BOOK REVIEW:
Here it is… the grand finale… a chance to sound off about what you really thought of Lord of the Flies. I am not looking for a plot summary here, but your review should reflect an in-depth knowledge of both plot and characters through the use of one example of an incident that happened in the book.
1. Choose one thing that happened in the book that you did or did not enjoy. Explain what happened in this incident and why you felt as you did about it. (Note: No two people may use the same incident… blog early if you can!)
2. In addition, write a critique of the book as a whole. What did you like about reading it? What didn’t you like? You may slant your opinion toward one side or the other as long as you defend it adequately.
Each of these questions should be answered with a minimum of 100 words apiece. I encourage you to go beyond the minimum, and PROOFREAD YOUR WORK BEFORE POSTING.
This assignment counts as 50 points of your 1st quarter Book Report and must be posted by no later than midnight Sunday, October 26.
ONCE YOU HAVE COMPLETED THIS ASSIGNMENT, YOUR 1ST QUARTER BOOK REPORT IS FINISHED!!! YOU MAY THEN TURN IN YOUR LORD OF THE FLIES BOOK AND RELAX!
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During their tribal dance, the young boys committed a terrible crime. They ate Simon. He didn't deserve it, though he expected death to come upon him during his time spent stranded on the island. I feel that it was a terrible mistake, and a huge wrongdoing. Simon had great news of there being no monster that resided deep in the woods. They killed an innocent friend because of something that was nonexistent. After the incident, they either pretended nothing happened, claimed it was for the better, or said they were too caught up in the moment to comprehend what was really taking place. In my opinion, Simon was a smart, good-hearted boy, with much in store for him during his life. I don't understand how any of the children could live with themselves knowing they killed a boy who longed for survival and success.
The Lord of the Flies was an overall average book in terms of enjoyment. I did not find it to be exciting, but rather dull. As humans, we have many different likings and prefer certain types of literature, and this was not one of mine. I tend to read books that contain plots that pertain to my lifestyle, and Lord of the Flies did not appropriately fit that description. Although, I did feel that the message prevailed and the lesson taught was excellent. It made me understand how important and valuable my life is. It also helped me comprehend the difficulties of survival. Now I realize to be thankful for what I have and where I am, because the situation the young boys were placed in is something I hope to never experience.
Lord of the Flies is an interesting book. I must say not one of my favorites, nor would I recommend it to anyone. I think one part in the story that I actually enjoyed was the very first chapter when the island was being described. It was very detailed with beautiful wording and descriptions. I have selected an example from the story that adequately describes what im trying to get at. “He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.”. I just enjoy reading well planned out books that describe the setting enough to you so that you get a feeling for where you are. Throughout the book the descriptions are still fluent, but too many describing qualities and I can honestly say it gets extremely redundant and boring. I believe I enjoyed chapter one so much more then any of the other chapters is because it was interesting and beautifully written. The boys are all friendly, and lost. They each share a lot of the same qualities that are soon, by Chapter 3 thrown away as time wears on them. It’s just so much more appealing to read about British boys who don’t cause trouble, then British boys who kill each other.
I think out of a five I would rate this book a two. It was really dreary and boring as I had said before. It just was dragged out far too long and the climax’s; ex: First Landing, Jack killing the sow, Simon getting killed, and the death of Piggy, were way to far apart. I would read and be interested as soon as the climax came, but it was a long time before something else happened that peaked any little interest that I had anymore. I will say that as it neared the end I regained slight interest in reading and finding out what happened. Overall the book is good if you are into that kind of stuff. I think a huge deterrent was a lot of the details on the killings, and savage things. It was a tad graphic, other then that I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a thick plot with double meanings, symbolism and savage little boys.
“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is a novel that focuses too much on the negative aspects of human nature, leadership and people’s responsibilities toward each other. One incident that illustrates Golding’s negative views of humanity is the separation of the tribes that begins before Simon’s death but worsens considerably after he is killed. When Jack kills the pig, he and Ralph have different opinions on what is best for the group in general. This disagreement stretches Jack to a breaking point, where he can no longer handle not being in charge. When Simon, the most peaceful of all of the boys, hallucinates that he is talking to the Lord of the Flies, the reader sees the complete loss of peaceful civilization. The author seems to suggest that all humans are tempted by evil and that nearly all humans will eventually give in to that evil. While I can understand that all people are tempted by evil, Golding shows an entire group of supposedly civilized school boys who fall apart not long after they are stranded. When the hunters break from Ralph, Piggy and Samneric, it shows there is no idea of “peace” left in any of the boys.
To me, the novel sends a message that is in no way uplifting. All humans, according to Golding, are condemned to fall into evil. He suggests that all humans are uncivilized. While it is true that the world is full of people who do not care about others, and horrible things do happen on a daily basis, the author misses the point that humans do have free will and choices: choices that can lead them to care about others, help each other and not cause as much harm as good. Unfortunately, people will die today of starvation or malnutrition or as the result of a bomb set off somewhere. In that way, the author is right. On the other hand, I do see examples every day of people who try to make the world a better place. In our community, despite the fact that there are people living in the woods, there are others who try to help them by providing food, propane, water and blankets. What I find frustrating about the novel is that everyone falls apart, and no one by the end is civilized. In the real world, some people resist evil and are not completely self-serving.
