Dr Rod's English Page: IGCSE

Showing posts with label IGCSE. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

FOR SALE! Complete handbook for this blog and its resources

I have recently compiled an Adobe pdf version of this entire Blog site plus some additional materials. The book is 580 pages in length and approx 7.5 Mb in file transfer size. The book spans 2008 - 2012 and covers various aspects of teaching ESL and EFL classes as well as mainstream English. It includes lesson plans, resource links, work sheets, student examples, Exam links (IGSE / IB etc). I a presently taking pre-orders at € 10 each. The book is printable therefore the resources and examples can be used in your classes. It covers age groups Key Stage 3 -5 / US Grades 8 - 12 as well as college and University under graduate levels. This is a valuable resource for teachers and student teachers.

For more information and how to order your copy please write to me at the below link Thank you

ORDER HERE / More Information

Shakespeare Study Guides – (Cummings)

For everyone who is interested in excellent Shakespeare guides and materials I really recommend Cummings Study Guides. We have recommended these materials in the past and are pleased to pass along that there have been many major updates and expansions to the original materials.

In their own words……

Plays, Sonnets, Poems

Play Summaries and Analysis: Plot summaries of all the plays, including those of doubtful or joint authorship, such as Edward III, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Sir Thomas More (partly written by Shakespeare), and Cardenio (probably partly written by Shakespeare). Criticism, sources, settings, dates, themes, and other information.
Sonnet Summaries and Analysis: Definition, origin, and development of the sonnet form. Comparison of the Shakespearean sonnet with the Petrarchan sonnet. Analysis of the rhyme scheme of the Shakespearean sonnet. Common sonnet themes. Discussion of the "young man," "the dark lady," and the "rival poet" referred to in the sonnets. Sonnets and sexuality.
Narrative and Complaint Poems: Background information, themes, style, and summaries of Shakespeare's long narrative poems—Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece—and the complaint poem, A Lover's Complaint (with an annotated text). Analysis of The Phoenix and the Turtle.

This is a

A Free Resource Posted by Michael J. Cummings (mcum.mings@mail.com)
Recommended as a Shakespeare Resource by The New York Times

Monday, January 31, 2011

School of Educators–Resource

The online School of Educators is a tremendous resource for teachers, parents and students alike. Best described by founder and editor in chief Vishal Jain …

Education synonyms being breeding, civilization, coaching, cultivation, culture, development, discipline, edification, enlightenment,improvement, knowledge, nurturing, teaching, training, tutoring etc. It encompasses many things which in short mean an overall development of a student.

Success of a nation depends on education of its people. Education has to be at the core of national development agenda. School education is perhaps the most important basic element of education system as it lays strong foundation for further learning.

The learning and development of one teacher will translate into better education for thousands of students. With this in mind, School of educators focuses on bringing forth innovative resources that help educators, administrators, principals and teachers in delivering better quality education to their students and to manage their Schools / colleges professionally.

Vishal Jain
Editor in Chief

Visit SCHOOLOFEDUCATORS today and subscribe (free) to their newsletter.

Do you have an iPhone? Then look here ..

EducationApps of London is a fantastic resources for those with iPhones and some other Smart phones.

George Burgess has created a series of applications to help students revise and prepare for their different exams. From the UK 11+ through to AS Level and beyond. EducationApps is a fast growing company with new offerings appearing every month.

Visit EducationApps web site and discover the resources available and I strongly recommend that you book mark it as a favourite on your internet browser.

For more details contact EducationApps or George directly.

Who is ‘AskEric’?

This is one of the best resources for anyone associated with education. I strongly recommend this as a great place to start your research.

About the ERIC Collection

ERIC provides unlimited access to more than 1.3 million bibliographic records of journal articles and other education-related materials, with hundreds of new records added multiple times per week. If available, links to full text are included.

Within the ERIC Collection, you will find records for:

journal articles
books
research syntheses
conference papers
technical reports
policy papers
other education-related materials

You may also search special collections from the What Works Clearinghouse and the Regional Educational Laboratories.

Who Uses ERIC

ERIC users include education researchers, teachers, librarians, administrators, education policymakers, instructors and students in teacher-preparation programs, parents, the media and business communities, and the general public. The user community conducts more than eight million searches each month through the ERIC Web site and commercial and non-commercial sites.

What's in ERIC

Journals in ERIC

ERIC indexes education journals, the majority of which are peer-reviewed. Most of these journals are indexed comprehensively - that is, a record for every article in each issue is included in ERIC. Some journals are indexed selectively - that is, only those articles that are education-related are selected for indexing.

Journal records typically include bibliographic data (author, title, date, journal citation, publisher) and an abstract, or short description of the work. A small number of journal publishers also make the full text of an article available at no cost directly through this Web site. The majority of journal articles need to be obtained through library print and electronic holdings or directly from the publisher. To aid in the finding process, ERIC includes Find in a Library and/or Publisher's Web site links at the end of every record with an ISSN number.

View Sample ERIC Journal Record

Other Materials in ERIC

In addition to the journal literature, ERIC indexes education-related materials from a variety of sources, including scholarly organizations, professional associations, research centers, policy organizations, university presses, the U.S. Department of Education and other federal agencies, and state and local agencies. Individual contributors submit conference papers, research papers, dissertations, and theses.

Records for these materials typically include bibliographic data (author, title, date, source), an abstract, or short description of the work, and a link to the full text in PDF format. ERIC appreciates the individuals and publishers who have given ERIC permission to display the full text at no charge. For most materials from 2004 forward, if full text is not available in ERIC, links to the publishers' Web sites and to libraries that may have the full text are provided.

View Sample ERIC Document Record

Identifying and providing full-text access to this "grey literature" or "fugitive literature" is one of ERIC's signature strengths. Grey literature provides searchers with a wide variety of important information about education. Diverse in format, it ranges from informational materials to very substantive, rigorously researched and reviewed documents, including research syntheses, conference papers, and policy reports. All materials are reviewed and selected in accordance with the ERIC Selection Policy .

Getting Started with ERIC

The ERIC Web site allows you to search education-related bibliographic records any time at no charge. A growing number of full-text materials are becoming available in the ERIC Collection as PDF documents in ERIC or via links to library holdings and publishers' Web sites.

Use the ERIC Web site's Basic Search or Advanced Search tools to search the ERIC Collection.
Use the Thesaurus to identify appropriate words and phrases from ERIC's controlled vocabulary for precision searching.
Use My ERIC to manage your search criteria and search results, save searches, and track your online submissions.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Congratulations to Jasmin! ... and the many others whom this site has helped.

This morning I received a wonderful letter from the mother of one of the hundreds of thousands of people who have used the web site over the last two years. I want to share with you Jasmin's mothers comments but also to invite you to offer suggestions for the next step in Jasmin's English advancement....

Hi,
Firstly THANK YOU for such an excellent website - it has been essential in helping my daughter pass her IGCSE English - she got an A (Home schooling).

Secondly, your advice would be really appreciated. We are looking at writing AS level English in May/June this year. She only needs one AS level but will be taking art too. SO we would need to really do intensive English - can you recommend a good distance learning site? Most of the online courses require a year to 18 months!
In appreciation
Nicky.

Well here is the challenge readers. Can you help Nicky find a good distance delivery site that can offer an intensive AS English program in 6 months? Quite the challenge however thousands of people each week come to this site for its resources - perhaps one or two of you are already using distance delivery and can add a comment here for Nicky to review. Contact Nicky directly here.

