Lord of the Flies in CSS 8.3 and 8.4

Dec 11, 2013 Justin rated it liked it

Lord of the Flies by William Golding *May Contain Spoilers*

A plane full of British boys land on a deserted island during the end of world war two. Some of boys were on the beach others in the frigid water, and one was near the scar the plane left imprinted on the island. A kid came crawling out of the sea and climbed up a small cliff to be met by the large rounded boy by the scar. The rounded boy was nicknamed piggy because of his large stomach. The two boys then find their way to a lagoon with Lord of the Flies by William Golding *May Contain Spoilers*

A plane full of British boys land on a deserted island during the end of world war two. Some of boys were on the beach others in the frigid water, and one was near the scar the plane left imprinted on the island. A kid came crawling out of the sea and climbed up a small cliff to be met by the large rounded boy by the scar. The rounded boy was nicknamed piggy because of his large stomach. The two boys then find their way to a lagoon with a conch floating in the middle. The other boy named Ralph acquires the conch and blows it to see if anyone else would come, all the kids came no adults came. Ralph deduced that there were no adults around to keep them civilized. So the group agrees that the best way to be civilized was to assign positions, Ralph was chief and the choir was the hunting group little kids just when on their own and played by the beach. Ralph was assured that the conch was the only way to decipher who was in power and who could talk. Then a group of three boys scout the island to make sure it was an island and that it was uninhabited. Lining the border of the beach were fruit trees with edible fruit and the floor is laced with vines and creepers. The lagoon was filled with the soothing warm water mimicking a bathtub. The area was a paradise, a beautiful beach lined with fruit trees to provide shade and food, river to supply fresh water was near by, and the sea to play in. A few sightings of a beast began to frighten the children. While place was adult free and any kid’s dream, no could tell them what they couldn’t do, but in return no one could protect them. Ralph called the second assembly and announced that they had to keep a fire going to be rescued, the green vegetation would bellow out into the sky. Piggy, Ralph, the hunters and some other older boys were the only ones who worked to keep the fire going. The fire was now the most essential thing on the island, it was the only thing that could stop the dwindling level of hope to reach zero. Jack the hunting group’s leader has being hunting with no success. He called his gang to go and hunt for a pig, ignoring the fire. While hunting group stalks a big, the fire burnt out and the smoke signal dissipated while a ship sailed near by. Now a debate arose, was the fire or meat more important, hope of rescue or the self-greed to indulge on meat. Slowly the hope for rescue was decreasing and the savagery intend for meat because more important. The hunt for the beast began which led the children to become their inner corrupt and savage true self, they were know longer human but barbaric brutes of men.

The most important thing to know if your reading this book is that it is excruciatingly slow. There will be pages describing a small detail that has nothing to do with the plot, at every assembly Ralph called William Golding would repeat and detail he wrote a few page ago then describe how the grass was flowing in the wind. At point in the book Ralph had finished hunt and was walking back to the shelters, then suddenly there are two pages describing his daydream of a cottage at home. Though his intentions were to immerse you into the book and make it seem like you were there. This would have been helpful if you were going to read this book in one sitting but I doubt that would be possible. All of the action and things that make you not want to put down the book happened in the last 30-50 pages of the book, you had to read 4/5 of the book before something that truly made you want to read on. The second thing was the way he depicted the children, Ralph stripped down to the nude and jumped around in the sand after he came out of the sea from the plane crash. I truly doubt anything like that would happen if a child had just survived a plane crash. “He jumped down from the terrace. The sand was thick over his black shoes and the heat hit him. He became conscious of the weight of clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely and ripped off each stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement. Then he leapt back on the terrace, pulled off his shirt, and stood there among the skull-like coconuts with green shadows from the palms and the forest sliding over his skin. He undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked, looking at the dazzling beach and the water.”
After they murdered the first person no one talked about it and if anyone did they would just throw it over their head and exclaim that it was an accident. If some one I new for only I few days was brutally murdered by the savages he trusted I would be devastated, I wouldn’t shrug it off, even savages of men would acknowledge and feel for some one dying that they knew. After the second murder the lead hunter Jack threaten to do it again and said he wanted that to happen. No matter how savage you are you still have some remorse for taking someone life. In the book it was like killing a pig and not someone that helped you survive for days.

The first thing I enjoy was the idea of how a perfect paradise could transform into a hellish place with everyone worrying for their life. Though there were lots of details about useless things that sometimes helped describe a scene as if you were looking at a video, everything was very easy to imagine though it could be hard to get in that mind set. The beginning setting was the beach, everyone’s tropical paradise, then more and more of the book took place in the dark in to the jungle, a place where most people did not want to be. Then to end it was in a rocky area with lots of shrubs, vines, and trees transforming the environment to the deeper and more uncivilized place. From the paradise in which everyone was invited to play to a barbaric cave with carved wooden sticks and guards to keep unwanted people out. The deaths of the two characters came to a big surprise with me, and the metaphor that to explain why the kids became savage was very apparent and made a lot of sense. Most of the characters were likable and you enjoyed reading about them. Piggy got made fun of a lot and you could easily sympathize for him because William Golding put in lots of detail. The tension and emotions between characters flowed and you could make lots of connections. The author made sure that there was always enough detail, it was never lacking but in a few cases there was too much. The adventures the kids went through brought memories of you having adventures of your own which helped you immerse yourself in the book. Also the ending was very apparent, you new it was coming but it was still a surprise when it did it worked well with the flow of the story.

