SETTING

*Are there any settings in the novel which you have found to be beautiful? Or disturbing? Or memorable? Describe these settings and comment on why they were meaningful to you.*

The single and only setting in the novel, the island, was beautiful and memorable to me. After the plane crashed down, the boys find themselves marooned into a strange, unknown island. They don’t know what the island is capable of or what strange features that the island unleashes.

The island seemed beautiful to me because the way William Goldberg had described the island descriptively made me visualize a beautiful island. He used powerful words to describe the things in the island that made me have more thoughts of a beautiful island. There was a variety of things that were stored in the island, which made the island altogether beautiful. According to the novel, it said that there were hot sands, dense forests, young palm trees, lagoons, and beaches. Goldberg’s use of adjectives and nouns made me imagine the setting in my mind once more. In addition, I thought that the island was beautiful because there were beautiful objects stored in the island. Many peculiar objects were found, like the conch. Not only did the conch resemble beauty for its physical appearance, but because it made clear sounds. Also, the reactions that the kids had made made me think of a beautiful setting. While some boys like Ralph worked hard, some others swam in the ocean or built sandcastles. This shows that the boys were satisfied with the island because everything that was essential was there for human live but also for entertainment purposes. Therefore, I thought this island was beautiful.

The island was not just beautiful, but it was the island itself was memorable as well. Since there were many components in the island, I thought that each of them symbolized something, and altogether the island symbolized a small community where I used to live: the Netherlands.
I used to live in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, for 5 years. While I settled there, I didn’t make a lot of friends basically because I was a different race from the majority of the people. Many people there were racists and made crude comments that were depressing to me. However, there were some people that were in the good side of me as well. Luckily, they were the only ones who relieved me.
Eindhoven was filled with natural features near my house. Many trees were present beside my house and there were sand grounds that I could play with. Also, if I walked a few meters from my house, I could play soccer because usually the huge, soccer field was empty.
You know where in Korea’s swimming pools you must wear those hats and pay for the rides? In the Netherlands, the swimming pools were even bigger and cheaper, and no hats were even needed.
As I mentioned before, the island was memorable to me because the island was symbolic to the place where I used to reside: Eindhoven. Like in the novel, the people in the Netherlands varied. The people at my school who were racists were savages like Jack’s crew, and the people who helped me and took responsibility of me were people like Ralph and Piggy. It wasn’t just two sides, there were people who were quiet and cared less like Simon. Or others who were strong, evil, and timid were like Roger. Many natural features that were displayed reminded me of the trees and the fruits in the island. The waters of the island reflected the swimming pools of the Netherlands, primarily because they were cheap, worthy, and big, when compared to Korea’s swimming pools.