English I Honors students worked on the second Lord of the Flies writing assignment. They’re looking at the following question related to taboo:

As the Littluns are playing, Roger takes small stones and tosses them at a boy. Golding is careful to point out, though, that Roger stops short of aiming at the boy and actually takes pains not to hit the boy.

Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.

Notice: there are no actual parents, schools, policemen, or the laws protecting this boy, yet Roger still feels uncomfortable breaking those old habits.

Using your new understanding of sociology (review the sociology lesson as necessary), explain what’s going on? Why did Golding put this scene in the book? What does it show us about Roger and the rest of the boys?

We’ll be working on this for the rest of this week. (Tomorrow and Thursday are short days due to testing; Friday is the Carowinds trip, so there’s not a lot of time for this.)

English 8 students continued working on their projects for The Diary of Anne Frank.

Reminder: students in English I who did not complete the IXL work for passive voice have until tomorrow to complete it for reduced credit.

Homework

• English 8 Studies: none.
• English I Honors: 
  • complete the assessments of the first writing assignment by next Wednesday;
  • continue working on the second batch of practice EOC reading tests (due next Monday);
  • read chapters 7 and 8 of LotF by Monday;
  • complete the second writing assignment by Friday (May 17).