Lord of the Flies : Settings

The setting in the novel that I thought was very memorable was the part when Piggy died and floated away to the ocean. It wasn’t memorable because I like killing people or the ocean, but it was because of the scene that was really odd. From my understanding, the scene had to be a very dreadful, sad, and ruthless. However, William Golding, the author of the novel, had a different idea. The setting was presented very calm, peaceful, and beautifully, and that fact that these two opposite things are presented like this, was just stuck in my head.
William Golding showed these things in many parts in the book such as, the island, the skull of the pig, and the boys themselves. The island was presented very beautifully just like the tropical island in the Caribbean, but what actually happened in there was totally different. The killing and the hunting was going on in the island, actually showing very cruel and ugly stuffs. The skull of the pig was the same. Showed as the “Lord of the Flies”, it was placed in the garden like place which was said to be the most beautiful place in the island. And lastly, the boys, the ones who should have been the most clean and naïve became the ones who are like the total opposite.
Thinking about these settings and scenes, I came with a great conclusion that these are very related to the theme of the book, which is “good vs. bad.” These settings told me that there is no such thing as totally good or totally bad. It actually showed me that where there is good, there is bad; meaning that good and bad is ideas that coexist. Being good or bad means the good/bad inside is bigger or can control the bad/good in you.
Well, these are why this scene of Piggy floating away, was very memorable.

Lord of the Flies : Current Situations

Some extreme examples in the world would be children who deals drugs, or holds gun like AK-47, and goes out to war. These boys do these things, not really knowing what they are actually doing. In other words, they do not know how terrifying killing others is, but they only know the happiness of winning the war. In many rural places, children are treated as a soldier, killing and shooting at the opponent. The lack of rules and education brings this result, eventually leading the kids to a one way road to the cliff. How they act right know is just like the jungles where only power and instinct is the rule, which isn’t true.
William Golding sheds light on these situations and tells us the solution to these problems, which is guidance and rule. Children showed in the novel became wild and violent because of lack of rule and forgetting about the civilized rules. Well, the solution for this problem will be making an educational center where children can learn and have better knowledge of the rules and logic. With knowledge, children will know what is right or wrong, what should be done or undone, helping themselves living in the civilized world.
I wish when people read this novel, they find out what is wrong with the world these days, and help the unhelped, making a better world for not only them, but everyone.

Lord of the Flies : Mood

The mood of this novel definitely is grief and horror. Even though in the beginning the boys enjoy the freedom and has a positive mind towards the fact, as time goes on, the horror and sadness comes in. First, the isolation, then the food, then the beast, and then nothing. Like you can see from the worries they have, the focus becomes shorter, meaning that they get to worry about the things that are more and closer. As the logic goes away, at the same time, grief and horror comes in. I think the author, William Golding did a fascinating job of showing the horror by the “beast” with something so imaginary and unreal, boys show such horror emotion, showing our mental state where we cannot really think that well without someone guiding us.
In the novel, the fearful mood sneakingly approaches to the reader. The word choice becomes more dark and more frightful, such as ‘And there again, shrill and inevitable, was the ululation sweeping across the island.’
Well, I truly feel saddened about this novel anyway, because not only the boys in this novel are in these kind of wild, and unguided situation, but many others in the real world is also. Young drug dealers, little soldiers, and all the children are in these kind of danger, wanting for guidance. It is just so pitiful that these happen in real world, and I now kind of respect this guy, William Golding, for writing such a metaphoric novel that teaches us about an important portion of the world.

Lord of the Flies : Climax

The climax of this novel is (thank you Mrs.Lavender) the part when the boys in the island finally meet the rescue crew. This is right after the scene where Ralph, who lost all his friends, was being chased by Jack’s group who wanted him to be dead. While the chasing, Ralph ran to the beach, where the captain was standing, watching the boys running towards him. When everyone saw this captain, with many emotions going through, all of them starts to cry. This is both the climax, falling action, and the resolution. What I have seen from this scene is how human can show their “human nature” in a condition where there are no restrictions of rules. This novel showed literally “boys have gone wild” in the island just in a short period, even making them to murder someone else without any guiltiness.
This climax brings me both odd, but also familiar feeling. The odd feeling comes from the thought ‘will that really happen when you get lost in an deserted island?’ or like ‘that wouldn’t be the case. How can boys in that age be like that, killing their own friend, forgetting where they were a few month ago?’ I really didn’t think that this would happen, but the familiar feeling came persuading me about what happens or what would happen when teenagers of my age come together in a house with no restriction, full of anything we wanted. It will be wild just like the boys in the jungle, the only difference being the existence of technology. The book gave me a little idea about the humanity that we all have inside us, and the result that will occur when there will be no rules. Writing this answer, I figured out the importance of rules and the reason why we, as a teenager who can’t control our self that much, have rules to obey.

