Lord of the Flies

   This one is from my English novel course. I really enjoyed to read it. It is a very good example of so called the most civilized nation. If you like to read it is a tiny book but if you do not like reading a film adaptation is available online also go for it. By the way it is a response paper and does not cover whole book just till the end of the fourth part.

 

Lord of the Flies

 

    Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel by English author William Golding. It is the first novel of the writer and published in 1954 although it was not successful for the time but soon became a best seller and by the early 1960s was required reading in many schools. In 2005 it was selected as one of the 100 best English novels also it has been adapted to film twice. The novel is about a group of English boy stuck on an island who tries to govern themselves with disastrous results.

 

     The novel is narrated by third person view and begins with describing of environment and also a blonde boy soon we learn that his name is Ralph then another boy finds Ralph called Piggy, it is his nickname. Cause of a plane accident they are there then they agreed about finding other boys. They find a shell and use it to call others so it works and all other boys including a choir group whose leader’s name is Jack, come out. They sit together and talk each other. They bring out that no adult is there to lead them so they need to elect a cheif finally, majority of group voted for Ralph and declare that whoever holds the shell also be able to speak and rest of the group will be silent and attentive. Ralph, Jack and Simon go to explore that if it is an island then they climb to the highest point and can not see any human marks of there.It is an uninhabited island then they decide to turn back. When they are walking down they find a piglet stucked in plants and Jack takes out his knife wants to kill the piglet but he just looks it then piglet disappears. Jack swears that next time he will kill a pig and eat pork. Afterward, they agree on that to make a fire as a signal for ships to be rescued from the island. Everybody brings something from the forest to fire but they do not have any light to burn soon they find the solution then they use Piggy’s glasses and with the help of sun light they make the fire but a problem they have now one of the little boys is missing who has a birthmark on his face and was scaring about a monster like a snake, Piggy notices his absence but except him nobody worries about the little boy they just go on.

 

    They do not complain about living an island and do not have any adult with them although they seem happy to be there alone and not to be under the rules of society and  law etc. They begin to arrage of life try to build shelters and at the same time some of the children are on charged to keep fire. One day when Piggy, Simon and Ralph are on the sea side they see a ship far from away them then they hurry to be seen by the ship but they find the significant fire is gone meanwhile Jack and other boys who are resposible to fire come out with a dead body of a pig. They are very happy and proud about the pig but Ralph and others are angry for them about the missing ship, missing a chance to get rid of the island but Jack seems reckless because he is the one who wants to stay there, put own rules and live away from civilization.

  

   Untill the end of the forth part of the novel Golding introduces of the characters’ features. For instance Piggy seems the intellectual character of the novel with his glasses and behaivors like an adult. I can say that he is the symbol of adults on the island because logical ideas come from him first but nobody listens him only when Ralph or Jack declare the same thing then everybody accepts. For Jack I may say that the representation of confusing feeling of the preadolsence age because he is neither adult nor child and a little bit wild somehow. Ralph seems as another logical character of the novel but his passion is to be popular and some times he uses his power for example resorts bullying to Piggy. It is a kind of obsession to be popular. Another important point is changing behaivors of children, for the first time Jack could not kill the piglet maybe he was sensitive but the next time he cuts the neck of the pig violently and is proud of himself to do this also it is pleasure to tell whole details of murder. We will see what happens the rest of the novel.

Fahrenheit 451

     This essay belongs to very beginning of my university life so it seems now so simple and basic but, doesn't matter. Still it may be helpful. Includes a brief summary and analysis.

FAHRENHEIT  451

 

 

      The main character of the novel is Guy Montag. He is a fireman and his job is burning books. Montag wears a uniform  and there is 451 on it. These numbers  show the degree of books’ burning. One day Montag meets with a young girl, her name is Clarisse and she is seventeen years. Clarisse has white skin, happy eyes and she wears a white dress  with flowers on it. She is a different girl according to Montag. Clarisse is Montag’s neighboor and she wants to talk with Montag. She asks some questions to Montag. She is an inquiring girl and she wants to learn something about Montag’s life. Clarisse asks “ Are you happy?” to Montag. He says “ Yes, ı am happy”. And she asks again “ Have you ever read the books?” Montag tells him reading books is forbidden so I have not read any book. And Montag starts to think that am I really happy or not. He is not happy, exactly.

