Out of the Wild
In this project, my class read and annotated the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, wrote a Literary Analysis on it, and created an alternate book cover for it. The purpose of this project was to look at the symbols and symbolism of Lord of the Flies. My favorite part of doing this project was creating the book cover. I really enjoyed making it, and thinking of what I was going to do for it. An obstacle that I came across was the Literary Analysis. I wanted to do the spicy prompt (What is the theme of LotF and why?) and I had some trouble finding text evidence for it. I overcame that obstacle by slightly changing my thesis, although I still think I could have done better. Here are some of my final products from this project:
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The First
Kirsten Zornado
How long do you think you would survive on a deserted island with only twelve year old boys for company? The boys in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding have to do just this. This piece, a cover to the book Lord of the Flies, was mainly inspired by symbols from the book. It depicts a scene in which the boys on the island are hunting a pig. A symbol that I used from the book was the pig. In my eyes, the pig represented helplessness, and being prey. In this case, the pig was the boy’s prey, and usually ended up being killed. I also tried to make the boys and pig the focus, by watercoloring the background with greens and browns.
The First
Kirsten Zornado
How long do you think you would survive on a deserted island with only twelve year old boys for company? The boys in the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding have to do just this. This piece, a cover to the book Lord of the Flies, was mainly inspired by symbols from the book. It depicts a scene in which the boys on the island are hunting a pig. A symbol that I used from the book was the pig. In my eyes, the pig represented helplessness, and being prey. In this case, the pig was the boy’s prey, and usually ended up being killed. I also tried to make the boys and pig the focus, by watercoloring the background with greens and browns.
Lord of the Flies Literary Analysis
Kirsten Zornado
How long do you think you could last on a desert island before going crazy? In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young school boys are put into this exact situation. The four most important characters are Ralph, the leader, Jack, the choir leader, Piggy, the brains, and Simon, the goodness and purity of the island. The book details these boy’s descent into savagery, even going as far as to split the main group (Ralph’s) into two (Ralph’s and Jack’s). The theme in William Golding’s Lord of The Flies is examining man’s behavior when unexpectedly faced with the harsh reality of survival. Golding demonstrates this by using the boy’s symbolic representations, lack of authoritative figures/punishment, and transition into savagery.
The boy’s symbolic representations are a clear example of the boy’s distancing from civil society. “‘But they’ll be painted! You know how it is’ The others nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.” (pg. 172) In this quote, Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are planning to go get Piggy’s specs back from Jack’s group. Eric was worrying that Jack’s paint would be too intimidating to carry on. This is relevant to the theme because, when the boys were left alone on the island, they resorted to the “liberation into savagery” that the paint brought. “Ralph--remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.” (pg. 177) Piggy, always the voice of reason, is reminding Ralph why they confronted Jack and his savages in this quote. Piggy is a representation of wisdom, and knowledge, albeit one of the only boys on the island with any of these qualities. This is very relevant to the theme because he IS one of the only ones who retained these qualities under the pressure of survival on the island. Golding tries to make humans out to have a lot of evil inside of them. There are only one, maybe two boys who aren’t completely savage by the end of the book. This minority proves his point very well
A lack of positive authoritative figures and punishment contribute to the theme as well. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry--threw it to miss... Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.” (pg. 62) In this quote, one of the biguns, Roger, was throwing stones at a littlun, Henry, after his shift tending the fire. Roger had just stormed through the children’s sand castles with his friend, Maurice. Maurice had felt a little bit guilty for getting sand into a child’s eye, so he decided to go swim. The “taboo of old life” as Golding put it, was holding Roger’s arm back, when otherwise he surely would have hit Henry. This quote reinforces the theme because, so soon after the initial plane crash, all of the boys were still affected by their past lives. Without authoritative figures to reinforce these taboos, they eroded over time. “Roger took up a small stone and flung it between the twins, aiming to miss. They started and Sam only just kept his footing. Some source of power began to pulse in Roger’s body.” (pg. 175) During this quote, Piggy, Ralph, Sam, and Eric are all confronting Jack’s group. They had only just gotten there, and Roger was testing their limits, but not without finding a new source of power for himself. At this point, Roger could probably hurt the twins at any time without the slightest of protests. Not even a silly protest from the parents, school, police, or law that was previously restraining him. The change in the boy’s mentalities seem sight from the beginning of the book, but they do change progressively as the need for survival increases and forms of positive authority decrease.
