Mind-maping Lord of the Flies (Summative Choice)

On the last class of this past week we had a lesson based on the concept of creating mind maps: a visual aid to organize your idea. The class was planned in a way that all the groups had the chance to contribute with what they knew about the theme. One of the groups went a little further and their members were asked to complete the gaps that were left, including one example of a well done mind map by Jenessa, who showed us how the use of different colors and shapes can go a long way on getting your attention to what's important and keep you focused on the main idea. After our usual 15 minutes for silent reading the discussion in our 'Lit Circle' tried to follow the organization of a mind map: we decided that the topics were Darkness & Evil and kept going deeper in them and how they relate to the beast on the island of Lord of the Flies. We ended up deciding that the night period had a lot to do with the kids fears, as in the dark it's hard to tell what is real and what is imagination. We also came up with the conclusion that although the "littluns" started the stories about the beast, the "biguns" had fears of their own, the main difference is that out of pride and shame they kept it to themselves ("But that's littlun's talk. We'll get that straight. So the last part, the bit we can all talk about, is kind of deciding on the fear." - P. 88), while the "littluns" weren't old enough to understand the deceiving game that was going on in the fight for power and therefore could speak sincerely of what bothered them: "He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing" - P. 34. In our quest to understand how the beast might actually be the darkness in all of us ("You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?" said by the Lord of the Flies on p. 158) , we started having fun with our discussion, but we were interrupted and told that we were "having too much fun" with our assignment and that kind of killed the whole moment, I hope that won't happen in the future, because I believe that our conversation was much richer when every member of the group was actually having a good time and willing to give their opinions and speak without being recriminated. If our discussions can ever go back to being as lively as they were seconds before this unfortunate event I think we will all get new ideas to reflect on and add to our own opinions of the book so far. Furthermore we can already see connections between this book and the television series 'Lost', where a group of people also survived a plane crash in a desert island, where soon enough the fear of an unknown beast and the rivalry between two leaders (one of which is called Jack in the series) starts to be motive for aggression and division inside the group. Although this two creations are material for interesting comparisons, the most important comparison is between the book and the darkness in ourselves. Because who among us can answer without a doubt that we would never hurt someone or do immoral things if our own lives or the ones that we love were at stake? None; at least not without being big fat hypocrites.