Though Golding’s book “The Lord of the Flies” paints many horrid, discusting pictures, there is one particular scene that contradicts all the others. This scene, which in my opinion is the best of the book, is when Simon leaves the pack to escape to his bower. In this scene, we as the reader are shown that there is beauty in bad situations, but you can see it only if you choose too. When Golding describes the setting of the sun, followed by the opening of the beautiful candlebuds, Simon’s appreciation of nature is shown. This occurance in the book made the importance of Simon’s character obvious to me as a reader. When I realized that Simon would be the peacemaker on the island, he became my favortie character in the entire book. I hoped he would somehow become the leader, keeping all peace and happiness on the island. Unfortunately, this was not able to happen.
The Lord of the Flies as a whole, in my opinion, was not that great of a book, and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone under the age of thirteen to read. Though parts, such as when Simon escaped to his bower, really caught my interest, the majority of the book was a chore to read. It was a difficult book to concentrate on, and a good portion of the vocabulary was too advanced for me to comprehend without a dictionary in hand. I was not fond of all the killing and fighting. Some descriptions of the deaths were enough to make me sick. The chapters all started out well, but were very long and always lost me somewhere in the middle.I’m sorry to say that I did not enjoy it, but I do believe there was potential in the plot.
The Lord of the Flies really made me think about what I would do if I were stranded on an island of girls, and I find that quite comical. Sadly enough, I think I would turn into a savage like the rest of the characters. This book kept all of us guessing, and left some brutal images in our heads. This definitely was a good book to start off the year with, it was interesting and had a lot of vivid details. Maybe I'm just a positive thinker, but I think the people above me are being a little harsh! I didn't think it was dull at all, if anything it was the exact opposite! I really enjoyed this page-turner, and can't wait to read more books like it now!
To me, the death of Piggy was what made the book. When short, fat, chubby, geeky Piggy gets killed by that huge rock/boulder, it turns the book to the evil side. This act is a symbol of no more civilization or adult-like figures left on this island, poor Piggy. Throughout this novel, Piggy is the only one that attempts to talk some sense into the rest of the British schoolboys. This is another example that made the book special, the fact Golding made British Schoolboys as his characters. You would expect them to be prim and proper, and we all know that this is far from the truth. Overall, this book was adventurous and quite intreeging. It makes me want to go on an adventure!
I honestly don't pick up a lot of books, but this was probably one of the worst books possibly written. The boys did not at all show one ounce of maturity. Like, when the boys couldn't give Piggy his share of meat because he didn't hunt for it. When the word ‘survival’ and the situation their in comes to my mind, I think about equality. Sure, no one really liked Piggy's presence on the island, but in this case, chomping on a big piece of protein is a good feature in survival. It showed that he was at the bottom of the group, and he was treated unfairly. But, because, he didn't help kill the boar, he doesn't deserve to eat. Yes, he might of not of contributed physically, but the mental aspect was sure there. He thought of the idea of the sundial which was truely brilliant. I thought that he wasn't treated equally. I was truely fond of Piggy, and he shouldn't of gone as he did by the immature way, all because he wanted his glasses back.
Well, since hate it is a strong word, I'm going to say that I extremely disliked this book. William Golding featured a lot of immaturity and a lot of disgusting scenes in this book. Some of what was described was very disturbing to even read. If some one asks me if they should read this book, I'm going to straight out say 'no'. It features a lot of immaturity and disturbing scenes, which wanted to make me put the book down as these were mentioned. I personally think that this book is not suitable for young ones. So, as a whole, I really didn't enjoy it. The scenes didn't catch my attention as most books do, and that's why I'm never going to pick up this book again. Sorry if I come on as hard, but this is supposed to be an honest opinion, and I'm just voicing mine.
The novel, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding illustrates how humans are put under unlikely and terrifying circumstances in order to learn more about themselves, society, and human relationships. I thought that the contrast Golding used (British schoolboys) was clever and made the story more challenging to comprehend. However, I did not enjoy reading parts that were graphic and depressing, which became more redundant as the savagery became worse. The most prominant example I can think of that describes the book is when Jack decides to make his own tribe, instead of staying with Ralph and the others. I wasn't surprised that it happened considering Jack is pompous and is always trying to steal the attention away from Ralph, but the fact that he followed through with his plan to be the leader, shocked me considering they needed to work together in order to survive. This just goes to show that Golding created strong personalities that can't work together, even though the characters are stranded on an island.
