ADV. Soph. English Journal Response 5

Cry, The Beloved Country (Gender Characterization Analysis and Significance)

Alan Paton characterizes the different genders by their emotional responses to different events in the story.  The male genders thoughts and feelings seem to come first and foremost before any other opinion.  The male genders are characterized by their anger and thoughtfulness for others.  Reverend Kumalo, for example, uses his hard earned savings to travel to Johannesburg to care for his sister and find out why no letters are being written for him.

His thoughtfulness is shown here.  On the other hand though, the Reverend seems to lose his temper a bit when the subject matter comes to the letters being written.  His initial attitude towards his sister is not friendly when she couldn’t come up with a logical excuse for a simple task of writing letters and staying connected with the Reverend.  This is significant because this shows that the characters live in a time where males are still the dominating force.  Women's complete rights might have not been established at the time.  This affects the major opinions and thoughts about the situation in Johannesburg.

The female genders are characterized by their emotional state, what they say, partially on how they react to different events.  Reverend Kumalo’s sister, for example, was very emotional when the topic of letter writing was raised.  The exaggerated emotions shown to the Revered were only sufficient to stop the arguments at the moment.  In another event Mrs. Ndlela tries to help the two Reverends in their search for Absalom and in return, she gets a question from Reverend Msimangu regarding why she expressed an emotion of pity to Reverend Kumalo.  This unnecessary questioning shows that the social standards for women compared to men at that time were a bit lower than nowadays where every opinion or expression counts.  This is significant because it plays a role (foreshadowing) when decisions are going to made in the story.  These decisions will be agreed upon mostly by the consent of the men and little opinion of the women involved involved.

I noticed that the events that happened in chapters 5-7 show that the opinion of men seem to have more power over women.  The emotions that expressed by the women seem to be questioned by the men a little bit more often than the previous 4 chapters.  The relation between the opposite genders seem to be more on the interrogative side. 

ADV. Soph. English Journal Response 4

Cry, The Beloved Country (First 4 Tabbed Notes and Explanations)

Tab 1: The main character is immediately mentioned at the beginning of chapter 2, when it tells about the child’s whereabouts.

Explanation: I tabbed it because it appears that the author wants the characters to be introduced quickly in order to reveal the conflict.  Revealing the characters later might interfere with the rising action.  The author also entitles the main character to foreshadow the religious-related thoughts, actions, and feeling that occur.  One of these events that occur is when he provides money for his sisters cause saying that, that “cannot be helped” which shows his compassion for others in his family (Paton 40).  This helps characterize the Reverend.

Tab 2: At the end of page 38-39 the author builds up our curiosity about why people don’t return from Johannesburg or even write anymore.

Explanation: This marks a point in the story where the exposition is being laid out in order for the main character to take action about the situation of his sister (Reverend Stephen Kumalo’s sister).  It makes us think of the things that could prevent a person from returning to his homeland (excellent living standards, crime, illness, etc…).  This shows how valuable this letter is to him because it is rare to get one from Johannesburg.     

Tab 3: The Reverend is reluctant to open the letter because of it’s rarity (as described in page 36). If it is rare then the matters enclosed in it could be nothing less than urgent.

Explanation: One of the few letters the Reverend receives comes from the place where no letters are sent to him.  Afraid of the possibilities of urgent matters, he hesitates before opening the letter.  This helps build the plot of the novel and how the events will unfold after he opens this letter.

Tab 4: At page 49, it is clear that Reverend Kumalo is unfamiliar with the city life. 

Explanation:  The series of events starting from when he leaves the train to when he boards the bus to Sophiatown, obviously show that he does not know the basics of being street-smart.  This supports the fact that the place where he comes from is less up to date and more old-fashioned.  This characterizes more of the Reverend in the category of how he thinks, how he acts, and what he says.

ADV Soph. English Journal Response 3

The main theme that I have identified is that human civility can rapidly diminish without societies that support order and justice.  This order is retained by law-abiding adults who are educated.  William Golding conveys this theme in three major ways.  The first and foremost is the usage of characters.  Ralph, Jack, Roger, Simon, and Piggy all have a relationship that supports the theme.  In this case, Ralph retains civilizations influence well as well as Piggy who retains his logic and reason.  The effect of their parents who were law-abiding adults (educated) apparently stuck to them.  Golding attaches these behaviors to Ralph and Piggy for the purpose of contrasting them with Jack and Roger.  Jack seems to be the first one that loses his grasp on order and rescue thus contrasting him with Ralph.  Roger on the other hand begins to follow the ways of Jack, and in doing so loses his reason thus contrasting him with Piggy.

