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This is a place for us to discuss openly and honestly the literature we are reading. Here we are all just communicating our thoughts on what we are reading. There are no right and wrong answers. However, you are expected to be polite, mature, and on topic.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

In the end...

William Golding said in his lecture at the end of the novel, "...that the only that matters is what you (the reader) get from a novel..."There are many themes in LORD OF THE FLIES. Among them are good versus evil, the importance of unity, the importance of law and order, survival of the fittest, the evil of mankind, the belief in hope, the loss of innocence, and the process of maturity. Which theme in the novel did you find most interesting? What did you learn through LORD OF THE FLIES about this theme? Explain which scene(s) in the book helped you to fully see this theme and how. (The deadline to post a response to this blog is midnight, Thursday, November 7, 2013.)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

To me, Lord of the Flies reminded me a great deal of George R.R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" (on phone can't underline). I say this not because of the battle for power that takes place between Ralph and Jack, but instead, because this book shows that even the most innocent and pure of people can be killed (Simon and Piggy) even if the reader does not want it to happen. No character has "plot armor" in any of Martin's books, and I believe Golding conveyed that idea very well in "Lord of the Flies", also. Basically, I believe that Golding was trying to show that the good guys do not always come out on top. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made in order for things to end well, and sometimes those sacrifices are lives. That's reality, and Golding did nothing short of showing how things would have worked out in a true world. Golding showed the true nature of man in this book by killing those two boys. I realized this during the scenes when Simon and Piggy were killed. Just like in Martin's "A Game of Thrones", important plot characters were killed off because of mistakes or weakness. That may be harsh or blunt, but that is basically what took place in the book. Simon went to the boys and told them that they were the beast and that ended his life. Piggy, on the other hand, was placed in a situation where he, being a weak, asthmatic, and overweight boy could not win. He died because of these things. Golding did a wonderful job of showing that the good people do not always live. It may be very upsetting to some, but I respect that about this book.

Unknown said...

I found the theme of growing maturity to stand out. In the beginning Ralph is childish and does not really meet the qualities of a leader. As the novel progresses, he learns what being a leader really means. He knows that they all need to stay together, they all need shelter, and they all need hope for rescue via the fire. He admits that Piggy is smarter and even at the end he was thinking "What would Piggy do?" This obviously shows to me that Ralph has grown and matured throughout the novel. At the very end when the naval officer asks if there are any adults, Ralph should have stepped forward because by the end he was mature enough to be considered an adult in my eyes. This novel shows me that certain circumstances can definitely make or break someone. In this case, Ralph certainly grew and matured as a person.

Unknown said...

Of all of the themes, I found the evil of mankind to be the most thought-provoking. Golding shows how every single person has some evil in himself. For instance, Piggy proves himself to be a civilized and good person; however, even he has his part in killing Simon. The fact that everyone in this microcosm representative of society has a part in killing Simon exemplifies the evil of all corners of the world. Thank goodness there are not more Jacks, though, who are completely evil. While there may not be many, one bad apple ruins the whole bunch. Jack has a group of followers who turn to him for direction, and he leads them into evil when he commands that they must kill Ralph. Golding, though this novel, gives each person a mirror so that he/she can reflect on the evil inside himself/herself rather than just pick at the evil of others.

Unknown said...

I believe that evil of mankind is the best theme portrayed in Golding's novel. He says that everyone is the beast. Everyone has a little bit of evilness in them. For example, everyone was involved in killing Simon. No one really said "NO! We cannot do this!" Everyone went with the flow. If no one does anything about an issue then everyone is guilty of the crime at hand. There are the obvious criminals, Jack and Robert. However, ever boy on this island partook in crimes such as killing the pig, killing Simon, killing Piggy, and killing civilization.