english@kkc

Golding wrote ‘Lord of the Flies’ to show a very pessimistic vision of mankind. In the past some writers tended to take the view that if left to their own devices man would organise himself into effective groups that would act in a civilised manner. However ‘Lord of the Flies’ chillingly explores what Golding considers to be the reality. That is if there were no laws and no authority then man would descend into savagery and exploit the weak. The group mentality would swamp individual morality with terrible consequences. Ralph weeps for the loss of innocence because he is faced with the knowledge of just how horrific man can be.

Today’s essay is a level one response to Lord of the Flies’.

Describe an idea that interested you in the text. Explain why this idea interested you.

An interesting idea in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” is that man is inherently evil. This is interesting because Golding uses schoolboys to portray the idea, which is to show us that no matter what age or social class, given the chance, the primitive and savage nature of man will emerge.

On discovering their situation the boys go about trying to form some social order and a system of leadership. From this act we learn that the boys are still bound by the invisible force of the “taboo of the old life”, which held them within the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. However the boys eventually realise that mistakes and wrong-doings go unpunished as there was nobody with enough authority to punish them. The rein of civilisation was broken when this discovery was made, the beginning of an anarchic society had been established. Jack is the leader of this defiance for rules and law. He deliberately undermines Ralph’s position as “chief” and directs the boys to follow himself instead. Initially, we are lead to believe that Jack is just jealous of the position which Ralph holds but we gradually come to see that his want to be chief is not because of roles he had previously played, instead it is an insatiable hunger for power. Jack has great qualities which make him appealing as a leader such as the ability to promise what his followers want and the fact that he is an imposing figure. He uses the promise of meat and fun to win over the boys, whom he wants to use to create - in a sense - his own “army”.

This group of boys and their newfound freedom encourages them to commit acts they would never have dared under adult leadership. Among these include the pig hunts in which they take great pleasure and a disturbingly sadistic approach. This is a good example of the idea Golding is putting out to us as it shows the ease in which the boys kill a living animal using primitive weapons, such as spears. Before, in the outer world, these same boys were (as implied) innocent, refined and educated. However, once left alone without concrete rules or punishment, these aspects of their life no longer apply and their inner instincts take over.

Golding uses these schoolboys as an eye-opener for the reader to assert that even the young and innocent have a savage nature. Evil isn’t taught to a person, it is born within us and if we don’t have laws and rules controlling us, this evil will be allowed to escape. This is emphasised further by Ralph’s - the rational, reasonable character - momentary loss of control when he also is included in a pig hunt.

Man is inherently evil and if it is not controlled by strict rules with threat of severe punishment, this evil will run free and create immense chaos and disorder. This is the main idea in “Lord of the Flies”. Golding wrote the novel with an intention to teach us this and he does so in a interesting and effective way by using schoolboys as his main characters.

The essay that follows is a level one response on the character Jack in ‘The Lord of the Flies’.

A major change in a character in the novel the ‘Lord of the Flies’ was that in Jack. He was the first to cast off the restraints of civilisation and led the boys down a path of savagery.

In the beginning Jack was somewhat of a bully, held by the restraints and taboos of civilisation. Despite his frustration at Ralph’s leadership, “I should have been chief,” said Jack with simple arrogance, “I’m head boy and chapter chorister”, he follows Ralph and the fragile rules of the boys society. However, Jack is soon driven to savagery by his ever growing lust for meat and longing to hunt and kill. “We need meat!” When Jack painted his face, the mask liberated him from the constraints of society and civilisation, “and his laugh becomes a blood-thirsty snarl”.

His new-found savagery drives him to discard ideas and hopes of rescue, turning his attention to hunting. This causes him to ignore his responsibility to keep the fire alight, he lets it go out. This is a major turning point in the story as the boys, following Jack’s example, change their priority from rescue to a savage lust for meat, a lust to kill. It also marks the start of a rift between Jack and Ralph. Ralph reprimands Jack, furious that they missed out on a vital chance for rescue. Jack retaliates by challenging Ralph’s leadership and leaving to form his own “tribe” where he could be chief. This is the turn to savagery Golding wants us all to see. The boys give up the democracy offered by the conch in favour of the savagery offered by Jack. They do this in favour of the chance to hunt, the chance to kill.

Jack’s turn to savagery marks the collapse of the boys’ fragile society. He leads the boys’ in order to fulfil his own savage desires, “We want meat”. The boys fall into a system of anarchy which ultimately leads to killing, the slaughter of Simon and later Piggy.

