Rating:  Summary: More than just a book Review: William Golding wrote this book as a response to "Coral Island," in which a group of boys shipwrecked on an island make Christians out of cannibals, hunt pigs but do not spill blood, and are cheerfully rescued. Obviously, Lord of the Flies is much more than an adventure story about good little boys. It is an exploration into the darker side of man and the true source of the 'beast,' or Devil. Meet Ralph, who represents sanity, common sense, and the 'conscience' of man; Jack, who loves nothing more than hunting, blood, and power, and who Freudians might say embodies the Id; Piggy, who personifies intelligence, logic, and reason; and Simon, who discovers the true nature of the beast and represents a ray of hope for mankind. I love this book because contained in less than 200 pages is an insight into human nature and the failings of society. When you read this, be prepared not only to examine the book and all its symbolism but yourself and your civilization.
Rating:  Summary: Humanity tooth and nail Review: If not for anything else, William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES (1954) is remarkable for having come out at a time when Western society was being bombarded with visions of totalitarian nightmares. The Nazis were gone, but still in modern memory. Russia's totalitarian state was a constant threat. McCarthyism hovered over everyone's privacy, as did J. Edgar Hoover. And recent fiction, like Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD and, especially, George Orwell's 1984 presented world views where the human spirit is all but squelched by governments and technologies. LORD OF THE FLIES, in its own way, says, "Hold on a second! Humans do need to be regulated. And they do need to protect themselves from each other." His tale is a warning: Humanity, without government, will degenerate into savagery and anarchy. And that is precisely what happens in this book. You know the plot, by now. But what has to be mentioned is that William Golding is a visionary who has the story-telling mastery to convey and do justice to that vision. LORD OF THE FLIES is a remarkable and powerful book, one that should be on everyone's bookshelf.
Rating:  Summary: ExTrA CreDiT!!!!!! Review: This is a good book for people who like twisted kind of books. In the book the young boys who are stranded on an island turn on each other. And not only do the turn on one another, they also end up killing one another. I enjoyed it because the book didn't stay in one mood, the boys went from civilized to savage. I didn't care for it because I couldn't relate to what was going on.
Rating:  Summary: Poetic, Powerful, Authentic writing Review: Not only does this book deserve 5 stars, but it is books like this one that should be the criteria for awarding 5 stars. When I read a book, if it doesn't move me like The Lord of the Flies, I hesitate to give more than 4 stars. However, after reading Golding's novel, I rushed to award top marks. An airplane full of English schoolboys has crash-landed on a deserted island. As their condition detiorates, loyalties and protocols begin to crumble and the animalistic side of human nature emerges within the group. As I stated in the title of this review, the writing is authentic. You won't find the string of cliches like you see with other authors. The story is beautiful and terrifying at the same time. One wishes for 200 more pages as the story climaxes with page-turning exitement. Golding's use of symbolism is genius. This book is on my "must reads of a lifetime" list. Put it on yours.
Rating:  Summary: PAPS sent this Review: What struck me the most about The Lord of The Flies, was the ease with which Golding conjured up a world of kids: their habits, reactions and responses. The story is about a group of British schoolboys who are, after a plane-crash, left on their own in a lonely tropical island. The story is basically an allegory; and Golding does his work marvellously. The gripping story has a clear, straight-forward narrative, and is certainly one of those books I wouldn't mind re-reading, over and over again.
Rating:  Summary: The Lord of the Flies Review: Title: The Lord of the Flies
Author: William Gerald Golding
I read the Lord of the Flies for a summer reading book for school. At first the overview that my teacher gave me, it sounded like it was a real interesting book, however once I got reading the book, I found that it was at all as interesting as it had sounded.