Congratulations to Jasmin and as I have said before this site tries to gather together the very best available online so that our students can find the information, ideas and examples in one place.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

William Shakespeare Plays

William Shakespeare the Great Bard of Stratford

William Shakespeare - the Complete Works

Shakespeare Site Map
Shakespeare Biography
Bubonic Plague
Shakespeare Sonnets

First Folio
Shakespearean Insults!
Pictures of Shakespeare
Shakespeare Poems

Shakespeare Facts
Shakespeare Dictionary
Globe Theater
Identity Problem

Shakespeare Quotes
Shakespeare Quiz!
Elizabethan Theater
Shakespeare Forum

The Plays of William Shakespeare
The plays written by the great Bard are listed below by category and alphabetical order. The section relating to the Chronology of Plays provides a list of when plays were written and published. This section provides access to the plot summary of each play, pictures, key dates, characters, history and the full script of every one of William Shakespeare's plays.

History themed Plays
**Click a link below to access full scripts and information about Shakespeare's Plays**

Tragedy themed Plays
Click a link below to access full scripts and information about Shakespeare's Plays

Comedy themed Plays
Click a link below to access full scripts and information about Shakespeare's Plays

Registration of Plays

Plays were required to be registered prior to publication. It was important that plays were regulated as playwrights used the stage as a forum to express their own views on religion and politics. Registration provided an opportunity to invoke a form of censorship and the means to suppress too much freedom of thought and criticism of the crown and public affairs.

Information provided about the plays

The Bard never published any of his plays and therefore none of the original manuscripts have survived. Eighteen unauthorised versions of his plays were, however, published during his lifetime in quarto editions by unscrupulous publishers (there were no copyright laws protecting Shake-speare and his works during the Elizabethan era). A collection of his works did not appear until 1623 (a full seven years after Shakespeare's death on April 23, 1616) when two of his fellow actors, John Hemminges and Henry Condell, posthumously recorded his work and published 36 of William’s plays in the First Folio. Some dates are therefore approximate other dates are substantiated by historical events, records of performances and the dates plays appeared in print.

The Characters and Scripts
These enduring works feature many famous and well loved characters. The text and scripts convey vivid impressions. The language used today is, in many ways, different to that used in the 16th century Elizabethan era and this is often reflected in the script and text used in the plays. It is therefore not surprising that we have no experience or understanding of some of the words contained in the text / script of the various works. We have therefore included a Shakespearean Dictionary for most of the more obscure words used in the script of his plays, some of which are obsolete in modern language or Dictionaries. Make a note of any unusual words that you encounter whilst reading the scripts and check their definition in the Dictionary by clicking Dictionary at the top of the page to access Elizabethan Dictionary - Guide to language and words used in the Elizabethan era.

Chronology of Plays
The section relating to the Chronology of Plays provides a list of when plays were written and published. This section provides access to the plot summary of each of the plays, pictures, key dates, characters, history and the full script of every one of William Shake-speare's plays.

Chronology of Plays - First performance and publications

Editions of Plays
This selection of Collections of Shake-speare conveys the number of different editions of the Plays of the Bard that have been published. Editions may vary in content and variations are generally detailed and explained in the modern forewords.1623 The First Folio (F1)
1632 The Second Folio (F2)
1663 The Third Folio (F3) Second issue of the F3 in the following year includes Pericles.
1685 The Fourth Folio (F4)
1709 Nicholas Rowe's edition
1723-25 Alexander Pope's edition.
1733 Lewis Theobald's edition.
1734-5 Robert Walker's small-format editions of the individual plays
1734-6 Jacob Tonson
1743-4 Thomas Hanmer's edition.
1747 William Warburton's edition.
1765 Samuel Johnson's edition.
1767-8 Edward Capell's edition.
1773 George Stevens's revision of Samuel Johnson's edition.
1773-4 John Bell's edition - Based on the prompt books then being used in the London theatres.
1778 Isaac Reed's revision of Stevens's Johnson edition.
1790 Edmond Malone's edition.
1791-1802 J. & J. Boydell's edition.
1795 First American edition published at Philadelphia.
1807 Francis Douce's edition
1821 A revised edition of Malone, prepared by James Boswell.
1822-23 Pickering edition.
1838-43 Charles Knight's edition.
1859-60 Mary Cowden Clarke's edition.
1863-6 Clark, Wright and Glover Cambridge University Press edition.
1870-1911 William J. Rolfe edition
1899-1931 W. J. Craig and R. H. Case's 'The Arden Shakespeare'.
1921-66 John Dover Wilson and Arthur Quiller-Couch's 'New Cambridge Shakespeare'.
1937-59 George B. Harrison's 'Penguin Shakespeare'.
1951 Peter Alexander's edition.
1956-67 Alfred Harbage's 'Pelican Shakespeare'.
1974 G. Blakemore Evans's 'Riverside Shakes-peare'.The edition most widely used among US colleges
1986 Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor's 'Oxford Shakespeare'.
1995- Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson and David Scott Kastan's revision of the Arden (now known as 'Arden 3').

First Folio - Description of William Shakespeare Quarto Texts and first published plays as Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

Plays and the Globe Theatre
Plays were big!! There was money to be made!! There was a constant demand for new material!! Rivalry between the Theatres Playhouses was enormous!! As soon as plays were written they was immediately produced - printing followed productions! So the actors initially used 'foul papers' or prompts. Rival theater companies would send their members to attend plays to produce unauthorised copies of plays - notes were made and copied as quickly as possible. In Shakespeare’s time copyright did not exist. Alternative versions of Shakespearean plays were produced! These unauthorised and inferior text copies of Shakespeare's plays are called Quarto Texts.

The success of the Elizabethan theaters, including that of the Globe, was such that other forms of Elizabethan entertainment were being seriously affected. In 1591 the growing popularity of theatres led to a law closing all theaters on Thursdays so that the bull and bear bating industries would not be neglected! Many of the plays of the Great Playwright were first featured in the Globe Theatre of London.

Comedies, Histories and Tragedies

William Shakespeare Plays

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Related Lord of the Flies Resources

Study Guide for Lord of the Flies

Essay Analysis from online … somewhere to begin from.

my new essay is on lord of the flies.

sc15pcz

Mar 26, 09, 12:14am

you can combine topics as long as you show how they are connected in supporting your specific thesis on human nature and society.
1. character interpretation: choose one of the main characters and interpret the changes he goes through. what do these changes suggest about the novel's message regarding society and human nature? or, compare 2 or even 3 characters to show what ideas these characters represent regarding society or human nature.
2. symbolic interpretation: choose one or more of the main symbols and interpret the importance of that symbol in the novel. what do the symbols suggest about society and human nature. you might analyze changes in the conch throughout the novel and the changes in the tribe it represents. or compare changes in the conch to changes in the lord of the flies (pigs head) to explain how these changes reflect changes in the tribe. or compare different uses of fire. or examine piggy's specs, face paint, or any combination of these symbols. make sure that you compare each of them as you go and link them all together with a thesis regarding human nature and society. use symbol and symbolize only once or twice.
3. interpretation of irony: interpret various ironic situations and their importance in developing the novel's message regarding human nature and society. you might examine the boys' assumptions about grown-ups, the use of fire, their assumptions about the beast, the death of simon and their eventual rescue by the naval commander. in each case make sure you explain exactly how the situation is ironic: how is the reality or outcome of the situation the exact opposite of the characters expectations? what do these ironies suggest about human nature, society, or the nature of reality?
topic should have to do with human nature and society and the novel's message about them. you might also analyze what effect society has on human nature. what kind of societies or governments best keep human nature under control? can any government really suppress problems of human nature completely? why/why not?
i was thinking of maybe doing the symbolism one, the boys clothes fall apart as the novel goes on, and so does their social interactions, and their "humanity".
but then again this is humanity in a way, so i wasnt sure.
also maybe something about how golding uses piggy to keep the novel going, if they didnt have him for the other boys to ridicule and taunt, then they might just end up running around and hunting instead of hunting eachother.
maybe the littluns role, they serve as a gauge of the older boys' morality, how they treat the littuns is how they are. but maybe they might represent something else, innocence... maybe...
how golding uses the gentler characters, simon and piggy to enrage the other boys and get them to the point where they show their true humanity and loose all ties to society.
if you didnt read this book ill just post it somewhere else. i want to have an original topic, and im not sure what i am the most interested in.

