The novel Animal Farm by George Orwell is an allegory for the Russian revolution that changed Russian from a monarchy to the totalitarian regime of the USSR controlled by the mad dictator Stalin. In English, our goal is to find the similarities between the novel and the historical events that that took place in the revolution as well as finding important quotes and ideas from the novel. In our first literary circle, our group did not work well and remain mostly off task, while the second discussion yielded on topic, creative answers as well as courteous and intellectual feedback. I, personally, was absent for the first discussion, but could not believe how many exclamations were made about how well the second one was going. "Our group is more focused." was the most common one, with other about how we are working together. With my personal knowledge and education about the Russian revolution I was able to provide more in-depth knowledge to the circle, discussing the Bolshevik civil war as well as Trotsky's unfortunate exile. I am looking forward to seeing how our next discussion turns out, if we are all present to discuss. The only improvements the could be mad already has been implemented, The jobs for our group is now online and shared, now we all have to come prepared.

Lord of the Flies and Lost connections

Dan Buschmeyer

10-29-13

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Tuesday Write 8: Lord of the flies and Lost connections.

(MAJOR SPOILERS)

Boone from LOST

Simon from Lord of the Flies

JJ Abram’s LOST and William Golding’s Lord of the flies are very similar in plot as well as symbols, characters, and motifs. An extraordinary symbol presented to the read is the connect of Simon as a Christ-like/messiah character, of on his own, discovering things of the island and conflicting the central antagonist of the Island. Many viewers of Lost might not remember Boone, but his connections to Simon as well a messiah are relevant to this paper.

The first noticeable connection to a messiah is when Boone finds the Dharma Hatch, which serves as a “Holy Land” to the survivors, Almost all religious beliefs focus on the child of god bringing his people to a promised land, a sanctuary where they are safe from others and the wrath of the environment. The safety from The Others and the safety from The Beast both create Boone as an allegory for Christ.

The second connection is the hallucinations that both Simon and Boone have of the beast, Simon's visions is of the Lord of the Flies speaking to him, saying that the beast that they all fear is nothing they can hunt because it is the violence inside the kids hearts. Boone’s vision takes place after John Locke, another spiritual character, drugs Boone for no reason, other than to see what the island will say to him. The hallucination is Boone being tied to a log with a knife in front of him, the only way out was to break his own arm. Boone calls and begs for help, only to hear calls from his sister, Shannon. Shannon is also crying for help, so Boone selflessly snaps his arm and cuts Shannon free, just as The Black Smoke arrives. Running for their lives Shannon and Boone make it to an clearing of the forest to a river, but not fast enough, The Beast grasps Shannon and brutally kills her, leaving her body in the river. Boone holds her then runs back to camp and tackles Locke. Locke points out that it was all a dream, and that Shannon is still alive and unharmed and it was only the island trying to speak to him. Locke asks how it felt for him to see Shannon dead, and Boone replies, “Relieved”. Boone separates himself from Shannon and spends all his time listening to the island with Locke. This change from a material man to a spiritual man is a clear example of a movement from the age of material need to a development of new ideas and cultural creation, similar to the movement of Christianity throughout the middle ages

Boone's Death

Simon's Death:

The third connection comes upon when Boone and Simon are sacrificed to the island. In Lord of the Flies, Simon’s death is an allegory for Christ’s suffering and death for our sins. Boone’s death is similar, after climbing into a crashed plane to call for help the plane falls, crushing his body. The pallor of his face showed when Locke dragged him back to Jack, the only man who could save him. Jack is without bounds attempting to keep more people from dying, He performed his own blood transfusion on Boone, because he is the only O blood type. Before attempting to cut off Boone’s leg to stop the bleeding, Boone awakes from his coma and begs Jack to tell his sister he loves her and perishes, the first main character death on the island. A sacrifice to the island as well as the spiritual battle between the Beast and both these characters make Lost and Lord of the Flies an allegory for a religious and spiritual conflict between the Prince of Darkness and the Messiah like character.

In conclusion, characters, motifs, and symbols are all related between Lost and Lord of the flies, From Beelzebub and The Black Smoke, to Boone and Simon, all creations of biblical origins of evil and destruction are represented by Abrams and Golding. Good is sparse but important, as is death, sacrifice to the island ensures the evil on the island stays at bay.

A Game of Reviews

A Game Of Thrones By George RR. Martin (Spoilers, Duh)

Winter is coming, a battle for the throne which will cost many lives and grand assassinations. Good vs. Good in this fantasy thriller, as house Stark and house Lannister

rage war across Westeros, while across the narrow sea the smolders of House Targaryen built an army to take back their former throne. Bolder threat brew past the wall in the north, as winter wakes, as do The Others.

  In the beginning of the novel we are introduced to the House Stark. The patriarch of the Starks is Eddard, a good friend and second in command of the king. Things take a turn for the worst during the kings trip to Winterfell as Eddards young son, Bran falls from a tower along the wall of the keep. During Bran's coma an assassin comes in and attempts to kill him; the plan is foiled when Bran’s pet dire wolf attacks. The weapon used is recognized as a Lannister blade. After an unforeseen accident takes place, a new king takes the throne, and with it new troubles begin to brew. Find out what happens in this fantasy thriller,  A Game of Thrones.