Here is a little overview of the book; a group of British schoolboys survive a plane crash and end up on a desert island with no adults to watch over them. They soon create rules about how to run the group and who should be leader. They divide tasks among themselves and even use a conch shell to determine who has the right to speak to the group at large gatherings. They soon create their own society based on the values they have been taught. They manage to collect enough food and even to keep a fire going in the hope of being able to attract attention from would-be rescuers. Later on in the book, the order in their society starts to break down, as their situation becomes more desperate and as alliances between different subgroups start to build. The group begins to turn on each other; a war begins between two divided groups with two completely different leaders. Some boys begin to kill off the other boys in the divided groups. The officer's ship noticed the fire raging in the jungle. The other boys reach the beach and stop in their tracks at the sight of the officer. Amazed at the spectacle of this group of bloodthirsty, savage children, the officer asks Ralph to explain. Ralph is overwhelmed by the knowledge that he is safe but, thinking about what has happened on the island, he begins to weep. The other boys begin to sob as well. The officer turns his back so that the boys may regain their composure.
The main characters of the book are,
Ralph - The novel's protagonist
Jack - The novel's antagonist
Simon
Piggy
Roger
Sam and Eric
The Lord of the Flies
I really did not like this book, when I was reading it; it seemed to be drawn out. Everything just to long to explain. At first it sounded like an interesting book, however when I got into reading it was not at all. It is just one of those books that I can not read with out falling asleep. It just didn't catch my attention form the beginning. There was nothing that interested me in the book at all. I found in many parts of the story, wondering what I had just read, I would have to reread that section over again, before I could understand what had happened. There were many sections of the book that I found myself confused. The scene of the book jumped from place to place making it hard to follow. Overall I just did not like the book at all, it just did not answer me from the beginning.
Rating:  Summary: Great Book! Review: Kevin Brady
Lord of the Flies is a very enlightening book. It shows that with to much power people go crazy and do things so out of the ordinary. I enjoyed the book. Being a person who does not like to read, and is very picky about the books that I do read, this was a very good one.
Due to the violence of a raging war, an airplane carrying a groups of English students is shot down. The boys of the plane find themselves to be stranded on an island. After they gather all of the boys on the island they start to make plans. Two of the oldest boys Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell, they decided to use it in order to summon the rest of the group. They Ralph as their leader, Ralph appoints another older boy Jack to be in charge of the choirboys who are in charge of hunting and getting food.
The older boys set out and explore the island. They decide that they will light large torches to get the attention of passing ships. They gather wood easily, there is more than enough wood to have several fires. They use the glasses of piggy to focus the sunlight onto the wood and create fire. The problem is the boys were more focused on playing rather than monitoring the fire. The fire quickly gets out of control and burns a bunch of dead wood. The youngest of the boys disappears and they presume that he burned to death in the fire. The boys are very immature. They enjoy the loss of no adults and spend most of their time splashing and playing in the water. Ralph complains that nothing is getting done. They also fail in catching a pig, Jack the leader becomes more intent on catching a pig.
An approaching ship passes by, but does not realize anyone is on the island because the rescue fire was out. Ralph rushes to the fire immediately only to find that Jack and the rest of the hunter's have caught their first pig. They gather around a fire and reenact the hunt. Ralph quickly blows the conch shell to call a meeting to restore order. At one of the meeting one of the "littluns" tells that he is haunted by the thought of a monster on the island. The older boys gather and tell each other to think logically and figure out where this monster would hide during the daytime. They come to some conclusion that he might live in the water.
The boys that are responsible for watching the fire at night think they see a shadow of the beast, when they actually just saw the shadow of a dead parachutist, they rush back to the camp and tell everyone that they saw the beast. They organize a hunting party and go up the mountain, they see the shadow of the parachutist and run down the mountain. Jack criticizes Ralph of being a coward and says that he should be removed from power. The boys agree that they will never vote Ralph out of power. Jack runs down to the beach and tells all the hunter's to follow him. Jack declares himself the leader of the new tribe. Simon falls upon the dead parachutist, and runs back to the beach to tell everyone. Before he can open his mouth he is trample and beaten to death. The boys saw the shadow of Simon and thought it was the beast and killed him.
