#littlun with mulberry birthmark

[vessel214]

does the fandom have a name for this guy

[ask-ryder-emerson-lotf]

“Guys Merridew keeps sharpening sticks and calling them spears (They look like TWIGS…) and he’s trying to scare the littluns with them because they keep on talking about a scary “beastie” thing-“

“There’s this one kid with a mulberry birthmark. I think I’ll call him Mulberry. I think he’s starting this rumor…What a pain…Hopefully this all dies down. I don’t want everyone to go crazy on this island over something that doesn’t exist.”

“I mean what even IS a beast to them? A snake? A bear? A pig? Pigs are harmless. The other two? Yeah sure…But- ……Yeah I don’t know. They’re all just being silly and I’m sure this will pass.”

“…Kids don’t let go of fears easily, though…Do they? I should know…From my mama’s daycare- where I had to comfort the kids there…Sometimes it took them months to stop being afraid of something…what if…God I want to go home soon…”

…

“…Maybe you guys can help with the whole…’beastie’ thing…?”

[kidddoz]

Lotftober, day 20 - Role swap

Minutes after the conch was blown, a large group of kids spread around the blonde twelve-year-old. His deep blue eyes shone in excitement. He felt sudden freedom and was curious about the young audience staring at him.

" But Johnny- We need adults, we're all kids," Cried the one next to him. He was the first kid to come out of the jungle, and his unusual face had an ugly mulberry-coloured birthmark near his eye. He seemed like an outcast, and it was pathetic.

" Shut up, Berry," A boy of around thirteen years old stood up, his black chor-tunic made him look like a devil " We are men, and we don't need no adults here."

" My name is not Berry!" The boy complained as the ones around him started laughing at the new nickname, " Who do you think you are?"

" I am Phil, chapter chorister and head boy. And this is the choir-" Before he could even finish, one of the vultures from his choir fell unconscious.

" Percival passed out."

" Ow, let him over there. He's always throwing a faint… Which is preferable over him being awake and crying like the baby he is." Phil replied without an ounce of kindness. In short, an odd boy named Henry sat next to the passed-out boy to keep an eye on him.

In a couple of minutes, they all sat scattered around Johnny and Phil, who stood in the middle. They seemed to wait for something. In the meanwhile, Berry decided to list all the names of those little boys.

The biggest of the little ones was a freckled redhead called Jack, who seemed excited about this new adventure. Next to him was Maurice, a silent Roger, and the smallest of them all, a hiccuping Simon. A little confident one was making a sandcastle, going by the name of Ralph, and next to him was a chubby boy who didn't seem to remember his complete name, so all those littluns opted to call him Piggy, even if the latter complained.

Seeing such an enormous quantity of kids that were no more than six years old was something overwhelming for the biggest ones, mainly because no one of them wanted to babysit that many kids. They didn't even know where they were or what was happening. They didn't even know how to differentiate between dreams and reality. Those littluns were useless.

But in the meanwhile, the bigguns had better things to do right now. They all had to decide who ought to be the chief, who was in charge of hunting, where they should make the huts, and the list went on infinitely. And a sense of unease started to invade their bodies, feeling how they suddenly grew older and their lives changed.

______________

Littluns <--> Bigguns!!!

This was such a good idea but it was so rushed I want to kms. Also, this idea came mainly because Johnny is so freaking similar to Ralph in both appearance and personality when he first appears.

[kate-bashford]

FAS3003 Research

When conducting my initial research into costuming and Lord of the flies, I began by reading a book on different successful costume designers and their key techniques. The semi-autobiographical book, Costume Design (Landis, 2003) helped explore the films and productions with the most successful costumes, thus broadening my exposure to costume. Although not particularly useful in directly aiding my research for an apocalyptic world, it has helped to introduce me to new designers to research further. For example, Eiko Ishioka was particularly experimental with her use of new materials and techniques, like the costume pictured above for The cell. 

I shall use this book to further my research into the most relevant works of these designers, hopefully in turn exposing me to more interesting design concepts.

I also found a different version of the novel which includes analytical essays about the various aspects of the original novel. In this, Whitley (1970) confirmed my original hypothesis about the symbolism. It also introduced me to an aspect of the symbolism that I had originally overlooked; “if the fire equals some sort of adherence to civilised values, why does it kill the littlun with the mulberry- coloured birthmark?”. Indeed, these questions that Whitley raised in his essays show the depth of the novel's political conflicts, on both surface level, and through symbolism. The arbitrary nature of the novel is something Whitley also explored, particularly looking at how Golding still presents the characters as children, despite the juxtapositions of their age and the perceived maturity of the political nature of the plot. 