In the end of the book it is clear that anarchy and disorder eventually gets a hold if rules are not enforced and no adults come into play.  The second way Golding conveys the theme is by the different point of views of the characters.  William Golding makes sure that Ralph’s point of view is that, the “littluns” very easily get distracted, either by an exciting task mentioned (e.g. making a fire) or to relax and play.  This point of view shows already that if kids are left alone they tend to break up unity among themselves.  Another example of this would be when Ralph’s original group decreases in size, making Jack’s group outnumber his.  This goes to show that Jack’s group (symbolizing chaos and destruction) is what the tendency of most kids are.

Lastly, the author develops the theme with the plot.  At first Ralph is able to amass a large group of people to root for him under the word, rescue.  Golding shows at first that the group is initially motivated to help in their own rescue.  They act with unity, from lighting the fire, to building the first shelter.  Almost immediately after these goals have been met, the group slacks off.  William Golding makes sure that almost all of Ralph’s original group voluntarily pauses in the rescue effort, and instead focus on Jack hunting a pig with his fellow choirboys.   At this point the fire is not cared for which goes out.  This shows their unity and loyalty to Ralph (the child who has retained the qualities of a civilized world) begin to waver and diminish near the end of the novel.  Golding shows that the willingness to actually be rescued, and maintain order & respect, fades as the novel progresses.     

 

ADV Soph. English Journal Response 2

In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the story’s characters are all males. If the characters included females then William Golding would have had to make some changes in his decisions when developing the plot and events of the story. The first thing he would have to change is the way they are characterized. The girls would be mostly characterized mainly by their words and thoughts (while boys are characterized mainly by their actions and reactions of others). This would change how the characters are introduced. The second thing the author would have to change is the decisions made throughout the story. For example, Ralph and Jack explored the island for any human inhabitants and along their way attempted to kill a pig. If there were girls involved, the exploration of the island might have been limited to the beach’s surrounding area because of disagreements with their expedition. They even might not have been able to even get a chance to kill the pig with the females present. Another example would be when Jack abandons Ralph’s assembly to slowly create his own hunting tribe. The females would probably detest this kind of activity and stay with order and civility. Ralph’s group would now have enough human power to convince the other “littluns” and “biguns” to stay with his central idea of rescue thus making a new ending to the story.

The third decision that Golding would have to change is the dialogue between the characters. Except for Piggy and Ralph, the other kids speak with little logic, reason, and purpose. They have a sense of independence among them also (each trying to defend their own opinions). The females would changes the story by suggesting reasonable ideas for rescue (matching Piggy’s thoughtfulness and logic). Their logical suggestions (and amount of females as opposed to Piggy and Ralph only) could change the decisions on survival and rescue on the island. Another decision that could be changed was how the children interacted with each other. With females as characters in the story the boy’s angers, fears, and confusion would be suppressed because naturally the boy’s try to imitate or exceed the female’s maturity with control and order. The females though would also create difficulties in the story when it comes to feelings and emotions expressed. This would create a “slowing down” of the rescue efforts because of all the explaining that would be done between both genders about the new and different possibilities that will occur.

Lastly, the theme would have major changes to it because of the possibility of differing outcomes of the story (based on female decision). The general theme might change from “human civility lessening without the influence of society” to “the likeliness for the good and orderly in humans to prevail in any situation”. With the addition of females the theme could vary based on the outcome of their relations with the males.

ADV Soph. English Journal Response 1

In the first page of Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses a lot of imagery pertaining to a forest.  It creates the scenery for the reader to imagine.  It affects the readers view on how the first character feels about his surroundings.  Apparently, Ralph feels a bit stunned and afraid when not being guided by anyone.  The story shows this by the quote, "clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another."  The effect of this on the reader is the uncertainty of events that will occur next, which captures the readers attention.  The story then feeds on the readers feelings (fear, anxiousness, and thoughtfulness).

Golding also uses the title of the chapter itself to give us a hint as to what the events were going to sum up to.  The title which is "The Sound of the Shell" foreshadows already what a character (Ralph) is about to do later in the chapter.  The "Shell" is the symbolic icon of power which is introduced immediately in the chapter title itself.  The author might have made this decision to show that the influence of civility is still strong at the start when the kids are initially abandoned.  This creates a sense of support and control which would be demonstrated in key parts of the novel such as when Ralph calls the first assembly on the island.  This sense shows the strong retention of behaviors accepted in society as shown in Ralph's original group.