Lord of the Flies
I chose to do one of my book reports on William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. The reason I chose this book is because it deals with many issues that are important to leading a solid Christian based life. It also deals with some issues that were talked about in class, for example discrimination, prayer and civilized behavior.
The book starts out with Ralph and Piggy walking through the woods on what appears to be a deserted island. We are told that a plane transporting many young boys between the ages of 5 and 12 crashed on this island and these are the first two characters that we meet. Ralph and Piggy find their way out of the woods and onto a beach where they discover a conch shell that can be played as a horn. Ralph sounds this horn and shortly after a number of young boys emerged from the woods.
It is now revealed that no adults are on the island and it is just the boys. They then decide to form a make shift government and piggy appoints Ralph to be the leader since he initiated the meeting. One boy named Jack, a member of a boy’s choir, protests the fact that Ralph was named the leader. So to please Jack, Ralph tells him that he will be in charge of hunting and gathering food, this along with teasing Piggy about his weight pleases Jack.
The boys them split up and start to scope out the island and Jack organizes the first hunt, which is unsuccessful. As time goes on Ralph notices that many of the boys aren’t really doing any work and would rather be playing or sleeping instead, this worries him a little. He then goes out to explore the island with a choirboy named Simon, when they came back they called a meeting by signaling the conch. At this meeting Ralph sets up some basic rules. The main ones being that you can only talk at a meeting if you are holding the conch and that a fire must be keep going all the time on top of the mountain in case a ship passed by so that they could be rescued. The other boys like the ideas and rush up the mountain to start a fire. After they gather a bunch of firewood they realize that nobody can start a fire without matches. Piggy then suggests that they use the lenses of his glasses to spark a flame. The fire starts and gets a bit out of hand and Piggy thinks that one of the younger boys has been burned to death. All of the other boys laugh at Piggy and deny the incident. This is the first ...
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...ll right. So we see how important parents are and how much they can influence their children. These boys were too young to be stranded alone and they couldn’t distinguish between right and wrong. I’m sure that as adults they would look back and see how hostile and evil they had become.
Someone who has a similar view of this book is Kristian Moe who is a teacher in New York. I found this statement at www.malvik.no/engelsk/lordoftheflies.htm, he writes, “I feel that the book is very sad. In some ways it is even a little grotesque. It portrays human nature in its worst and darkest. It is very scary, and it makes me think about the world wars, and about Hitler’s racism and hatred. I can not believe that we have so many dark sides within us, but maybe we do.”
In conclusion, I have to say that I enjoy this book because it is exciting and scary at the same time. I’m sure that everyone at one point in their life has dreamed of being on a deserted island, but I’m also sure that nobody would want their experience to be like the one we see in this book. Unless of course that have no sense of Christian values and are willing to subject themselves to that type of devilish behaviour.
Every chapter, these three boys, have demonstrated they have great behaviour on the island in comparison to the rest of the group. But it was tiring to constantly have an acceptable attitude because the other boys would not be so pleasant towards them. First, Ralph represented democracy, from the time he crash landed upon the sand, strategies on how to be rescued flowed in his head. He was introduced to the conch and from that point he assigned daily tasks and rules that would be completed so the island would not go insane such as creating shelter, where to dispose waste and if the conch was in your hands, you were able to speak. Next, Piggy represented scientific facts. he may lack in the athletic field, but his brain made up tremendously for that loss. In the first couple chapters, Ralph thought a fire would be beneficial in order to get rescued so, Piggy utilized his glasses, directed the lenses towards the sun and fire appeared. Thirdly, Simon represented the good on the island. All the young boys turned to Simon as their leader because Simon did not see age difference, he welcomed all with open arms. He also helped Ralph with the unstable shelters when the rest were distracted with antics, Simon is an overall warm hearted kid. These boys
Over this entire novel, it is a good novel for children. It train children how to think logically, and notes people we should cherish our family, and people around us, very educate. Children can learn true is always been hide.