Nothing is safe in A Game of thrones, death and murder can and will happen to anyone. The unbiased to both houses in this novel makes the reader have a choice of who

they support whether it be the hearty Starks, the bold Lannisters, or any of the other 5.

With the show in full bloom on HBO many people think that they don’t need to read the books, which is unbelievable, that is like saying you don’t want to read Harry Potter because you saw the movies. The show is a good adaptation to this gripping thriller, with perfect casting and remarkable effects that follow the novels cliffhangers and surprises to the word.

Overall this novel is a great read; it transports you to a world you dreamed of as a kid then ruins that world by murdering everyone you care for in unexpected ways, which just makes the novel even more thrilling. Have fun reading A Game of Thrones.

Discrimination in the modern world.

Who are you? Some say humans are just a series of complex organic compounds, fighting for basic need and survival. Some may say you are a soul dance your internal flame until the last bit of energy releases to a beautiful afterlife. A person, to me, is both. She is a caring soul and a series of atoms, but these people are all different to us, the people are what are important, not the body. Malcom Gladwell tells us of how not we see the person inside but the exterior ad how that makes the person.

Racism,  discrimination, and gender bias are all real, horrible things that exist in today's society. These feelings can be uninvolved in a person's life or, it can lead them to do terrible things and harm others for something that the victim can't even control. Malcom Gladwell wrote a paper called the Warren Hading Error, in this paper Gladwell discusses the word and gender association as well as the nature of how this shows who we are.  If I ask you, "Is this word Male or Feminine, Kitchen." What would you answer? Most people would say feminine because women have been type cast as the generic stay at home mom who needs to cook clean and cook again as a lifestyle, but this isn't true. The IAT shows you a picture then a word, you answer if the word is bad or good, then if the picture is one or the other. Some people have a higher expectation that after a word like kitchen there will be a face of a woman and after a word like career to be a face of a man. This is extraordinary, we can see what people are thinking, and even if the person shows complete equality to all people, the test shows on the subconscious level what you think of a social class.

This test is a way a speaking to you, for you to discover how people feel of one another, inequality will always exist, whether in race, gender or sexuality, one class will always choose a side and put themselves above another by harassing, bullying, enslaving or murdering one another. These traits have stood the test of time and have been repeated numerous time through history. Today people like to think we have changed, and we have, but the scars of oppression and hatred still burn there ominous glow in the heart of some people. Can we ever all be equal? I don't know, but to do so we all have to treat others as equals, no matter what ethnicity, we are people, all of us. To move to a better future first we must better ourselves.

Is Reality TV a threat to the Human race? -Tuesday Write #1

          Reality TV, A friend or Foe? Is it harmful to the human race by plaguing the minds of  the youth and causing them to act erratically? No, Reality TV does not do that. TV is a form of entertainment, meant to be enjoyed and used to pass time or have a laugh, not to cause higher murder rates and teen pregnancy. Other than people blaming themselves for not raising their kids, and what they do blame is always music, TV, or video games. In late August a young boy shot and killed his grandmother , The parents of the child blamed the video game he was playing, other than the fact that he had easy access to a gun and was never taught better than to point it at someone. The lack of parenting was the cause of the incident, not the game; the game was meant for someone who is older than 17, not an 8 year old. Before video games and reality TV there was another bad influence was sweeping the streets of america, causing bad behavior and horrible mistakes, this was called Rock and Roll.

         Reality TV is not the best thing to watch, but it does show bad behavior and if we do not teach our kids to do better. "Teen Mom" does over exaggerate teen pregnancy, but it also shows the hardship on not only the mother but the entire family goes through trouble. "The Real Housewives of -(Insert name)-" shows drunk wives fight and complain about each other. The viewers realize that this show is interesting, not because of the woman but because of the fights. Better shows can be put on TV to promote a better
understanding of what is best for the youth, but it is up the the parents and caregivers to teach their kids to do better than the people on TV.

     

An Introduction

Hello Readers. Welcome to my blog.

      The matter of this blog is an English post. The topics and stories that we writing in class will be revised and rewritten then posted in this blog. Before all the posts and assorted short stories are left here you should know a bit about me.

Clear water in the Bahamas 

      I am a passionate SCUBA diver, I have been diving for the past 2 and a half years and I am hooked. Get it. Hooked. Like fish. Anyway, I have dove all over California and the Florida keys and also had a great trip in the Bahamas. I got my rescue through PADI 2 years ago and that was one of the most rewarding and challenging things I have ever done, from performing CPR to water or dragging 80kg people out of water without damaging their gear. I also have a deep hatred against remora's, as many divers do. My favorite fish, which we all have, has to be the Goliath grouper, their size is threatening, but I always found them as gentle giant... until if found out what they eat. Other than diving I am also a guitar playing Beatles fan.  I have a deep passion for learning, mostly science, I always tend to hunt down answers from source for the most complex or trivial questions (ie. What gives photons their velocity?). For books, my favorite book is the timeless classic, 2001 A Space Odyssey  The classic story that help fuel the space race and the pursuit of interplanetary exploration. That is a bit about me.


Enjoy.