Corporal punishment in schools is a bad idea and should not be allowed in them. I gives the teachers too much freedom and authority. Kids may get scared of them and it can affect their ability to learn efficiently. Students are in the process of growing and maturing and they shouldn't get punished over the smallest mistakes.