To further my development, I shall read more essays and interpretations of the book and characters to try ensure that the character profiles I create are the ones that match the closest to each character I shall design for. I will also begin to explore the various construction techniques that will allow me to make the costumes wear as the play progresses, as explored in (costume book). 

Nadoolman Landis, D (2003) Costume Design. Massachusetts: Focal Press Elsevier 

Whitley, J (1970) Golding: Lord of the Flies. London: The Camelot Press Ltd

[thatsit-thatsthepost]

littluns my beloved <3

I just think they’re neat

please pretend that background looks like anything-

individuals (+ some hcs) under the cut 💜

idk dude I just love the littluns a lot. I need to reread the book but from memory/the list of canonical characters + names I keep for reference, there’s 4 canon* littluns and I love them all.

*and by canon i mean they have names (in 3/4 cases, anyway) and therefore we can extrapolate Actual Personality

Johnny

- he’s just turned 7, and is very proud of this fact

- very messy and clumsy; the kind of kid that’ll trip over his own shoelaces and tumble down a flight of stairs, but brush it off immediately

- because of this he’s always covered in scratches and/or dirt

- always sucking his thumb or otherwise chewing on something

- not the most attentive child in the world, he gets distracted pretty easily

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Percival Wemys Madison

- 6 years old

- he’s a very strict rule follower, I think

- a little chubby (of course, the time in the island sort of gets rid of that, but let me have this)

- he holds himself and others to pretty particular standards, but not in a mean way, just because he’s used to a very specific set of rules and likes following them

- he sunburns b a d, and once the redness clears is left with more freckles than he had before

⭐️⭐️⭐️

??? (Mulberry Boy)

(please help me what is this child’s NAME?)

- barely 6 at the beginning of the story

- very Smol. so tiny. it worries everyone, honestly, because no one believes that he eats enough but actually he’s just,,,, little

- he’s actually really gullible (probably because he’s 6, but even then) and so will usually believe what you tell him

- sorta insecure about his birthmark? like he’s just constantly super aware of it when he thinks about himself, even tho no one’s bullied him or anything

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Henry

- 8

- because he’s that little bit older he pretends to be ‘too cool’ and grownup to play with the other littluns, but the older kids don’t quite want to let him hang out with them either. so he tends to hang out on the fringes of the littluns (+ Piggy bc he’s the one who’s basically in charge of them) and whatever their activity of the moment is

- he gets attached to them (the other littluns) though, and by the time they’re rescued he would protect them with his life

⭐️⭐️⭐️

so there they are!

have I horribly misinterpreted their characters? maybe. but ya know, it’s whatever.

I will draw the rest of the main cast/secondary cast soon eventually, maybe. we’ll see.

[yotd2009]

Good morning redheads who can sing C sharp, twins whose names are shoved together, hunters who stayed loyal to the original chief the longest, protagonists who get called “Golden boy” in every fic ever, kids with mulberry birthmarks, kids who recite their full names, kids who fainted at matins over the precentor, kids who are fine with being called anything but Piggy, kids with emo bangs who crush people with rocks, kids who get tortured by kids who used to stick to kicking over sandcastles, kids who believe in the beast, kids who had to pretend to be a pig, kids who became memelords in the fandom, and all the choir boys who became hunters, littluns and biguns who got stuck on an island and are holding the conch

[simons-ghxst-blog]

what’ll happen when the boy with the mulberry birthmark finds his own body?

Simon hesitated, looking down at his feet.

“R-right- yes... I’ll ask Jack and the others to bury him...” Although Simon doubted the body was even recognisable at this point. Even so, he worried for the other littluns potentially stumbling upon any of the bodies on the island. But then he was walking his friends into a gruesome scene by asking them to bury a body.

They were all too young for that. Although, Simon had once felt them all too young for many of the things that had gone on.

“I’ll take care of it...” He murmured, wandering off. 

[writings-kalelculver]

Gender Theory--Ralph & Jack

Prompt: Using gender theory, write an essay on the notions of sexuality as depicted [or not] in the novel.

Sexuality is a normal phenomenon for the human experience. Most everyone experiences sexual desire at least once in their life. It is normal to want to experience, and to further explore those feelings. Sexuality is a spectrum that has been split up among its terms such as homosexual and heterosexual. These words, and others such as “male and female are likewise constructed and shaped distinctions that are subject to constant change” (Bressler 225). Much like these terms, human behavior changes over time as well; one hardly remains the same person that they once were a few years ago.

In Lord of the Flies, British boys who are marooned on an island in the Pacific Ocean are still have their humanity, and experience these new emotions as they go through puberty. However, these British schoolboys, who have just evacuated from an atomic war zone, choose to explore these new array of emotions in an unconventional manner.

