Charene Julianne Grimaldo

GED0112 SECTION 161

1. What do you think Golding meant when he said, “I would dust Venus and put her aside,
for I have come to love her and know her for the fair thing she is.  But I would put the
Thinker, sunk in his desperate thought, where there were shadows before him – and at his
back, I would put the leopard, crouched and ready to spring”?

I think that the line that was mentioned by Golding about the three statuettes is to represent
the different grade thinkers by illustrating those. During the classes of Golding at grammar
school he observed that there is different way how people think. He classified it into three
grades. First, there is a grade 3 thinker, this is the low type of thinker where in an individual
does not think at all since, they are relying on their emotions. They are easy to believe with
something as they do rely in prejudices and not on their own thinking. Next is the grade 2
thinker, these are the persons who always contradicts but could not make a new statement. It
says in the article that this type of thinking is dangerous as it destroys someone’s ideas that
may offend that someone. Lastly, the grade 1 thinker, this is very rare, this type of thinker is
creative that can seek for new ideas or statements. They are extraordinary in a way that they
can seek for truth. In the line that was mentioned by Golding means that he arranged it
accordingly based on what thinker the statuettes represent. He put the lady Venus de milo
aside in between with the thinker and leopard. It represents the grade 2 thinker as she was
able to know that there is something wrong with her but does not able to fix it. Afterwards,
Golding put the thinker in the front that represents that he is a grade 1 thinker who act like he
is thinking about something. Lastly, he put the leopard next to the man which shows that it
represents the grade 3 thinker who does not think at all and just being natural as it relies on
its instincts. With this, these statuettes are the representation of the 3 different level of
thinkers, and he arranged it accordingly.

2. What do you think is/are Golding's message/s to his readers?

As Golding makes thinking as his hobby, he discovers that people have different ways of
thinking. By that, the message that Golding wants to send to the audience was to use our
minds to think as it helps us to learn and discover a lot of things. Imagine if Golding did not
use his thinking, then, we would not be able to know about these three different levels of
thinking. In addition, as he explained the difference between the three levels of thinker, it
helps us to determine what type of thinker we are. It is important to know our and other
people capability as a thinker as it helps us to know how we will communicate with other
people. As like what Golding mentioned that Grade 2 thinkers are dangerous as it may offend
the person who he contradicts. With this, it helps us to know how we think and act with other
people. A person may be a grade 1, 2, or 3 thinkers. These three different thinkers will help
us to have a better understanding to determine the characteristics or personality of an
individual. With this, it would be helpful for us to communicate with other people if we have
an idea of what type of thinker they are because if we interact with other people without
analyzing what type of person they are may leads to miscommunication.