sc15pcz
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sc15pcz

Mar 26, 09, 01:04am

some ideas, a little more developed than the first. still cant choose one.
Are the littluns filler, or do they mean something more?
The littluns seem to just be in their own little group that does whatever they want, they build castles and play on the beach all day, but they can be useful. Golden uses the littluns to gauge the older boys morality, if they are cruel to them, then they are cruel in general. But they also seem to symbolize the connection between the boys and society, they are innocent and remind us of how people behave in society. The littluns cry a lot, and they are not scared to admit that they are frightened, and they don't go off and hunt or do any of that, they link the boys with their last shreds of normal behavior, and are not caught up in the older boys war.
Piggy, Ralph and Simon Made Me Do It
Would the boys become killers without Piggy, Simon, and Ralph?
Well, obviously they couldn't kill Simon and Piggy if they never existed, but if they were like the others, blood thirsty and savage, the others may have never been driven to kill at all. These softer characters are used to create a contrast between them that brings out the truth about humanity.
No Clothes, No Morals
As time on the island passes, their clothes fall apart, and with them their links to society, and their true human nature emerges.

sc15pcz
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lowryder49

Mar 26, 09, 09:50am

history shows us that Humans tends to commit the same mistakes over and over again
Killing, rage adn anger are parts of human nature as well as loving, caring and nursing
lord of the flies topics are war, power, superiority,frienship these are a few

lowryder49
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EF_Kevin [Moderator]

Mar 27, 09, 12:28am

I agree that symbolism is always a safe bet... and it can make for such a great essay. Symbolism is fascinating.
I really like your section about whether the Littluns are filler or something more!
Who is the kid that turned all evil? It would be cool to write about the changes he went through... but that would not be original.
Your ideas are good. Write some more of it!

EF_Kevin
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EF_Sean [Moderator]

Mar 28, 09, 06:16pm

I like where you seem to be going with the clothes as symbolic approach. Clothes conceal us, after all, hide our bodies. If, then, as the clothes decay, we see the children's true nature, which is animalistic and brutal, it is presumably the case that the children's nature doesn't decay, so much as get revealed as the civilizing veneer of socialization wear's off. So, the clothing would then actually represent socialization. You can definitely build on that to create a solid essay. Good luck.

EF_Sean
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sc15pcz

Mar 30, 09, 05:13pm

i wrote this before i got any of your comments, but i couldnt decide so it is kind of a mixture of all of them. some of my classmates read it, and they didnt think it was too random but i do... does it fit together at all? it seems to me to just be a jumble but im not sure...
They Made Me Do it
SEE BELOW

sc15pcz
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EF_Kevin [Moderator]

Mar 31, 09, 04:16pm

Everyone feels this way at one time or another; ~~and~~ no matter how much society tries to force it out of us, we still have our human nature under ~~it all~~ the facade of civility, and we will do what is necessary to survive.
How about that, with the semi-colon and a slight tweak.
This essay is great! I like the way you expertly attended to all the important things: narrative hook at the start, clear thesis, logical sequence of ideas. It is great!
The only gripe I have with you is that you oversimplify Golding's message. The story obviously shows that we have savagery beneath our civilized appearances, but I don't think he meant to say that we will always revert to our animal instincts. Instead, his exposition of the mechanisms that give rise to violence, and the factors that work against good leadership, gives readers real wisdom and insight. Golding shows a model of the human societal process... shows it in the form of a sort of experiment on an island, a "what if" scenario. Golding is showing something about human nature, and, more importantly, he is exposing the demons that need to be conquered if we are to succeed in keeping the violence out of society.

EF_Kevin
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EF_Sean [Moderator]

Mar 31, 09, 05:23pm

The great flaw in your argument is that Ralph and Piggy don't in fact lose their morals. Both remain decent human beings standing up for what they believe is right to the very end. Piggy is murdered, and Ralph would have been, if not for the arrival of adults, or course, but they die, or come close to it, precisely because they refuse to give up their moral nature. So, perhaps you need to go a little deeper into your analysis than merely saying that everyone loses their morals when they don't have supervision. Why does Ralph lose out to Jack in the political battle? Why does Jack set the entire island ablaze in an effort to destroy him, even though he is smart enough to realize that this must surely end in his own destruction too? You might want to throw in some Freudian analysis here -- id, ego, superego. Also, what could Ralph have done to change the outcome? Why doesn't he?
"We need societies structure to keep us from reverting back to animals" But the larger society in the book is essentially on the verge of WWIII. That is, the planet itself is about to burn as the island does, only in a nuclear conflagration. So, even with society's structure, our destructive impulses can still emerge and destroy us.
Good essay overall, then, but try to dig a bit deeper to make it even stronger.

EF_Sean
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sc15pcz

Apr 1, 09, 02:11am

sean, i get what you mean about ralph and piggy, but there is one point where they are so caught up in the hunters dance that they want to join in and kill simon. they do not loose their morals, but they arent completely intact either.
will work on the rest, just wanted to say that.

sc15pcz
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sc15pcz

Edited by: sc15pcz Apr 1, 09, 02:47am

#10

maybe a little better, not sure if i caught everything. ill change more of the stuff you said sean, i just need to have this done tonight for the second draft to show my teacher, and i already blew it by falling asleep.
They Made Me Do it
Have you ever been so mad you wanted to kill someone? Been so angry you just wanted to rip their head off? Everyone feels this way at one time or another; no matter how much society tries to force ...
SEE BELOW

sc15pcz
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EF_Kevin [Moderator]

Apr 1, 09, 05:25pm

#11

The boys are all "going native" to one extent or another, and loosing their footholds that keep them from going over the edge; however, it is sometimes hard to tell ...
Above, that was a run-on sentence without the semi-colon. I had not noticed it before! You tried to use "however" in the way you would use "but"; however, "however" cannot be used as a conjunction. "But" can be used in a compound sentence, but "however" needs its own sentence.
This is really quite a great essay, and the last paragraph leaves no doubt tha you understand the theme. It would be better, though, if you add a few sentences about how the society on the island is like a model that shows how larger societies sink into violence -- as a result of the savage ways to which we resort we are frightened.

EF_Kevin
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sc15pcz

Apr 10, 09, 12:33am

#12

so, my teacher didnt really think the ideas were connected. he said to have two of the paragraph topics be the theme and the other two the body, but im not exactly sure what he meant. i tried rewriting it like he said but i got stuck. help? suggestions? im pretty much at a block and cant seem to write anything else. thanks.
SEE BELOW

sc15pcz
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EF_Kevin [Moderator]

Apr 10, 09, 01:59pm

#13

Have you ever wanted to kill someone?
I like it! You toned down this opening in a good way. The mention of killing someone is enough to grab the attention. In general, it will be good for you to eliminate unnecessary sentences in your writing. Same for all of us.
Most would say no; however, ~~if you think about it we get outraged very easily, and~~ sometimes it takes all our self-control to keep from lashing out.

sc15pcz:

Humans fear what they do not understand, and unfortunately we understand very little. It is up to us to try to explain the mysteries of our world in order to maintain civility, and refrain from aggression.

