Reading and Writing Skills for
Students of Literature in English:
Postwar; Postmodern; Postcolonial
Enric Monforte
Jacqueline Hurtley
Bill Phillips
William Golding, Lord of the Flies (1954)
http://www.thedctraveler.com
Lord of the Flies
William Golding
William Golding
1911-1993
Booker Prize for
Rites of Passage
(1980)
Nobel Prize
(1983)
http://static.guim.co.uk
Photo Portrait ca. 1975
Photocredit Jerry Bauer
http://www.
williamgolding.co.
uk/board/re
aderb_WG.
jpg
http://www.monmouth.com
Golding at the Nobel
Ceremony, 10
December 1983
http://www.william-golding.co.uk/.../05_thumb.jpg
Doris Lessing
1919 -
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Kingsley Amis
1922-1995
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sandpoems.com
Iris Murdoch
1919-1999
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yspace.com
“The basic point my generation discovered about
man was that there was more evil in him than
could be accounted for simply by social
pressures.” William Golding
An uncertainty about the role and voice of the
novelist and a tendency to incorporate such issues
into novels. Golding said of the horrors of WWII: “We
have discovered a limit to literature.”
A Postwar Generation
William Golding questioned whether the British were
different or special. In Lord of the Flies, the English
schoolboys abandoned on a tropical island become,
by the end of the novel, a frenzied pack of killers.
http://www.sparknotes.co
m/lit/flies/context.html
1940 Golding joined the Royal Navy, participating in the
invasion of Normandy. Golding’s experience in World
War II had a profound effect on his view of humanity and
the evils of which it was capable.
“There were things done during that period from which I
still have to avert my mind less I should be physically
sick. They were not done by the headhunters of New
Guinea or by some primitive tribe in the Amazon. They
were done skillfully, coldly by educated men, doctors,
lawyers, by men with a tradition of civilization behind
them, to beings of their own kind.”
http://www.moonbattery.com
http://1.bp.b
logspot.com
The tradition of utopian/dystopian
fiction
• Some important texts:
– Thomas More Utopia (1516)
– Jonathan Swift Gulliver’s Travels (1726)
– Mary Shelley The Last Man (1826)
– Aldous Huxley Brave New World (1932)
– George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1949)
– Angela Carter Heroes and Villains (1969)
Philosophical influences
K. Popper The Open Society and its Enemies
(1945)
Jean Paul Sartre Existentialism and
Humanism (1947), G. Marcel Being and
Having (1949), S. Weil The Need for Roots
(1952)
William Golding’s works
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Lord of the Flies (1954)
The Inheritors (1955)
Pincer Martin (1956)
Free Fall (1959)
The Spire (1964)
The Pyramid (1967)
The Scorpion God (1971)
Darkness Invisible (1979)
Rites of Passage (1980)
The Paper Man (1984)
Close Quarters (1987)
Fire Down Below (1989)
http://ww
w.isbn.spr
intbooks.
co.uk
Lord of the Flies (1954):
Rejected by 21 publishers before accepted by
Faber & Faber
Scene Location
http://www.lordoftheflies.org/img/VIQ800.JPG
Cast
http://www.lordoftheflies.org/
RALPH
JACK
PIGGY
ROGER
SIMON
“The boy with fair hair lowered himself the last few
feet of rock and began to pick his way towards the
lagoon.”
http://www.surfresearch.com.ua
http://www.amazon.de
http://www.mobipocket.com
The Blue Lagoon H. de
Vere Stacpoole
The Lord of the
Flies
http://www.lordoftheflies.org/
“‘They’re all dead,’ said Piggy, ‘an’ this is an island.
Nobody don’t know we’re here. Your dad don’t
know, nobody don’t know—”
Why are they on the island?
How did they get there?
What is happening in the wider world?
http://itn.co.uk
“Ralph had stopped smiling and was pointing into
the lagoon. Something creamy lay among the ferny
weeds.”
What is it?
What does it symbolise?
http://jeanwhatley.com/images/mures.gif
“A child appeared among the palms, about a
hundred yards along the beach.”
The conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of
civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively
governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the
shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell
is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of
political legitimacy and democratic power.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes.html
“The creature was a party of boys, marching
approximately in step in two parallel lines and dressed
in strangely eccentric clothing.”
Who are these boys?
http://www.channel4.com
Who is their leader?
What is he like?
The strong-willed, egomaniacal Jack is the novel’s
primary representative of the instinct of savagery,
violence, and the desire for power—in short, the
antithesis of Ralph. From the beginning of the
novel, Jack desires power above all other things.
Jack
Jack’s love of authority and violence are intimately
connected, as both enable him to feel powerful and
exalted. By the end of the novel, Jack has learned to
use the boys’ fear of the beast to control their
behavior—a reminder of how religion and superstition
can be manipulated as instruments of power.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
Who is Piggy? What is he like? What does he
symbolise?
http://www.
gs.cidsnet.
de
Piggy - Ralph’s “lieutenant.” A whiny, intellectual
boy, Piggy’s inventiveness frequently leads to
innovation, such as the makeshift sundial that the
boys use to tell time. Piggy represents the scientific,
rational side of civilization. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
Who is Ralph? What is he like?
What does he symbolise?
http://www.q
uizlaw.com
Ralph is the athletic, charismatic protagonist. Ralph is
the primary representative of order, civilization, and
productive leadership in the novel. While most of the
other boys initially are concerned with playing, having
fun, and avoiding work, Ralph sets about building huts
and thinking of ways to maximize their chances of
being rescued. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
“The bushes were dark evergreen and aromatic and the
many buds were waxen green and folded up against the
light. Jack slashed at one with his knife and the scent
spilled over them.
‘Candle buds’
‘You couldn’t light them,’ said Ralph. ‘They just
look like candles.’
“We soon came to the tree in question, which, after Jack
had closely examined it, we concluded must be the
candle-nut tree. Its leaves were of a beautiful silvery
white, and formed a fine contrast to the dark-green
foliage of the surrounding trees. We immediately filled
our pockets with the nuts.” The Coral Island Ch.8
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/3
5/68888546_dce5a315b8_o.j
pg
“The flame, nearly invisible at first in that bright
sunlight, enveloped a small twig, grew, was
enriched with colour and reached up to a branch
which exploded with a loud crack.”
How do they make the fire?
http://www.dvdtim
es.co.uk
Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group,
and his glasses represent the power of science and
intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic
significance is clear from the start of the novel, when
the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus
the sunlight and start a fire. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
As the island civilization erodes and the boys
descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its
power and influence among them.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
“‘I got the conch,’ said Piggy indignantly. ‘You let
me speak!’
‘The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain,
said Jack, ‘so you shut up.’”
“He was a small, skinny boy, his chin pointed, and
his eyes so bright they had deceived Ralph into
thinking him delightfully gay and wicked.”
Who is this? What is he like?
Simon embodies a kind of innate, spiritual human
goodness that is deeply connected with nature and, in
its own way, as primal as Jack’s evil. Unlike all the
other boys on the island, Simon acts morally not out of
guilt or shame but because he believes in the inherent
value of morality. He behaves kindly toward the
younger children, and represents a contrary idea of
essential human goodness. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
What is the significance of
this scene?
http://www.lordoftheflies19.tripod.com/id6.html
“Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to
throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry,
perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare
not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo
of the old life. Round the squatting child was the
protection of parents and school and policemen and
the law.”
What is the significance of Roger’s stone
throwing?
Roger’s cruelty to the littluns is an important early step
in the group’s decline into savagery. At this point in the
novel, the boys are still building their civilization, and
the civilized instinct still dominates the savage instinct.
But already some of the older boys are willing to use
physical force and violence to give themselves a sense
of superiority over the smaller boys.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
Hunting the pig
What happens as
a result of their
hunting the pig?
http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk
“His mind was crowded with memories; memories of
the knowledge that had come to them when they
closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they
had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it,
taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”
Jack exults in killing the pig and is unable to think about
anything else because his mind is “crowded with
memories” of the hunt. Jack’s excitement stems not from
pride at having found food and helped the group but
from having “outwitted” another creature and “imposed”
his will upon it.
