Cry, The Beloved Country Journal 2

There are a few differences between the characterizations of men and those of women in Paton's writing.  The one that I noticed the most is simply the fact that the descriptions of men are significantly less humbling than those of women.  Where a man is described in rich detail with very descriptive diction a woman is described less lavishly.  One other thing I noticed is that women are often shown as being in a more supportive role than directly participating in controversial issues.  They seem sometimes to be discarded due to conflictions with something the man believes in.  Women often come in but stay for a short amount of time before departing.  Finally I Think that women are characterized as dependent and easily corrupted, as Kumalo's sister fell out of grace with the family when she moved by herself to Johannesburg.

Cry, The Beloved Country Journal 1

One thing in the first chapter that I tabbed was how the author repeated the lines describing the land in his part of Africa with different meanings.  He mirrors the second paragraph's structure in the third paragraph but changes the words so they mean opposite things.  This shows how South Africa is changing for the worst.

Some other repetition I noticed in Paton's writing is how he mimics the description of the train in the third chapter in that of the fourth.  He describes the train in the first sentence of each paragraph as being a toy train.  I think this might signify the insignificance of the train compared to the landscape it travels through.

In the third chapter the Umfundisi is told that someone was afraid to talk to him because he wasn't in his church.  The Umfundisi responds saying that if he is one of their people he should be comfortable speaking readily to others in their community.  I think this shows that the Umfundisi believes in equality and that might play a part later in the story.

The Umfundisi seems very afraid to go to Johannesburg.  He remarks many times about how he is afraid of the tragic stories about what happens in the busy city.  This could be foreshadowing that bad things are happening in the more populated parts of the country, and there is a culture differential that could bring people apart.

Lord of the Flies Journal 3

William Golding used multiple methods of  conveying the theme that I got out of the book.  This theme is that fear of the unknown can topple an organized society and push it to savagery.  One of the methods that he used to portray this theme to the reader was during the plot when Ralph is trying to organize a meeting and discuss how to keep order on the island.  During this meeting the subject of "the beast" is brought up and the entire meeting falls apart, driving Jack closer to his savage nature.  To me this shows that if fear is sewn into the populace of a community it can cause chaos and havoc.

Another thing that Golding used to show this theme was the symbol of the beast itself.  Despite the fact that the beast was actually a downed and killed pilot they still feared it.  Even as one of the children discovers the true nature of this creature, the fear of it causes the children to destroy what might have been their best chance of retaining civilized life and hope of rescue.  I think that the symbol of the beast definitely represents an unknown fear that embodies the theme of the novel.  The act of the children killing Simon in a fearful rage represents the breakdown of society due to fear.

Lord of the Flies Journal 2

I think that if the novel had both boys and girls on the island there would be several differences in the story. For one: having girls on the island along with the boys would probably cause the children to separate into groupings differently. Instead of groups based on age there might be more gender based cliques.  Perhaps this could undermine efforts to separate the boys and cause violence.  Another difference might be that girls could discourage violence among the boys. This could slow the decline of common sense and the rise of tribal savagery. This is perhaps the most important thing that would change because it could prevent the deaths that accompanied the savage and violent nature of the boys.

Lord of the Flies Journal 1

On the first page of William Golding's Lord of the Flies he hides the personality of Piggy in the text of the passage.  He is very blunt with his physical description of him but not so much with his personality.  You have to read the text quite thoroughly to realize that he is cautious and thinking.  I believe that in hiding his personality from the reader Golding might be foreshadowing that other characters in the book won't look past his physical appearance.  From reading the book I know that this is true.  Only one of the characters realizes the value of Piggy's intelligence; but he still had to look deeply to uncover it.

Another thing the author does on the first page is use color to make the characters seem out of place.  He talks about a red and yellow bird flying through the canopy.  In contrast, he also talks about the dull grey of Ralph's shirt.  This contrast makes Ralph seem to be in the wrong place; it's like he doesn't fit in.  The fact that Ralph is in a foreign world adds to a feeling of tension which in turn creates a tense mood.  That tense mood makes the reader feel as if something is wrong and could be foreshadowing to something that happens later in the novel.