In my opinion, I didn't hate the book, but I didn't love it either. I learned to love a lot of the characters, while others I didn't like. Golding's concept and plot was very creative and I didn't expect all of the vivid sensory images. Throughout the entire book, I felt as if I was there with Ralph and the others. Another thing that I loved and hated at the same time was the abundance of symbolism in almost every chapter. I'd find myself trying to understand and figure out all of the symbolism and if and when I finally did, I respected Golding once again for his creativity. I suppose the only thing I didn't enjoy about this book was the gore and redundance. The killing of the pigs and Simon/Piggy was disturbing because I don't enjoy reading about death/murder. Also, the killings and disobediance of the boys occurred too frequently, even though that was the main objective of the story. I'm not entirely sure if the author truly thought people in general were evil, or if he wanted to experiment with different personalities that were put together for a massive contrast. Either way, I only see some of the characters in the book as savages, even though there are some that are truly kind. I'd reccomend this novel to anyone who loves a twisted storyline, disputing characters, and a deep connection between the society we think we live in compared to the society we do live in.
One particular question that Ralph asked Jack in chapter seven struck a chord with me. Ralph asks Jack where the pig-run leads so that he can attempt to formulate some sort of plan to find and kill the beast. Jack sneers at Ralph and says that he already told him that the path led to the mountain. He condescends upon Ralph, saying “Don’t you want to go to the mountain?” In response, Ralph asks, “Why do you hate me?” the question that struck a chord with me. I liked this moment (although I felt bad for Ralph) because it made the story more realistic (and a bit tender) by adding a moment where Ralph was truly hurt. Ralph’s asking Jack why he hates him shows that Ralph, like everyone, needs to be needed. For much of the story, this longing to be needed was masked by the boys, however, when Ralph asks Jack why he hates him, his feeling of being wanted is shoved into the spotlight. When Jack does not respond to Ralph’s question, Ralph realizes that what Piggy said earlier in the story is completely true: Jack hates Ralph, but he respects him as well, and will not hurt him. This makes Ralph upset, because he knows that he did nothing to Jack, and Jack hates him nonetheless. I know, from having been in Ralph’s shoes before, that Jack hated Ralph because he was jealous of Ralph, jealous of the authority that Ralph got at the beginning of the story without having to assume the position, and that hurt Ralph. This moment in the story also showed that the boys recognized their dysfunctional relationship. This is very important because the conflict escalates further as the story continues.
In discussing my opinion of The Lord of the Flies, I will use the “Oreo-cookie-method,” (start with good, throw the bad in the middle, and end with the good). That way, we start and end on a good note. This story made me think. In that regard, I enjoyed the book, because it made me ask myself questions about my own life. As I read the story, I asked myself which characters I could identify with, what similarities I had with each character, and which characters I would like to have the most similarities with. The story would be wonderful for psychology students to read, because so much of it has to do with the human mind (Simon’s hallucination with the “Lord of the Flies”) and human feelings (jealousy and greed) that take over the weaker people who let themselves be misguided by that little bit of evil in us (called “Beelzebub”). As illustrated in the story, people become more savage-like without authority, and I think this would be an interesting concept to further analyze using psychological techniques. At times the book dragged a little bit, and it is not the type of book that I would normally read because it is very negative (focusing on Beelzebub), and I am more of the positive thinker. However, I did not mind reading this book, because every once in a while, I like a bit of variety in my reading. The symbolism in the story was very detailed and well thought-out, and I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that the story was written in a sort of “symbolism code” for the reader to decipher. I am impressed with the way Golding wrote the book and thought every last detail out. His attention to detail is what made me want to continue my reading.
First off, I enjoy reading. It's actually one of my pass-times, but "Lord of the Flies" is definately a book I will never read again. Though, I will say most parts just seemed inhuman, and not funny at all, one I found particularly ironic- which was the ending. The ending was the only part I throughally enjoyed. It made me see what some people would do just to stay alive, or just to hurt the only sane people around. Ralph ran, then hid, ran, then hid. He wasn't going to die. But when the boys lit the island on fire to kill him, I found that just crazy. Truth is, people would actually do that. But instead of Ralph being dead in the end, the boys were all saved. I think no matter who you are, everyone loves a little bit or irony in a story.
This book told the stories of what it was like living in that time era. While the world was at war, the boys were in a war of their own. They were at war with each other, with nature, and most of all themselves. You had to have determination to be alive. Golding tells the reader whats going through the boys minds at different parts of the story, in different depths. Some of the character's you can relate to like Ralph, or Simon or even Jack. This book make you gain respect for the characters, even Jack and Roger in a way. Althought, both the "bad" guys, you've got to give them a bit of credit for surviving. Although they killed a couple innocent individuals, its what people do to stay alive. I've gained the most respect for Ralph, he didn't let anything get to his head. Good, or bad. He seemed to remain the same old Ralph since the beginning. Lord of the Flies puts you in someone elses shoes for a bit. You see the world through someone elses eyes for a change, which people like myself enjoy.
