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Summary: LotF Review
Review: The Lord of the Flies is about an airplane, which crashes on an island, and a group of kids are trapped there. The book is about their time spent on the island. The main characters are Ralph, Piggy, Jack and Simon. As soon as they crash on the island, they start having many problems. At first everyone is good and picks Ralph as chief. Then things slowly start to turn bad when Jack and his hunters let the fire out and a ship went by without seeing the smoke. Jack takes everyone but Piggy, Ralph, Simon and some little ones and goes to the other side of the island and makes his own tribe. My favorite character is Ralph because he seems to be the only smart one with some kind of authority on the island. He is the only adult like figure on the island.
Ralph shows the kind of person that will see a problem and try to fix it the right way. Jack sees a problem as an opportunity to take control and start running everything and making the problem worse at the same time. I see this everyday, even when I am in class. You have your kids that are like Jack and want to give the teacher and everyone else a hard time. Then you have people like Ralph. The person in class that sits there and does the work because they know that making things harder for the teacher, will only make things harder for them. I'm like two in one because if I see a chance to make a good joke, I make it. Otherwise I keep my mouth closed.
I thought the book was kind of confusing because the author jumped around a lot. And didn't explain things as well as he should. The book went a little slow too. My favorite part in the book is at the end when the navy officer is standing there talking to Ralph. It's a flash back to real life. The only thing I would change in the book is the lack of information.
This book is easy to get into in the beginning, but then slows down during the end. I spent a lot of time rereading parts in the book. The only people I think would like this is a younger kid because they don't care about understanding it or an older person because they have the knowledge to understand what is happening.
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Summary: What I thought of Lord of the Flies
Review: In the book, Lord of the Flies, a group of pre-teen military boys become stranded on a deserted island. When they finally come together as a group, they choose a leader of the group which leads to a huge disagrement between two of the boys. During their time on the island, the boys are faced with, death, hunger, other creatures on the island, and whether they can get off the island without death being the only way out.
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Summary: Human Nature At Its Best
Review: This is one fabulous book full of great themes, motifs, and symbols. Golding, although it is apparent that he really hates humanity and is a bitter man, is such a wonderful writer and makes this story come to life in more than one way. This book's reference to Christian Iconography is so great that it gives this story so much more depth. His symbols are also one thing that show us what human nature is really about and how it actually is.
This book is about a group of choir boys that get stranded on an island during a war. They try to establish rule and order but eventually find themselves trying very hard just to stay alive while their hope for being rescued is floating off on the horizon. With all the adventures that show us what humanity is really like, this is one read that everyone should enjoy.
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Summary: Savage Boys
Review: A Review by NateIn Lord of the Flies a group of boys are crash landed on an island after a big storm blew down their airplane leaving them with no adults on the island. Some of the boys take charge and their names are Ralph, Piggy, and Jack. They all go to the top of a mountain and light a fire so boats will see them. Later the boys do different things some go hunting, others play on the beach, and two are left building shelters, and one is Ralph. The boys think there is a beast which is proven to the boys when two see something on top of the mountain that moves. They slowly grow to be more and more savage and even leave pigs heads for the beast. Something bad happens one day and the boys split up into a group of savages and one of boys who are normal. They fight over things the four in the normal group go to the savages. One is left after a capture and a hunt is made for him. Some things I liked about the book are how the events are realistic like how the boys grew to be savages. I also liked how some things that happen just appear there unexplained but are easy to guess how they happened. In some parts something that seems like it doesn't even matter and were just added for no reason changed what happened for everyone. I didn't like how some parts were very insightful but not explained so I had to guess and one character is meant to be religious but it is like things that happen in the bible are related to what happens to him. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes books with a lot of twists and surprises. Although I would not recommend this to anyone who strongly thinks that the human heart is completely pure and no one could do anything bad to anyone else or be savage.
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Summary: Lord of the Flies
Review: If you are a William Golding fan, or you desire a novel jam-packed with action and excitement from cover to cover, you will love Golding's most famous novel, Lord of the Flies. In this literary masterpiece, Golding takes an imaginative look at the life of young boys in an extraordinary situation: without rules, boundaries, or a defined social system. His boundless sense of imagination, and his unparalleled creativity allow him to form a lifelike environment in which the reader can capture a sense of reality on such a seemingly bazaar topic. Set on a small deserted tropical island, thickly wooded by rain a forest, and a harsh jungle, the boys often have trouble in their fight for survival. One may ask... How did the boys find themselves on this island?