 

   Montag lives with his wife. Her name is Mildred and she is a normal woman according to her country. Every day Montag comes home after he finished his job and he changes his clothes and he starts watching Tv with Mildred. Tv is most important thing in Mildred’s life sometimes she joins conversation on Tv. She never loses tv programs and she is addicted to tv like an illness. There is no emotion between Montag and Mildred. Everything is routine in their lives. They are like machine, work, eat and watch tv that’s all. One day when Montag comes to home he sees Mildred lies down on the floor. Montag calls emergency service and people come who working for emergency service. They change Mildred’s blood with a machine, next morning Mildred wakes up and she cannot remember anything. Montag asks something but she cannot remember, just she is so hungry.

 

  One day fire station takes an alarm from an old woman's house. Montag and his workmates go to there and they find many books. They want to burn books but old woman does not leave her house and books. Finally, firemen burn books and house but the woman is still there. And Montag steals a book and he saves the book in the air condition of his bathroom. When Mildred is sleeping Montag takes book and starts reading but Montag does not understand anything. Because he have not read any book before. Montag wants to ask to Clarisse but the girl dies in a car accident. Montag is so sad and feels very upset. One day, Captain Beatty comes Montag’s house who is the leader of the fire station and Montag  asks something to her. Beatty talks about burning books. The goverment did not make forbidden reading books, says Beatty. Firstly, people gave up reading books and we changed our job and started to this that is the real reason of burning books. Montag wants to learn meaning of what he reads. But Clarisse is not alive and Montag finds other person; Mr. Faber, he meets with him in a park and he is a professor of literature. Montag says to him what he wants to learn but Faber worries because reading books against and forbidden in their country.

 

  Lastly, Faber agrees to Montag’s ideas and he starts teaching him. Montag thinks, reads and improves himself. One day fire station takes an alarm from Montag’s house. Mildred calls them and firemen come  to the house but Montag escapes from them and he goes to Faber. Montag escapes with a ship on the lake with Faber. They find a group people, they have many books and every person reads a book, keeps his/her mind, memorizes them and burns them. That is their way. At last, Montag joins them.

 

ANALYSIS

 

    The author criticizes society who does not read books. In the story, people pretend to be happy but actually nobody is happy, because everything has routine in their lives and there is no emotion. All people are moitonless, passive and numb. People do what the television says to them and live according to tv. Nobody reads books and thinks anything. They have interesting relations with their parents and companions. Mothers wash childrens clothes, eating food but if children want to kiss them, they kick their own children. For other instance, Mildred is ill but Montag does not feel anything. There is no love between them. Because of watching tv too much. Nobody is architecture of his/ her own life. All lives are same in the story. Writer wants to show us, if people give up reading they can be numb people like in this story. To sum up, the novel tells us importance of reading and thinking. According to the story and in my opinion, people cannot think anything and cannot find meaning of their lives. If people do not read any book, they cannot develop theirselves and they can be moitonless, passive and unhappy people.

 

    Technology is one of the main reasons. Technology develops but people give up reading. To me, finally mankind can be condemned to ignorance. And this book must be a bedside book.

Waiting for Godot

    Here is one of my essays that I wrote in my first year at university. In this one I used other sources also in order to support my argument. At the end in the work cited section you will find details of them as organized according to MLA style.  Hope it helps.