No children deserve to be driven to a horrible fate such as the children in Lord of the Flies were. No matter how big or small, young or old, or good or evil a child may be, he will never deserve to be stranded on an island faced with the many horrors of dealing with life lacking adult protection. One particular occurrence in the book that struck my heart with sadness and sympathy for the innocence of the island was when Roger sat mindlessly throwing rocks at the littl'uns. Of course there will always be bullies in the lives of children when they are young, but they will always have some adult figure in their lives to protect and look after them; whether it is a parent, teacher, or family member. In this case, these children had nobody there to protect or defend them when a bully, like Roger, came along. Although Roger purposely intended to aim to miss hitting the littl'uns with the rocks he threw, he still had the idea in his mind to hurt them. Without the protection and discipline of adults or authority figures in the lives of children, they are set to run wild and do as they please, with no care in the world who they are affecting. Small children, such as the littl'uns, need the protection and guidance of adults the most to be kept out of harm's way from the evils of the world (such as Roger). In reality, children and adults can have sick minds. They can be influenced and overpowered by evil, driving them to commit hurtful acts toward the innocence that surrounds them. As a whole, Roger is the most evil character of all the boys. Though most may view Jack or even the Lord of the Flies as the evil figure, Roger has the cold heart of pure evil that overpasses the rest. Roger had been evil from the start and we see it continue throughout the whole book to the point where he shoves his way past Jack, only managing to edge him aside in chapter eleven. Roger's act of heartlessness in chapter four where he throws stones at the littl'uns shows enough of his complete lack of innocence. Disturbances like Roger are exactly where adult figures play a crucial role in the protection of children, which was lacking throughout the book. Although it was the fault of no one that the accident occurred, it still shows the vileness of the book and the fact that there are children who face terrors everyday all over the world.
Overall, I thought Lord of the Flies was an alright book, I suppose. It took me quite a while to get into it, and I definitely struggled through the beginning. There were times when I had to force myself to continue reading. I think that the constant mysteries and figuring out symbolism gave me much difficulty, which led me to have a hard time with this book. Naturally, my comprehension of difficult things, such as the puzzles of this book, is slightly poor. I don't fully grasp is exactly what is happening the first few times I read things, which causes me to have to read harder, and eventually frustrates me. I'd recommend this book to someone like my friend * who enjoys reading very much and gets very into the stories that she reads. (Names will not be revealed) This book is great for someone who likes to read in depth and get very into details of a book. For a friend like my friend **, who rather would read a simple high school drama type story, or even myself, I would not recommend this book to because it is very detailed and in depth. There are many mysteries and confusions to figure out in Lord of the Flies, and when I read, I like to just be able to enjoy the straight-forward story without having to become confused or frustrated. All in all, this book confused me very much and also frustrated me to a great extent because of its many mysteries and advanced aspects. Because reading isn't exactly my favorite thing to do, books that frustrate me bring me no pleasure in picking up to read. Although I was not a fan of Lord of the Flies, I will give Golding sincere credit for doing and outstanding job on this book as far as the maturity and sophistication of it. I'm sure it will thrill many intense readers who experience it as they progress through high school or simply read it for entertainment.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, was a book unlike one I have ever read. I will say that I never would want to read this book, or any book similar to it, again. It focuses on the inhumane aspect of life while terrorizing the caring quality of people. The only part of the book I didn’t see these attributes in was the beginning. The first meeting of the British schoolboys was probably one of my favorite parts. All the boys gathered together and decided on how they could help each other survive. No one was being selfish, and everyone offered to give a part of themselves so they could live on their own until they were helped and rescued. Even Jack, the most uncivilized and evil boy in the book, offered his choir to take care of the rescue fire and do all the hunting. Ralph acknowledged this, and Jack and him created a kind of close bond through this.
I would not recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of reading it. It rates a 1 out of 5 on my scale. It is not a book I would usually ever read, but still, even if it was, I think this novel was a little too horrid. It contains too many negative aspects of nature, unpleasant and offensive scenes, and the overall uncivilized manner that can become of children stranded on a deserted island. Also, this novel is a little bit dull. I got bored of it after the first three chapters. The author makes it extremely confusing, and I couldn’t understand half of what I was reading. Not only is it not understandable, it also doesn’t have me remembering what I have read. Overall, Lord of the Flies is a novel that I did not enjoy reading.
Now I understand that being stranded on an island there is a limited food supply, but honestly the killing of the pigs in the book were hard to read. As most of the people in class know, I'm very sympathetic towards animals. When the killings are described in bloody and gorey details it does not make me a happy camper to hear of pigs being brutally slaughtered. For example, when I was reading chapter eight, it was quite a depressing suprise to read about how the boys are spearing this poor sow and chasing after her in the woods with her blood spilling everywhere. When she falls, the boys stab her to death and Jack jumps on top of her and slits her throat. That was the most disgusting and horrid thing I have ever had the displeasure to read. I think of every animal as I would my own dog, so when I hear about a pig being slain to death in an inhumane way, it hits me the same way it would if my dog was in the same position as that pig.
As for the book, I must say I got bored reading it. It was hard to understand unless someone went over it with me and explained everything and why whatever it is happened. It also wasn't a topic I was interested in. British boys running around an island killing little piglets is not my type of story. I know most people would say "Well you have to eat to survive, and the littleuns had a hard time eating just fruit", but I still didn't like how the pigs were killed reguardless. Shoving a spear in its butt is just a humiliating and slow death that I highly doubt anyone would want to go through, be it animal or person. It sickened me that the boys enjoyed killing pigs and laughed while they did it, that just shows me that they're savage murderers. All in all, I wouldn't read Lord of the Flies again or recomment it to anyone that wanted to read it.
