LORD OF THE FLIES COMMENTS

LORD OF THE FLIES COMMENTS

HANS (G block) (3)

JUN DO (G block) (1)

DANIEL SO (G block) (1)

YOUNG JO (1)

[Lord of the Flies] 6) The Entry of My own

Question : Is there any book related to this novel???


Did you know that the “Lord of the Flies” is actually a parody???
While I read this book (Lord of the Flies), it reminded me of this book that I’ve read when I was in my elementary years. I read the book in translated Korean version and it was by an author called R.M. Ballantyne. The title of the book is… “The Coral Island”.

Don’t you think that you have heard of the title somewhere? Yes, it is the setting for the novel “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding used the title of this book and named the island for his story a coral island. “The Coral Island” is about 3 boys landing on deserted island going through adventures together and making a paradise in the island. The names of the three boys are, Ralph, Jack, and Peterkin. Yes, Ralph and Jack are both a characterized in a very similar way from Lord of the Flies (Ralph as a leader and Jack as a strong boy). William Golding copied the island’s name and the two characters off from “The Coral Island”. However, the results were completely different because in “The Coral Island” Ralph and Jack are close friends but in “Lord of the Flies” Ralph and Jack end up trying to kill and run from each other.

Why did William Golding do that? I can’t answer the question properly but I think that it is because the theme of “The Coral Island” contradicted a lot to William Golding’s thoughts when he was going to write “Lord of the Flies”. “The Coral Island” had its theme based on values of English society that called them ‘royal and civilized’. However, William Golding made a parody out of this novel to act out a satirical and sarcastic story against its scene and criticize it.

Thank you for reading my last post!!!
All thanks to “The Coral Island,” I had to laugh while I was reading “Lord of the Flies” (Please don’t look at me like THAT).

See you next time…

[Lord of the Flies] 5) The Passage

Question : Please choose one passage from the novel that is significant to you. Why is this passage meaningful? Please type it into one of your entries and comment on what you think about the passage.

I choose the passage where Jack and his companions stick the boar’s head on the stick as a gift to darkness. It was very meaningful because it pointed out the history of human’s mythology times. Humans were always afraid of unexplainable things and rationalized something so it could meet their expectations. Making the Lord of the Flies and giving it to their terror was the same thing, they didn’t even know the truth and got tricked by their own illusion. It also showed that there is always a person that will know the truth, just like Simon did. This is also a universal experience of a human throughout history where we always had to have a reason to explain things. As a result, we came up with science and technology (it wasn’t created by us but was discovered by us). This may seem stupid to us now but in those days, it was completely natural. This explained about mythological experiences, which we always thought that it was mischievous and meaningless from the perspective of civilization today.

Age of mythology is a part of pre-history when we believed that everything was done by god. Civilizations of religions and faith were the only answers to the entire question, as “THE TRUTH.” Mythology isn’t just a meaningless story; it was a thesis of Gods designated to explain that happened to us.

“MYTHOLOGY IS NOT A MISCHIEF, BUT A THESE”

THANK YOU FOR READING MY FIFTH POST!!!!
I tried my best with my English. However, the evil instinct (against the English only policy) seem to have grown powerful than my morality (Conclusion : My Korean got better than English...)

By the way..... The word "these" isn't a english word.... it's German word for "action of proving thesis"

[Lord of the Flies] 4) The Mood

Question : What is the mood of this novel? Do you find this novel saddens you in any way? Why?

Based on the four steps of finding a mood, this novel had a “barbaric & insecure” mood.

Actions done by the characters were something natural yet something violent in the perspective of our society today. They lost control and got overwhelmed by terror and “Id” which lead them to killing of each other, destruction of nature, and corruption of society. Author explains this in denunciating tone that reveals the hidden instinct behind what we call “civilization”. Characterization was also contributed to the barbaric mood of this novel because all the kids fell against instinct and savagery. Jack and companion represented the savagery, Piggy and Simon got killed of that savagery, and Ralph also isn’t innocent because he was also obsessed with the savagery (hunting). The characterization created a contact and conflict between each other. Language was contrasted in the tone that denunciates our own terror and brutality to ourselves.
Literary devices, which are mostly symbolism for allegory also contributed to making the tone denunciating ‘secretly’. They come together to create a barbaric and unstable (ex. Characterization of age, children) mood to this novel.

I find this novel exciting (instead of sad) by the way that the author contrasts a powerful mood through making us humans look back on ourselves. To look back on the life form called ‘human’, I think that we deserve and know too much. We can think and apply, which is a very rare ability that can only be observed on animal, based on the high-level of thinking. The fact that we are able to think makes us acknowledge how weak and helpless we are. This acknowledgement creates terror against something that is different from us and even makes us scared of human although only the difference is the idea and thoughts. I think that there are two ways to overcome terror. The first is to act on power of “Id”, which motivates you to fulfill pleasures to be able to run away from the terror you face. The second way is to form ego, seek for society and cover ourselves up with a wrap called “civilization”, which creates perfect conditions to comfort you away from the terror and lessen the possibility that is comes against you. The history shows that we have taken the second choice and this novel makes me exciting by the fact that a novel is able to reveal a whole history of human with such a small amount.


