Literature Analysis #2 Lord of the Flies by William Golding

GENERAL
1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read, and explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).

 -This novel is about some private school boys who are stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash and are driven insane causing them to fight against each other in order to survive. I don't think that the author's intention was to send the message that people go crazy after being isolated for so long, but that society can fail without the help from a higher authority. Some people have thought that this book almost resembles the tale of Jesus Christ. I completely agree with this accusation of having to do with a religious underlying meaning to this novel because there is too much evidence imposing it is has religious imprecations.

 2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.

 -I believe that the overall theme of this novel is that you can't give into temptation and innocence. As the boys give into the temptation of Jack they lose their innocence and become savages. This theme develops over the course of the story as we see on or two boys go over to Jack's tribe and leaves Ralph's. Little by little Ralph's tribe is completely gone leaving him and Piggy by themselves, making them outcasts and trying to maintain their innocence they wind up having some fatalities. The theme of temptation is also shown when we read about Simon talking to the Lord of the Flies and saying how there is evil in everyone, but Simon chooses to omit that temptation, but in the process of telling everyone he is killed in the process.

3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).

 -The author's tone throughout the novel is very somber, I never found myself being happy for the boys but waiting for the next thing to go wrong in their story. Things never got better for them, it was just one bad thing after another. Because the author had a somber, gloomy tone it made me expect the worst to happen, even though I didn't know what exactly was going to happen I would eagerly skip to the next page and think to myself How could it get any worse than this? And then someone would die and I was shocked every time even though I expected a sad event.

4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

 -Ambiguity: The author makes it uncertain to us that the story has an underlying meaning about the religious story of Jesus Christ, but if you pay attention to the small details and want to learn about the true meaning of The Lord of the Flies a whole new door opens. Golding wanted people to take the seriousness of his book into consideration by leaving random hints (e.g. the title, Simon, talking pigs head) so that we could understand his interpretation.

 -Apostrophe: The talking pig's head is directly addressed by Simon during the rising action of the story even though it is an inanimate object, but it is significant because we are making a connection between a human boy and a disgusting, rotting pig head about the severity of the things that will happen to the boys if they do not keep their innocence. Because these two characters in the story come into communication we either assume Simon is an insane child or that he is learning the real meaning behind the reason they are there through an apostrophe that comes to life.

 -Contrast: In this novel Golding uses the contrast between good (Simon, Ralph, Piggy) against evil (Jack, the Lord of the Flies, the Beast). Between these characters is where we find our contrast because for one character there is an opposite. For example Jack and Ralph are completely different characters while Simon and the Lord of the Flies are also complete opposites. By having pairs of characters that are opposites helps us define the sides of who is good and who is evil.

 -Imagery: The description of the pig's head was my favorite of Golding's use of imagery because I could perfectly imagine this grotesque, rotting, stinking pig's head talking to me and making me want to puke. I think that his imagery was perfect for this specific scene because to vividly put this in my imagination amazes me because a lot of the time author's want you to imagine how their books would appear in your mind, but Golding had a specific idead of how he wanted me, as a reader, to interpret this disgusting pig's head.

 -Magical Realism: I know this is kind of a stretch, but hear me out. Since everyone isn't religious I think that there is an aspect of magical realism in the novel, but only in one part: the conversation between the pig's head and Simon. Making the pig's head come to life and have it actually talk to Simon is magical because obviously pig's don't talk to you everyday especially if they are just a severed head, and we make that connection between good and evil.

 -Metonymy: The title of this book, The Lord of the Flies literally means Beelzebub (or Satan). Golding uses this to his advantage because most people probably wouldn't first realize this because you know that the title has something the will be in the story and most people will just be like, "Oh, it's just that nasty pig's head," but really it has underlying meaning in which Golding takes advantage of by using metonymy by changing the name in a literal sense.

 -Symbols: Simon (Jesus Christ), the pig's head (Satan), all of the other boys (Jews). They relate because as Simon is trying to tell all of the boys about the Lord of the Flies and tries to make sure they all connect they kill him by accident ruining their only chance at peace in their society. This symbolizes Jesus Christ trying to tell the Jews that the only way to save their damned souls is to accept his words as truth, but they don't listen to him and kill him.


CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?

 -Two examples of direct characterization is in the beginning of the novel when they talk about Ralph as the oldest and leader, and Piggy as the social pariah of the group who no one likes. An example of indirect characterization would be when the boys are deciding a leader and you see that Jack gets upset that he doesn't win showing a characteristic of jealousy. Another example would be when we realize all the kids don't really which indirectly characterizes them as ignorant and irresponsible. The author uses both approaches because it's boring to just describe a character through one sentence when you can try to develop a character throughout the course of a story.

2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?

 -The author's syntax and diction does not change when she focuses on a certain character.

 3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.

 -Ralph is a static character because he starts out as the leader type and maintains that persona (not role) as a leader throughout the entire novel. He is a flat character because his persona doesn't change and Ralph doesn't change like the other boys do into a horrible person but instead he keeps his innocence.

4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

 -If there was nay character that I particularly felt I had met it would be Ralph because I feel like he and I are relate-able in the sense that he wants to be a leader and hates to see the people he cares about most go down the wrong track. I would do the same thing by trying to keep everyone together in a good mind set.