Excellent! Now, reread your whole essay and think of it as advice you were writing for kids who were about to become policy-makers, senate, congress, etc. The essay is all very good. But I think you are neglecting the fact that the lessons in the story are most useful for those who would participate in government -- an important thing to at least acknowledge.

EF_Kevin
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sc15pcz

Apr 13, 09, 11:47pm

#14

i had to rush at the end but here it is. i kind of lost interest in the topic because i didnt do it right away...
56093
An Adaption to Ruthlessness
What would it mean to be the lord of the flies? William Golding entitles his work the Lord of the Flies leading one to wonder weather he refers to the decapitated pigs head or to Ralph. The fly is an ignoble creature. It is small. It is a bearer of germs. It is known to feed on feces. If Golding perceives the boys as flies, his view of human beings is completely pessimistic. His premise is that if left alone on an island away from the supervision, rules, and laws of adults, boys would revert to a state of total savagery and would proceed to murder one another. Survival of the fittest would be enacted. To become a lord or ruler of such creatures would require becoming the most violent and vicious person among the group. In short this ruler would rule over insignificant creatures and thus be no true lord at all. Ralph is not able to maintain his rule over the boys because his power stems from his ability to think with forethought rather than physical strength. Ultimately Ralph's intelligence cannot overcome jack's force. One of the true marks of maturity is learning that simply because you can, doesn't mean that you should. In a human context, what does it take to maintain rule, intelligence or strength? Golding puts forth the idea that force is superior to intelligence in the quest for power.
In the beginning it appears that Ralph is the logical leader of the group, but if Ralph hadn't been so calm, Piggy so smart, and Simon so gentle, the other boys would still have come to kill. These softer characters were used as a catalyst to expose the true nature of the boys. They were all just looking for food and playing at first, but when the hunters start messing around and let the fire go out, Ralph says the "smoke is more important than the pig, however often you kill one" (81), and he is not impressed by their kill. They are angry because they think their game is impressive, and they do not appreciate him telling them that all their manly efforts were not of any use. Jack uses this annoyance towards Ralph to his advantage; planting the idea that Ralph is an annoying know-it-all and causing the rest of the hunters to want to show off more to spite him. He revs them up into a frenzy until all they want to do is "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood" (69), and all Ralph's ideas about keeping the fire going seem to be a joke. The hunters feel that they are too strong to take orders from a weakling that "[is] not a hunter. [And would] never have got [them] meat" (126). They don't know anything about him, so when Jack says, "He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing" (126), the hunters start to question the idea that they will be rescued with fire, and begin to follow Jack even more. Piggy and Simon are similar to Ralph, being smart and unique. They consider the consequences of their actions, rather than just going for whatever whim comes their way. The hunters don't like this. They want to be able to do what they want, when they want, so when the odd ones tell them to behave, they get annoyed and think they are better than them and shouldn't be ruled by the ones who are not the most vicious or violent. They are not the lord, and therefore are nothing.
That which we want the most is often the worst possible thing for us. It is important in life to know when to draw the line. To know what is ok, and what is going too far. The flies have lost this sense. They can no longer tell the bad from the good, they simply do what they feel is necessary to survive, so when they attack they never think to stop. Never think it is wrong to kill another boy. Thus as the boys forget about their civility, the reader begins to wonder how far they have really gone, and Golding uses the littluns to remind us of the empire waiting for them back home. They act as a gauge, to tell us how far each character has fallen. The littluns are around six, terrified of everything, spend all their time eating and playing, but are essentially harmless. They aren't expected to do anything, but what really shows a persons character is how they act towards those who cannot protect themselves. If you go and poke a baby with a stick, you cannot be a very nice person. Some people pretend, but on the island with no consequences, how they act towards the weak shows a lot about who they are. Ralph, being the leader, is not mean to them, and tries to include them in meetings by using "simple words so that even [they] would understand"(79); however, he doesn't find them useful. This demonstrates his nature. He is a pensive boy who finds delight in swimming, and simple things, and does not find the affairs of others particularly intriguing unless they directly affect him. This is displayed when he tells them to make sure they do not go to the bathroom near the food, water, or tents, and also when they start all the talk about the beast which makes all his followers begin to question him. Piggy is similar to Ralph in that respect, he is not mean, but does not think they warrant his attention. He feels that they are childish, and he is above their games, saying, "If the littluns climb back on the twister again they'll only fall off in a sec. So they might as well sit on the ground and listen" (84), in a rather irritated manner. Correspondingly, Piggy always feels that he is smarter than everyone else, and he comes up with most of the good ideas, even if no one listens to him. Simon on the other hand goes out of his way to be kind to them, bringing them "fruit they [cannot] reach" (56), and looking out for them when no one else does, which exemplifies his kind, caring nature, to sacrifice himself for the well-being of others. One of the middle kids (neither bigun, nor littlun), Maurice throws sand in their eyes and rocks around them; however, when they are all at a meeting he "save[s] them" (87) crying out, "Look at me!" (87), and pretending to fall over in order to make them laugh and avoid their crying. This is not a completely selfless act, in that he would have to wait for them to stop, nonetheless, he still tries to help, which is illustrated later when he follows the rest of the hunters, not exactly wanting to kill, but simply trying to avoid being singled out like the other three, and saving his own skin. This leads to Jack who is mean and thinks they are a "useless lot of cry-babies!" (83), and it would "serve [them] right if something did get [them]" (83) for causing all the trouble about the beast. When Jack's tribe splits off, he leaves all the littuns with the nicer characters who care if they are unhappy or in danger, which shows how he is savage, and will waste no effort in trying to help out little children, simply hunting and killing whatever he can. It's like stealing candy from a baby, if you do it to make yourself happy, then you are a horrible person, and you can't deny it.
Golding uses clothing as a symbol for civilization. Every morning we put on clothes without thinking about their function. Clothes provide warmth and preserve modesty. They also maintain cleanliness and give a protective covering to the skin. The first description of Ralph is that he is trailing his school sweater by one arm and that the clothing he still wears is causing him to sweat. Thus his clothes do not suit the climate or circumstances in which he finds himself. As the book goes on, the boys' clothing deteriorates with their morals. It is a logical response to a tropical climate to wear less clothing. The boys take off their shirts and shoes to remain cool. This is liberating in a physical sense as well as a mental one as they would not be permitted to do this at home. They run around and play enlivened by this new freedom from the restrictions of vestments. The longer they live in this state of virtual nakedness, the dirtier and more ragged they become. The longer they exist without the restrictions of civilization, the mental reaction to autonomy is moral deterioration. Even at the beginning of the book when Ralph pulls off all his clothes, he stands "among the skull-like coconuts" (10), which foreshadows the future. A person who sheds all clothing and discards all morals is less protected from death. Near the end of the book when all the boys' shorts are in tatters and are being held up by mere threads as well as their links to society, Ralph makes one last attempt to rein them in. He puts on his shirt from the first day even though it is stiff with sweat and very uncomfortable. Just as in a restaurant a sign will warn "No shirt no shoes no service", the wearing of clothing represents accountability and responsibility or the consciousness that human nakedness requires covering to be civilized. As the deterioration of morality intensifies, the boys begin to rely more on their fear of danger to make decisions. Unlike animals who navigate their world with instinct, the fear begins to overshadow their common sense. They completely loose their minds when the "demented" dance starts. "Out of the terror (rises) another desire, thick, urgent, blind"(152). They are overcome by their fear and their instincts turn to bloodlust. They are possessed with the urge to kill and they cannot stop themselves. Then at Castle Rock, all the hunters chant and yell, and the "storm of sound beat at them, in an incantation of hatred"(180). Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever, causing the boulder to crush piggy. Every time the boys start to chant someone dies. After that the hunters give up all control, and Jack shouts, "There isn't a tribe for you anymore!"(181) They all proceed to attack him with spears and every last trace of humanity is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to lead overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. The bloodlust is summoned and the façade of civility is discarded like an unwanted garment.
As the boys deteriorate, they begin to rely more on their fear to determine danger than common sense, more animal than human. When the "demented" dance starts they loose their heads, and "out of terror [rises] another desire, thick, urgent, blind" (152). They are overcome by their fear and it turns into bloodlust, they are possessed, and cannot stop themselves from killing, nor do they want to. Then at castle rock when all the hunters are chanting and yelling, and the "storm of sound beat[s] at them, in an incantation of hatred" (180), Roger is gripped "with a sense of delirious abandonment" (180), and he leans on the lever and the boulder crushes Piggy. When they let themselves be taken over they let all their human thoughts fall away. The sound revs them up, and every time they start to chant, someone dies. After that the hunters give up control all together and Jack shouts "there isn't a tribe for you anymore!" (181). They have fallen into an animalistic state, and Ralph is forced to run for his life as they stab at him. Every last trace of their attempts at society is gone. The alpha instinct in Jack to be leader overcomes him and he gets the whole tribe to attack. Underneath it all, the bloodlust comes out, the façade crumbles, and there is nothing you can do about it, its just human nature.
We need society's structure to keep us from reverting back to animals. When all the hallmarks of civilization have been striped away it is all we can do to refrain from using our instincts to make decisions, and attacking whatever we fear. It is important to try to understand what we fear, or we will live in fear forever, and that fear will turn to aggression and we won't be able to resist. It is our ability to consider the consequences of our actions that separates us from animals. We can consider all angles of a situation, and determine weather it is better to stay and fight, or run and hide. Golding uses the island as a model of larger societies to illustrate how they sink into violence, which makes everyone scared, which in turn brings more carnage. Just like Bush's "war on terror", everyone fights out of fear, fear of loosing what they have. Most do not simply fight for the sake of fighting. Humans fear what they do not understand, and unfortunately we understand very little. It is up to us to try to explain the mysteries of our world in order to maintain civility and refrain from aggression, or we will undoubtedly be doomed to repeat, over and over, all the violence.