The next morning Jack's tribe of hunters attacks Ralph and Piggy. They steal Piggy's glasses and run back to their camp. Ralph and the boys from his tribe go to Jack's camp to try to reason with Jack. Jack order's that Sam and Eric be tied up, and one boy rolls a boulder down the mountain killing Piggy and shattering the conch shell. Ralph hides for the night, but in the morning Jack sends out a search party looking for him. As his hunters try to track him down, Jack sets a forest fire trying to smoke Ralph out of his hiding spot. Ralph is forced to the beach, and collapses in exhaustion. When he wakes up there is a naval officer standing over him. Ralph weeps when he feels that he is safe, but thinks about everything that has happened. The other boys reach the beach and also start to sob. The naval officer turns his back so that the boys may regain their composure.
Rating:  Summary: The Lord Of the Flies Review: Chris Herbert
The Lord Of The Flies
Period 4
Book Review
I had just recently read the novel The Lord Of the Flies. I thought it was a very good book. The author did a good job of making you feel like you were actually there with characters. I don't really like to read but with this book I was able to get into it and finish the book.
The novel the Lord Of the Flies was about a bunch of kids that are flying across an island during a war. Then the plane had been shot down. The kids end up landing on an abandoned island. As they hit the island they all get separated. Then a little bit in to the book they had all found each other and they decided to make a type of government to keep control on the island. Now as they go on in the book you got to think that they are all kids and they don't want to live under other kids rule. So as the story goes on they all start to turn on each other and start making their own organizations. As the book starts to develop there are a lot of different symbols that you start to realize. The symbols represent a bunch of different things the book and how some of the characters act. Then the book starts to get a little violent as they start to kill each other. Towards the end of the book they have completely all gone wild and turned against each other.
I thought that the book was very good. I liked the whole idea of the book. I think that it is a good book and I recommend it to anyone that likes to read. It was a short and easy to read. I liked how the author had described the book in detail. that's what made it a book good. The book had a good theme and I liked how they had kids trying to start their own type of government to maintain control. It was a good idea because you really don't know what kids would do if their were no parents around.
Rating:  Summary: Lord of the Flies Review: The book takes place in the middle of a furious war, with a plane evacuating a group of schoolboys from Britain is shot down over a deserted island. After the plane goes down the boys realizing they will be their for a while and set up a government. They also elect a leader and, make a plane to be rescued. They choose Ralph as their leader, and Ralph appoints Jack to be in charge of food.
Ralph, Jack, and another boy, Simon , set off on an expedition to explore the island. When they return, Ralph says that they should light a signal fire to attract the attention of passing ships. The boys ignite some dead wood by reflecting sunlight through the lenses of Piggy's eyeglasses. The boys are playing rather than monitoring the fire, and the fir engulf the forest. One of the youngest boys in the group disappears during the fire never returning, presumably having burned to death.
One day a ship passes and, Ralph and Piggy notice, that the signals fire which, had been the hunters' responsibility to maintain has burned out. Furious, Ralph accosts Jack, but the hunter has just returned with his first kill. Piggy criticizes Jack, who hits Piggy across the face. Ralph blows the conch shell and scolds the boys in a speech intended to restore order. At the meeting, it quickly becomes clear that some of the boys have started to become afraid. The littlest boys, known as the littluns have had nightmares from, the beginning, and more and more boys now believe that there is some sort of beast or monster on the island. The older boys try to convince the others at the meeting to think rationally, asking where such a monster could possibly hide during the daytime. One of the littluns suggests that it hides in the sea. Not long after the meeting, some military planes battle high above the island. The boys, asleep below, do not notice the flashing lights and explosions in the clouds. A parachutist drifts down on the mountain. Sam and Eric are responsible for watching the fire at night, they are asleep and do not see the parachutist land. When the twins wake up, they see the enormous shadow of his parachute and hear the strange flapping noises it makes. Thinking the island beast is at hand, they rush back to the camp in terror. Jack and Ralph, travel up the mountain.. The group holds a meeting at which Jack and Ralph tell the others of the sighting. Jack says that Ralph is a coward and that he should be removed from office, but the other boys refuse to vote Ralph out of power. Jack angrily runs away down the beach, calling all the hunters to join him. Ralph rallies the remaining boys to build a new signal fire, this time on the beach rather than on the mountain. They obey, but before they have finished, most of them have slipped away to join Jack.
