Thursday, January 31, 2008

Thur 1/31

Seniors
1. signatures
2. review background: Normans, Feudalism, Knights, Crusades, New City Classes, Thomas Becket, The Plague
3. pages 135-140: Chaucer and the story
4. begin prologue: Middle English, read up to the Yoeman, begin study guide

Sophomores
1. grammar pre-test
2. participation
3. HW questions: share aloud
4. more key passages: pages 60, 62
5. HW: read three passages and answer this question on one of the passages: What makes the passage key? (pages 63, 88, 109)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Wilson, this is Nikki Pond. So I just read the pages that I missed (pages 60 & 62) and heres what I thought....

Page 60: I thought it was interesting that after Maurice and Roger kicked over the little boys' sandcastles, Maurice felt bad about getting sand into Percival's eyes. I like how Maruice said that in the "other" life, he would've gotten scolded by a parent or adult. Even though there wasn't a parent there to scold him, he still felt remorse, and uneasy about what he had done. I think this shows that Maurice was on the brink of being taken over by savagery, but he was still holding onto what he had been taught and what was right, but when he walked away, he showed he was becoming more and more "free." He realized that there weren't any adults there to get him in trouble and he took that to heart. He realized that he could do anything and get away with it, and I think thats the start of the boys' decent into savagery and the ramshackle way of life they led on the island.

Page 62: I think that Henry is a perfect example of a child's innocence and how even the bleakest situations seem hopeful, while Roger is the perfect example of someone on the brink of savagery. When Roger first starts throwing rocks, he mentions how CAREFUL he is about not hitting Henry. He also mentions a "circle" around Henry, that holds all that they knew in their "other" life. This circle held parents, school, the law, and protection. I think Roger didn't want to break that circle because he didn't want to lose what the circle held. I think he might've thought that he could act like a bully all he wanted, but once the circle was broken, all that he and the other boys held dear would be gone as well. I think Roger was not ready to accept savagery as a way of life, even though he later goes on and does horrible things.

Anonymous said...

Wilson this is Ben Harbolt,

Pg.60. The fact that they still felt bad about doing somethig wrong show the fact that civilazation still has a hold on them. In the world they grew up in hurting others was looked down apon and the still had the fellin it was wrong but htey did it any way show they were becomeing more savage, htey still weren't there yet because all kids pick on each other in a normal society but with out parents to stop maurice and roger it leads to a spirel to savagre because ther is no one to punish them and show them its wrong.

pg. 62 This passage is so similar to the first one because the boundery of hurting others is still there. The level of savagery from later in the book isn' there. Roger is purposely missing Henry and not trying to hurt him but later in the book Roger doesn't hesitate to kill something. the influence of parents in the book is so strong. The rules of parents is what keep the kids out of savagery for a while and the presents of an adult at the end of the book snaps them back in to reality.

ap said...

Hey Mr. Wilson this is Amy Phou

Page: 60
What makes this a key passage is because when Roger and Maurice were kicking the sand castles, they had some feelings of regret from that they remembered what would've happen if their parents were there to scold them, and I think this foreshadows that the kids will turn to savagery because there aren't any rules or laws or any grown ups to show whats right or wrong and nothing to get them into trouble of punishment.

Page: 62
Because Roger was aiming to not hit Henry I think what was holding him back from actually causing pain to Henry was that he hesitant because he probably was always taught that it was wrong to hit people like most children are taught. He kept thinking of what his parents would think, the laws, and the consequences that could've happen if he actually did hit Henry and if there were laws and grown ups around to tell him of what's right and wrong, similar to the first passage, so he knew that it was wrong to hit Henry, but at that point he didn't take the advantage of no grown ups and laws on the island because the kid's on the island didn't put it to mind at that point of the story until later on.

Wilson said...

All good comments. You are really doing work here that is excellent preparation for the essay we will start writing next week. Go back and visit these comments next week to gather ideas.

See you in class.