 

Waiting for a Savior

    Samuel Beckett wrote the most famous play of absurd theatre Waiting for Godot. In this play, we can see the, psychological situation of theWestern people after World War II. Having seen many people killed, having lost many lovers and parents, forced people to think about the meaning of life, especially the existence of God. In twentieth century, people tasted deep sufferings of life because of that, then perceived, absurdity of existence in terms of religion. Also Beckett was influenced by this circumstance and he reflected his feelings on the play. “Beckett who witnessed both World Wars and experienced the second one and felt the misery of modern man with all his senses aired his own idea and philosophy in his works in a time when art was expected a mission more important and factual than ‘art for art's sake’” (Ghanbari 735). When the play was staged, everybody was surprised because it was an unprecedented story in order to regularity. In the play, there are two main characters, Estragon and Vladimir, who always wait for somebody or something. Many people who read or watched the play, thought that Godot is God but Beckett refused this opinion. Actually, the play has many signatures which belongs to God however, the author did not accept that, even though the play has many symbols referring to religion and the author focused on the act of waiting. In this point of view, Godot refers to God. In Christianity and other celestial religions, God promised people to send them a savior in order to relieve them from their suffering and invite them to the  waiting.

       First of all, the play has two main characters but the of them are just one human being actually. Vladimir symbolizes the mind by thinking, deciding and choosing. On the other hand,  Estragon symbolizes the body via moving and acting. The characters in the play are waiting and they do nothing except waiting. However, they want to do something like going away but do not. Whenever Estragon wants to go, Vladimir keeps him and reminds him that they are waiting for Godot. In this perspective,  people want to do something but they cannot in order to conform with the norms of the religion. Why cannot  people do anything? What keeps people’s mind? In Christianity and other celestial religions, people have to comply with many rules to live andt to behave by. All of these are imposed to people’s minds by birth.

      It looks like, people do not have to do what religions dictate them  to do. but still, people feel obliged, because if they do not conform with the norms, the society may refuse and isolate them. In this term people have two choices to be faithful and hopeful about saving or finish their lives. The play focuses this dilemma of people. ” In such a condition which has been emphasized by the lack of communication and individuality, man has two choices, either to bear the condition, live and be hopeful about the arrival of the savior and a better future, or to commit suicide and put an end to his miserable life” (Ghanbari 736) . In twentieth century, belief in God or to be faithful decreased in the West so Beckett tried to bring attention to that.  “Waiting for Godot expresses the living condition of the Western people who have been out of contact with God and shows their effort to get rid of the situation” (Wang 200).

      The author of the play defended existentialism so we can see how affects existentialist theory the play is. “Like other existentialists, he comes to focus on the absurdity of human life and doubt the long-time believed religious matters” (Ghanbari 735)  .Whereas, all celestial religions tell in their scriptures promise savlation for people who has belief and be faithful during his life.

As far as religion is concerned, during their missions all the prophets and  apostles have emphasized the fact that a savior will arrive at the end of the time who will implement the government of justice over the globe. This news has been heard since human beings appeared on earth. Allah has indicated this promise in all the early scriptures and commanded humans throughout ages to expect the manifestation of the kingdom of Allah on earth.(Ghanbari 735) 

Waiting of the characters refers that, waiting faitful people for salvation by a savior, God or prophet. This is the one of the religious symbols of the play. Another symbolic thing is mentioned in the Bible

 There are descriptions about Godot similar in God in spirit. In the play, Godot can save,        or punish, or try or take care of man. The tramps in the play think that as long as Godot comes, they will be saved. If they do not waiting for Godot, they would be punished by him. The messenger boy said he and his brother keep sheep for Godot. His brother keeps the sheep and he raise the goats. (Wang 197)

     All in all, the play shows absurdity of waiting for a savior in order to live a meaningful life. Actually, the main characters of the play are hopeless people and the play full of emptiness, pointless and repetition. In this case, Beckett makes criticism people life who belives God and cannot make own choices. According to existentialist theory, people make own decisions and are responsible for all their acts so Estragon and Vladimir are not existentialist people because there is no act and no desicion they just wait, they have not got the courage to make a choice. Godot is their savior and they do not do anything except waiting. All the time is same for them because of that they cannot notice what time it is, how long they have been waiting. Of course they cannot remember that if their all days to be same. Godot promises them to come but he never comes also he sends a messenger boy to tell them he will come absolutely. In this case, Godot referes God because in all heavenly religions God promises that one day people will save all sufferings and be happy forever so many prophets had come to tell God’s messages to people and invite them to wait for salvation.