Thank you for reading my fourth post (ALMOST THERE!!!!!)
To think about overcoming terror, there is another choice called ‘faith’ and ‘religion’. However, the topic of religion and faith was more based on “Super ego” so I included it on the “civilization” that seeks after perfect definition. (I DON’T OFFEND ANY RELIGION and I am interested in all religions).

[Lord of the Flies] 3) The Climax

Question : What is the climax of this novel? What happens? How do events of this novel make you feel?

The climax of the story is when Simon faces the lord of the flies because it reveals the true face of human revealed behind on ego and civilization, which the whole novel’s theme is emphasized on. It is imaginary but Simon feels the lord of the flies speaking to him and fights back at him (it somehow gave me the image of Jesus Christ being tempted by Satan). This is action of his powerful ego fighting against the natural instinct (Id) that tempts him into savagery. Through this action, his realization is determined as ‘the truth’ in this novel that the true terror exists on this earth is we and each other. The events of these stories were interesting to see because author’s imagery and descriptions given were strong. This novel’s event was not unfamiliar because I had a project based on the same theme of this novel (Writing Poetry Portfolio). The actions and events that happened were very reasonable yet complicated which contrasted a mystic mood to the evil instinct revealed. I usually don’t get scared or freaked out by novels but there was one part of this novel that lasts inside me for a long time. It was the scene where this little kid played at the beach and controlled over these sea organism and being happy about it. I don’t know why (sorry) but this part freaked me out. I think that I got stimulated on the idea of human's instinct to gain power.

Thank you for reading my third post
…..My posts are getting shorter… I think I’ve concentrated too much idea onto post 1 and 2. (someone save me)

[Lord of the Flies] 2) The Characters

Question : Who are characters in this novel? Do you like them? Why or why not? What is special about them? What do they reveal about the universal human experience?

There were mainly 4 characters in this novel…

Ralph : The initial leader of the united society that tries to protect the ‘civilized’ manner until the very end within the society. He supported morality through the society and showed a powerful morality as the one who represents democracy and ego. He had a personality of a natural-born leader with handsome face and athletic body. He feels cares and worries to the little kids and feels responsible for Simon and Piggy’s death. However, he seems to be stubborn and dispassionate enough to control over Jack’s resistance. He also shows a great stimulation of his “Id” revealed through hunting with Jack.

Jack : He is contrasts with Ralph. He is the leader of the choir and the leader of ‘return to savagery’. He is tall and strong but seems to be foolish persists for power and honor, which creates conflict with Ralph and stands at the opposite side of him as a dictator with characteristics of a fascism based on natural instinct (Id). He could be representing the communism of the World War 2.

Piggy : He stands on Ralph’s side and shows an image of intellectual of a society that is able to make good decisions but lacks to live up to action. By referring to the World War 2, he represents the scientist that couldn’t resist against Nazism. The Conch shell discovered by him represents the ‘rights for all citizens to speak out’, which is a democratic system and Jack becomes a dictator by ignoring this. The glasses that he wore were also very symbolic. His glasses were the only technology and civilization inside the island that can be used in a benefit ways lighting fire. However, Jack ignores this beneficial ways and selects even more destructive use for it to set fire to the mountain and also kills piggy to obtain it. The glasses represents “Science & Technology”, to be precise based on World War 2 of the author’s time, it represents technology such as nuclear bomb. Technology that were applied in the nuclear bomb were designated to be something beneficial for us but slight change of application could create completely different results depending on the motivation of the user. The story could be stating that the science is like a ‘double-edged sword’.

Simon : He faces against the lord of the flies (Id) with his ego, and spiritually awakens by realizing the ‘true terror’. He was a true prophet. The mocking, ignorance, and the death he received create a very powerful meaning that reveals him as a person ahead of his own time referring to the resolution.

My favorite character in this story was Piggy, he had some characteristics that don’t meet my expectations (such as lack of action) but I like him because he was the smartest (intelligence = power). As told before in the other post, I like powerful characters. Piggy actually turns out to be the most powerful person in this story referring to the fact that Jack who had been the winner at the end was scared of him. Jack offended and picked on him because he was afraid of Piggy’s dialectic and logical thinking abilities that turns out to have large effect on audience so he tries to negate his voice and comments being delivered. This could be seen as communism (dictatorship) denying intelligence being spread to citizens due to ‘terror’ of rebellion. This is a revelation to social universal human experience where dictators were in fear of possibility of enemies.