sc15pcz
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Winpapamon

Apr 14, 09, 03:54am

#15

Should parents be responsible if their children behave badly?
Most children in the duration between childhood and adulthood may be problem-makers of society because they start to learn about the life only at that time.In some places,parents neglect or do not know what their children did wrongly and they have not been nothing to do with their children did.This essay will discuss whether parents should pay attention to their children' committing.
Parents are the very first teachers of their children.Only parents should guide when children start to observe about the environment.In addition,children do not have anyone to rely on except parents.That is why,parents should keep an eye on their children's deed and always take care of their children's behaviors.
There are many excuses for which parents should not take responsibility if their children commit some crimes.One of those is because parents are earning money to support their children's requirements such as educational fees,living,food supplies,clothes and others.For these reasons, they cannot care well about children.What is more,adolescents do not want to stay under the control of parents.They desire to make own decisions and to face everything and to be free from parents' management.Furthermore,some adolescents do not let their parents know what they will do and they did.They want to be secretive on parents.
From my point of view,the phenomenon of that children act badly does not deal with parents because parents are responsible to guide them right from wrong. That is why they are called parents.In my opinion, humans should be effected by the consequences of that they did.It is not for their parents.

Winpapamon
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Lord of the Flies Game –Intro and Instructions

For more information go to http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/literature/golding/help.html

To PLAY the game go to:

http://nobelprize.org/educational_games/literature/golding/lof.html

Lord of the Flies – How To Play

The game is supposed to be played after one has read the book "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. The aim is to introduce some basic analytical aspects concerning the book and to challenge the reader's memory through play.

After a short intro, you will see the island. The only thing that moves is the silhouette of a boy. As you move your mouse cursor over the boy, a yellow "X" appears. Click on it with the mouse button to explore part one of the game.

Part 1.
In the first part of the game, you are supposed to match objects, thoughts and sentences with the correct boy. Match an object by pointing at it with the mouse, drag it with the mouse button pressed to the black area symbolizing the boy and release the mouse button. If you drag the object to the correct boy, it disappears and a black dot appears on the boy's name sign. If you choose the wrong boy, or if you drop the object outside the black silhouette, it jumps back to its original position.

When you have matched everything, you will see all the boys and a "GO ON" sign appears in the lower right corner. Click on it with the mouse button.

You now return to the island. The only thing that moves are pigs running in the forest. As you move your mouse cursor over them, a yellow "X" appears. Click on it with the mouse button to explore part two of the game.

Part 2.
In part two, you are to match one object with each palm tree. Match an object by pointing at it with the mouse, drag it with the mouse button pressed to the trunk of a tree and release the mouse button. If you drag the correct object, it stays below the trunk and three signs with quotes from the book appear on the trunk. If you move an incorrect object to a tree, a sign with a quote appears as a hint and the object jumps back to its original position.

When you have matched everything a "GO ON" sign appears in the lower right corner. Click on it with the mouse button.

You now return to the island. The only thing that moves is a palm tree. As you move your mouse cursor over it, a yellow "X" appears. Click on it with the mouse button to explore part three of the game.

Part 3.
In part three of the game, a parrot asks four questions about the book. Two answers are given to each question. Choose an answer by clicking on the speech bubble. If you pick the correct one a butterfly will stay on a flower. If you pick the wrong one a flower will wither.

When you have answered the four questions, a "GO ON" sign appears in the lower right corner. Click on it with the mouse button.

You now return to the island. The only thing that moves is a boy who jumps on and off a boat. As you move your mouse cursor over him, a yellow "X" appears. Click on it with the mouse button.

The final screen shows your score (= number of butterflies) and gives a little information about Golding. If you want to know more, click on the "GO ON" sign. Then you will find William Golding's biography, Nobel Lecture, Banquet Speech and much more.

Did you get stuck or like to cheat? Key »

The Lord of the Flies Game is presented with the
support of The Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

Lord of the Flies Quiz …. how well can you do now?

Quiz

1. Whose responsibility is it to maintain the first signal fire?

(A) Piggy’s

(B) The hunters’

(D) The littluns’

2. What powers does Jack ascribe to the beast after Simon’s murder?

(A) Immortality and the power to change shape

(B) Telepathy and the power to change shape

(D) Enormous strength and murderous cunning

3. How does the first boy disappear?

(A) Roger crushes him with a boulder.

(B) The other boys kill him with their bare hands.

(D) He burns to death when the signal fire ignites the forest.

