Lord of the Flies William Gerald Golding

1. Lord of the FliesWilliam Gerald Golding Scaffold for Reading

2. William Gerald Golding: Bio • Born in 1911 • son of an English schoolmaster • Referred to his father's overwhelming influence on his life. • Graduated from Oxford University in 1935 and spent four years writing, acting,. and producing for a next small London theater.

3. Became schoolmaster for a year • Married Ann Brookfield in 1939 • Entered the British Royal Navy in 1940 • The single event in Golding's life that most affected his writing of Lord of The Flies, was probably his service in World war II. • Injured in an accident involving detonators early in the war • Later given command of a small rocket-launching craft

4. Present at the sinking of The Bismarck—the crown ship of the German Navy • Took part in the D-Day Landings in France in June 1944. He later described his Experience in the war as one in which “one had one’s nose rubbed in the human condition. The sinking of the German Battleship Bismarck as seen from HMS Dorsetshire

5. After the War • Returned to teaching English and philosophy at the same school where he had begun his teaching career. • From 1945 until 1954: Wrote three novels rejected for their derivative nature before finally getting The idea for Lord of the Flies after reading a Bedtime boys adventure story to his small children. • Wondered aloud to his wife whether it would be a good idea to write such a story but to let the characters "behave as they really would."

6. Won Booker Prize (1980) and The Nobel Prize for Literature (1983) • Schoolmaster in 1954, when Lord of the Flies was first published • Golding wrote ten other novels plus shorter fiction, plays, essays and a travels book. • Golding died of a heart attack in 1993.

7. What made Golding decide to write a novel about children? Reading to his own children

8. How did Golding die? A heart attack in 1993

9. The Novel

10. What is Coral Island? • R.M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1857) tells a story of a simple adventure without any deep social themes, portrays three boys, Ralph, Peterkin and Jack, who land on an island. • Golding used two of the names in his book, and replaced Peterkin with Simon.

11. What is the setting of the novel? Although it is never really mentioned where the island is located, it can be assumed that it is somewhere in a tropical region.

13. How many copies of The Lord of the Flies were sold in the United States from 1954-1955? 2,383 copies

14. By 1959, The Lord of the Flies was beginning to gain recognition. Which book was it beginning to challenge on American college campuses? The Catcher in the Rye

15. Which band wrote a song about the book and when was it released? • The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden even composed a song about the novel, with the title "Lord of the Flies" • Released in 1995 from the album X-Factor

16. What is the title a reference to? • it refers to the sow’s head on the stick? • That represents the beast - the darkness within us all (and the thing that scared the children the most and caused their society to break up). • Another name for the devil which may symbolically lay inside everyone– especially jack. • the 'beastie‘- it became the lord and the kids were the flies because they gave in to their fears

17. Connection with Pop Culture • most songs dealing with Golding's novel deal with “ good guy” characters in the novel, this song is unique in that it's told from the point of view of the most savage boys. • It inspired Sunrise Animation's classic anime series Infinite Ryvius • It was parodied in The Simpsons episode Das Bus and in another Simpsons episode, Kamp Krusty, lord of the flies can be seen in a shot.

18. It widely believed that the Nine Inch Nails song "Piggy" is based on Lord of the Flies. • The book also inspired Gatsby's American Dream's "Fable" and Local H's "Ralph." • The Irish rock band U2 called the song "Shadows and Tall Trees" off their debut album "Boy" (A concept album about growing up and lost innocence) after one of the book's chapter titles.

19. Writers and film directors have also borrowed plot elements from Lord of the Flies. • Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky, published in 1955, can be seen as a rebuttal to Lord of the Flies • Stephen King has stated that the Castle Rock in Lord of the Flies was the inspiration for the town of the same name that has appeared in a number of his novels. The book itself also appears prominently in his novels Hearts in Atlantis and Cujo. King's fictional town in turn inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment. • Lord of the Flies has also served a source of plot themes for subsequent films. the main sequence of Apocalypto. • A film adaptation of the book was one of the main inspirations for the reality TV show Survivor, • Lord of the Flies is referenced several times in the TV drama Lost

20. Connection with History • Lord Of The Flies is the literal translation of the Greek word Beezelbub. • In the Bible, Beezelbub is the name given for Satan by Jesus (this occurs in the episode where he casts demons out of a crazy man and into a pig. • a line from which Lincoln derived his phrase about the Civil War– “a house divided upon itself cannot stand.”