Jack declares himself the leader of the new tribe of hunters and organizes a hunt of a pig a violent, slaughter followed by sowing the head to a stick as a offering to the beast. Later, encountering the bloody, fly-covered head, Simon has a terrible vision, during which it seems to him that the head is speaking. The voice, says that Simon will never escape him, for he exists within all men. Simon faints. When he wakes up, he goes to the mountain, where he sees the dead parachutist. Understanding then that the beast does not exist. Simon travels to the beach to tell the others what he has seen. But the others are in the middle of a chaotic revelry when they see Simon's shadowy figure emerge from the jungle, they fall upon him and kill him with their bare hands and teeth.
Ralph hides for the rest of the night and the following day, while the others hunt him like an animal.. Ralph collapses in exhaustion after being chased out of the forest, but when he looks up, he sees a British naval officer standing over him. The officer's ship noticed the fire raging in the jungle. The other boys reach the beach and stop in their tracks at the sight of the officer. Amazed at the spectacle of this group the officer asks Ralph to explain. Ralph is overwhelmed by the knowledge that he is safe but, thinking about what has happened on the island, he begins to weep. The other boys begin to sob as well.
I enjoyed reading this book it was very interesting and had a lot of action in it. I liked how the ending began with the plane going down and the boys being stranded on the island. Another favorite part of the book was towards the end when all the boys break up and they are fighting. Overall this was a good book to read and I would recommend it to anyone.
Rating:  Summary: Lord of the Flies Review: When their plane is shot down the boys are deemed with the task of getting off a deserted tropical island. A boy by the name of Ralph is chosen to be their leader and he appoints Jack to be the leader of the hunters. Throughout the book the boys attempt ways to be found, many of them not working. There are basically four main characters in this novel, Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy. All of them have unique traits which lead to conflicts throughout the novel.
A twelve year old boy by the name of Ralph is the chosen leader of the civilization. Throughout the book Ralph has to fend off the other boys attempt at his power. Jack, elected leader of the hunters by Ralph is the opposite of Ralph. Jack is a savage like boy that wants total power and will do whatever it takes to be at the top. Simon is said as the only naturally "good" character on the island. He is nice to all the younger boys on the island. Piggy is Ralph's "lieutenant" who is an innovative inventive child. His intelligence leads to the development of the Sundial, which the boys use to tell time. They are all given things to do in order to be found, some more challenging than others.
The first thing Ralph wants the children of the island to do is start a signal fire. They use Piggy's eyeglasses to start the fire, but the fire quickly ignites the forest. When Ralph realizes that the Signal Fire is out he is upset at Jack. When Jack gets back from hunting he has caught something for the first time and Ralph's fury gets lost in the mix. Throughout the novel a conch shell serves as a symbol of power. Whoever has the conch shell controls everything; the kids, the island and most importantly the civilization. As the adventure goes on the little boys or the "littluns" are becoming terrified of being on the island.
Later on in the novel the hunters go into the mountains of the island to look for monsters. The littluns are having nightmares about there being monsters on the island. From a distance the hunters see what they think is an ape hanging from a tree. It is really a parachutist that was killed hanging in a tree. A character by the name of Roger is beginning to become a factor at this point in the story. Roger is Jack's "lieutenant" and is just like Jack. Cruel and a savage type of boy. Sides between the groups of children are being formed. Jack's hunters versus Ralph's people. Roger rolls a boulder down a hill and kills Piggy and shatters the conch shell. In spite of all this fight between the groups a ship saw the fire that was started and arrived at the island. A British Naval Officer saves the children.
If I had the choice to read this book again I would because it is a very good book. If you are the type of reader that likes adventure and not knowing what is going to happen then this is the book for you. At every point in this novel, you could just stop at the end of the chapter you had to keep reading. If I had to grade this novel on a scale of one to ten, I would give it a nine because it was a great book.
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