Earlier in the novel, Jack claims that hunting is important
to provide meat for the group; now, it becomes clear that
Jack’s obsession with hunting is due to the satisfaction it
provides his primal instincts and has nothing to do with
contributing to the common good. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
What are the littluns afraid of?
Simon proposes that perhaps the beast is only the
boys themselves. Although the other boys laugh off
Simon’s suggestion, Simon’s words are central to
Golding’s point that innate human evil exists. Simon is
the first character in the novel to see the beast not as
an external force but as a component of human
nature.
http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/characters.html
“What I mean is . . . Maybe it’s only us . . .”
What event prompts this speech and what does
it signify?
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n.blogspot.com
“‘Conch! Conch!’ shouted Jack, ‘we don’t need the
conch anymore. We know who ought to say things.
What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or
Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to
keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of
us—’”
What have the boys done, and why?
http://www.bbc.co.uk
“The head remained there, dim-eyed, grinning
faintly, blood blackening between the teeth.”
“‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the
Beast .’
Simon’s mouth laboured, brought forth audible words.
‘Pig’s head on a stick.’”
“‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could
hunt and kill!’ said the head. For a moment or two the
forest and all the other dimly appreciated places
echoed with the parody of laughter. ‘You knew, didn’t
you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the
reason why it’s no go? Why things are the way they
are?’”
These words confirm Simon’s speculation that
perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. This
idea of the evil on the island being within the boys is
central to the novel’s exploration of innate human
savagery. The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the
beast and acknowledges to Simon that it exists within
all human beings: “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of
you?”
The creature’s grotesque language and bizarre
appropriation of the boys’ slang (“I’m the reason why
it’s no go”) makes the creature appear even more
hideous and devilish, for he taunts Simon with the
same colloquial, familiar language the boys use
themselves. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/quotes.html
What happens next?
“Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth.
There was blackness within, a blackness that
spread.”
A Nuremberg rally in the
1930s
http://www.freud.org.uk
What kind of regime does Jack impose?
What do they steal from the remains of Ralph’s
group?
Why do Samneric want to paint themselves?
Why doesn’t Ralph want them to?
What happens to the conch and Piggy?
What does Jack propose to do about Ralph?
“He staggered to his feet, tensed for more terrors,
and looked up at a huge peaked cap. It was a whitetopped cap, and above the green shade of the peak
was a crown, an anchor, gold foliage. He saw white
drill, epaulettes, a revolver, a row of gilt buttons down
the front of a uniform.”
Who finds the boys?
Is he surprised at what he finds?
Is Ralph pleased to be rescued?
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the
darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the
air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”
When Ralph sees the officer, his sudden realization
that he is safe and will be returned to civilization
plunges him into a reflective despair. The rescue is
not a moment of unequivocal joy, for Ralph realizes
that, although he is saved from death on the island,
he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence
and learned about the evil that lurks within all human
beings. http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/quotes.html
What is the significance of these last lines of the
novel?
“The officer, surrounded by these noises, was
moved and a little embarrassed. He turned away
to give them time to pull themselves together; and
waited, allowing his eyes to rest on the trim cruiser
in the distance.”
Some important differences between
Coral Island
and
Lord of the Flies
Disciplined
Disorganised
United.
Divided
Make shelters, utensils, a boat
Fail to make anything
Discover useful plants etc.
Don’t discover
anything
Faith in God
Paganism
Evil externalised
Evil internalised
1. What do the following characters symbolise or
represent? Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Simon, Roger.
2. What do the following symbolise?
the conch, the choir, pigs, Piggy’s glasses, the fire, the
beast, the sow’s head on the stick, the dead parachutist,
Simon’s death
3. Is there an epiphany?
4. Does Lord of the Flies have any universal
significance? Does Golding’s view of humanity apply to
our world today?
5. Do you find the portrayal of humanity convincing in
Lord of the Flies?
6. Is humanity innately evil?