★Aim: How can we analyze the structure of irony in Lord of the Flies and its significance to the work as a whole?
★DO NOW: PAIR-SHARE: In Our Culture, we tend to value and appreciate rational thought.
The class was given a few minutes to discuss with their teams about what they think in regards to the questions, and then we shared out.
1. How does this apply to Piggy’s reaction to Simon’s death?
Starting off with my group, Team 6, we came up with the answer that this applies to Piggy’s reaction bc he tried to deny his accountability with the murder. He thinks what he did was rational and overall attempts to justify the actions committed. In addition, other groups contributed great ideas to the class conversation as well. Some points brought up were that a ‘role reversal’ was seen where Ralph is rational, while Piggy is still rational but heavily in denial. This also leads into the conversation for the next question….
With the answers we provided for the first question, our class flowed into the answers for this question. The fact that Piggy is trying to rationalize something irrational is quite ironic. It’s ironic since Piggy thinks that rationality will save him, but there’s no saving from murder in this circumstance(it’s too late). The boys ripped and tore him apart, which is just completely inhumane and irrational. Some of these great points were stated by Edward and Tracy!
My Understanding:
In simple words, I would generally define Irony as when the opposite of what you think will happen, happens.
- Irony: is the general term for literary techniques that portray differences between appearance and reality, expectation and result, or meaning and intention.
- Verbal Irony: is when the writer says one thing and means another. “The best substitute for experience is being sixteen.”
- Dramatic Irony: is when the reader or the audience sees a character’s mistakes or misunderstandings, but the character himself/herself does not.
- Irony of Situation: is when an event occurs that directly contradicts the expectations of the characters, the readers, or the audience. (Ex: walking up thinking you’ll be late to school and realizing later that it was Saturday)
- Cosmic Irony: is when fate is in complete control of the situation. Whenever a character tries to improve his/her life. Fate twists it.
★ In fact, all types of irony that are listed above have been seen in some way in Lord of the Flies so far, except for Cosmic irony.
★Ironic by Alanis Morissette
Link: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/ironic.html
Summary Point: In fact, Ms.Peterson informed us that the song has been criticized since many of Morisesette’s examples aren’t even ironic. Hence, we were given a couple of minutes to work together to see which examples are ironic and which are not.
Some Discussion Points:
- Only three examples were ironic- said by Joel I.
- Most of the examples are just coincidental, and not actually ironic.
- The “It’s a death row pardon two minutes too late” example was just unfortunate and not ironic- said by Sean K.
- “Free ride when you’ve already paid”-Not Irony.
- “Traffic Jam when you’re already late”-Ms.Peterson connected this situation to her personal life.
- “It’s like rain on your wedding day”- Nadine P connected to her personal life. She attended her cousin’s wedding on the weekend and it was unfortunately raining. This situation is not ironic. Ms.Peterson likes the thought of it, but thinks that the wife would probably be checking the weather forecast 24/7 and would expect the weather. The expectation is what makes this situation not an example of irony.
★IMAGES:
★GROUP WORK: CLASS ANSWERS
-Ralph is right because he is able to finally realize the level of savagery that the boys fell into. He is not in denial and does not attempt to justify their actions.
-Piggy on the other hand, is in great denial. Especially since he got his glasses broken, it is almost like a push and pull between rationality and emotions. His emotions are jumping in and he is not capable of ‘seeing’ the issue.[TEAM 1 GOT 40 POINTS!!!]
Why does Samneric’s fight cause Piggy distress? (p165)
-First off, Samneric is written as one word since they are becoming the ‘same person’. They cannot work separately, and something in relation to this will happen in the future.
-Samneric’s fight causes Piggy distress since the boys are already barely surviving, more fights are starting, everything is falling into chaos, and Piggy does not want to be part of it. It makes him more hopeless and gives him a great desire to want to leave the island, which is almost like a prison since they can not.
-The realization that things are getting worse by the minute leads into a sense of a descendance to chaos.
Quotes from book to support:
“Sam sam! Hey! ERIC! We gotta get out of this. If we don’t get home soon, we’ll get barney!” (Page 165)
“If we don’t get off this island we will all go crazy”(Page 165)
-There are no heroes in the novel. As my group discussed, we were rooting for Simon to be the hero and reveal the truth. However, he is now dead and in the ocean. Throughout the whole book, Simon was a symbol of hope and faith.
✦ ‘CHRIST LIKE FIGURE’✦
-Jack was a symbol of savagery and Ralph of rationality. It is ironic because they killed the hero and elected the non heroic people.
★REFLECTION:
In today’s class lesson, we discussed a variety of different topics that all help us understand the deeper meaning of Chapter 10 of Lord of the Flies. In preparation for Monday’s large exam especially, we held many class discussions that were based on individual and group thoughts. Ms.Peterson gave her advantageous insight on all of these topics and we took note for the purpose of (hopefully) the future studies of many.
The main topics of today’s lesson were irony, rationality, and the explanation for certain occurrences in the book. We learned about all the different types of irony, which is a great resource to keep in mind when thinking in relation to the book. So far, we have seen all but cosmic irony in the book and we need to understand this in order to see the author’s intention and tools for the reader. The song was an interesting learning tool to get the class more engaged in the comprehension of irony and what it is all about.
In addition, knowing the relationship between certain characters in the book like Piggy and Ralph is vital for us to be aware of since the author will represent, characterize, and symbolize these things. For instance, the reverse in roles of Piggy and Ralph is a great point mentioned in today’s lesson. Learning that Piggy is becoming more emotion based and in denial, even though he is considered the rational one in previous chapters of the book, all connects to the theme of a man's descent into savagery and un-civilization. Likewise, Ralph being more rational and coming to the realization that the boys are indeed becoming inhumane and irrational shows how there is always a balance of good and bad in the world (thinking back to previous lessons and the ‘yin and yang’).
Ultimately, irony is greatly present in Lord of the Flies, tying into the concept of rationality as well. We need to be able to see these examples in order to better understand the book as a whole and why the author wrote and included certain things. Specifically focusing on Chapter 10, the death of Simon was a grand turning point. A character who was a symbol of hope, a Christ-like Figure, and overall a hero was now dead, leading to more chaos and uncertainty. After being engaged in such a wonderful class lesson and many discussions, I can confidently say that I can apply these skills in my personal life. I can identify irony in real life situations or even movies I watch. Similarly, I will be able to recognize the concept of savagery in humanity and tie it back to Lord of the Flies.
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