Liked the story. Had trouble following the dialog. Specifically, often not clear who was talking. Anyone else?

7 likes · like
7 years ago
6 answers

To answer questions about Lord of the Flies, please sign up.

Anya I had the same trouble. The characters were always interrupting each other and sometimes I had no idea who was speaking. I mean they were in groups of 6+ people most of the time, and I just had to guess who doing the talking.

flag

Sophie I found it difficult to follow the dialogue too, but more because I felt the children communicated so badly with each other: understandably, as the oldest were 12 and it was an unusual and stressful situation. There was a lot of interrupting each other, and poorly-made sentences. I followed the story along with SparkNotes to ensure I understood everything!

flag

Stephanie I think it was a way to show the chaos of the island. The fact that the boys were kind of melding together into one group, to the point that whatever one boy was saying was interchangeable with what another boy was saying. I think it was supposed to be a little hard to figure out who was speaking on purpose, and as a former HS English teacher who taught this book for years, I think that is a great observation!

flag

Maya Behura I believe that there must have been some sort of reasoning behind this choice by Golding. At the beginning of the story, everything was calm and there was order within the group. However, as time passed, the island became more chaotic, especially when the group divided into two. Then, it definitely would have been a little more confusing to determine who is talking when. I recommend reading the book once more at a slower pace to comprehend information you may have missed during the first read.

flag