Lords of the Flies

1. Lords of the Flies Class3 谭文慧 何靖 马丽 李娜

2. goals • The novelist : William Golding • The original of “the lord of the flies” • Plot • Symbolism & irony • The theme

3. William Gerald Golding • What man is, whatever man is under the eye of heaven, that I burn to know and that-I do not say this lightly-I would endure knowing. ---- William Golding

4. William Gerald Golding • Main works: • Lord of the Flies, (1st novel,1954) The Inheritors (1955) Pincher Martin(1956) Free Fall(1959), The Spire (1964), Brass Butterfly (1958),ect • Features: • rich in imagination • In many novels Golding has revealed the dark places of human heart, when isolated individuals or small groups are pushed in to extreme situations. His work is characterized by exploration of the “darkness of man’s heart”, deep spiritual and ethical questions. • He preached moral sermons by using fables, metaphors,symbolism,and citing the Bible and mythologies

5. “the lord of the flies” • 蝇王来源于希伯来语，原词为“Baalzebub”(应该是这样，又有 说此词出自阿拉伯语)。在英语中，“蝇王”则是粪便与丑恶之王（或污物之王），在《圣经》中，“Baal”被当作“万恶之首”。在小说里，蝇王不只是象征着丑恶的悬挂着的猪头，更代表的是人性最深层的黑暗面，是无法避免的劣根性。

6. Plot Ralph Piggy Simon Ralph（拉尔夫 Piggy（猪崽子 Simon(西蒙 Jack （杰克 rational Several deaths Piggy Simon vs. Jack … cruel

7. Plot- main characters • Ralph(拉尔夫 ) he is the most civilized character throughout the novel. calm and rational, with sound judgment and a strong moral sensibility. susceptible to the same instinctive influences With his strong commitment to justice and equality, Ralph represents the political tradition of liberal democracy. • Jack Merridew(杰克 )cruel and sadistic, preoccupied with hunting and killing pigs. Jack exemplifies militarism as it borders on authoritarianism. Jack represents anarchy. His rejection of Ralph's imposed order--and the bloody results of this act--indicate the danger inherent in an anarchic system based only on self-interest. back

8. Piggy（猪崽子)the intellectual on the island. Intellectual, sensitive, and conscientious, Piggy represents culture within the democratic system embodied by Ralph. Piggy's nickname symbolically connects him to the pigs on the island, who quickly become the targets of Jack's and his hunters' bloodlust--an association that foreshadows his murder • Simon（西蒙） : enlightened, spiritual ,prophet

9. Symbolism: • Characters • conch-power • Ralph also found a conch(海螺) earlier and the boys view it as a symbol of authority. Whenever the conch is blown, the boys meet together and only the boy holding the conch may talk while all others must listen and wait for their turn when the conch is passed to them

10. Irony • Children: (kind evil) • Initially the boys listen to their consciences and act according to the moral code they were taught during their upbringing. They set rules, allocate jobs, and democratically elect a leader. As time goes by, boys such as the elected leader Ralph, the rational Piggy and the kind Simon manage to remain disciplined, but others indulge and let their morals decay little by little, particulary the proud Jack and his group of hunters.

11. The theme • William Golding: "the theme (of the book) is an attempt to trace back the defects of society to the defects of human nature...The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system." • It is a commentary on the darkness that exists in all mankind. The evil in every soul that seeps through when humans are unsupervised, uncivilized and driven to madness. • From this view of human nature Golding draws deep implications for society. He believes that because of the fundamental potential in every person to commit evil acts there will always be criminals and wrong doers in society no matter how well intentioned a society's ideologies. Therefore a society without laws and law enforcement will inevitably fail.

12. Helpful reference • http://baike.baidu.com/view/482582.htm Cheers!