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Original poster

Lord of the Flies

36 replies

speedymama · 22/08/2006 10:57

I have just started reading this and I can already sense that Piggy is going to suffer at the hand of the others. Children can be very cruel about others who are different or who don't conform to some artificial standard.

OP posts:
Bink · 27/09/2006 09:37

I didn't know about the boat - I met him towards the very end of his life, and he was telling me about a college in Texas which was doing a symposium just about him (first time such a thing had been done) and he was wondering what the protocol for walking into a symposium about yourself ought to be. He was very white-haired and white-bearded and benign so I suggested he be lowered onto the podium in a tub (as in mystery plays) and he was rather nice about that.

I waver a bit about his books - I loved Pincher Martin when I discovered it in the library as a teenager - it's a great book to come across by accident - but I was reading the first of the sea trilogy at the same time as reading Midnight's Children & the Golding book was quite seriously overshadowed by MC.

Original poster
speedymama · 27/09/2006 10:24

Thank you all for your clarification and analyses. As I read the book, I became more aware of the metaphorical and sublimal messages that I was missing. I would love to study this book in more detail. It may sound corny but for some reason, the book had a profound effect on me. I keep thinking about the fact there are certain sections in our society who appear to be rejecting the established societal rules, etiquette, laws etc and think that they can do what they like without considering the impact on others or on society as a whole.

My DH is going to read it because I told him that it is a book that invokes a lot of questions and leads you to contemplate your own behaviour and perspective within society.

OP posts:
Socci · 27/09/2006 15:17

Message withdrawn

Socci · 27/09/2006 19:11

Message withdrawn

clerkKent · 28/09/2006 13:00

Lord of the Flies is much more accessible - I can't imagine The Spire ever being a GCSE set text - and more popular, so yes, it is better.

Socci · 28/09/2006 14:13

Message withdrawn

Blandmum · 28/09/2006 14:17

The book is based on a flawed idea

Piggy is short sighted....without his glasses he can't see anyone, thus gets flattened by the rock at the end.

The lenses used for short sighted people are diverging, they don't focus light to a point. So you couldn't use piggy's glasses to light the fires etc.

I told my O level English teacher this and she thought it was kidding, and checked it woth the Physics departmant.

Sophiev73 · 28/09/2006 14:18

I love all Golding's books but I teach 'Lord of the Flies' every year to my GCSE English classes
(when I'm not on maternity leave!) and love it every time. Any book that can withstand 10 years of analysis has to be a goodun. Simon's final scene has me in tears every time I read it still. One of the best passages in the English language imo...

Sophiev73 · 28/09/2006 14:19

MB can't wait to use that as a quiz question!!

Blandmum · 28/09/2006 14:21

[smug bastard emoticon needed]

I did 'enjoy' the book. In spite of the error!

Sophiev73 · 28/09/2006 14:22

Glad you could suspend disbelief...

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