There are suppressed sexual tensions in Lord of the Flies. These tensions can be found in the symbolism, and the boys’ actions. Ralph and Jack are the two foremost characters. They are able to manipulate, and to rein over the rest of the boys, of which they are able to split into two groups. Ralph is known for the conch shell he found, and Jack is known for his hunting. These are two symbols that control the leaders of each group: feminine and masculine. The conch is a symbol of law and order, however, it is desired among the boys because it gives them the power to speak at meetings. This desire for the conch can be compared to lust. Jack on the other hand is the most masculine character in the novel. Jack craves power, he is violent and aggressive. He becomes obsessed with hunting, and its savagery enables him to control the group.

These British boys are not older than twelve, and with Ralph and Jack as leaders’ recklessness arises causing the death of three children, several pigs, and along with an island engulfed in flames. There is passion hidden behind these conflicts between the two leaders. This hidden passion distracts both boys from leading each group, consequently resulting in pain and suffering. Ralph and Jack’s relationship is animalistic in nature, “in many species members of the pair lead a separate life” (Beauvoir, 1949), which also accounts for the boy’s downfall since they are no longer united.

After Ralph was voted chief the boys had their first homoerotic encounter, “[Jack’s] grey shorts were sticking to him with sweat. Ralph glanced at them admiringly” (Golding 23). Children are innocent beings. This may seem just like boyish curiosity, but the next interaction between the two indicates that there is something more. Jack then notices that Ralph is looking, which cause Ralph to lose his train of thought, and needing more time to “think things out” (Golding 23). This interaction, though brief, can be explained by Freud’s genital phase, “at which point the sexes become differentiated” (Beauvoir, 1949). However, there are no woman on the island, and there are no girls around the age of twelve on the island either; which so happens to be the age that puberty starts to begin. The raging hormones that are responsible for puberty will soon kick in. Curiosity by nature is then forced, and Ralph cannot understand why he must be away from Jack to gather his thoughts.

Emotions start to cloud Ralph and Jack’s judgement; the boy with the mulberry birthmark is soon lost at the mountain top. It is presumed that he died in the fire due to negligence among leadership. This foreshadows the devastating trials that the two will face, and causes the other boys to suffer as well. These are same emotions that start to isolate them from the rest of the group as well. Still, the boys are able to bond over this loss, “Ralph [had] found himself alone on a limb with Jack and they grinned at each other, sharing this burden” (Golding 39). For this grin to have take place is uncanny to say the least since it happens after a devastating event, highlighting that there was chemistry between the two suppressed by homophobia of the twentieth century.

The devastation and further destruction that is on its way is a metaphor for the suppression of homosexual tendencies. During the night of the storm, Jack retreats into the forest with a small group of boys after being humiliated by Ralph. Later at night there is a feast and dance. Events earlier in the day triggers the fierce chant, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” and “out of the terror [rises] another desire, thick, urgent, blind” (Golding 152). The passion that was felt by Ralph had evolved into fiery lust that consumes them all except a choirboy named Simon. At this time Simon made his way back to the group after the pig head on a stake spoke to him. During his return “Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill” (Golding 152). At this point the other boys do not see him as Simon, but rather the beast. Their lust filled chant now turns into, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in” (Golding 152)! Simon is then murdered by the group. “The taboo against homosexual behaviour (at least among equals) is almost universally a far stronger force than the impulse and tends to effect a rechannelling of the libido into violence” (Millett, 1968). This comes shortly after Jack and the hunters killed a nursing pig, which allowed Jack to prove his masculinity while hiding his inverted emotions. Just like killing the nursing pig allowed Jack to prove his masculinity, participating in the murder of Simon allowed Ralph to reestablish his masculinity as leader to the group, and this also allows for the most feminine character, Piggy, to prove himself as one of the boys. Acts like this are not uncommon, “this association of sexuality and violence is a particularly militaristic habit of mind” (Millett, 1968). It is clear that the boys have now forgotten their upbringing in a civilized society, and now their natural instincts have taken over.

Ralph is the elected chief, but is later betrayed by Jack and his hunters (choirboys). Piggy and the littluns particularly listened to him and the rules, “They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority” (Golding 59). Ralph tries to hold the group together along with Piggy, who is the voice of reason. They both try to pull the group back together when Jack continues to allow his and the hunter’s animalistic instincts get out of control. He tries to do this not only with Jack, but with the rest of the group with the conch. He conch is the symbol of civilization, law and order, and authority. This is a symbol that Jack despises because if he is brought back to reality with the rules of a functioning society, he must face his true emotions as well. By ignoring what the conch stands for and the rules of the conch, he can further disassociate himself and his emotions from the situation, and from Ralph as well until the animalistic instincts evolves into pure savagery.