For those of you who want some quick links to revision material - try the wikipedia links below as they have information on the texts plus useful links.

Wikipedia Lord of the Flies.

Wikipedia Catcher in the Rye.

Wikipedia To Kill a Mockingbird.

Wikipedia The Handmaid’s Tale.

Wikipedia The Crucible.

Wikipedia The Kite Runner.

There is a new revision site to check out called Rocketbook . On this site there are some interesting study resources to have a look at. You can download pdf copies and mp3 versions of study guides for a number of the texts we have studied including The Crucible, To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Flies. For The Crucible there is also a video study guide and there are wikis for Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird.

The following is an extract from an interview with William Golding written by Mary Lynn Scott that was published in Aurora.

British novelist William Golding, winner of the 1983 Nobel Prize for Literature, is best known for his first novel, Lord of the Flies, which has sold over seven million copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than fourteen languages.

Often thought of as a pessimistic writer, Golding calls himself “a universal pessimist and a cosmic optimist,” distinguishing between the universe, as the sum of man’s empirical knowledge, and the cosmos, as the totality of all there is, including God and man. In his novels, Golding investigates the presence of an innate evil in man underlying a veneer of civilization, concluding that man’s propensity for evil is far greater than it is for goodness. Often accompanying this dominant theme is his concern with the questions of original sin and man’s free will, all of which help to create a fable-like quality within his work.

Read the rest of the article here.

This image is from Chas. He has made two versions of it and he would like some feedback. Chas feels that this version is too busy. What do you think?

This image is from Rose and she felt that a strong idea in the novel The Lord of the Flies, is irony. The author, William Golding, uses this irony to help us see the dramatic change that occurs in the boys, from the beginning of the novel to the end. We watch the way they go from innocent little school boys, into savages.

Rose chose as her background picture an original cover picture from The Coral Island with the little boy grinning happily, to show the dramatic contrast between The Lord of the Flies and The Coral Island. Whereas in The Coral Island all the boys behaved nicely and are well behaved, the boys in The Lord of the Flies are anything but. William Golding plays on this irony when at the end of the novel, when the boys are about to murder Ralph, a Navel Officer appears to rescue them. The boys are dumb-founded, and when the Officer inquires whether any have died or been killed and Ralph begins to unveil a little of the many horrors of the Island, the Officer makes an odd comparison saying “Jolly good show. Like the Coral Island”. The shocking contrast and dramatic irony is brought to light. The reader knows that the savagery, murders and events that have taken place on this Island are nothing like the events of the Coral Island.

Rose chose to put her quote about the Coral Island in a formal sort of text, as the Navel Officer is a formal, uniform sort of a man, and he is the one who says “…just like the Coral Island.” The formal font, even, tidy and published-looking is also used to show the dramatic contrast between the anarchy of the island and the ‘law and order’ of the civilised society.

Another reason for the formal font and for the words “Coral Island” being bigger is that Rose wanted to give the appearance of a book cover, linking the quote in with her background image of The Coral Island book cover, as if her static image and The Lord of the Flies are a take off of The Coral Island book.

The fire, smouldering along the bottom of the image is to incorporate the idea of savagery, and the way the fire, hunting and primeval instincts grew to take over the boys’ sense of moral and conscience. The blood and large bruise on the little boy is there to show the sinister, murderous side that is exposed in man kind, this links in with the quote ‘we’ll have fun…’ because the murder of Simon and near murder of Ralph is anything but fun.

The little boat in the background of the image represents rescue. The idea of rescue is something of an eventual reality to the boys (at the beginning of the novel), but as savagery takes over their fears of the beast and the way they lose a grip on reality leads them to almost forget about the concept of rescue. The boat image also relates to the quote ‘we’ll have fun, get rescued…’ because this shows the innocence of the boys as they are naïve to what events will unfold and to the prospect that they may not be rescued. Rose chose to put this quote in a font that looks like handwriting, to give it a scruffy schoolboy look, that isn’t even or particularly attractive, but is simple and innocent, just like the quote itself.

Toby G is exhibiting today. He has also based his static image work on ideas from Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies. I will continue to add the Year 11 images but I will also post some of the Romeo and Juliet work produced by year 10 soon.

A webquest is an inquiry based activity where most of the information that you work with comes from the web. To help you revise I have put links to interesting webquests below.

The Crucible

Brave New World

Lord of the Flies

One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Romeo and Juliet