Ralph was probably the most civilized person on the island. The way he thought of the conch shell, and when to speak showed great leadership. All he wanted to do was to have order on the island. He looked out for each kid, and not just himself. The way they turned on Ralph for Jack was astonishing. Piggy was the only person loyal to Ralph. Reading this book put so many images in my head, that I don't even think counseling could get rid of. I can't even fathom how horrid the visuals were put into my head. I imagined each character as one of my own personal friends which made it even worse.
As for the book as a whole, I could promise you that I will not read this book again, ever. It was the most disgusting book I have ever read. I have read books about rape that were not as grusome as this. My dad has read almost all of the books I have had to read in school, and when I told him that our class was reading "Lord of the Flies," he told me how much he liked this book. That made me realize how wrong I was for believing it. I did not once get interested in this book. To be honest, it made me fall asleep when i was reading it at night. It was boring and unentertaining to the highest degree. I am so glad that I will not have to read this story ever again.
Personally, I didn't like Lord Of The Flies nor didn't hate it. To me it was just hard to read and understand because the symbolism used. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone thats not in high school yet. I wouldn't think they would understand it as well as older students would. I also don't think they would understand the reason why boys are acting the way they are on the island. Like for example, the reason why the boys are killing innocent people.
One thing that I did enjoy about
the book was the irony throughout it expectly towards the end. At the end, Jack and his followers decide to light the whole island on fire just to drive out Ralph. The fire is unintentionally seen by a British ship. As Ralph is running, he sees the British officer on shore. The fire that was suppose to kill Ralph ,actually saves the remaining boys lives. Another thing I liked was that you wouldn't expect what was going to happen next. I would of never thought the boys were going to be rescued at the end but thought they were all going to die.
I am writing about the firts hunt of the pig right now, so no one write about it!
Eng2nick08 says
Lords of the Flies by William Golding was definitely an interesting book, and caught my attention in many ways. There were many things that I liked and disliked about this book, and one thing that I disliked was the death of Piggy. Piggy, although nerdy and fat, he was the closest thing to an adult on the island. Piggy was the deepest thinker of all of the boys on the island, and he was really there strongest link. When Piggy was killed my heart dropped, it made me realize how evil, and cruel Roger really was. The description that Golding gives of Piggy's death is so vivid that you feel like you saw it first hand. The boulder coming down the hill, and hitting piggy sending him off the cliff onto the rocks below, and his head splitting open was such a horrible way to die for such a good person. His death was extremely symbolic in the fact that the boys had become so savage to kill one of the smartest kids on the island, and that they only thought the physically strongest should survive.
As I mentioned before Lord of the Flies was a very interesting book, and it was very different then books I have read before. It was definitely not one of my favorite books that I have read, but it was still pretty good. I would recommend someone to read this book because of the lessons it teaches about humanity. In this book I liked how it should how people even young boys can become so savagely, and evil. After the boys were stranded on the island for long enough they started to become more and more detached from civilized society. This shows through clearly in their daily routines, and actions; starting first when they killed the pig. I however didn't like how the boys lost control of order on the island, and they eventually split up, and began killing each other. Altogether lord of the Flies was a pretty good story that was enjoyed at times, and not enjoyed at other times.
As the hunters chase Ralph through the island, Ralph realizes he has only three options of survival. He could climb a tree, avoiding the search of the savages. He can seek refuge in a cave, again avoiding the search of the savages. He could hide in the grass, planning an ambush on the first savage to cross his path. In this moment, as Ralph ponders his choices, he is in a primal state of mind. Much like a cornered animal, the only thoughts that cross his mind are those of survival. This point in the book stood out to me as where all humanity is truly gone from the island. I enjoyed reading this point in the book as it reminded me of the downward spiral that has been running since Ralph first stepped out from the wreckage. To see the champion of order so much like a simple animal, running from the hunters, was a defining point in the book.
While reading LOTF, I found myself confused by the symbolism to the point where I would be reading the same four lines of page five or six times over. Because of this, I understood most of the book and can honestly say I did not miss much. This book was very complicated, but Goulding does a tremendous job exploring what it really means to be a human being. He shows us how fragile our happy little world is. The majority of the excitement of this book comes from the thoughts and changing attitudes of the characters, and so I was pleasantly surprised when I actually found myself excited to be reading the thoughts of a pre-teenage boy. This book impressed me enough to ask myself where Goulding would go to find a sequel, which I would surely read.
In “The Lord of the Flies,” after reading the entire book, I was somewhat comical when I thought about the characters’ first encounter with the pig in the forest. It was almost sad to think about how Jack went from a compassionate and kind person to an almost purely evil being. This scene is a very hopeful part of the book. It gives you the hope that the boys will stay civil, but as the book goes on, you start to figure out that it is only going downhill from there. This scene is very important because it lets you know that Jack was at some point a civilized human being, and that he was not always evil.
I enjoyed reading this book very much. I would recommend this book to anyone my age or older. It is a fantastic book with great depth. It is a book that is much deeper than what is just written in the text, and that is what makes this book a true classic. The use of symbolization in this book is incredibly deep and used perfectly. William Golding is a spectacular writer and I would have no problem reading any other books that she wrote after reading Lord of the Flies. I personally thing that this is one of the most well written books that I will ever read and that you would be a fool not to pick this book up and read it.
