Gerald+Golding,+Lord+of+the+Flies

Power Struggles
William Golding sets the story during World War 2. A group of British School boys get stranded on an island after their plane gets shot down. After all of the survivors come together, the boys set up a democratic government where Ralph is the leader. Piggy serves as Ralph's sidekick, giving him advice over his rule. Ralph's leadership soon gets questioned by Jack as he develops an unhealthy obsession with hunting and killing pigs. The idea of rescue has fallen far from Jack's mind at this point and he decides to leave the group and start his own tribe with the rest of the choir boys. Little by little, the group of boys who started their own tribe, get more boys to gather and the boys that are left include Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Sam and Eric.
 * William Golding. Lord of the Flies. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1954.**

What was thought to be the beast on the island turned out be a rotting corpse of a former pilot. After Simon discovered the true identity of the beast, he runs to share the news with the rest of the boys. However, the boys are following in Jack's example, intrigued by a pig they murdered and ate. As Simon returns to the group, they mistake him for the beast and kill him. The remaining boys, Ralph, Piggy and the twins try to stick to the democratic ideas they had set in the beginning, still not wanting to join Jack's tribe. Piggy has something useful to all the boys on the island. He is the one with glasses, which can start fire. Jack and his followers steal Piggy's glasses so they can roast the pigs they kill to eat. Piggy decides to go to the tribe in order for him to regain his vision. With this journey, Piggy gets crushed with a boulder that struck him on the head.

After Sam and Eric decide to join the tribe and Piggy dies, Ralph is left to fend for himself with no other followers. Jack and his tribe set out to kill Ralph because he is the only individual left not on Jack's side. He is chased to the beach where something unexpected happens.

Golding does a great job describing the effect of war on humans. The idea of "survival of the fittest" comes into play as the boys lose sight of being rescued and become savages, taking glory in the idea of hunting and killing pigs. This book shows the thin line between human thinking and animal instinct. The children show how competition can get the best of you while trying to survive in an unknown environment.


 * Recommendations for Teachers**

Lord of the Flies, though traditionally not considered to be YA literature, is commonly taught at the secondary level. The concepts within the book prove to be quite complex, so we highly recommend using a lot of outside resources. Because Golding's themes are relative to the nature of society one many different routes to choose from.

As an introduction to the book the teachers may wish to consider first reading Richard Connell's short story, The Most Dangerous Game. A short story is an excellent to give students a taste of what they will be getting into. This will allow them to quickly get a feel for the themes, as well as allow them time to adjust their mindset for an easier transition from whatever material you may have been cover previously. The Most Dangerous Game is often anthologized and therefore relatively easy to come by, but if you do, however, have trouble locating it, check out the links at the bottom of the page. (If teaching an AP course you may also want consider Joseph Conrad's The Heart of Darkness, though, this material is considered rather advanced.)

When reading Lord of the Flies we tackle a difficult question about the nature of man: Is he innately good or evil? Perhaps one way which you may wish to present this question to your students is by asking them about to think about law, and the way in which it may or may not prevent society from spiraling into chaos. If our law ceases to exist, or reflect our logic, what effect will it have on our society? In essence, what does man do when he is no longer held accountable for his actions. In order to make Golding's themes a little more tangible for students, including documentation of real-life events may be beneficial, as it is difficult to conceptualize the relevance of this isolated, fictional incident which takes place in the novel. The [|Holocaust], [|Stanley Milgram's obedience experiments], and [|Phillip Zimbardo's Prison Experiment]have rendered eery, yet fascinating conclusions about society.

It would be helpful for students to include [|character profiles], in which they could write down certain aspects of each character as they get to know them better. As discussion continues, suggest what they characters may represent to the story. For example: Piggy (as well as the conch shell) is said to represent law, order, and the adult word. . . etc.

During the class period prior to reading the chapter in which Jack's tribe takes up face painting, you may have you students discuss the psychology of masks (topics could include: Halloween, plays, superheroes, villains . . . etc.) and then have them construct their own. Toward the end of the book you could take your students outside (weather permitting) for a game of Capture the Conch. Using the rules of Capture the Flag (only swapping flags for seashells) get your students involved by participating first-hand in a scenario mimicking the conflict between Jack and Ralph's tribe.