4. Who is the first boy to disappear?

(A) Piggy

(B) Simon

(D) A littlun

5. Where does the beast go during the day, according to one littlun?

(A) Into the ocean

(B) Into the air

(D) Into the caves near the Castle Rock

6. Who sees the dead parachutist first?

(A) Ralph

(B) Sam and Eric

(D) Piggy

7. Which character speaks to the Lord of the Flies?

(A) Phil

(B) Ralph

(D) Simon

8. What lures the navy ship to the island?

(A) The fire in the jungle

(B) The roar of the beast

(D) The shortwave radio

9. Whom does Jack strike shortly after his first kill?

(A) Ralph

(B) Francis

(D) Roger

10. When Piggy is killed, what else is destroyed?

(A) The shortwave radio

(B) The conch shell

(D) The signal fire

11. What is Ralph’s first act upon being elected leader?

(A) Planning the building of the signal fire

(B) Naming Piggy his chief advisor

(D) Naming Jack the leader of the hunters

12. What object does Ralph clutch when he talks about Simon’s murder?

(A) The sow’s head

(B) The conch shell

(D) A spear

13. Who is the only boy to kill someone on the island by himself?

(A) Piggy

(B) Jack

(D) Robert

14. What does Jack suggest the boys use as the “pig” in their dance-like reenactment of the hunt?

(A) A littlun

(B) Piggy

(D) A real pig

15. Which boy treats the littluns with the most kindness?

(A) Simon

(B) Jack

(D) Ralph

16. Which boy would rather hunt than build huts?

(A) Simon

(B) Jack

(D) Ralph

17. Where is Jack’s tribe headquarters?

(A) Next to Ralph’s

(B) On the mountain of the beast

(D) At the Castle Rock

18. What tool or tools do the boys use to make fire?

(A) A flint and steel

(B) Ralph’s tinderbox

(D) Matches from the airplane

19. What is the boys’ home country?

(A) England

(B) Australia

(D) Canada

20. Who kills Piggy?

(A) Ralph

(B) Roger

(D) Simon

21. What surrounds Simon’s body as it floats into the sea?

(A) Sharks

(B) Eels

(D) Glowing fish

22. Who knocks the Lord of the Flies to the ground?

(A) Ralph

(B) Roger

(D) Piggy

23. On what obstruction does the dead parachutist become tangled?

(A) Tree limbs

(B) Jagged rocks

(D) The Castle Rock

24. Who tells Jack where Ralph is hiding in Chapter 12?

(A) Simon

(B) Roger

(D) Sam and Eric

25. Which boy does not dance at Jack’s first feast?

(A) Simon

(B) Ralph

(D) Jack

Lord of the Flies Chapter 12

Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.

Summary

Ralph hides in the jungle and thinks miserably about the chaos that has overrun the island. He thinks about the deaths of Simon and Piggy and realizes that all vestiges of civilization have been stripped from the island. He stumbles across the sow’s head, the Lord of the Flies, now merely a gleaming white skull—as white as the conch shell, he notes. Angry and disgusted, Ralph knocks the skull to the ground and takes the stake it was impaled on to use as a weapon against Jack.

That night, Ralph sneaks down to the camp at the Castle Rock and finds Sam and Eric guarding the entrance. The twins give him food but refuse to join him. They tell him that Jack plans to send the entire tribe after him the next day. Ralph hides in a thicket and falls asleep. In the morning, he hears Jack talking and torturing one of the twins to find out where Ralph is hiding. Several boys try to break into the thicket by rolling a boulder, but the thicket is too dense. A group of boys tries to fight their way into the thicket, but Ralph fends them off. Then Ralph smells smoke and realizes that Jack has set the jungle on fire in order to smoke him out. Ralph abandons his hiding place and fights his way past Jack and a group of his hunters. Chased by a group of body-painted warrior-boys wielding sharp wooden spears, Ralph plunges frantically through the undergrowth, looking for a place to hide. At last, he ends up on the beach, where he collapses in exhaustion, his pursuers close behind.

Suddenly, Ralph looks up to see a naval officer standing over him. The officer tells the boy that his ship has come to the island after seeing the blazing fire in the jungle. Jack’s hunters reach the beach and stop in their tracks upon seeing the officer. The officer matter-of-factly assumes the boys are up to, as he puts it, “fun and games.” When he learns what has happened on the island, the officer is reproachful: how could this group of boys, he asks—and English boys at that—have lost all reverence for the rules of civilization in so short a time? For his part, Ralph is overwhelmed by the knowledge that he has been rescued, that he will escape the island after coming so close to a violent death. He begins to sob, as do the other boys. Moved and embarrassed, the naval officer turns his back so that the boys may regain their composure.

Analysis

After Ralph’s tense, exciting stand against the hunters, the ending of Lord of the Flies is rife with irony. Ralph had thought the signal fire—a symbol of civilization—was the only way to lure rescuers to the island. Ironically, although it is indeed a fire that lures a ship to the island, it is not an ordered, controlled signal fire but rather the haphazard forest fire Jack’s hunters set solely for the purpose of killing Ralph. As we have seen, Ralph has worked tirelessly to retain the structure of civilization and maximize the boys’ chances of being rescued. Now, when all he can do is struggle to stay alive as long as possible, a deus ex machina (an improbable or unexpected device or character that suddenly appears to resolve a situation) appears, at the last possible moment, in the form of the naval officer who brings the boys back to the world of law, order, and society. Golding’s use of irony in the last chapter blurs the boundary between civilization and savagery and implies that the two are more closely connected than the story has illustrated. Ultimately, the boys’ appalling savagery brings about the rescue that their coordinated and purposeful efforts were unable to achieve.

Much of the irony at the end of the novel stems from Golding’s portrayal of the naval officer. Although the naval officer saves Ralph, the ending of Lord of the Flies still is not particularly happy, and the moment in which the officer encounters the boys is not one of untainted joy. The officer says that he is unable to understand how upstanding British lads could have acted with such poor form. Ironically, though, this “civilized” officer is himself part of an adult world in which violence and war go hand in hand with civilization and social order. He reacts to the savage children with disgust, yet this disgust is tinged with hypocrisy. Similarly, the children are so shocked by the officer’s presence, and are now psychologically so far removed from his world, that they do not instantly celebrate his arrival. Rather, they stand before him baffled and bewildered. Even Ralph, whose life has literally been saved by the presence of the ship, weeps tears of grief rather than joy. For Ralph, as for the other boys, nothing can ever be as it was before coming to the island of the Lord of the Flies.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 11

The next morning, Ralph and his few companions try to light the fire in the cold air, but the attempt is hopeless without Piggy’s glasses. Piggy, squinting and barely able to see, suggests that Ralph hold a meeting to discuss their options. Ralph blows the conch shell, and the boys who have not gone to join Jack’s tribe assemble on the beach. They decide that their only choice is to travel to the Castle Rock to make Jack and his followers see reason.

Ralph decides to take the conch shell to the Castle Rock, hoping that it will remind Jack’s followers of his former authority. Once at Jack’s camp, however, Ralph’s group encounters armed guards. Ralph blows the conch shell, but the guards tell them to leave and throw stones at them, aiming to miss. Suddenly, Jack and a group of hunters emerge from the forest, dragging a dead pig. Jack and Ralph immediately face off. Jack commands Ralph to leave his camp, and Ralph demands that Jack return Piggy’s glasses. Jack attacks Ralph, and they fight. Ralph struggles to make Jack understand the importance of the signal fire to any hope the boys might have of ever being rescued, but Jack orders his hunters to capture Sam and Eric and tie them up. This sends Ralph into a fury, and he lunges at Jack.

Ralph and Jack fight for a second time. Piggy cries out shrilly, struggling to make himself heard over the brawl. As Piggy tries to speak, hoping to remind the group of the importance of rules and rescue, Roger shoves a massive rock down the mountainside. Ralph, who hears the rock falling, dives and dodges it. But the boulder strikes Piggy, shatters the conch shell he is holding, and knocks him off the mountainside to his death on the rocks below. Jack throws his spear at Ralph, and the other boys quickly join in. Ralph escapes into the jungle, and Roger and Jack begin to torture Sam and Eric, forcing them to submit to Jack’s authority and join his tribe.

Analysis

In the chaos that ensues when Ralph’s and Jack’s camps come into direct conflict, two important symbols in the novel—the conch shell and the Lord of the Flies—are destroyed. Roger, the character least able to understand the civilizing impulse, crushes the conch shell as he looses the boulder and kills Piggy, the character least able to understand the savage impulse. As we see in the next chapter, Ralph, the boy most closely associated with civilization and order, destroys the Lord of the Flies, the governing totem of the dark impulses within each individual. With Piggy’s death and Sam and Eric’s forced conversion to Jack’s tribe, Ralph is left alone on the island, doomed to defeat by the forces of bloodlust and primal chaos.