An incident in the book that I liked was when the parachutist landed on the island. I liked this part because it showed the boys on the island and the readers that even the rest of the world was at war just like the boys. It also showed how humanity is basically always fighting about something no matter what the age is. In war off the island there was a war going on which was involved with adults. On the other hand...the young boys, starting with the age of six, were also in a type of war with the other boys. This is an example of how no matter what, there is going to be a problem with something no matter what the age.
I did like the book for a one reason. It had many twists and turns. That is what makes a book good to me. It keeps you interested and makes you want to keep reading the book. That is what keeps me reading a book at least. Also, this book showed leadership between the kids and showed who of the kids on the island would still be civilzed with no parents, no government, no laws, and no home. The kids did not stay civilized at the end of the book and killed off some of the boys which was pointless and disturbing.
Although I did enjoy Lord of the Flies, the part of this book that I found to be the most shocking was without a doubt the grotesque death of Simon. I can’t say that I enjoyed this moment, but I can’t say I didn’t either because his death added tremendously to the fear and the utter savagery that any human being may resort to in such desperate times, which added to the suspense and made me want to continue reading. It’s not hard to believe how far people will go to stay alive when in such situations as the boys from the story are, but the fact that they go to such extremes as reverting to cannibalism was shocking to me. This moment also put into perspective truly how much evil is deep within us. I also found it somewhat strange and disturbing that a character such as Simon’s would be the one to die in such an evil and heinous way. Simon was perceived to be a god-like character, which ultimately added to the feeling of the destruction of society on the island.
I enjoyed this book throughout. It was a very interesting story and unlike anything I have read before. I would most likely recommend this book to high school kids rather than anyone younger than that. Even though there were many points in the story where I felt lost in what was going on, I enjoyed following the story and how the boys dealt with there impending decay of morale. Since this book is so highly acclaimed, I found it surprising that I had never heard of this book until we began reading it in class. William Golding is a fantastic writer and this book would be highly enjoyable to anyone who enjoys this type of story and genre.
At the very end of the story,LOTF, the rescue on the beach of the boys by the British officer and his ship is a very compelling summary of all that has happened in the book. When Ralph first sees the officer, he does not see his face, but the uniform of yet another "tribe". As the littluns come out onto the beach, the officer assumes, however wrongly, the boys were just having fun and games. This is the sort of fun that the Lord of the Flies told Simon would occur on the island. When the officer asks who is in charge, Ralph loudly states that he is. Jack starts to come forward, then changes his mind and stands still. This one act on Jack's part shows that he knew deep down, that Ralph was the real leader of the group of boys and all their fighting, and the attempted killing of Ralph would not allow him to claim leadership on the island.
I didn't really like reading this book. William Golding was very graphic in the parts of the book that involved killing, whether it be the killing of the pigs, or the killings of the two boys. I didn't like to read such detail. I also had to read some of the parts a couple of times to understand what Golding was trying to say. There was a lot of symbolism in this book, I'm sure I still haven't figured it all out. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who just wanted a book to read for fun. It is not for young readers either, it is too gory in parts. This book is for someone who likes figuring out plot lines and deciphering symbolism.
Eng2dylan08 writes...
Fire, is what drove the band of British School, stranded on what should of a paradise of an island, into total chaos and uncontrollable destruction. The fire had 2 in purposes Lord of the Flies at first it served as a beacon of hope for the boys sending up a smoke signal that would eventually get then rescued but this hope quickly fainted. When Jack let the fire go and Ralph saw a ship within range of their smoke signal the fire went from a beacon of hope, to cooking the pigs that Jack had slain. It was the burning evil inside of all of the boys. This finally shows through when Jack and his tribe attack Ralph’s tribe for the sole purpose of robbing them of fire. Jack’s tribe ambushes Ralph’s huts on the beach in the middle of the night while all the boys are sleeping. They begin to wrestle and fight in the huts and the huts eventually collapse on the boys. Jack steals the glasses from Piggy’s face and ran off with them. This bothered me a lot because Ralph’s tribe had been kind and given fire to Jack, yet Jack still goes and take the glasses anyways. I don’t see why Jack couldn’t have just gone during the day the brought back fire peacefully. It shows the extreme evil burning inside of Jack and Roger that they must be in control of everything.
Lord of the Flies is truly a great book; it teaches great lessons, has an awesome plot and has a very deep theme that makes you think. In my opinion I didn’t exactly loved it, but it was a very good book it was jammed with suspense, on almost every page. It was really hard to put down and I hated to stop reading in the middle of a chapter because I was constantly wondering what was next. Then at the same it was very sad and at some points I didn’t want to read any more especially when Simon was killed. While I was reading this book I was defiantly thinking more than I was while reading anything else. There was so much underlying theme and symbolism thought out the whole novel. Beelzebub was an intricate part of the plot and theme, it was incredible the amount of evil that emerged throughout the story inside some of the British Schoolboys. This is very ironic though because no one would ever imagine boys like Jack, or Roger who were once so bound to the rule of society, would become so evil and power hungry. The biggest question that was raised in my mind was what would I do and what would become of me if I were ever placed in this situation. Would I become the evil, power hungry and destructive Jack, or would I be the peaceful, strong, logical leader Ralph, who for the good of everyone? This book would defiantly not be on the top of my list for recommendation because it was so sad and very negatively geared. Although the constant suspense and longing for what was around the next corner, kept me so interested in Lord of the Flies.
