On Writing Lord of the Flies

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On Writing Lord of the Flies

• It was simply what seemed sensible for me to
  write after the war when everyone was thanking
  God they werent Nazis. Id seen enough to
  realize that every single one of us could be
  Nazis.
• What does this quote mean?
• --William
  Golding

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Lord of the Flies

• Lord of the Flies is about a group of school boys
  from Britain who are marooned on a deserted
  island. They must learn to survive.
• Could you survive in the wild with a group of
  people? Lets find out.

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William Golding

• British novelist
• Born on September 19, 1911, died 1993
• Studied Science and English at Oxford
• Fought in Royal Navy during WWII
• Participated in invasion of Normandy on D-Day
• At wars end, returned to teaching and writing
• Earned The Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983 "for
  his novels which, with the perspicuity of
  realistic narrative art and the diversity and
  universality of myth, illuminate the human
  condition in the world of today".

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Facts About the Novel

• First Published in 1954
• Rejected 21 times before it was published
• It was his first novel
• Not successful until the early 1960s
• On the American Library Associations list of the
  100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of
  1990-2000.

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Some Ideas posed by this novel

• Peoples baser instincts are often stronger than
  their nobler ones in creating human societies
• We cannot escape our savage, violent tendencies
• Without social order, we devolve into a state of
  chaos
• The defects of society can be traced back to the
  defects in human nature

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Inspiration

• Golding once allowed his class of boys total
  freedom in a debate, but had to intervene as
  mayhem soon broke out
• Experiences in war
• Critical response to Coral Island by R.M.
  Ballantyne
• Philosophical questions about human nature

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Philosophical Influence

• John Hobbes
• English Philosopher 1588- 1679
• Man is by nature selfishly individualistic
• Man constantly at war with other men
• Fear of violent death is sole motivation to
  create civilizations
• Men need to be controlled by absolute sovereignty
  to avoid brutish behavior

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Allusions

• Use of the names Ralph and Jack as the main
  characters from The Coral Island.
• Simon from the Bible Simon called Peter,
• Mention of Coral Island and Treasure Island
• Numerous biblical allusions throughout

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Goldings Literary Technique

• Heavy use of symbolism
• Allegory the entire novel is an allegory!
• Def The rhetorical strategy of extending a
  metaphor through an entire narrative so that
  objects, persons, and actions in the text are
  equated with meanings that lie outside the text.
• Throughout the text the boys represent humanity
  as a whole.
• Irony
• Abundant imagery and sensory detail
• Figurative Language
• Simile
• Metaphor
• Personification

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Lord of the Flies in Pop Culture

• In Hook, Robin Williams compares Lost Boys to
  savages in LOTF
• The Simpsons episode Das Bus is a parody
• Inspiration for the anime series Infinite Ryvius
• T.V. shows Survivor and Lost are said to have
  been inspired from LOTF
• 2006 movie Unaccompanied Minors makes reference
  to LOTF

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Themes (ideas for what could turn into theme
statementsRemember, you are looking for the
message about these ideas throughout the book.).

• Survival
• Power/leadership styles
• Civilization vs. Savagery
• Loss of Innocence
• Human nature
• Duality of man
• Nature Vs. Nurture
• Good Vs. Evil

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Lord of the Flies

• Essential Questions
• What is mans true nature? Are human beings
  inherently evil or savage?
• Is power, by its nature, corruptive?
• How does experience shape an individual?
• Why do certain groups of people alienate,
  isolate, and attempt to exterminate other groups
  of people?