Through these characters the author “tested” how strong a civilization and ego within a human are. The boys manage to keep the society well in the beginning however, the condition called “no grown-ups” broke down their limiters. There were no more “common sense and rules” to be kept, which turns out to suck out their civilization left from the moment they were completely isolated out of the civilization (the signal fire represents “the contact with civilization”, so the moment it goes out can be seen as complete isolation). I have been talking about “Id” and “Id’ is a natural instinct built based upon “Eros” and “Thanatos”, which forms the instinct. Jack and his companions failed to control the “Id” through overwhelming of Thanatos (Thanatos = instinct of death (ex. Terror), Eros = instinct of life).

[Lord of the Flies] 1) The Theme

Question : What is the major theme of this novel? Why is it important to a teenager living in 2008?

“Lord of the flies” written by William Golding is a power allegory about Id, Ego, and Super ego. Most of the dystopian novels given turned out to be an allegory. Allegory is a word that originated from the Greek word “Allegoria,” which is a definition for a story with multiple meaning that can be analyzed through its internal (symbolic) and external properties. A huge characteristic about an allegory is that the characters usually represent certain part or a social value that existed within the era of the author of the book. “Lord of the flies was an allegory of a human being’s war between Id, Ego, and Super ego and I will explain the theme of this book and the social situation of William Golding’s time based on the four steps of seeking theme.

The setting begins off at the Coral Island, which is a deserted island that the boys fell onto due to a plane crash (in process of escaping from nuclear war). This coral island is a place isolated from civilization that only holds pure nature in it. By putting ‘boys’ instead of ‘adults’ the author tried to reveal more about human instinct (Id) with characters that are not are too young to have a complete morality and ego developed.

The Characters in this story were mainly Ralph, Jack, Piggy, and Simon. Ralph and Jack were the main characters of the conflict, and Piggy and Simon was an intellectual part of the island society. Ralph is an athletic boy, whose skills and leadership is evaluated by the boys and a leader who applies democratic systems. Jack is a boy who used to be the leader of a choir group, he comes to conflict with Ralph and supports the idea of dictatorship because he thinks that comments from the younger kids are useless. Piggy is the smartest among the group who is ignored by most of the kids because of his fat looks. He could be representing ‘the scientists’. Simon was a boy with naturally powerful Super ego that was in the core of this story by knowing the truth of the terror that they faced, and realizes that the true terror is themselves, a human. Simon was a boy who was spiritually awakened. You can divide this character into two groups and see the whole conflict as Id (Jack) versus Ego (Ralph, Piggy, Simon). Id, Ego, and Super ego are a philosophy that was declared by German psychologist Sigmund Freud. “Id” means the natural instinct of a human that is stated to be very sinful and barbaric (similar to the Christian faith of looking at basis of men very sinful). “Ego” is a morality that controls the “Id” of a human; it’s a social reality principle. “Super Ego” is term for altruism that is defined as most ‘civilized’ thoughts as a human being within a society that seeks for community and perfection. The “Super Ego” in this story was unable to develop within the kids because a factor called ‘terror’ restricted the development and also stimulated the “Id” of the kids. Jack and the other kids represent the “Id” of a human that lives based on the natural instinct of survival and death in this case of the story. Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are the boys who protected their ego but are wiped out by the “Id” of Jack, which can be pointing out the powerfulness of human’s natural instinct and its brutality.

Climax of the story would be when Simon sees the lord of the flies, and go through a mental conflict within him that reminds us of his realization that “The true terrors are us, human”. This pointed out the ‘source’ of the savagery going on with the boys and created thesis to point out the true face of a human being.

The resolution of getting saved by the navy can be defined as corruption being calmed by insanity. However, there is an irony here because the boys get saved from their own corrupted society by the navy that seems to represent civilization and sanity. Nevertheless, the civilization that they are saved by has even larger scale of brutality such as a war.

The overall theme about this story is “The evil and sinful natural instinct of a human makes us ‘The Lord of the Flies’”. Lord of the Flies, a term that is directly translated from Hebrew, which means “The evil and terror” (basically means the king of insects but is translated into evil because of insect’s filthiness), this is stated at the instruction content of the novel. The thing that we should be truly terrorized against is ourselves. William Golding was a person who dwelled in the era of World War 2 by looking at the symbolism and characterizations. This theme is important for teenagers because it creates a foundation to look back at ourselves as ‘humans’, and the ‘civilization’ that we tend to call ourselves.


Here are few questions for teenagers to think about…

1) How do you think of the human instinct coming over morality in this novel?

2) Referring to the irony that the resolution creates, what is the true meaning of savagery and brutality? The society also shows the more ‘civilized’ we get, the larger the scale of brutality gets.

3) What would have happened if all the children on the islands were girls instead of boys? Why didn’t the author keep sexual balance? Is it just done to contrast the mood of blocking Super ego and Ego? Do you think the story would have been different if they were all girls? (This question is just one of my crazy imaginations, you can ignore this).


I actually didn’t explain about the William Golding’s time revealed through novel here because I decided to apply that one for the character explanations…


This novel seems to remind us that we are heirs of Cain…