"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding was, in my opinion, difficult to get into. I'm an avid reader and can usually get into books quite easily but this particular novel was hard to get into and enjoy. I greatly disliked the savage killings described as it disturbed me. The one thing that I did enjoy about the book is how William Golding used a great spectrum of characteristics in the characters in the story. Characters like Ralph and Piggy were made like polar opposites to Jack and Roger. It was also nice to be able to be reading a novel and find someone in my personal life that reminds me of that person. I think that everyone had the ability to do that, even though someone did name my cousin and I do disagree with what that person said but everyone is entitled to their personal opinions. I would not recommend this book to another person as it is very confusing at times.
Mt absolute favorite part of this book is when Piggy stands up to Jack's tribe in chapter eleven. I thought that it was great that shy, meak, little Piggy was going against the bully known as Jack. When Piggy stood up for himself, it was like William Golding was implying that even if it is your final action in life you should never go down without a fight. Piggy's confrontation to Jack and his tribe was in fact Piggy's final action but was in deed a bold action and one that was definently, in my eyes, Piggy's finest moments. Piggy had argued that it was better to be sensible and be in the world of reality like Ralph was then to live in a world of fantasy like Jack and his tribe were doing but acting like savages. Piggy's final moments and his last stand off with Jack was by far the best part of the novel, "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding in my opinion.
Mrs. Morrison this is Danielle from your period 7 English 2 Honors class. My blogger name is temporarily blocked.
Wow, I can't believe it is finally over. "Lord of the Flies" has been one the craziest most interesting stories i have ever read. One thing I would say that displeased me the most was, when Ralph had given into the hunters ways and threw a spear at the boar. It was mainly dissapointing towards me because I thought he would be the one that would stay human and not become a savage the whole time. Besides Simon of course, I thought Ralph would not give into their ways and stay strong. Despite the fact he barely participated in their savage ways, the two slip ups he had scarred me for the rest of the novel.
Since you are you asking for my opinion about the story I will give you the honest opinion about it. It began as a priority for me to read this book and it soon became a want to read this book. "Lord of the Flies" had kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. From the first meaning to the final hunt of Ralph I was guessing wrong the entire time and was wondering what would happen next. It was a nail biter. I would recommend this book to others for many reasons. It has a sense of humor that could appeal to a lot of people. It also has action in the story that is good for people my age and above. The amount of action is great. It never let the story get boring right from the start. William Golding wrote a great novel about British school boys stuck on an island. It is like no other. They don't always have a fun happy time or get along in the best way. Throughout the story you can never guess if they will get rescued or not. Golding wrote a hit.
It's Cassie... I'm going to talk about Simon's encounter with the Lord of the Flies (the boar head on the stick) so no one take it or I'm telling Mrs. Morrison on you!!
eng2brittany08 says...
One of my least favorite parts in this novel is when the little’un with the birthmark decides to open his big mouth and accuse a “beastie” of living on the island, haunting the boys. I think that this was the single moment that created all the fear and turned the boys into such raving lunatics. Thanks to the little’un with the birthmark, now everyone on the island is terrified and perplexed which leads to the killing of the sow which will cause the brutal death of Simon and the death of Piggy and the near death of Ralph. I really just wanted to reach in and strangle the kid. He started so much trouble and opened up a rather large can of worms just because he was a whiny intimidated little boy. It was a big mistake on his part and now everyone on the island was forced to suffer the consequences.
This novel known as Lord of the Flies is a grotesque book about English school boys living on an island after their plane crashes during an English war. The child who immediately takes to being chief is Ralph. He brings everyone together to talk about their situation using a conch found by Ralph’s right hand man, Piggy. However, there is a burning desire inside another boy named Jack to hold all the power and that desire is eventually satisfied throughout the novel. Anyway, Ralph begins to give out tasks and jobs to each group of boys. Some of these boys become tired of being told what to do and feel that Jack’s way of life, hunting and dancing, is more pleasing. In time, two groups form on the island, Jack’s and Ralph’s. Seeing as Jack’s group is much larger and potentially dangerous, Ralph attempts to rectify things with Jack. But the boys get carried away with the killing of the sow and the tribal dancing that they fail to realize that they have just killed Simon. This only sends the boys into a larger rift. After this, it is Ralph and Piggy against the rest of the island. A boy named Roger then throws a large, hefty boulder down the side of a hill crushing Piggy under a hard ball of doom. Finally, it is Ralph versus the rest and his life is being threatened by Jack and his band of following miscreants. They chase Ralph through the island until Ralph is stopped by a naval officer who recognized his smoke signal. At last, the boys are saved, but perhaps they will never be saved from the savages they’ve become. My opinion of this book is an overall good opinion. I liked the irony in that even today in the business world, men are savages in a different way similar to the expression, and “It’s a dog-eat-dog world.” Well in the novel it was a “boy-eat-Simon world” literally. I also liked how no matter what happened in the novel, Ralph remained the good force. I enjoyed as well how Simon’s death sort of symbolized the death of Jesus. It kind of reminds me that there may be holy forces among us today.
