The%20Lord%20of%20the%20Flies%20-%20by%20William%20Golding

1
The Lord of the Flies - by William Golding
2
Essential Questions

• What is the nature of man?
• What are the qualities of effective leadership?
• How do you effectively govern?
• Upon what, primarily, does survival most depend?

3
More Essential Questions

• How are our human flaws revealed? What do our
  flaws reveal about us?
• How does Golding use setting and characters in
  Lord of the Flies to express his ideas about
  people?

4
The Lord of the Flies Title Significance

• Beelzebub is a Hebrew
• word for Lucifer
• The literal translation of
• Beelzebub into
• English is Lord of the
• Flies

5
REVIEWS OF THE NOVEL

• "beautifully written, tragic and provocative...
• vivid and enthralling
• completely convincing and often very
• frightening
• like a fragment of nightmare
• a dizzy climax of terror
• "It is not only a first-rate adventure but a
  parable of our
• times "

6
What should you come to understand by the end of
this unit?

• Peoples baser instincts are often stronger than
  their nobler ones in creating human societies.
• The defects in society are related to the defects
  in human nature.
• Novelists often use their fiction to make
  statements about their personal or political
  beliefs.

7
Draw two columns in your notes

• Words associated with instinct

• Words associated with the mind

• ??????
• ??????
• ??????

• ??????
• ??????
• ??????

8
The Noble Savage

• In his early writing, Rousseau contended that man
  is essentially good, a "noble savage" when in the
  "state of nature" (the state of all the other
  animals, and the condition man was in before the
  creation of civilization and society), and that
  good people are made unhappy and corrupted by
  their experiences in society.

9
Noble Savage

• He viewed society as "artificial" and "corrupt"
  and that the furthering of society results in the
  continuing unhappiness of man.

10
Philosophical Background Rousseau

• Contrary to his earlier work, Rousseau
  (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva in 1712)
  claimed that the state of nature is brutish
  condition without law or morality, and that there
  are good men only as a result of society's
  presence.

11
The Social Contract

• Because he can be more successful facing threats
  by joining with other men, he has the impetus to
  do so. He joins together with his fellow men to
  form the collective human presence known as
  "society." "The Social Contract" is the "compact"
  agreed to among men that sets the conditions for
  membership in society.

12
Nature vs. Nurture

• The nature versus nurture debates concern the
  relative importance of an individual's innate
  qualities ("nature), versus personal experiences
  ("nurture") in determining or causing individual
  differences in physical and behavioral traits.

13
Tabula Rasa

• The view that humans acquire all or almost all
  their behavioral traits from "nurture" is known
  as tabula rasa ("blank slate").

14
SIR WILLIAM GOLDING

• 1911-1993
• Born in Britain
• Was employed as a schoolteacher
• Served five years in the Royal Navy during WWII
• Lord of the Flies published in 1954

15
Sir William Goldings Influences

• As a child, Golding had
• witnessed WWI, the war to
• end all wars
• In the decade before Lord of
• the Flies was published, Britain
• had been involved in two more
• wars World War II (which
• Golding served) and the
• Korean War

16

IMAGES FROM WWII
17

IMAGES FROM WWII
IMAGES FROM WWII
IMAGES FROM WWII
IMAGES FROM WWII
18
PLOT OF LORD OF THE FLIES

• Set at a time when Europe is in the midst of
  nuclear destruction.
• A group of British school boys, being evacuated
  from England, crash lands on a tropical island.
• No adults survive the crash, and the novel is the
  story of the boys' descent into chaos, disorder,
  and evil.

19
In Goldings day a popular boys adventure story
was

• The Coral Island
• An allusion to a story most boys and adults in
  England would be familiar with

20
The Coral Island

• Written in 1858
• A group of boys gets stranded on a deserted,
  tropical island
• The major characters are Jack, Ralph, and
  Peterkin
• Its an adventure story with a happy ending

21
All of Goldings novel takes place on the remote
tropical island.
22
Microcosm

• A small community including human beings,
  humanity, society, etc. that is viewed as the
  epitome or miniature of the world or universe
• Golding uses English boys to represent the
  calculated makeup of society

23
Allegory

• An extended metaphor
• Objects, persons, and actions in a narrative are
  equated with meanings that lie outside the
  narrative
• Moral, social, religious, and political
  significance

24
Allegory

• Characters are often personifications of abstract
  ideas such as charity, greed, or envy.
• Two meanings a literal meaning and a symbolic
  meaning

25
In preparation for reading the novel, look over
your Anticipation Guide
26
Character Analysis

• 1) Ralph- Main character described as fair
  haired, having broad shoulderslike a
  boxers, and has a face that proclaims no
  devil
• Committed to civilization and morality
• 2) Piggy - Described as fat, intellectual,
  asthmatic, and needs glasses
• Represents scientific, rational side
• of civilization, and social order

27
Character Analysis

• Simon - Described as a skinny, vivid little boy,
  who meditates and he faints at different times
  in the novel, which some cultures have believed
  is a sign of connecting with the spiritual world
• Seems to be connected with nature, and he has an
  innate, spiritual goodness

28
Character Analysis

• Sam and Eric (Samneric) Twins
• Described as barely having enough skin to cover
  both, bullet-headed, and they finish each others
  sentences
• The last to remain loyal to Ralph
• Represent the tug-of-war
• within us to remain good

29
Character Analysis

• Jack - Described as having red hair, malevolent,
  aggressive, wears black with a snake clasp
• Cruel and manipulative
• Represents our savage instincts played out

30
Character Analysis

• Roger - Silent and sadistic
• Targets the littluns
• The only one to premeditate murder
• Kills without conscience
• Pure evil

31
Character Analysis

• Littluns The younger kids
• Represent the common folk, who easily follow the
  lead of others into savagery when there is no
  enforced structure in society

32

THEMES IN LORD OF THE FLIES

• Golding believes that we
• cannot escape our savage,
• violent tendencies and
• without social order,
• society dissolves into
• chaos and savagery.

33

SYMBOLS

• 1) Piggys glasses the last surviving
• evidence of the lawful, structured,
• rational world
• 2) conch shell order and democracy
• on the island
• 3) The fire
• 4) The Island
• 5) The Beast
• 6) Jacks mask

34
TERMS to REMEMBER

• Microcosm - A small world that represents the
  world at large
• Edenic Eden-like, paradise like, a setting that
  has not yet been spoiled by man

35
FILM CLIP

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vzvmi3oZ_vH8