PARCC-Style LotF Essay

Lord of the Flies prompt

William Golding described the theme of The Lord of the Flies thusly: 

"The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable."

In an essay, analyze what is revealed regarding the individual, human nature, morality, and society in the works we have covered thus far this year.

• Your essay must include multiple, relevant, and specific references to:
• The Lord of the Flies
• "The Monsters are Due on Maple Street," "I Shot an Arrow into the Air," "Miri" (the episode of Star Trek), or Hell in the Pacific
• Any other major work covered this year...
• The Crucible, "The Minister's Black Veil," "Young Goodman Brown," Walden, or Into the Wild

The completed essay must be at least 5 paragraphs in length.

Homework: 1/19-1/23

Your independent work for the week consists of locating 10 examples of literary devices used in Golding's The Lord of the Flies.

• Note: You are looking for ten different devices; you cannot simply find ten examples of asyndeton.

Look for examples of these devices:

1. Asyndeton
2. Polysyndeton
3. Allegory
4. Chiasmus
5. Didactic
6. Pedantic
7. Aphorism
8. Analogy
9. Invective
10. Anaphora
11. Synecdoche
12. Allusion
13. Homily
14. Apostrophe
15. Hypophora
16. Litotes
17. Pun

I suggest picking a chapter and engaging in some close reading. Chapters 7 and 8 will likely be particularly ripe for the picking, as they are filled with symbolism and figurative language.

You need to include a quote from the novel, and a brief explanation as to what device is used. Here is a sample (Yes, you may steal it.):

Asyndeton

Chapter 12: "Cry of the Hunters" - "He shot forward, burst the thicket, was in the open, screaming, snarling, bloody."

No conjunctions are used to emphasize Ralph's frantic behavior and mindset.

• Your list of ten is due Friday, 1/23.

Regarding Star Trek and the upcoming essay prompt: If you are not a fan of classic, 1960's television science fiction, please feel free to watch this film instead. You can use it as an example for the fore-coming writing task.

SAT Catch-up: 1/12-1/23 - Due Mon. 1/26

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PMqLZLc5DcOgfk3IhqnIZN8Mvgc-sPvL-T5DT7YjxIE/pub

The Monsters are Due on Maple Street

 Rod Sterling, the creator of The Twilight Zone, wrote this episode, which he described as a suburban Lord of the Flies. In a comment left on this post, explain what you think this episode reveals about human nature.

• 1 thoughtful paragraph will suffice.
• Due before class on Friday (1/23)

PARCC Writing Task

Warning: The following prompt comes directly from the state.

Use what you have learned from reading "“Daedalus and Icarus"” by Ovid and “"To a Friend Whose Work Has Come to Triumph"” by Anne Sexton to write an essay that provides an analysis of how Sexton transforms “Daedalus and Icarus.”

As a starting point, you may want to consider what is emphasized, absent, or different in the two texts, but feel free to develop your own focus for analysis.

Develop your essay by providing textual evidence from both texts. Be sure to follow the conventions of standard English.

Here are the texts:

The excerpt from the Metamorphoses: 

http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/Gr%2010%20Literary%20Text%20Daedalus.pdf

The Anne Sexton poem:

http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/passage10.pdf

Here is the rubric (Look at the first one):
http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/Grade%206-11%20July%2029%20Rubric%20Final.pdf

Suffice it to say, one must have "clear and convincing reasoning" fully supported by "relevant textual evidence."

Thus, I feel it would be wise for your essays to contain at least two specific and effective references to each work.

• Also, your responses should be at least four paragraphs in length.

• Typed, completed essays are due tomorrow (1/21/15)! You have today to get started: get cracking!

This is Sam Berns. He died approximately one year ago. Please watch this wonderful young man's TED Talk and leave a thoughtful comment on this post (Due prior to school on Tuesday, 1/20). Have a lovely weekend, all.