October 20, 2008 4:29 PM
eng2Cassie08 says...
Christ-like figure versuses Anti-Christ figure. Simon's encounter with the Lord of the Flies is very ironic and extremely intriguing to me. At this point in the story, when Simon confronts with the sow's head, it really makes you look at the big picture here-good v.s. evil. The sow tells Simon he has always known about the evil,and says the evil was part of Simon. I thought this was particularly ironic because we, the readers, view Simon to be Christ-like and don't stop to think whether or not he himself contains evil. When the Lord of the Flies tells Simon about the evil within him, it makes you think about how much evil is actually on this island.(which is a lot.) This encounter adds guilt, and even more hatred and evil to the story. I felt let down when this occurred in the story because, although I didn't think he would be literally ripped apart, I sensed something wrong approaching in the story. When Simon started to feel uneasy, it made me feel uneasy as well.
I did not hate this book, but I especially did not like it either. There were very interesting, suspenseful parts in this story and for that I liked it. As Emily has noted above, I agree that Golding drew this story out for way too long. It was very lucrative with details in the beginning of the story, but as it went on it got extremely boring. The end, I thought, was pretty good. Maybe because it was finally the end of that long, grusome book. Ha! Anyways, I would not at all reccommend this to someone to read, only because it would be torture to sit down and read through it. If I must rate this book on a scale from 1-10...I give it a 3. Not putting the book down or anything, but it was very, very boring.
October 21, 2008 8:33 PM
eng2Rich08 says...
I never enjoyed reading, and after this book I don't ever want to pick up a book again. This absolutely killed the things I actually enjoyed about reading, which was not a lot. Reading through this book left me dazed and confused. I could not understand what was going on as I read, it was like listening to a "Beatles" song. I read about ten pages before I just wanted to put the book down, just as I would listen to a song and the lyrics would frustrate me so I would hit skip, but the problem with this book was that there was no skip button. Also, I did not enjoy how little the book would go into the important details that would help you understand the book and what was going on in it, instead William Golding would just focus on the extremely gory and bloody parts. In all honesty he probably had some kind of trauma in his life that messed him up, leaving him to only think about blood and gore.
I did enjoy though, the very beginning, when Ralph already established his rule just by blowing on the conch. It actually had me excited, because I thought we were in store for a killer, a powerful, mean, no-hearted, dictator. Instead we were left with a weak British boy, who could not even establish order among a younger group of kids. When Ralph was betrayed I was actually quite glad, he really did deserve it. In all honesty, I was hoping he would die too. He didn't do much for the island but give the other members of the island ideas, and he could really never put a firm "no" on anything. This book really needed a true leader, and William Golding couldn’t produce this. Hopefully I will never have to read this book ever again.
October 21, 2008 6:26 PM
"Lord of The Flies" has many important conflicts throughout the story. I believe that one of the most important conflicts is when Ralph and Jack fight on the mountain. The only people on Ralph"s side are Piggy and Samneric. On the other hand Jack has the remaining savages, including Roger who plays a huge role later in the fight. Ralph wants to set things straight and to retrieve Piggy's glasses. Jack and his tribe refuse to listen to Ralph, and they also capture Samneric. As Ralph tries to attack Jack, Roger pushes a large rock down the mountain and sends Piggy falling to his unfortunate death. At this point in the story Ralph is now alone, just like the first day on the island. The only difference is that Jack and his savages are ready to kill Ralph. It is hard to believe that there was once a whole tribe with rules, like a little society, on the island.
This book was not terrible, but I will say that it was a hard book to get into. Things just happen to slow in the book that it was difficult to keep focusing on reading. I am not going to lie there were times in this book where I would rather watch a plant grow than read this book. The only part in "Lord of The Flies" that I did enjoy was when I read the last sentence of the book, because I knew that I never had to read this book again. If you like books about savagery then it is an alright book to read, if not then I suggest you stay away.
The beginning of "Lord of the Flies" was the only part of the book that I had enjoyed. I only liked this specific part because it was when all of the boys are first meeting and are the most sane. At this point, there isn't any tension, rivalry, or back-stabbing (literally) between the boys. Once I started to continue reading through the book, the disturbing and horrid events that occurred made me want to stop right where I was, put the book down and never pick it back up to read the rest of it.
The detail and depth William Golding went into with all of the events bothered me the most. the general thought of what was happening during certain points was enough, but how he went into the specific, gory details was pure disgusting. I also seemed as if those things were the only things Golding went into detail with, and made the rest of the book seem dull and confusing because of the lack of depth in it. I have read many books in my life and this is definitely by far my least favorite. This is a book that I disliked very much and will never read again. (I also suggest that others should not read it if they haven't already).
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