Book "walk through" information.  This is all the info we would have gone through in class today.

Lord of the Flies:

The most important thematic concept from LOF comes from the William Golding quote that can be found in the notes section at the end of the book in which he states that the point of LOF is that no system of government matters if the people who make up the society are not morally sound.  In other words, rules don't matter if people don't follow them.  That's one of the reasons that you may have noticed that LOF doesn't contain an "enemy" that the boys can unite against to give them a common goal.  The closest thing is the Beast, which they know is made up and in their heads but some also believe is real.  The "problem" in LOF is that Jack views the island almost like an adventure camp where Ralph views it as a survival and rescue operation.  Ralph also holds much more firmly to the idea that they should govern as if they were at home in civilization.  There is some irony in this thinking, as "civilization" is currently involved in a war.  Along the way we also meet Piggy, who represents logic but is so defined by his other traits that nobody listens to him.  Simon represents goodness, but is quiet and reserved.  The littluns are representative of the general population who simply operates/lives under the umbrella of the decision makers in society.  The book follows a pretty clear arc as the boys move from civilized to savage.

Slaughterhouse Five:

As we have mentioned in class, one of the most important aspects of SH5 is not trying to explain every aspect of it, or at least not try to fit them all together.  One thing I would highly recommend is to reread Ch. 1 if you have finished the book.  There is a lot of symbolism in the various anecdotes in Ch. 1 such as the Children's Crusade, the anger of O'hare's wife, the "anti-war book" comment, and the recount of the story of the man who dies in the elevator incident.  Each of these, and some others, lends itself to some explanation of what happens in the rest of the book and how war itself cannot be explained, so the next logical effort seems to be explaining our reaction to war.  Special attention should be paid to the Tralfamadorian view on time and the events that "take place" in our world.  Although it seems to be a philosophy, or almost anti-philosophy, about how things work, Vonnegut seems to be using it more as an acknowledgement that despite the fact that we know war is a terrible thing, the nature of humans means that it will never stop.

Fastfood Nation

Worry less about the food aspect of this book, and more about how the argument is constructed.  Schlosser is not a nutritionist, a chef, a food critic, etc.  He is an investigative reporter/author.  The focus on FFN is much more about awareness of not only what we are eating, but awareness of how we think about food and the cultural elements of consumption of anything, but especially food.  One thing you should pay attention to and make note of is how he connects every aspect of the food industry that he studies back to its cultural impacts and connections to things like: socioeconomics, the American dream concept, political connections, how food mimics societal priorities, etc.

The Glass Castle

In reviewing GC, one of the most important style/organization elements is Walls' habit of ending each chapter with a summative "lesson" of some sort.  It's not always stated directly, but often takes the form of a summary of what she learned about life/her family/Rex/etc. through the telling of that chapter's "story."  Focus on Jeannette's relationship with each family member, and pay attention to how she differentiates between how she felt at the time the events were happening with how she feels about them as an adult looking back.  As long as you can identify a "how this helped shape who I am" lesson for Jeannette for the various stories she tells, you'll be in good shape.