Literary Analysis: This essay truly represents my strengths in fact-based writing. It was the first major piece this year where I could state an opinion and back every statement up with evidence. After the revision, this is my best piece all year.
The Obsession
Is having a witty and unstable leader better for society than having a smart and stable leader? Lord of the Flies by William Golding answers this question in an unusual method that creates a lasting effect on the reader. Humanity is quick to trust those around it without questioning their motives, but that may easily be its downfall. Golding portrays Jack as a power-hungry and bloodthirsty bigun, which suggests that the lonely boy values his needs and power over friendship with others. Jack’s obsession with hunting, desire to overthrow Ralph, maintenance of an illusion of the beast, and bullying of Piggy causes a war between the young boys.
The first sign of a thirst for leadership and blood is when Jack asks to be a hunter for the society when they distribute the roles to the boys. He declares that the choir members will hunt with him. This command is positively followed by Ralph and the others because Jack leaves them no choice. Jack’s desire to butcher everything in his way causes many problems such as losing the fire, minuscule tasks not being completed, the creation of a new society, and the death of fellow members of the boys’ unstable society. The fire ends because of Jack’s selfishness and obsessions. He is out hunting while a ship passes the island, but the boys are left unnoticed because Jack is not tending to the fire. The passing of the ship infuriates his friends, mostly Ralph, and makes them questions Jack’s motives and devotion. Trying to interpret the situation, Ralph approaches Jack and says “[Ralph] let the fire go out” (69). This occurrence makes Ralph assemble the group in a meeting, leading to the reestablishment of jobs for the society and 9eventually, the destruction of it. These situations bring the reader to question Jack’s complexity. These occurrences initially make the young boy seem curious and witty, but he is naïve and selfish due to his desire to please himself by only wanting to hunt and lead the people of the island into chaotic situations.
Once Jack receives freedom from Ralph’s power over him, he steals the conch to assemble his friends in a meeting. His second attempt to force himself into a position of leader ship is claiming that Ralph is only ruining the society while Jack can give everyone freedom and meat. In the meeting, no one wants to follow Jack even though he says, “[They’ll] hunt. [He’s] going to be chief” (133). After the meeting is over, the majority of people follow Jack into their new society. This follows the pattern of laws being established in the meetings and civilized areas of society and the laws being broken because of humanity’s carelessness. Jack asserting himself as a leader reminds the reader of a dictator more than a king or an elected leader. This act shows that Jack only values his own opinions, even though he is in a place where democracy should be key. Jack’s thirst for blood and hunger for power often align with each other as they do in this situation. He is mainly followed because he promises his followers meat and the destruction of the beast. Even though these goals seem important to the boys, it tears them apart by not realizing that Jack does not know how to be a peaceful leader.
Jack shows his desire to continue hunting and keep his leadership for as long as he can when he promises that he will give the beast a portion of their food as an offering. He tries to ease his followers’ worries by claiming that Simon is the “beast” and allowing them to kill him. Once Jack realizes that peace and order cannot keep him in his position of dictator, he approaches this situation by claiming that the beast will never be satisfied by telling his followers that "He came—disguised. He may come again even though we gave him the head of our kill to eat” (160). This shows the reader that Jack’s focus is not on the people but on his ability to control what happens to the society. Jack is maintaining his ability to hunt for pigs or other living creatures by not allowing anyone to restrict him.
Jack’s final act of selfishness and cruelty is bullying Piggy. When Jack and Ralph first meet, they are fascinated by each other. They appear to be close friends for a short amount of time. They often bonded in the bullying of Piggy. This activity allowed them to have one thing in common while maintaining their diversity. As the boys split apart from each other when Jack demands less work and more control over the people, they stop bonding in their mocking and teasing of Piggy. Ralph grows closer to Piggy because he has no other close friends after Jack leaves. This results in Ralph teasing Piggy much less and defending the boy more. Jack’s desire to rebel against Ralph makes him want to bully Piggy more than he did before. He increases the name-calling and the physical harassment. Jack breaks Piggy’s glasses and says rude things like, “[Piggy] would, would [he]? Fatty!” (71). These actions make Jack seem lonely and jealous of Piggy for stealing Ralph from him, which could be the cause of his need to only care for himself. He claims revenge for Piggy stealing his best friend on the island by having his followers murder Piggy. This seems to anger Ralph, further ruining his ties to Jack.
Jack’s struggle for power is represented by his smaller actions in attempting to own the island and its people. Once the people learn about the type of leader Jack is, they even begin to dislike him. This creates an awkward phase in society where the people are forced to follow Jack because they are scared to do anything else. Despite Jack’s efforts to “improve” society, his plans backfired causing his own demise.