Appropriately, Ralph’s defeat comes in the form of the hunt, which has been closely associated with the savage instinct throughout Lord of the Flies. Ironically, although hunting is necessary to the survival of the group—there is little other food on the island aside from fruit, which has made many of the boys sick—it is also what drives them into deadly barbarism. From the beginning of the novel, the hunters have been the ones who have pioneered the way into the realm of savagery and violence. Furthermore, the conflict between Ralph and Jack has often manifested itself as the conflict between the interests of the hunters and the interests of the rest of the group. In Chapter 3, for instance, the boys argue over whether Jack’s followers should be allowed to hunt or forced to build huts with Ralph and Simon. Now that Jack and the forces of savagery have risen to unchallenged prominence on the island, the hunt has thoroughly won out over the more peaceful civilizing instinct. Rather than successfully mitigate the power of the hunt with the rules and structures of civilization, Ralph becomes a victim of the savage forces the hunt represents—he has literally become the prey.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 10

The next morning, Ralph and Piggy meet on the beach. They are bruised and sore and feel awkward and deeply ashamed of their behavior the previous night. Piggy, who is unable to confront his role in Simon’s death, attributes the tragedy to mere accident. But Ralph, clutching the conch desperately and laughing hysterically, insists that they have been participants in a murder. Piggy whiningly denies the charge. The two are now virtually alone; everyone except Sam and Eric and a handful of littluns has joined Jack’s tribe, which is now headquartered at the Castle Rock, the mountain on the island.

At the Castle Rock, Jack rules with absolute power. Boys are punished for no apparent reason. Jack ties up and beats a boy named Wilfred and then warns the boys against Ralph and his small group, saying that they are a danger to the tribe. The entire tribe, including Jack, seems to believe that Simon really was the beast, and that the beast is capable of assuming any disguise. Jack states that they must continue to guard against the beast, for it is never truly dead. He says that he and two other hunters, Maurice and Roger, should raid Ralph’s camp to obtain more fire and that they will hunt again tomorrow.

The boys at Ralph’s camp drift off to sleep, depressed and losing interest in the signal fire. Ralph sleeps fitfully, plagued by nightmares. They are awakened by howling and shrieking and are suddenly attacked by a group of Jack’s hunters. The hunters badly beat Ralph and his companions, who do not even know why they were assaulted, for they gladly would have shared the fire with the other boys. But Piggy knows why, for the hunters have stolen his glasses, and with them, the power to make fire.

Analysis

In the period of relative calm following Simon’s murder, we see that the power dynamic on the island has shifted completely to Jack’s camp. The situation that has been slowly brewing now comes to a full boil: Jack’s power over the island is complete, and Ralph is left an outcast, subject to Jack’s whims. As civilization and order have eroded among the boys, so has Ralph’s power and influence, to the extent that none of the boys protests when Jack declares him an enemy of the tribe. As Jack’s power reaches its high point, the figures of the beast and the Lord of the Flies attain prominence. Similarly, as Ralph’s power reaches its low point, the influence and importance of other symbols in the novel—such as the conch shell and Piggy’s glasses—decline as well. As Ralph and Piggy discuss Simon’s murder the following morning, Ralph clutches the conch shell to him for solace, but the once-potent symbol of order and civilization is now useless. Here, Ralph clings to it as a vestige of civilization, but with its symbolic power fading, the conch shell is merely an object. Like the signal fire, it can no longer give Ralph comfort. Piggy’s glasses, the other major symbol of civilization, have fallen into Jack’s hands. Jack’s new control of the ability to make fire emphasizes his power over the island and the demise of the boys’ hopes of being rescued.

We learn a great deal about the different boys’ characters through their varying reactions to Simon’s death. Piggy, who is used to being right because of his sharp intellect, finds it impossible to accept any guilt for what happened. Instead, he sets his mind to rationalizing his role in the affair. Ralph refuses to accept Piggy’s easy rationalization that Simon’s death was accidental and insists that the death was a murder. Yet the word murder, a term associated with the rational system of law and a civilized moral code, now seems strangely at odds with the collective madness of the killing. The foreignness of the word in the context of the savagery on the island reminds us how far the boys have travelled along the moral spectrum since the time when they were forced to follow the rules of adults.

Jack, for his part, has become an expert in using the boys’ fear of the beast to enhance his own power. He claims that Simon really was the beast, implying that the boys have a better grasp of the truth in their frenzied bloodlust than in their calmer moments of reflection. This conclusion is not surprising coming from Jack, who seems almost addicted to that state of bloodlust and frenzy. Jack’s ability to convince the other boys that the state of bloodlust is a valid way of interacting with the world erodes their sense of morality even further and enables Jack to manipulate them even more.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 9

Simon awakens and finds the air dark and humid with an approaching storm. His nose is bleeding, and he staggers toward the mountain in a daze. He crawls up the hill and, in the failing light, sees the dead pilot with his flapping parachute. Watching the parachute rise and fall with the wind, Simon realizes that the boys have mistaken this harmless object for the deadly beast that has plunged their entire group into chaos. When Simon sees the corpse of the parachutist, he begins to vomit. When he is finished, he untangles the parachute lines, freeing the parachute from the rocks. Anxious to prove to the group that the beast is not real after all, Simon stumbles toward the distant light of the fire at Jack’s feast to tell the other boys what he has seen.

Piggy and Ralph go to the feast with the hopes that they will be able to keep some control over events. At the feast, the boys are laughing and eating the roasted pig. Jack sits like a king on a throne, his face painted like a savage, languidly issuing commands, and waited on by boys acting as his servants. After the large meal, Jack extends an invitation to all of Ralph’s followers to join his tribe. Most of them accept, despite Ralph’s attempts to dissuade them. As it starts to rain, Ralph asks Jack how he plans to weather the storm considering he has not built any shelters. In response, Jack orders his tribe to do its wild hunting dance.

Chanting and dancing in several separate circles along the beach, the boys are caught up in a kind of frenzy. Even Ralph and Piggy, swept away by the excitement, dance on the fringes of the group. The boys again re-enact the hunting of the pig and reach a high pitch of frenzied energy as they chant and dance. Suddenly, the boys see a shadowy figure creep out of the forest—it is Simon. In their wild state, however, the boys do not recognize him. Shouting that he is the beast, the boys descend upon Simon and start to tear him apart with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tries desperately to explain what has happened and to remind them of who he is, but he trips and plunges over the rocks onto the beach. The boys fall on him violently and kill him.

The storm explodes over the island. In the whipping rain, the boys run for shelter. Howling wind and waves wash Simon’s mangled corpse into the ocean, where it drifts away, surrounded by glowing fish. At the same time, the wind blows the body of the parachutist off the side of the mountain and onto the beach, sending the boys screaming into the darkness.

Analysis

With the brutal, animalistic murder of Simon, the last vestige of civilized order on the island is stripped away, and brutality and chaos take over. By this point, the boys in Jack’s camp are all but inhuman savages, and Ralph’s few remaining allies suffer dwindling spirits and consider joining Jack. Even Ralph and Piggy themselves get swept up in the ritual dance around Jack’s banquet fire. The storm that batters the island after Simon’s death pounds home the catastrophe of the murder and physically embodies the chaos and anarchy that have overtaken the island. Significantly, the storm also washes away the bodies of Simon and the parachutist, eradicating proof that the beast does not exist.

Jack makes the beast into a godlike figure, a kind of totem he uses to rule and manipulate the members of his tribe. He attributes to the beast both immortality and the power to change form, making it an enemy to be feared and an idol to be worshiped. The importance of the figure of the beast in the novel cannot be overstated, for it gives Jack’s tribe a common enemy (the beast), a common system of belief (their conviction that the mythical beast exists), a reason to obey Jack (protection from the beast), and even a developing system of primitive symbolism and iconography (face paint and the Lord of the Flies).

