Lord of the Flies
Posted by Matt on September 25, 1998 at 11:37:29:
In response to Lord of the Flies, written by AmandaB on September 23, 1998 at 19:18:18
] We just finished reading Lord of the Fliesin English, and I was just curious as to what the people on Pemberley thought of the book (or movie, if you've seen it).
I first read the book in english class as well (though that is going back about 7 years now) and I'm sorry to say that I didn't much like it. At the time I was reading it I was not much older than the boys in the story and I have to say that I thought that the authors idea that boys left on their own for a while will rapidly deteriorate into tribal savages, with their concepts of order and individuality (represented by the powerful symbols of the conch shell and the introverted boy who dies) being discarded, was very off the mark. I've always thought that children placed in situations where they need to be responsible to survive will act responsibly and put aside petty quarreling to another time when it can't REALLY hurt them.
Oh well, that's just my $0.02 worth; I'm sure there have been plenty of people who have agreed with the themes in the book. I'd be interested to hear what any pemberlians who work with children think about children's responses to situations like that in Lord of the Flies, and whether they might become like the boys in the book given enough freedom and time.
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