Piggy first finds the conch shell, being the most intelligent of the boys on the island, Piggy knows what the conch is after stumbling upon it and how to use it. Piggy, being physically larger than the other boys and having asthma, is unable to use the conch himself. Piggy hands the shell over to Ralph who, “…grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm. Immediately the thing sounded. A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms…” (Golding 17) Despite the fact Piggy was the one to find the shell, Ralph becomes its main possessor after being the only one to conjure a sound from the shell. Along with being the first to use the shell, Ralph is much more courageous, physically fit, and charismatic than Piggy, qualities shown in a natural-born leader. Ralph indirectly asserts his authority and power over Piggy by being able to blow the conch, in which Piggy cannot. From this point on, Ralph has ownership over the conch, this associates the idea of authority with Ralph’s character altogether. Shortly after the conch shell is blown, young boys of varying ages begin to appear among the palms, as more boys appeared Ralph made it clear that they are in the process of a meeting. The main purpose of the meeting is to find the
I would recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys historical fiction books where the characters learn life-altering lessons. I also feel that people of all ages would enjoy this book because it’s messages and theme was very positive. While I did enjoy this book, I think I will not be reading another historical fiction novel for my upcoming book response.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and believe it to be one of the best books I have ever read. It was extremely well written and challenging for me to understand at times. It conveys that dark side of human ambition very well, and it has given me much to think about.
My overall opinion of this book is good I really liked it and recommend it to anyone. It is a good book to read and it keep you interested throughout the whole book.
Initially, the boys carry on about in a civilized, systematic and fearless manner when first landing on the island. Ralph has just blown the conch and some small children responded to the sound by gathering at the source of the sound. Piggy is asking for their names. "The children gave him the same simple obedience that they had given to the man with megaphones"(Golding 18).The younger kids simply obey and respond to Piggy in the same way they would to an authoritative figure. The children's behavior towards piggy shows that they are still governed by civility and order. Furthermore, after blowing the conch, Ralph sees a group of boys walking in two parallel lines dressed in odd clothes. “T...
The official power of the conch shell has finally been destroyed and everything is lost as well as Ralph’s true friend Piggy. The conch shell’s social order, symbolism and power have been destroyed by Jack’s tribe which can only lead to chaos in the future. Only Ralph remains; powerless and despondent without the precious shell that he cherished as chief. The island, set fire by Jack’s tribe, leaves Ralph to escape alone among the smoke. Since the decadence of the conch the island, as predicted has fallen apart with absolutely no social order, leadership, civilization and power to keep the boys alive and in order which really shows the true importance of the conch shell.
The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
There is also a political system on the island just as there is in our society. Ralph is the children's elected representative. He appoints hunters (or an army in our case) and a leader to this group on the island. He also appoints people to look after the fire, people to get water, to get food and make shelters (political heads). They also have an age of importance on the island, they can distinguish a minor from their form of an adult just like us. In this way the island is run in an orderly fashion. However, as in most political systems there are people who will oppose the decisions made by their representative. Jack is this leader of anarchy on the island. He drives this toward Ralph like people in society would protest or go on strike.
Ralph was amongst the first few characters mentioned in the story and he quickly takes to the role of gathering the surviving boys by calling out to all that are in the area. He believes in leading with a democratic style, which gives people freedom of opinion, as well as equality to all group members. This is seen as Ralph uses Piggy’s idea for the conch to gathers the boys together in order to
Why did so many people, young, old, sick, wealthy and even convicted felonies had to experience firsthand of the worst evil man could ever pursue to one another. What was the point? Surely there have been many explanations, but those did not answer mine. I understood why the prisoners questioned their faith in God, I probably would have to. On the contrary, not even prayers to God could stop such evil. It criticizes the acceptance of human rights. This story puts a strain on trusting others. The individuals in this novel had a redundant encounter. It maddens me to the core. The hardships of what they had to go through, just for survival gives me grief. The story overall makes me feel distressed from every angle of the
It has come to my attention that the book I read, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, has appeared on a number of banned book lists in schools and libraries across the country. Many have also tried to challenge this book, for a number of varying reasons. In this essay, I will talk about what the novel represents, where and why this American classic has been shot down in many schools across the country, and why I believe we should change that.
Upon the arrival of the boys to the island Jack immediately found himself in the center of a power struggle. Although the conflict was brief, there was still a very obvious confrontation between Jack and Ralph. Once the boys had assembled themselves there was an election to see who was to be chief. Despite the fact that Ralph was voted leader, the desire to be in command never left Jack. Jack already had some leadership skills, being head choirboy at his old school, and he continuously challenged Ralph. The greatest source of conflict between Jack and Ralph was the debate over the necessity of maintaining a fire. Ralph felt that it was necessary to keep it burning at all times while Jack believed that hunting pigs and getting meat was much more essential.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows man’s inhumanity to man. This novel shows readers good vs. evil through children. It uses their way of coping with being stranded on an island to show us how corrupt humans really are.