During a nuclear war, at an unspecified time in future, a plane carrying British schoolboys crash-landed, the boys found themselves alone and helpless. Golding did not set a specific time period in which the story takes place. By doing this, he allows us, the reader, to put the story in the time we desire - making it more enjoyable to its variety of readers. The boys had crash-landed on their new home; and few other people would ever believe the story of this place should the boys ever return to Britain one day to tell it. The perseverance, and leadership of a few twelve year olds, kept the majority of the six to twelve year old bys occupied and leading productive lives away from the civilization they were accustom to. William Golding tells the story of the boy's interminable stay on this otherwise - despondent piece of rock. Golding stresses their trials and tribulations on this undiscovered place, and how boys become savages when culture and pressure are not present in someone's life. The boys' primitive instincts reared their ugly heads while they were living on the island - they had never lived in such a way ever before. .
The novel begins with two boys, Ralph and "Piggy", who at first are alone - no other boys are present. They are looking at the destruction of the jungle caused by the rough descent of their plane. Eventually the boys begin to congregate. Showing a great sense of maturity, Ralph takes charge - and assesses their situation. The boys range from six to twelve years old, and at first it seems like there is no way to keep order. Ralph decides that they are going to run their island as a democracy - the boys vote to keep Ralph as their leader, though many of the boys stay loyal to Jack. A few of the biguns (or older boys) were fighting for control of the island. Jack, another boy of twelve, rivals Ralph for leadership throughout the novel - Jack quickly becomes the leader of the hunters. Previously, a group of choirboys, the hunters became a savage faction. They collected pigs and other forms of meat for the boys to eat in addition to their regular diets of berries.
Ralph, despite Jacks competition, was able to maintain control of most of the boys for the better part of the story. His own minor digressions into savagery however, put his leadership into question - and Jack eventually took control of the island. Golding's last fifty pages, depict an island in utter chaos. His satiristic attitude of the adult world, mock the political and militaristic disputes in our world now. He shows how a small group of boys can sum up our entire society with both political rivalries, and groups battling each other for control. Lord of the Flies is a great novel! William Golding really struck gold on this one! Take a journey unlike any other - a planeload of preteens, lost on an uninhabited island. A fight of their own accompanies their fight for survival on this small-unknown isle. Will they ever get off?
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Summary: Lord of the Flies Review for Kelly English
Review: Lord of the Flies, lucidly written by William Golding, tells of the terror and adventure that befalls a misfortunate group of young boys. The story takes place in the future at the outbreak World War III, which the author predicts will occur. The first page of the novel describes two of the main characters, Ralph and Piggy, exploring a jungle on the island where they had just crash-landed, discussing their plane crash. Ralph, Piggy, and a plane full of other children are headed to an orphanage-like facility when their jet goes down on an uninhabited, tropical island. For the rest of the novel, the fate of the surviving boys will become the author's main focus.
Ralph and Piggy gather the boys on the island. Ralph, being a natural leader, creates basic rules for the children to follow and a strategy for survival and rescue. Immediately, one of the older boys, Jack, is highly confrontational with Ralph and his authority. Ralph's main priority as chosen leader is to build a signal fire that will continuously produce smoke in order to get the attention of passing ships. Ralph and Piggy do their best to maintain order, law, and a functioning community. Jack and many others no longer wish to be part of Ralph's tribe, with all of the rules, jobs, and responsibilities. Jack becomes chief of this own tribe and incessantly harasses Ralph. The two warring clans are forced to deal with one another and well as a mysterious beast that lives on top of the island's mountain. Throughout the book, all of the characters face both external and internal conflicts.
In the first chapter of Lord of the Flies the setting of the story is meticulously described. While reading Golding's portrayal of the island's climate, I almost felt sweaty and fearful of poisonous jungle creatures. Golding is an expert in the art of showing the idea he is expressing, not literally telling the reader.
'[The boy with fair hair] had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him'the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily around the creepers and broken trunks' (page 7). I extremely enjoyed reading this novel. It is psychologically fascinating, providing a rarely discussed insight to the savagery of the human mind. This is not a light read; rather it is a book to seriously read two or more times in order to fully appreciate it. There is a clear connection between Lord of the Flies past and current tribal warfare, political factions, even the business world. Another similarity between this book and reality can be found in adolescent social situations. In many schools several group leaders emerge and compete for students to follow them. When this struggle occurs in schools, it is of course not as violent or blatantly aggressive. It also does not result in deaths, with the exception of a few rare occasions. William Golding's Lord of the Flies is timeless and a tremendous read. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn more about the human mind, or is just looking for a book that stays with you long after you have put the novel down.
