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INTRODUCTION TO LORD OF THE FLIES - by William Golding

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Essential Questions: What is the nature of man? What are the qualities of

effective leadership? How do you effectively

govern? Upon what, primarily, does

survival most depend?

More Essential Questions… How are our human flaws revealed? What

do our flaws reveal about us? How does Golding use setting and

characters in Lord of the Flies to express his ideas about people?

What should you come to understand by the end of this unit? People’s baser instincts are often

stronger than their nobler ones in creating human societies.

The defects in society are related to the defects in human nature.

Novelists often use their fiction to make statements about their personal or political beliefs.

Draw two columns in your notesWords

associated with instinct

Words associated with

the mind

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Philosophical Background: Rousseau Contrary to his earlier work,

Rousseau (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in Geneva in 1712) claimed that the state of nature is brutish condition without law or morality, and that there are good men only as a result of society's presence.

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“The Social Contract” Because he can be more

successful facing threats by joining with other men, he has the impetus to do so. He joins together with his fellow men to form the collective human presence known as "society." "The Social Contract" is the "compact" agreed to among men that sets the conditions for membership in society.

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The Noble Savage In his early writing, Rousseau

contended that man is essentially good, a "noble savage" when in the "state of nature" (the state of all the other animals, and the condition man was in before the creation of civilization and society), and that good people are made unhappy and corrupted by their experiences in society.

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“Noble Savage” He viewed society as

"artificial" and "corrupt" and that the furthering of society results in the continuing unhappiness of man.

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Spiritual Background: Original Sin Original sin is said to result

from the Fall of Man, when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit of a particular tree in the Garden of Eden.

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“Original Sin” This first sin ("the original sin",

as distinct from "original sin"), an action of the first humans, is traditionally understood to be the cause of "original sin", the fallen state from which humans can be saved only by God's grace.

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Nature vs. Nurture The nature versus nurture

debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature“), versus personal experiences ("nurture") in determining or causing individual differences in physical and behavioral traits.

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“Tabula Rasa” The view that humans acquire

all or almost all their behavioral traits from "nurture" is known as tabula rasa ("blank slate").

What do you know about Beelzebub?

It is another name for the devil.

Beelzebub comes from a Greek word that means ‘lord of

flies’

In Golding’s day a popular boys adventure story was…

The Coral IslandThe Coral Island

A story most boys and A story most boys and adults in England adults in England would be familiar would be familiar with.with.

The Coral Island Written in 1858Written in 1858 A group of boys gets stranded A group of boys gets stranded

on a deserted, tropical islandon a deserted, tropical island The major characters are The major characters are

Jack, , Ralph, and , and Peterkin ItIt’’s an adventure story with a s an adventure story with a

happy endinghappy ending

What are some stories you know of that involve people on tropical islands?

What kinds of things happen in these stories?

Lord of the Flies continued The novel takes place during a

fictional atomic war. A group of British schoolboys are

flown out of their country to protect them from the horrors of war.

Lord of the Flies continued

However, their plane crashes, killing all the adults on board.

The boys remain stranded on the tropical island to fend for themselves…

Lord of the Flies facts Most of the characters, actions Most of the characters, actions

and objects in the novel and objects in the novel symbolize larger ideassymbolize larger ideas

GoldingGolding’’s novel deals with the s novel deals with the conflict between the rational conflict between the rational mind and primal instinctmind and primal instinct

All of Golding’s novel takes place on the remote tropical island.

In preparation for reading the novel, look over your Anticipation Guide:

Directions: For each of the following statements decide whether you tend to agree or disagree. Place a plus (+) mark in the left column next to each statement with which you agree. For those with which you tend to disagree, place a minus ( -) mark. Look for evidence in Lord of the Flies that either supports (+) or doesn’t support (-) each statement. Place the appropriate mark under the third column. In the far right column record the page numbers to back up your findings.

Me General statement Lord of the Flies

Text Evidence

Being stranded on a tropical island would be paradise.

Children can naturally organize themselves.

Our environment can greatly impact the course of our lives.

Leaders rarely dominate weaker people.

People tend to follow a charismatic leader.

People often misjudge things they don’t understand.

Children act differently from grown-ups.

There is usually a clear-cut winner in most conflicts.

Follow-up: Choose five of the previous statements. Write a paragraph for each statement that explains whether Lord of the Flies supports or doesn’t support it. Use quotes gathered from the text to back up the argument in each paragraph.

Look at the statements on your Anticipation Guide. Complete the left-hand column – putting + for agree and – for disagree.

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Would You Survive? You’re lost in the wilderness,

stranded atop a mountain or helplessly adrift at sea! (Nevermind how you got there…just play the game). What should you do? Your very survival depends on how much you know about your present environment and situation.

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Who Should Survive? A severe storm has crippled a

small ship, and the only remaining lifeboat has room for only seven people. You have no hop of reaching civilization, but there’s a fairly good chance that you can make it to one of many small, uncharted, and unpopulated islands in the area.

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Who Should Survive, continued? You may have to remain on

such an island for years. Your task is to choose which seven people should be allowed on the lifeboat, and hence, be allowed to survive.

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Assessments Socratic Seminar Sporadic pop quizzes Cornell Note-taking (annotations) Individual work: Could you survive? Group work: Who Should Survive? Essay: Literary Analysis

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Reading Schedule Chapters 1-3………….1/9,10 Chapters 4-6………….1/13, 15 Chapters 7-8………….1/16, 17 Chapters 9-10………...1/21,22 Chapters 11-12……….1/23,24