Another fun "in-road" available to you is George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. Zombie movies, in particular, are a way to expose students to other people's thoughts about the roles of society and the nature of man in a way that is a little more light-hearted than the Holocaust of The Most Dangerous Game. Not only is Night of the Living Dead an excellent choice because it contains very little gore or violence, but because it is considered the first of its kind and really started the entire Zombie genre. It's a touch slow moving, but students are likely to appreciate it nonetheless.

= = Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, born in St. Colum Minor, Cornwall, United Kingdom on September 19, 1911. He was educated at Marlborough Grammar School as well as Brasenose College, Oxford. Golding was not only a writer. He was also a schoolmaster, lecturer, actor, sailor, and musician. His father who also was a schoolmaster and mother who often helped with women’s suffrage wanted him to become a scientist, an idea he rebelled against. After spending 5 years at Oxford he published a volume of poems in 1935. He then joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years on the water. After his time in the service he returned to teaching, and began writing again. //Lord of the Flies// was his first novel published in 1954. Some of his other books include:
 * About Name of Author**

//The Inheritors// (novel) 1955 //Pincher Martin// (novel) 1956 //The Brass Butterfly// (play) 1958 //Free Fall// (novel) 1959 //The Spire// (novel) 1964 //The Hot Gates// (essays) 1965 //The Pyramid// (novel) 1967 //The Scorpion God// (three short novels) 1971 //Darkness Visible// (novel) 1979 //Rites of Passage// (novel) 1980 //A Moving Target// (essays and autobiographical pieces) 1982 //The Paper Men// (novel) 1984 //An Egyptian Journal// 1985 //Close Quarters// (novel) 1987 //Fire Down Below// (novel) 1989

Some awards he has won are the ‘Booker Prize’, and Nobel Prize. Golding retired from teaching in 1962. After that he resumed attending to his hobbies of music, sailing, archaeology and classical Greek in Wiltshire. Golding died on June 19, 1993.

Golding’s novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ is a response to R.M. Ballantyne’s 1857 novel Coral Island. At the end of the story the navel officer says, “I know, Jolly good show. Like the Coral Island.” Because Golding was in the Navy for six years and a school master, Golding writing about school-boys being ship wreck and the conflict and war that could arise from it should come as no surprise.

Information about the author was found at the following websites. More information about William Golding can be found in the following links.

[|[[http://literature.nobel.brainparad.com/sir_william_gerald_golding.html] [|http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1983/golding-bio.html]


 * Multimedia (Video or Audio)**

This is a trailer from the movie //Lord of the Flies//. It provides a brief overview of the concept of the story and provides a visual aid to go along with the classic novel. media type="youtube" key="T45MsH6pwM4" height="344" width="425"

This is the movie version of Chapter 5 of the //Lord of the Flies.// This can provide a visual aid to help students understand the text//.// More chapters can be found on [|YouTube.com.] media type="youtube" key="AhIyCCm426c" height="344" width="425"

[|-Golding's official website]- Want to learn more about William Golding? Take a look at his official website. [|-Buy Lord of the Flies]- Purchase your own copy of __Lord of the Flies__.
 * Additional Resources:**

[|-Teaching resources for Lord of the Flies]- Here are some interesting resources for teachers. [|-Important Themes]- Check out important themes that go along with __Lord of the Flies__.
 * Teacher Resources:**

[|-1990 movie information]- Here you can check out the 1990 information from the movie. [|-1963 movie information]- Here you can take a look at the information from the 1963 movie.
 * Movie information:**

[|-Stanley Milgram Obedience Experiment]- A study focusing on obedience to authority and personal conscience relating to __Lord of the Flies__. [|-The Stanford Prison Experiment]- Check out some interesting discussion questions.
 * Experiments relating to __Lord of the Flies__**:

-[|Character Profiles]- Here you can get some background on each of the characters in the book. This might help the reader relate to the story better. [|-Analysis of Characters]- This site includes analysis of the characters in the story.
 * About the characters:**

--Kyra Harris, Lindsey Vaillancourt, and Megan Roberts