Reading

     I've grown a lot as a reader this year. At first I had trouble reading academically advanced language and interpreting it. Now. I can read at a good pace . Not only have I gotten better at reading, but I have expanded my genres. After reading different books in English class and out, I've learned to love books other than just sport books.

     As I grow older I plan to continue to increase my level of reading and to even further expand my love of different genres. I haven't always liked reading, in fact I used to hate it. But this year, especially, I have learned that reading isn't bad at all. Even though its not as fun as hanging out with friends or doing other things, but it has other valuable purposes. Reading can expand your knowledge of things while also sharing entertaining stories, that is extremely valuable.

Books I've read this year:
The Beyonders
Macbeth
Lord of the Flies
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
Purple Hibiscus
Cinder (Summer)
All the Light We Cannot See
Hoopster
Beowulf

Evidence of My Reading:
LOTF- Literary Analysis

Poor Piggy, Will He Ever Be Noticed?

            Poor Piggy, he always has something to say but is never heard. Piggy is constantly ignored and detached from the group in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, suggesting he is irrelevant and not taken seriously because of his appearance and personality even though he has good ideas. Piggy is constantly ignored, but Golding uses Piggy as a sane and wise voice throughout the book as we see through the multiple good ideas he has and wise things he says. Golding offers numerous situations throughout the book in which Piggy is unrightfully ignored because of who he is, but it’s those special moments that really hit us. The biggest example of this is when no one cares about or pays attention to the death of Piggy, but I’ll get to that later. His personality and appearance are the only things keeping him back from being a leader and keeping the group from going savage, but sadly he can’t control that.

            Throughout the book, Piggy is made fun of and ignored due to the way he looks. The group is discussing and trying to learn everyone’s names, but no one has time for Piggy: “Then,’ went on Piggy, ‘that boy—I forget’ / ‘You’re talking too much’ said Jack Merridew. ‘Shut up, Fatty.’ / Laughter arose” (21). Here we see that Piggy is irrelevant to the group because of his physical appearance. They don’t want anything to do with what Piggy has to say. The author uses words like “talking” and “too much” to express the way the group feels when Piggy speaks (annoyed). Then he uses “Fatty” to imply the reason that they disrespect Piggy is because he is vulnerable and fat. When Piggy is hated on like this, it causes him to feel terrible. He knows the reason no one respects him is because of his appearance.

            But wait, there’s more. Well, Piggy also struggles with some personality traits that don’t help his case. Not only is he fat, but he is also shy, timid, and kind. This causes people to take even more advantage of him. Even Ralph did this: “Piggy’s glasses were misted again—this time with humiliation. / ‘You told ‘em. After what I said. His face flushed, his mouth trembled. After I said I didn’t want’ / ‘What on earth are you talking about?’ / ‘About being called Piggy. I said I didn’t care as long as they didn’t call me Piggy; an’ I said not to tell and then you went an’ said straight out” (25). Through this quotation we see that even Ralph doesn’t listen to what Piggy says. He isn’t respected by people so they won’t listen to what he has to say, and big factor of this is how shy and timid he is. He doesn’t demand enough respect or stand up for himself strongly enough. This touches on the personality portion of my thesis very sensitively. It gives an example and proof of Piggy being shy and timid, causing him to not be able to speak out for himself which causes him to continue to be made fun of and not taken seriously by the group. It definitely makes him an introverted, ignored, outcast.

            When Piggy is ignored, he usually has a good idea in mind that people either take credit for or they ignore him. Piggy is trying to bring Jack’s group back to sanity by comparing their priorities on the island to Ralph’s: “Which is better--to have rules and to agree, or to hunt and kill” (180). Piggy tries to tell Jack and his group to be civilized, but they don’t listen and continue to be the way they are. This supports the fact that Piggy has good ideas and tries to help, yet no one listens. This is also an example of Golding using Piggy as a sane character to present some kind of individual voice to the group.

            To top all my points off, Piggy sadly has an unemotional and detached death that no one cares about. Roger kills Piggy with a stone and the book describes the scene in an unemotional and detached way: “The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and then it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone” (181). After he dies no one really talks about the fact that he died and no one felt sad. This capitalizes on his irrelevance to the group, everyone ignores him. We see how it goes straight from the rock hitting Piggy to him flying through the air and landing on a rock and bleeding out. The water washes him away and he is gone, just like that. Is it just me or does anyone else expect a character like Piggy to be treated with more respect and not have a step by step, “just like that” type of death. This touches near the end of my thesis when I talked about how detached, ignored, and unemotional his death is. I think Golding did this to make the other characters, and the reader, realize how important piggy and his voice is to the group.

            All of these supporting points I used worked together to support my thesis in their own unique and different ways. I touched on his appearance, personality, sanity, good ideas, and his ignored death. I find it very interesting how Golding used Piggy as a character. Piggy is such a great and important character to the group, yet everyone ignored him and he dies before everyone got rescued. I think he does this to leave the readers with a hook at the end of the book. As we all grow away from LOTF, I think we should all think about what the book would be like if Piggy wasn’t ignored all of the time. What would it be like if he didn’t die? It is definitely a cool thing to think about for me. I believe everyone would be better off if they listened to Piggy. After all, he is the most wise, sane, and smart one of the group. All in all, Golding did an outstanding job in the way that he used Piggy as an overlooked, but important character.

Purple Hibiscus Reading Response:

     If there is one character I have payed close attention to and also feel very bad for, it is Kambili. She is not only constantly abused and beaten by her father, but she has no social life and friends. Once school is over, her social life is non-existent. There is one instant in the book where Kambili and Jaja are examining a painting as Papa walks in. It is interesting to me, because as soon as Kambili is being social, her dad unnecessarily beats her and ruins it.

     As Papa rips up the painting, Kambili freaks out and lays by it. Papa grows furious. "'Get up! Get away from that painting!"' "I lay there, did nothing." "'Get up!"' "Papa said again. I still did not move. He started to kick me. The metal buckets on his slippers stung like bites from giant mosquitos." Here we can see that Papa is not happy with the situation as it escalates quickly. I feel bad because Kambili gets brutally beaten in a social instance that she was enjoying before Papa got there. Will she ever have a good life?