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Australian Center for Education (ACE)
Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Floodland - Short Essay Question


Please respond to one of these questions about the book Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick.

1. Zoe asks William to go with her to find the mainland, but William refuses.  Zoe says that all the people on Eels Island are bad, that they’ll kill William if he stays.   William says “...they’re just people.  They’re not good or bad.  It’s just that these are bad times, and it makes people do bad things.  I want to help them not to.” (p. 79)
What does William mean by this? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

2. When Zoe finds a picture of Dooby with his parents, she sees that he looks very different.  “In spite of everything he’d done, Zoe couldn’t hate Dooby completely.  Munchkin was right, they had all had to grow up very fast, and something had been taken from them.” (p. 95)
What does Zoe mean by this? Do you agree with her? Why or why not? 


15 comments:

  1. 1. William is trying to show the tribes about peace and harmony. William want to explain everybody about a friendship compromise. I agree with him because people need to learn about the word 'Truce'.
    Tep

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  2. 2- Zoe is probably thinking that Dooby wasn't always the psycho,homicidal boy he is. She might think that there was a time when he was just an innocent boy who didn't know much about the world, just like her. And for some reason I agree with Zoe. Dooby wasn't born a psychopath, It was the will to live at any cost and the fight for survival that drove him into this state. If there was an adult to look after him and teach him the difference between right and wrong, there is no doubt in my mind that Dooby could have turned out differently.

    -Siphan

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  3. 1. I think William meant that we are all the same - people. We shouldn't consider anyone good or bad. Things change according to the situation - hard or smooth. People will just be fighting in those bad times for their own survivals. It'd be nice if William's help worked out.

    Monineath

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  4. 1. In my opinion I think, William mean that the Eels people are not cruel like what Zoe think? But the bad time make they do the bad things, and William want to help them not to do the bad things. So he have to stay on the Eels Island.
    I agree with William because it the good idea to help people not to do the bad things.

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  5. 1). Normally, untrustworthy between one toward another always show up whenever ''bad things'' exists. In order to protect oneself, that person has to protect his or herself before the others get the chance to kill him or her. And when I say PROTECT, it doesn't always mean to let the others torture you or especially KILL you without doing a thing in return! Before letting them have that chance, people always has to kill one another before they kill YOU. What William meant was that all of this are not reality, no one differ to no one, they are all the same, trying to preserve themselves from being killed like Dooby for example he just want his family back, that's all. Well, he might seems strong, on the outside, but on the inside he's just a little mouse who is squeaking for help. All what William wanted to do is encourage them to have TRUST to each other rather than fooling around killing everyone! I admit it, I agree with William because of all the facts toward people in their true-self, who they really are! So trying to help them like William is the most precious idea that he came up with!
    -Ati-

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  6. 1.I think,William mean that the people in Eel island were not bad at all but the bad time could make them do bad things so he still stay in this island to stop them to do bad thing anymore.So I agree with him because it's a good way to teach & help people in this island.Also it was a good things for people in Eel Island to remember him forever.

    Visal

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  7. 1. William meant that"he didn't believe that people in this island will kill him because if they want to kill him, they killed him since Zoe not yet come to this island... I agree with William idea.

    2. Zoe meant that" because of he lost his parents, its make him become selfish. But he is not a selfish person all the time, sometimes he's kind too."
    Pimean

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  8. In my thoughts, these are what William meant. People are still people even if they've done anything wrong, or get involve in any of bad things. Born as a human, nobody is extremely perfect nor that cruelly. In fact, people on Eels Island are bad because they faced the difficult time and they got enough of it. They had to be bad to survive their lives. So he just wanted to succor and stopped them from doing such bad things. I definitely agreed with William. Because people are bad or good depend on the real situation that happen in reality. It meant that the situation forces them to do. Anyways, during bad times people should help each other as much as they could. That's the point of being as a human.

    Roath

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  9. 1. When I first read what William said, I thought that he is right because if you are a human, even how evil you are there is always a warm loving heart inside that made them do good things too. All the people kill each other because of the flood which made the people desperate and do anything to survive so they had to force themselves to do it. I also think that William has a reason why he did this. I think it's because that if William can persuade them to stop fighting and work together instead, people would work as a team to work their way out of the danger like maybe building a giant raft or boat to go to the mainland.
    -rotha

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  10. 1- William means that people are just people, they are neither good or bad. They are bad now only because their lives are in danger and also frightening situation. But for me, it's a disagree! Bad people are bad until they realised it themselves, there are no use of telling them anything.

    Mickey

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  11. 1- I think William mean that people not just bad but they can't stand in this situation. People try to survive. For me I agree because people is a human not an animal that bad is still bad all the time. People can change from bad to good. If they try hard they can.

    Vishnu

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  12. 1.William means that people are the same. They are not bad or good. Because of these bad times makes people do bad things.He wants to help them not to kill each other. Make peace together. When there is a bad situation , ex: like there are 2 group of families. There are a little food left so the first group of family try to take that food to be their own. So they fight or kill the second group of family. The first group of the family don't want to do that bad thing. But they have family son daughter mother...etc to be alive.Bad things force good people to be bad ones.I agree with William.Because all of people don't want to do bad things except they have no choice.

    Sreylen

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  13. 1.In my opinion, William means that the people's minds used to be like blank white sheets. As a consequence of not being educated properly like he was and by living in negative environment without adults, they will act negatively also to be in that kind of environment. Their white blank minds are filled by black ink and William wants to be there to help erasing that black ink out of their minds and paint them with the white one. With his concept, I totally agree with him as we are losing our space to the sea, I do not want us to lose anything more, especially, humanity.

    P.2

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  14. 1/According to what William said i think he actually means that No one is bad and if they turn out to be bad just because they need to,they don't want to. Like in this situation, everybody want to survive and live but they choose the wrong path which is fighting each other to live.What if they all take part in and try to survive all together? It'll be much better than that.He wants to stop them and make an other decision for their surviving rather than fighting each other which will cause more deaths.And of course for me i agree with what he said 100% because he's right. For example if they both survive and reach the mainland but they are only people there,what will it be like?Is it the point in surviving? The answer is No . Can they live? and can we live if we are the only person in the world? Aren't we happy together ?Like what he said "What is the point in surviving if you forget how to be human?".Although we live for hopes but for me I would choose to die with everyone better than living alone in a devastated world.
    -EniX-

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