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Summary: Not a Book of Hope, but an All Time Classic
Review: Unlike the book "Robinson Caruso", or the movie "Castaway" where they need to rely on supplies they have to gather from the wreckage of a boat or a plane to survive, the island in which these children are stranded on is a small Garden of Eden. Like the biblical Eden, man is once again shown to be imperfect and filled with original sin. The boys live on an island where it seems they have no worries. Fruit is available in plenty. The weather is great. There are no predators except themselves. Their fall from grace then comes when all this is shown to be not enough for them, and they kill a mother pig for meat. There is no god, or devil on this island however, only man. Ralph represents the good in man. The descriptions of him are even godlike or golden, but Ralph is just a man (or boy). Jack is described as the devil, but once again he is just a depiction of the worst of what is in man. Simon and Piggy who represents man's wisdom fall in-between these other two individuals representing man himself, and both are flawed and killed. The "Beast" which the children are afraid of first takes on the form of a serpent or snake and later the form of a "Great Ape" up on the mountain, but in each case the real danger comes from within however, as man is the one shown to have a heart of darkness. When Simon talks to the "Lord of the Flies" it is all explained. "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill!", "You knew didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close!". They can't hunt and kill the beast because they are the beast. There is also no salvation. When the children ask for a savior, or sign, what they are given was a dead Man (paratrooper). It is all man. This is not a book of hope. Even in the end when the children are rescued there is still no hope, as the naval officer who rescues them is still just part of a greater war between men, and the Garden of Eden they leave behind has been turned into their own hell filled with fire. I believe William Golding uses a lot of psychology in this book and each image takes on a deeper meaning. It is not known how long the children are on the island, so it seems kind of timeless. The number of children is also vague, which I think is deliberate. They are also at times faceless children. I thought it was wonderfully written and deserves to be listed as one of the best books ever written. Even if it is a little depressing, it made me think.
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Summary: Classic for good reasons
Review: This novel has become a hoary old standard of high school literature classes, but it deserves everyone's attention. In it Golding brilliantly develops the stranded childrens' point of view, enlarging it to the scale of a mythic struggle between civilization and savagery. Don't be put off by this grandiose theme: each of the main characters is a sharply drawn individual even as he represents an idea, and the prose is stunning--a pleasure to read.
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Summary: Human Nature Without Pretense
Review: Hobbes was right. Apart from a "Higher Power," humanity eats its own flesh -- our cancerous evil runs loose. It is in our nature to destroy ourselves, both personally and corporately. Speak all you want about higher inclinations and utopian humanism, Golding saw what we are in WWII, and we shouldn't be so quick to forget. Golding's book has stayed with me my entire life. He brings such poignant, rattling validity to the table, and we should not forget so soon those hard-won lessons.
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Summary: I'd play sick the day your teacher assigns this.
Review: This book doesn't deserve a review. With all due respect, Golding couldn't write a good book to save his life. His writing is reminiscent of Tolkien's; he comes up with a great story, and then ruins it with horrible writing. But I suppose I should stop ranting about the book and get on to a summary.
A relatively large group of young boys are marooned on an island. One young boy, Ralph, decides he's the leader because has in his possession a conch shell, which most SpongeBob fans will recognize from one of the episodes. In his "Inner Circle," there are some other boys: Piggy, an unpleasantly fat asthmatic intellectual; Samaneric, two twins who individually are Sam and Eric, and the "littleuns," some of the youngest boys who can't get it through their thick skulls that they're lost on a deserted island. Ralph is encountering problems with Jack, the leader of the boy's choir, who has a rebellious soul. Without spoiling too much of the story, Jack gets mad, runs off with most of the boys, and several other events that fail to stimulate the brain. In the end, they are all rescued by the Royal Navy, (they're British,) and they all live happily ever after, minus a pudgy pain-in-the-rear. If you ask me, I would have been a bit more pleased if they all died.
This summary may sound choppy and rushed, because the book is choppy and rushed. The author had several chances to redeem himself, but why only put the book's namesake in a one-and-a-half page segment of the book that has no symbolism, real or otherwise. When you look back at the story, you may think, "Wow, that sounds really cool!" And the story is, but it makes no sense, and the parts that do are just plain dull. In the hands of a good author, namely Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and especially Orson Scott Card, this book may have been one of my all time favorites. Goodkind and Card would have turned the book into an action-packed book with beautiful internal conflicts, and Jordan would describe the island with such vivid detail I would feel like I wanted to get lost on an island myself. However, as it is, I'm now terminally afraid of anything surrounded by water on all sides.
The point I'm trying to get around here is this: Great story, God-awful writing. I'd only give this book a one out of ten, the one only for story. In a videogame, even if the game isn't too pretty, if it has a great core, it's a wonderful experience. With books, however, that's just not true.
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