Lord of the Flies : Main Characters

There are many main characters in this novel. They are Jack, Ralph, Piggy, Sam & Erick, and Simon. There were some other characters in the story but I didn’t think they were really main characters, so I’ll just be skimming over them. Well first with Jack, he is very strong and stubborn. He wants the place of the leader, and he gains it. He was also the first one to become “evil” to move out the group of kids in from the crew that they first had. The next character is Ralph. He is the one who became the leader in the beginning. He is also the one who isn’t strong, but who is smart and has warm heart. Ralph looks at the situations more logically knowing what to do, but because lack of power, not many kids follows his lead. Piggy is a very smart kid, but because of asthma and his fat appearance he is not respected by others. Sam & Erick are two kids who are brothers. They follows Ralph, until they becomes tortured by Jack and his group. The novel doesn’t really show that much about them, but I’m assuming that they are weak, easily manipulated by their relationship. Lastly, Simon is the kind one. He most of the time thinks about everybody else, but eventually dies by the people who he tried to save, and gave love to. It is such an irony.
So throughout these characters, my favorite I think is Jack, the one who looks at the circumstance logically. Even though he lost power in the end, but I really liked about his friendship with others, and the humanness that he showed by trying to revenge for his friend, Piggy.
All of these main characters are special in the way that they show parts of humanity in them, rather it is good or bad. Jack, the strong and leading one, shows the human nature, the desire of power. He showed how much he wanted the leadership of the group and then again, shows the desire by going out of the group with all his followers, and becoming the leader in another place. Ralph shows the leadership that human has and the last logical thought human has in them. Even though everyone else becomes wild and turns to their natural instinct instead of their head, Ralph thinks logical and tries to turn the problem right. But because of lack of power and people, he becomes lonely. Lonliness weakens Ralph and eventually makes him to run away from others not knowing the reason why. Piggy shows the reaction of human when we are in such a situation where everything is so different. We all start to panic and worry about everything, just like Piggy did. Sam & Erik also show the weakness of humans. Even though they stayed with Ralph until the end, with the peer pressure and torture, they went into Jack’s group. Lastly, Simon shows the better part of humanity, which is friendship. He worries about his friends all the time, and tries to relive others from the scariness toward the mysterious creature.

Lord of the Flies : Major Theme

The major theme of this novel shows how people can change only by not having the restrictions that they had till now. Basically, it is the human instinct verses logical thinking. This might sound weird, but what I am trying to say is about something like evil verses good. From the title, “Lord of the Flies” it implies the evilness that derives through the novel. This novel is closely related to evil, where it shows the characteristics of allurement of breaking the laws or more like not trying to have a law. Boys in this novel show the change from the obedient, peaceful students to the barbaric wild Tarzans who are more violent and dangerous. The best example is Jack. Him becoming the leader and chief of the Castle Rock, he shows the cruelty and violence by killing piggy and chasing after Ralph. Law is now nothing but a scribble in a piece of paper, and instinct is the only thing left for him to make a choice. In the other hand, there is Ralph, the one being chased, who actually is the logical thinker who has thoughts and ideas for the future not only based on his demon like instinct. By William Golding showing us Ralph running away from Jack’s group, I think he is trying to say that instinct is what most of us become like in a law-less place, and for him showing the appearance of the captain and the sobbing of the boys, telling us that how much civilization is important to us.
This theme is important to teenager living in 2008, because these actions of Jack to follow the instinct not thinking, shows our careless mistakes and accidents that we make not thinking of the consequence, such as doing drugs, drinking, smoking, and robbing. This novel shows our actions towards the society, how stupid and wild we are. Knowing this theme, I believe teenagers should figure out what they are actually doing, and how that is reflected to others and themselves.