Lord of the Flies-Part 1

This week in English we started reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. It was written 5 years after World War II, and some of the events of the war are mirrored in the novel. We can infer that the story takes place during a time of world conflict, as Piggy mentions an atom bomb. We can also infer that the boys are from a boarding school somewhere in the west. The novel is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island after their plane crashed. These school boys are the only survivors, and they must learn to survive on their own, free from any adult influence.

In class we discussed what our essay prompt for this novel is. The most important part of the prompt is always the verb, and so we focused on the verb from this prompt: characterize. We looked at what the tools of characterization are: appearance, mannerisms, speech, socio-economic status, and motivation.

This week we read chapter one, and discussed how Golding characterizes the main four boys in the story so far. He uses actions and dialogue to display the characters' personalities, not just mere descriptions. Through his diction we immediately see the diverse nature of each boy. The first character to appear is Ralph, and he is portrayed as a handsome, well-built white boy with a nonchalant yet leader-like attitude. He is fairly mature, gregarious, and comes from a well-to-do family and confident that his dad, a naval commander, will save them. Then we meet Piggy, a pale, chubby boy with glasses and asthma-the kind of child who is easily picked on. Because of this he has a low self-esteem and a hesitant attitude, although smart in his leadership ideas. He comes from a relatively wealthy family, as he was spoiled a lot at home. He wants to be accepted by Ralph and included as one of the "important" boys. Further along in the chapter, Jack and his choir come marching in. We immediately see the contrast between Ralph and Jack. Jack appears to be a jaundiced boy with a bony structure and sharp appearance, and acts and talks with authority and confidence in himself. He also comes from an upper middle class family, and wants to be leader of the boys, not quite able to completely surrender to Ralph.

We also talked about what potential conflicts we could see as a result of the characters. I predicted that there could be conflict between Ralph and Piggy, since although Ralph has the appearance and authority of a leader, Piggy is ‘the man behind the curtain’ as far as how Ralph became the leader. Piggy must feel that he has been manipulated, because Ralph used Piggy’s ideas to become leader. We see the beginning of conflict between them when, after Piggy divulges his old nickname to Ralph, asking him not to tell anyone else, Ralph proceeds to tell the rest of the boys, an ignominious moment for Piggy.

Another prominent aspect of the novel so far is the conch, which Ralph and Piggy found together at the beginning of the novel. Piggy was the one who suggested Ralph use it to call the others, but since Ralph was the one who utilized it, the boys looked to him as the leader.

 This search for a leader correlates with Libya’s current dilemma in finding an adequate leader after they overthrew their previous one. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/31/world/africa/31tripoli.html?pagewanted=all This relates to the novel because the boys, in the absence of adults, are in search for someone who can guide them.