In a sense, Simon’s murder is an almost inevitable outcome of his encounter with the Lord of the Flies in Chapter 8. During the confrontation in the previous chapter, the Lord of the Flies foreshadows Simon’s death by promising to have some “fun” with him. Although Simon’s vision teaches him that the beast exists inside all human beings, his confrontation with the beast is not complete until he comes face-to-face with the beast that exists within the other boys. Indeed, when the boys kill Simon, they are acting on the savage instinct that the beast represents. Additionally, the manner of Simon’s death continues the parallels between Simon and Jesus: both die sacrificial deaths after learning profound truths about human morality. But Simon’s death differs from Jesus’ in ways that complicate the idea that Simon is simply a Christ figure. Although Jesus and Simon both die sacrificial deaths, Jesus was killed for his beliefs, whereas Simon is killed because of the other boys’ delusions. Jesus died after conveying his message to the world, whereas Simon dies before he is able to speak to the boys. In the biblical tradition, Jesus dies to alleviate the burden of mankind’s sin; Simon’s death, on the other hand, simply intensifies the burden of sin pressing down upon the island. According to the Bible, Jesus’ death shows others the way to salvation; Simon’s death exemplifies the power of evil within the human soul.

Lord of the Flies Chapter 8

“There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!”

Summary

The next morning, the news of the monster has the boys in a state of uproar as they gather on the beach. Piggy, who was not on the mountain the night before, is baffled by the other boys’ claims to have seen the monster. Jack seizes the conch shell and blows into it clumsily, calling for an assembly. Jack tells the others that there is definitely a beast on the mountain and goes on to claim that Ralph is a coward who should be removed from his leadership role. The other boys, however, refuse to vote Ralph out of power. Enraged, Jack storms away from the group, saying that he is leaving and that anyone who likes is welcome to join him.

Deeply troubled, Ralph does not know what to do. Piggy, meanwhile, is thrilled to see Jack go, and Simon suggests that they all return to the mountain to search for the beast. The other boys are too afraid to act on his suggestion, however. Ralph slips into a depression, but Piggy cheers him up with an idea: they should build a new signal fire, on the beach rather than on the mountain. Piggy’s idea restores Ralph’s hope that they will be rescued. The boys set to work and build a new fire, but many of them sneak away into the night to join Jack’s group. Piggy tries to convince Ralph that they are better off without the deserters.

Along another stretch of sand, Jack gathers his new tribe and declares himself the chief. In a savage frenzy, the hunters kill a sow, and Roger drives his spear forcefully into the sow’s anus. Then the boys leave the sow’s head on a sharpened stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast. As they place the head upright in the forest, the black blood drips down the sow’s teeth, and the boys run away.

As Piggy and Ralph sit in the old camp discussing the deserters, the hunters from Jack’s tribe descend upon them, shrieking and whooping. The hunters steal burning sticks from the fire on the beach. Jack tells Ralph’s followers that they are welcome to come to his feast that night and even to join his tribe. The hungry boys are tempted by the idea of pig’s meat.

Just before Jack’s tribe raids the beach, Simon slips away from the camp and returns to the jungle glade where he previously sat marvelling at the beauty of nature. Now, however, he finds the sow’s head impaled on the stake in the middle of the clearing. Simon sits alone in the clearing, staring with rapt attention at the impaled pig’s head, which is now swarming with flies. The sight mesmerizes him, and it even seems as if the head comes to life. The head speaks to Simon in the voice of the “Lord of the Flies,” ominously declaring that Simon will never be able to escape him, for he lies within all human beings. He also promises to have some “fun” with Simon. Terrified and troubled by the apparition, Simon collapses in a faint.

Analysis

The excitement the boys felt when Jack suggests killing a littlun in Chapter 7 comes to grotesque fruition in Chapter 8, during the vicious and bloody hunt following Jack’s rise to power and formation of his new tribe. Jack’s ascent arises directly from the supposed confirmation of the existence of the beast. Once the boys, having mistaken the dead parachutist for a monster, come to believe fully in the existence of the beast, all the remaining power of civilization and culture on the island diminishes rapidly. In a world where the beast is real, rules and morals become weak and utterly dispensable. The original democracy Ralph leads devolves into a cult-like totalitarianism, with Jack as a tyrant and the beast as both an enemy and a revered god. We see the depth of the boys’ growing devotion to the idea of the beast in their impalement of the sow’s head on the stake as an offering to the beast. No longer simply a childish nightmare, the beast assumes a primal, religious importance in the boys’ lives. Jack uses the beast ingeniously to rule his savage kingdom, and each important character in Lord of the Flies struggle to come to terms with the beast. Piggy, who remains steadfastly scientific and rational at this point in the novel, is simply baffled and disgusted. Ralph, who has seen what he thinks is the beast, is listless and depressed, unsure of how to reconcile his civilized ideals with the sight he saw on the mountaintop. But the most complex reaction of all comes from one of the novel’s most complex characters—Simon.

Simon’s confrontation with the Lord of the Flies—the sow’s head impaled on a stake in the forest glade—is arguably the most important scene in the novel, and one that has attracted the most attention from critics. Some critics have interpreted the scene as a retelling of Jesus’ confrontation with Satan during his forty days in the wilderness, a story originally told in the Gospels of the New Testament. Indeed, many critics have described Simon as a Christ figure, for he has a mystical connection to the environment, possesses a saintly and selfless disposition, and meets a tragic and sacrificial death. Others tie the scene into a larger Freudian reading of Lord of the Flies, claiming that its symbols correspond exactly to the elements of the Freudian unconscious (with Jack as the id, Ralph as the ego, and Piggy as the superego). Lord of the Flies may indeed support these and a number of other readings, not necessarily at the exclusion of one another.

Indeed, many differences between Simon and Jesus complicate the comparison between the two and prevent us from seeing Simon as a straightforward Christ figure. Simon, unlike Jesus, is not a supernatural being, and none of the boys could possibly find salvation from the Lord of the Flies through faith in Simon. Rather, Simon’s terror and fainting spell indicate the horrific, persuasive power of the instinct for chaos and savagery that the Lord of the Flies represents. Simon has a deep human insight in the glade, for he realizes that it is not a real, physical beast that inspires the hunters’ behavior but rather the barbaric instinct that lies deep within each of them. Fearing that this instinct lies embedded within himself as well, Simon seems to hear the Lord of the Flies speaking with him, threatening him with what he fears the most. Unable to stand the sight any longer, Simon collapses into a very human faint.

In all, Simon is a complex figure who does not fit neatly into the matrix framed by Jack at the one end and Ralph at the other. Simon is kind-hearted and firmly on the side of order and civilization, but he is also intrigued by the idea of the beast and feels a deep connection with nature and the wilderness on the island. Whereas Jack and Roger connect with the wilderness on a level that plunges them into primal lust and violence, Simon finds it a source of mystical comfort and joy. Simon’s closeness with nature and his unwaveringly kind nature throughout the novel make him the only character who does not feel morality as an artificial imposition of society. Instead, we sense that Simon’s morality and goodness are a way of life that proceeds directly and easily from nature. Lord of the Flies is deeply preoccupied with the problem of fundamental, natural human evil—amid which Simon is the sole figure of fundamental, natural good. In a wholly nonreligious way, Simon complicates the philosophical statement the novel makes about human beings, for he represents a completely separate alternative to the spectrum between civilization and savagery of which Ralph and Jack are a part. In the end, Simon is both natural and good in a world where such a combination seems impossible.

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