The final example of the boy’s distancing from society in their transition into savagery. “‘Here--let me go!’ [Piggy’s] voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.” (pg. 40) Before this quote happened, all of the boys had rushed up to the top of the mountain to make the first fire. They made the pile of wood successfully, but when it came time to light it, no one knew how. When Piggy finally caught up and reached the top, Jack seized the chance and said that Piggy’s glasses could be used. Naturally, everyone swarmed him for his specs. Even in the beginning of the book, Jack had a kind of crazy demeanor, later adopted by the rest of the boys. “We’ll raid them and take fire.” (pg. 136) When this quote happened, Jack and his newly formed group of savages had just killed the sow, and one of them asked how they were going to cook it. Jack replied with the quote, and carried on with his plan, later stealing a branch from Ralph’s group’s fire. This quote reinforces the theme because, even though Jack said it, it shows that most of the other boys have adopted his savagery.
The theme in William Golding’s Lord of The Flies is looking at man’s behavior when unexpectedly faced with the harsh reality of survival. This is because of the boy’s symbolic representations, lack of authoritative figures/punishment, and transition into savagery. The group of boys in Lord of the Flies weren’t able to stay sane for the whole duration of their visit to the island. Would you?
Kirsten Zornado
How long do you think you could last on a desert island before going crazy? In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young school boys are put into this exact situation. The four most important characters are Ralph, the leader, Jack, the choir leader, Piggy, the brains, and Simon, the goodness and purity of the island. The book details these boy’s descent into savagery, even going as far as to split the main group (Ralph’s) into two (Ralph’s and Jack’s). The theme in William Golding’s Lord of The Flies is examining man’s behavior when unexpectedly faced with the harsh reality of survival. Golding demonstrates this by using the boy’s symbolic representations, lack of authoritative figures/punishment, and transition into savagery.
The boy’s symbolic representations are a clear example of the boy’s distancing from civil society. “‘But they’ll be painted! You know how it is’ The others nodded. They understood only too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.” (pg. 172) In this quote, Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric are planning to go get Piggy’s specs back from Jack’s group. Eric was worrying that Jack’s paint would be too intimidating to carry on. This is relevant to the theme because, when the boys were left alone on the island, they resorted to the “liberation into savagery” that the paint brought. “Ralph--remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.” (pg. 177) Piggy, always the voice of reason, is reminding Ralph why they confronted Jack and his savages in this quote. Piggy is a representation of wisdom, and knowledge, albeit one of the only boys on the island with any of these qualities. This is very relevant to the theme because he IS one of the only ones who retained these qualities under the pressure of survival on the island. Golding tries to make humans out to have a lot of evil inside of them. There are only one, maybe two boys who aren’t completely savage by the end of the book. This minority proves his point very well
A lack of positive authoritative figures and punishment contribute to the theme as well. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry--threw it to miss... Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.” (pg. 62) In this quote, one of the biguns, Roger, was throwing stones at a littlun, Henry, after his shift tending the fire. Roger had just stormed through the children’s sand castles with his friend, Maurice. Maurice had felt a little bit guilty for getting sand into a child’s eye, so he decided to go swim. The “taboo of old life” as Golding put it, was holding Roger’s arm back, when otherwise he surely would have hit Henry. This quote reinforces the theme because, so soon after the initial plane crash, all of the boys were still affected by their past lives. Without authoritative figures to reinforce these taboos, they eroded over time. “Roger took up a small stone and flung it between the twins, aiming to miss. They started and Sam only just kept his footing. Some source of power began to pulse in Roger’s body.” (pg. 175) During this quote, Piggy, Ralph, Sam, and Eric are all confronting Jack’s group. They had only just gotten there, and Roger was testing their limits, but not without finding a new source of power for himself. At this point, Roger could probably hurt the twins at any time without the slightest of protests. Not even a silly protest from the parents, school, police, or law that was previously restraining him. The change in the boy’s mentalities seem sight from the beginning of the book, but they do change progressively as the need for survival increases and forms of positive authority decrease.
The final example of the boy’s distancing from society in their transition into savagery. “‘Here--let me go!’ [Piggy’s] voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.” (pg. 40) Before this quote happened, all of the boys had rushed up to the top of the mountain to make the first fire. They made the pile of wood successfully, but when it came time to light it, no one knew how. When Piggy finally caught up and reached the top, Jack seized the chance and said that Piggy’s glasses could be used. Naturally, everyone swarmed him for his specs. Even in the beginning of the book, Jack had a kind of crazy demeanor, later adopted by the rest of the boys. “We’ll raid them and take fire.” (pg. 136) When this quote happened, Jack and his newly formed group of savages had just killed the sow, and one of them asked how they were going to cook it. Jack replied with the quote, and carried on with his plan, later stealing a branch from Ralph’s group’s fire. This quote reinforces the theme because, even though Jack said it, it shows that most of the other boys have adopted his savagery.
The theme in William Golding’s Lord of The Flies is looking at man’s behavior when unexpectedly faced with the harsh reality of survival. This is because of the boy’s symbolic representations, lack of authoritative figures/punishment, and transition into savagery. The group of boys in Lord of the Flies weren’t able to stay sane for the whole duration of their visit to the island. Would you?