Tues Dec 8 (B) / Wed Dec 9 (H)

Homework:

• 8-10 specific, significant parallels between LOTF and the movie Blindness
  
• begin preparing for in-class essay: choose topic, brainstorm thesis and intro
• next class: entire period devoted to finalizing thesis and developing outline
• in-class essay date: Tues Dec 15 (B) / Wed Dec 16 (H)
  
• H BLOCK: SOCK WARS!!!
  

Discussion Questions from Class
(in preparation for our final essay)

The Human Animal

1. In what ways are we different from other animals?
2. What about us, if anything, connects us to our primitive past?
3. Do humans still need to rely on instincts? When?
4. What evidence is there that the boys on the island are becoming more animal and less human? More savage and less civilized? Provide specific examples.

Good and Evil

1. Does evil exist?
2. If you believe in good, must you also believe in evil?
3. Are we inherently evil (born evil, naturally evil)? Do we have to learn how to be good? If we have to learn, who or what does the teaching?
4. Or are we inherently good—but grow into evil? Who or what influences us to become evil?
5. Should we judge an act as evil by a person’s intention or by the outcome?
6. Is it necessary for humans to create rules or laws to behave in a civilized manner? Is a hierarchy of authority necessary to uphold these rules and laws? How is this connected with evil?
7. Even if you don’t believe that evil exists, why do we use the concepts of good and evil to define our behaviours? What purpose does this serve?
8. Does the judgment of good or evil depend on the culture defining it?

Debate between 2 theories if HUMAN BEHAVIOUR:

1. Robert Ardrey, a social scientist, believes that human behavior is the result of EVOLUTION. He believes that man is a natural killer who evolved from a killer ape, not a happy banana-eating chimpanzee, and that this instinctive urge to kill is always lying just beneath the surface.
2. B. F. Skinner, a psychologist, believes that behavior is determined from without, not from within; punishment and reward determine whether or not a certain behavior will become habitual. Skinner believes that human behavior can be predicted and shaped.
   

Coming soon...

• final in-class essay
  

Need to Catch Up?

• Lord of the Flies reading logs ch. 9-12
• Ch. 4 subplot worksheet - fill in 4 boxes per subplot and 4 boxes per category - due Nov 20/23