Hunting is a manly sport; man is up against a beast that must be slain. In Jack’s eyes hunting is more than this, and it is more than a way to make sure that he and the others do not starve. Hunting for Jack is a spiritual journey. It is a way that he can relieve his stress, and to forget about his suppression of his sexuality. Adults have their vices such as drugs, alcohol, gambling, and sex to relieve stress, anger, and to forget the pain that haunts their very lives. With Jack being on a deserted island he has no access to drugs, alcohol, and casinos. His sexual desires are being suppressed. He is not yet willing to give in to his homosexual tendencies. As a way of coping with his sexual desires, Jack hunts. The thrill of the chase is orgasmic to him. That’s why when the first pig got away he was upset, and could barely interact with the other boys. Later on Jack and his hunters are successful in the slaying of a nursing pig. Jack not only initiates the attack for food, but proves to the others that he is a man since this act symbolizes heterosexual intercourse. This is because boys are more likely to be destructive and violent, which means the slaying of the nursing pig would not only provide more food, but also provide Jack with more power and status of being a real man.  

Jack devotes a lot of his time getting ready for hunting because he thinks that the pigs do not smell him, but see his pink face. As a result, Jack smears clay on his face and calls it his “dazzle paint” because “[he’s] trying to look like something else” (Golding 63). This form of expression allows for Jack to relinquish his anger and stress to a point where he is a shell of him former self, and his animalistic instincts have taken over. His killing of animals is his alternative passion on the island since he cannot and will not allow himself to have Ralph a romantic way. That would be a form of demasculinization of himself in front of the other boys, especially his hunters. Jack will stop at nothing to prove to his hunters what kind of man he is. He even commands them to kill Ralph with fire. This would allow Jack to further disconnect from his feelings by burning the one person that evokes his passion, and is the center of his current reality. The current reality is what Jack wants to escape from, and create his own. The death of Piggy is caused by this. Jack does not stop Roger from throwing the bolder at Piggy and the conch. Jack did not want to go back to civilization, which would cause him to confront his emotions, and would force him to accept his lust for Ralph. With the death of Piggy and the destruction of the conch, the voice of reason no longer existed, and law and order would cease to exist causing the savage reality to continue on.

Ralph and Jack have different approaches to leadership. Ralph is the leader that the group needs. He wants what is best for the group, even if what is best is unpopular. The unpopularity is a result of the lack of discipline that has yet to enrich the lives of the children because they happen to be so young. Ralph obeys the rules of the conch and he expects the others to do so as well. His leadership style is civil and lacks cruelty, unlike Jack’s leadership regime. Jack leads with pure masculinity, this results in threats and intimidation. Along with this Jack knows what the other boys want, and what the other boys want is to have fun. He also disregards the rules of the conch that Ralph has put into place as chief. When the boys chant, “A fire! Make a fire!” He decided to take control, forgetting the conch, and yelled, “Come on! Follow me” (Golding 38)! Jack is a boy of action, however, his action needed to be complimented with the levelheadedness of Ralph’s leadership style as well. Both of their methods needed each other in order to be employed properly. However, this is not the case because Ralph and Jack are distracted by the underlying tension and desires between them.

Ralph and Jack are polar opposites that cannot work together for the overall benefit of the group. With ineffective leadership, twentieth century ideals, and in a life or death situation, it is clear that the romance between Ralph and Jack would not have flourished in Lord of the Flies. Their relationship had too much tension from the start, even if the romantic undertones are taken out of the equation. Jack had been the leader of the choir before they had even landed on the island. When Ralph was elected chief it took some of Jack’s masculinity away. Some of Jack’s pride is restored when he once again has control over his choirboys as hunters. He then uses that to take total control away from Ralph with his tribe of savages. This attributes to pride; Jack had to take away everything that was given to Ralph. This is because Jack was already insecure with his masculinity, and this not only damaged his masculinity, but it also made him question his sexuality as well. Perhaps if the boys were older it could have worked. Regardless their situation could possibly be too dire for any romance to take flight.  

 Work Cited

Beauvoir, Simone. "The Second Sex." Marxists Internet Archive. Web. 01 Dec. 2016

Bressler, Charles E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. 5th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Print

Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Penguin Books: (1954). pgs. Print.

Millett, Kate. “Theory of Sexual Politics.” 1969. Web. 01 Dec. 2016

[porkrindss-blog]

#2) They were so absorbed in the fire. They let it get too big. Now nobody knows where the boy with the mulberry birthmark is. They want to blame me for it. They're saying its all my fault for not taking names, but they never gave me a chance to. They're all in denial just like they were about the grownups coming to get us. We can't be saved if no one knows we need saving. Now the littluns have stirred all the boys up with talk of the beast. Ralph says they can only be found in places like Africa and India. He also says the Queen has a map of all the islands hamging up in a room. I still don't think anyone coming to get us and I dont thing were ever going to find the boy with the mulberry birthmark either.