21. The Characters Piggy (and Glasses) Ralph, The Conch Satan Jack The Island "Scar”- the part of the island where the plan crashed The Beast Lord of the Flies

22. Themes Primary Laws and civilized society holds everyone together, and without these conditions, our ideals, values, and the basics of right and wrong are lost. Without society's rigid rules, anarchy and savagery can come to light.

23. Underlying themes • abuse of power • Lack of loyalty • Civility vs. savagery • Look before you leap • The fear leads to either insight or hysteria.

24. Abraham Maslow’s Theory • people want to be happy and loving, but they have particular needs that they must meet before they can act unselfishly. • most people want more than they have. • Once a person met their most basic needs, they would develop higher needs. • As one desire is satisfied, another pops up in its place.” Maslow created a hierarchy of needs with six levels

26. The Four Personality Types It is believed that each person falls into at least one of the these Categories: • The Guardians • The Idealists • The Artisans • The Rationals

27. ARTISAN • Concrete in communicating • Utilitarian in implementing goals • highly skilled in tactical variation. • proud of themselves in the degree they are graceful in action, respect themselves in the degree they are daring, and feel confident of themselves in the degree they are adaptable. • the "Sensation Seeking Personality" • Educationally they go for arts and crafts • at least 35% and as many as 40% of the population. • Composers, Crafters, Performers, Promoters • Examples: Ernest Hemingway, Amelia Earhart, Bob Dylan, Madonna, and President John F. Kennedy.

28. Guardians • Concrete in communicating • Cooperative in implementing goals • highly skilled in logistics • intelligent operations are often supervising and inspecting • Interested supplying and protecting • Inspectors, Protectors, Providers, Supervisors • Examples: Presidents George Washington, Harry S. Truman, and George HW Bush, Queen Elizabeth I, Mother Teresa, and Martha Stewart.

29. IDEALIST • Abstract in communicating • Cooperative in implementing goals • Highly skilled in diplomatic integration • most practiced and developed intelligent operations are usually teaching and counseling/ mentoring, or conferring and tutoring. • sages in one of these forms of social development. • have instincts for interpersonal integration, learn ethics with ever increasing zeal, sometimes become diplomatic leaders, and often speak interpretively and metaphorically of the abstract world of their imagination. • Champions, Counselors, Healers, Teachers • Princess Diana, Joan Baez, Albert Schweitzer, Bill Moyers, Eleanor Roosevelt, Mohandas Gandhi, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Oprah Winfrey.

30. Rationals • Abstract in communicating • Utilitarian in implementing goals • Highly skilled in Strategic analysis • most practiced and developed intelligent operations tend to be marshalling and planning or inventing and configuring • they would if they could be wizards in one of these forms of rational operation. • Architects, Fieldmarshals, Inventors, Masterminds • Examples are Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Bill Gates, Walt Disney,, Ayn Rand, Thomas Jefferson, General Ulysses S. Grant and President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

31. A Few Reminders • Themes • Loss of Innocence • Exploration of Modern Humanity vs. the humanity of the past • Individual Responsibility (refer to The Cat’s Cradle) • Novels are an attempt to revisit individual conflict within a society and to question cultural assumption and expectations (Huck Finn) • Allegory- Moral fable: setting, characters, and events that symbolize a moral or an abstract idea

32. Chapter 1

33. Young English boys shot down while flying from a nuclear bomb attack • Intro of civilization vs. savagery • Pilot does not survive • No adult supervision • Children are pre-adolescent– thrust into a situation Will they behave in a civilized fashion or will they revert to their savage instincts?

34. Ralph • Fair-haired boy, 12 years old, athletic, standing on head • Protagonist • Note handstands– things will be hung upside down • Piggy • “fat boy”– physical appearance & weakness (asthma) is not taken seriously by many boys. • Intellectually strong– symbolized by glasses • Right hand of Ralph– Ralph gets annoyed by his constant whining

35. Discarding of clothes • Clothes=civilization • Discard vestiges of society • Piggy reluctantly takes off his clothes, Ralph removed clothing immediately. These behaviors are indicators of how the boy will behave for the remainder of their time on the island. • Hope and Despair • Ralph’s father– Naval Commander– Ralph is convinced he will rescue the boys