This book would be very good in the hands of people who loved classic books that were very slow to start. The age group would be from teen to adult, it is not too serious and not lacking either. This would be for anyone who liked adventure and want to know a view on human nature. The book truly made you believe that humans are naturally evil and will always resort to corruption and violence; this was strongly backed up by the evidence that kids would do this, the most innocent people in our mind. This would also be good for anyone wants to expand and improve their writing cause this is written very well, the sentence structure and vocabulary is exceptionally strong. Also people who were born in the 50s would enjoy this because it would bring back memories of their childhood.

I would rate this book 3 stars, the only reason it is not high is because of the extreme amount of detail and the bias view of children.
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Nov 18, 2013 Jonathan Dorocicz rated it really liked it

Lord of the Flies by William Golding showcases both a gripping tale of excitement, as well as Golding’s ability to use language in an elegant manor that complements the story well. Lord of the Flies begins with the introduction of characters: Ralph, Piggy, Jack, as well as many other boys, who have been marooned on an island. With no adults on the island, the boys struggle with their sudden sense of excessive freedom. They decide to vote Ralph chief, which triggers a heated rivalry between Ralph Lord of the Flies by William Golding showcases both a gripping tale of excitement, as well as Golding’s ability to use language in an elegant manor that complements the story well. Lord of the Flies begins with the introduction of characters: Ralph, Piggy, Jack, as well as many other boys, who have been marooned on an island. With no adults on the island, the boys struggle with their sudden sense of excessive freedom. They decide to vote Ralph chief, which triggers a heated rivalry between Ralph and his adversary Jack.

I really noticed that Golding wanted the reader to be transported to the setting of the book and the island. The depth of detail was astounding, and the metaphors and similes used to describe the boy’s surroundings were staggering. I hate when people say, “it was like I was actually there” because it sounds so cliché but in this case, every time he described something, it felt like I was transported back to the island with the boys. The plot itself is ludicrous, because children creating a functioning society are bound to have problems, and the boy’s rapid decline from civility to savagery proves my point. Most would be appalled and shocked at how fast they turn, but strangely it wasn’t that much of a shock to me. If humans are thrust into a new environment with strangers especially if they’re kids, the lack of maturity creates a situation that would inevitably falter, thus the reason why the boys decline into savagery was so rapid.

Another part of the novel I felt was strong was Jack’s gradual but noticeable demise into villainy, which started with Jack killing a pig, triggering his unquenchable thirst for blood. Golding had used different characters to represent different traits, for example Ralph and Jack represented leadership but Jack represents leadership in a corrupt way, in which he abuses his superior position over others. Piggy represents intelligence and maturity, and when on an island with no adults he is ostracized and because of his weight he is never taken seriously. Simon represents reason and innocence. What I got from the novel was it was a valuable metaphor for life, at the beginning of the novel the children actually had a working society, but when Jack’s jealousy and hatred corrupts the boys understanding of their dilema of being marooned on an island, everyone turns on Ralph. Later in the novel Jack has tainted the innocence of all of the boys and this leads to savagery (Jack) killing innocence and reason (Simon), then later kills intelligence and maturity (Piggy). I feel that anything that may seem savage or evil has the ability to corrupt the order that our society thrives on, and in my opinion this was the main message of Golding’s novel. If a group of British choirboys can so easily turn into savages, what does this say about us? Could we be that easily corrupted?

A couple of negatives I had with the novel was that the story seemed to be overshadowed by the excessive use of describing the surroundings of the boys. Seriously, I could give a full description of the island, but this killed the excitement of the book and overall made the book boring and somewhat tedious to read. Before, during and after I read the book I conducted research to get a firm grasp on the whole idea that Golding was trying to display, but I felt I wouldn’t have needed to research if Golding had used less descriptors and more storytelling for me to understand the story fully.

The characters in Lord of the Flies were relatable and seemed to be extremely well thought out. This was a deep and meaningful story, which is what I look for in a good book (as compared to a story jam-packed with action). To be honest I did not understand every word used, but the language and metaphors used were brilliant. The novel may seem slow at times, but the ending was worth the amount of time spent on portraying the metaphor of the island. Lord of the Flies definitely deserved the Nobel Prize for literature and is defiantly in my list of top 25 favorite books. I give Lord of the Flies 4 STARS out of five, and it is a must read book for a mature reader.

Jonathan Dorocicz 8.4
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