 

 

Works Cited

Beckett, Samuel. Waiting for Godot. London: Faber and Faber, 2006. Print.

Ghanbari, Mohammad Reza. “A Comparative Study of the Notion of Waiting for a Savior

           in Religion and in Waiting for Godot.” World Applied Sciences Journal. 3.5 (2008):    733-37. International Digital Organization for Scientific Information. Web. 18 Apr, 2013.

Wang, Jing. “The Religious Meaning in Waiting for Godot.” English Language Teaching. 4.1 (2011): 197-200. Canadian Center of Science and Education. Web. 27 Apr, 2013.

 

 

Best.

 

The Metamorphosis

   Hi, everyone. I thought it will be good if I share my documents, assignments, essays etc. because I worked hard for every one of them and maybe they can help some others who make researches for their assigments or just for the sake of reading. Anyway I am gonna start with The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka. I chose to write about this book in my Textual Analysis course and I got A for it. Hope it helps. By the way all of these writings are my own articles but you can use them how ever you want.

Metamorphosis of the People in Kafka’s The Metamorphosis

    Franz Kafka is one of the most famous modern novelists. He is one of the most influential writers of 20th century. Like other authors of his time he also handles existentialist theory and absurdity of  life in his writings. As we know after World Wars, people began questioning of life and questioning the meaning of existentialism on the world. World Wars cause changes of on human psychology, like people who were suffering because of wars became more pessimistic and hopeless. Of course this situation influenced authors too. They reflect this circumstance on their works. In Kafka’s works we see this influence a lot of course another important points affected his writings also such as his problematic relationship with his father and condition of people after The Industrial Revulotion. From Kafka’s perspective with the beginnig of The Industrial Revulotion people became something out of human being, they have turned a kind of production machine. What I have understood from his writings is, people are important for each other as long as they provide income and this situation does not change even if they have blood tie or close relationship among them. In The Metapmorphosis, after transformation of Gregor, which means he can not provide income at all, Kafka reveals changing of family members so Gregor transforms pscyhically but rest of his family transforms mentally.

     Begining of the book Gregor Samsa the protagonist of the story wakes up from an uneasy dream and finds himself as an insect. First this transformation surprises him a little bit but then he worries about his job because he would have went to work. He is late also. During the whole story we see that only Gregor’s body transformed in a bug body but his mind does not change. In spite of his situation he still thinks about his family because he is the one wo provides income of the house. The transformation does not change his pure, naive thoughts about his family members but we can not say same thing for the rest of his family.

    Before transformation of Gregor, he is not important for family. They do not care with him what he needs or what he wants. The important thing for them Gregor’s working and paying of father’s debts but no one appreciates him for this supporting financially. When Gregor turned a bug everyone rejects him even his sister whom he has a closer relationship. They start to ignore Gregor and also shame because of his out looking. Gregor can not communicate with his family because of his situation he can not speak. He just try to understand their thoughts from their faces. Although their bothered and bored behaivors Gregor still worries about them and feels guilty because he can not support them at all. Now his family members start working and they rent one of the rooms of their home to earn money but strangely they do not feel responsible for Gregor however they are angry to him because of his looking but poor Gregor does not want to believe any bad things about them. He tries to rationalize everything.

    To sum up, in this short story Kafka shows us intelligently, corruption of relationships among family members. In that way story is a realistic story because we can see similar problem today’s families also. When Gregor turns a bug which means he is unavailing now he becomes an unimportant person  for his family. Actually, he is not important for them before transformation. The only important thing is his supporting financially of them. In the story his father who behaves Gregor in a bad way physically most probably portrays Kafka’s father because except this one most of his stories have a bad father character. As a conclusion I can say that, according to the story people’s behaivor can change if one lose his power in terms of earning money, it is sad to say but unfortunately this is today’s  reality.

Best