Research Paper: This essay did not allow for much of an opinion, with its sole purpose being to educate others about the Ilkhanid Empire. This was challenging due to a lack of sources, but I turned it into a powerful piece full of information.
Life in the Ilkhanid Empire
The Ilkhanid empire was an empire that was established by the people of the Mongolian empire who were sent to capture more land for the empire. It was founded by Hulagu, the grand-son of the great Mongol, Genghis Khan. This was a large empire that was constantly attempting to conquer its surroundings in an effort to become as large as its competing countries. This dynasty lasted from 1256 – 1350, but its legacy remains unknown by many. The low-class citizens of the Ilkhanid empire lived complex lives that appeared to be quality lives, even though the government was poor and mostly weak. They lived extravagant lifestyles that were not suited for the empire’s economy, and the people struggled to feel a sense of security with the weak military and government. These negative parts of the empire, such as the economy, outweighed the positives, such as respect by the government, causing the people to live poorer lives than their surrounding empires. The people mainly affected by these problems in the government and empire were the lower working-class citizens because they were not favored by the system.
One positive aspect of the empire was the poorer citizens of the Ilkhanid empire living extravagant lives that also focused on important things such as art and education. According to Stefano Carboni’s analysis of Ilkhanid primary sources, these people owned greatly treasured and high-priced materials. These treasures included expensive animals used for transportation and extravagantly decorated tents made of valuable materials (Carboni). Suzan Yalman describes these citizens as people who value important activities, like many others. The most valued activities by the government were art and education due to their strong Islamic beliefs. Literature was an art-form for the people of the Ilkhanid because of the importance of education in every aspect of life. The people of the Ilkhanid were allowed to maintain their own beliefs, but they were encouraged to become Muslim and create a new culture for the empire. The incentives included lower taxes and sometimes government favor (Yalman). John Masson Smith illustrates a situation that leads the interpreter to believe that the Ilkhanid citizens were more respected and valued by the government than people from similar empires. In conclusion, the people of the empire lived rich lives that appeared to be better than some surrounding empires, even though they could not afford these lavish lifestyles. This proves that the people did live decent lives, but these qualities were quickly outdone by the chaos in years to come.
A negative attribute of the empire was the leaders of the Ilkhanid government controlling many matters of personal lives like religion and the loss of lives through war, each affecting the empire differently. According to Peter B. Golden, the first leader, Hulagu, began many practices that would be used through the entirety of his empire. These practices include favoring some religions over others and expressing the importance of education for children (Golden). Hulagu’s methods of leading were also used by other empires throughout history. Another example of the lives of Ilkhanid leaders is when Carboni states that “a Mongol royal tent was the epitome of luxury and allowed the ruler to reconcile semi-nomadic and sedentary lifestyles”. This evidence reveals that the leaders were relatively lazy and selfish, living isolated and comfortable lives. This is also evidence for the nomadism of the Ilkhanate. According to the “Ilkhanid Dynasty”, an article in the Encyclopedia of Asian History, the ruler Ghazan fixed the mistakes of his predecessors, but they were quickly undone. Ghazan won the dispute for power over the empire, and he converted the empire to Islam. After a caliphate was murdered by the Ilkhanate, Islam lost its prevalence over other religions. This also resulted in an increased practice of dynastic legitimacy and a decrease in religious legitimacy. Shi’ism also became more prominent after the decline of Isma’ili believers (“Ilkhanid”). Smith implies that Mongolian leaders seemed to always have things as they pleased. These leaders would constantly send troops to Syria to fight the Mamluks for the desired yet unworthy land of Syria. These leaders took advantage of everything, and they eventually won the land. After discovering how worthless Syria was, they abandoned the land (Smith). Despite the positive things these leaders brought to the empire, they often would ruin their images through greed and selfishness. The ruining of images caused other empires to look down on these people.
The second negative of this empire was the Ilkhanid control over surrounding empires varying. They barely maintained dominance over some areas, but they held control and the empire managed to survive for ninety-four years. This negatively affected the empire by expending lives of loyal citizens through warfare, and people were often forced from their homes because of the amount of land lost and gained. Yalman describes the Ilkhans as being inferiors. The name Ilk-khan means lesser-khan, a comparison to the great Khan legacy in Ancient China (Yalman). This shows that the Ilkhans were less significant and weaker than its surrounding empires. Yalman also states that there was a time of peace in this region of the world. This period was referred to as the Pax Mongolica. The Pax Mongolica brought Islam to the empire, which caused an increase in the value of art and education, which shows how well the time of peace affected the empire (Yalman). Bosworth illustrates the situation in which the Ilkhans barely succeeded in defeating the Mamluks in war. This is a sign of being militarily inferior/equal to others. The Ilkhans barely winning the war also meant a lower sense of national security which led to some people living low-quality lives. Golding shows his readers that the first leader, Hulagu started worthless feuds with other people. The war against the Berkes, for example, was a war which began with little reason. It was devastating to both sides with a mass loss of lives, and neither side gained much from the pointless war. Finally, Golding writes about how the Ilkhans were outsmarted by their enemies. The Mamluks developed strategies for countering the attacks of the Ilkhans on the desired land of Syria. One of these strategies was shooting the Ilkhans down from 75 yards away bow bows and arrows. This strategy was successful in winning many battles until the Ilkhans found a way to counter this. These examples show how the Ilkhanid empire was weak and nearly powerless against other people unless they had opportunity to plan.
The Ilkhanid empire also did not have a strong economy compared to other empires in its region of the world, adding another negative feature to the empire. Bosworth gives an example of this in his writing when he describes how the ruler Ghazan attempted to fix the Ilkhanid economy. Ghazan used many methods to correct the mistakes of his predecessors like levying land tax and reforming the system of currency. He also abolished the abilities of soldiers and officials to unnecessarily tax citizens. In “Ilkhanid Dynasty” the author writes about how “the period of their rule was economically and politically difficult but rich in cultural achievements” (“Ilkhanid”). This shows how the Ilkhanid empire was weak compared to other empires that surrounded it. Citizens may have enjoyed their lives, but the weak economy limited many of the things that the people could do. This source also shows the reader the failures of the Ilkhanid government. One example of this is when Geikatu introduced a paper currency. This idea came from China, and it was used to calm financial issues, but it failed miserably and was eventually abolished (“Ilkhanid”). John M. Smith depicts the Ilkhanid as an extremely poor empire, especially in wars. The government required each soldier to bring five ponies when they signed up for the army. These ponies were grown for pasture, so they were extremely weak compared to the war horses used by enemies like the Mamluks. Smith also writes about the nomadism of the Ilkhanid. It allowed the people to keep up with harvest, and it also helped tricked enemies because the people never lived in one place for very long (Smith). Nomadism is sometimes a lifestyle lived by people with little money, so this could be a sign of the poverty in this empire. This evidence shows the severity of poverty in this economy compared to other empires.
Although this empire is an example of how hard work can turn nothing into a large empire, the weak government and economy were too weak for this dynasty to last. The government initially seemed fair and just, but it gradually and exponentially became worse. This ruined the lives of those who supported the empire, especially when this dynasty collapsed. It left the people without homes and rules to live by. Throughout the life of this empire, the people were left to live poor lives because of the government’s failures. In the end, a lesson can be learned from the past of the Ilkhanate Dynasty. Even though people can gain things through hard work, an equal amount of work is required to maintain the products of hard work.
LAUNCH Day Response: The LAUNCH Response was my best blog. I spent the most time writing this one because it was incredibly meaningful to me. It shows my strengths as a writer, and it is symbolic of how I can succeed in anything, whether it is writing or presenting a thesis.
LAUNCH Day is a day of fun, but also seriousness. It is a day where the seniors involved in the Thesis Program present their topics that they have been developing for two years. It is said to be the best day of high school, but it is also the most stressful for those presenting. There were many theses presented on this day, but one specifically stood out to me. It was not presented on LAUNCH Day.
Kenny's topic on atonal music was amazing. He was able to reach the audience through interesting dances and fun tunes. It most definitely held my attention. It also inspired me. I recently talked to my college counselor about the program, and it seemed like something that I would like to apply for. I do enjoy researching topics, but I didn't want to do anything boring which would be a waste of two years. Kenny showed me that I could make a presentation on basically anything, as long as you are passionate about it. Hopefully, I get accepted into the program, so I can teach other high schoolers about what I am passionate about.
Personal Narrative: I did not have many misses this year, but the narrative was one of my worst papers. I lacked the creativity to enhance my stories and experiences, leaving myself bored with my topic. This, along with my nervousness caused my paper to not fulfill its potential.
My Winter Break Blog Post: This post was the least entertaining of my blogs. It was a boring account of my winter break which was action-less, resulting in a lack of content.
Shootings: This blog post did not clearly convey my thoughts on the issues. It was messily done, which could lead to misinterpretation.
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