by Angeni Wang
REFLECTIVE QUESTION #2- What lessons have you personally learned through the actions of the characters in this novel? For example, did Piggy teach you how to be compassionate? Explain.
I learned the most from Jack and Roger and their pack of savages. It's strange, because they are antagonists, but I felt that the main point of the protagonists was to show how they would be overpowered by evil in the end. I learned from Piggy about the importance of intelligence; the boys could have been so much better off if they had listened to everything Piggy had said. I'd agree that Piggy is compassionate, shown by his concern for the littlun with the mulberry mark on his face, but I think his intellect is his main characteristic, and that is what I learned the most from him. I also learned from Simon because of his genuinely kind spirit, which was so rare among the boys stuck on the island. It's rather obvious that the boys who did not join the savages' pack were the good ones, but I just didn't feel like Golding was trying to teach us good things like compassion through these characters. Instead, I learned about the cruelty, bloodlust, and insanity of the human instinct gone savage. It's one of those things that people who have spent their entire lives in civilized society don't think about that much. Golding didn't describe most of the boys on the island, but at the end, only Piggy, Ralph (and the deceased Simon), and the littluns were still not part of Jack's pack. I learned from the actions of these characters that savagery tempts humans more than civilization. There is a certain satisfaction that comes with knowing that one has the power to kill. In the "Lord of the Flies", there was nothing that could stop Jack, because they were on an island with no grownups, so his desire to hunt was completely uncontrolled. Even Ralph, who had been so disgusted with Jack's barbaric behavior, had felt the thrill in hunting the pig. When Roger had first thrown rocks at a littlun, he was careful not to hit the little boy, because he still saw the protection of police, parents, and the other things in civilization that prevent savagery. Later, when Ralph and Piggy came to confront Jack, Roger saw Ralph as a shock of hair and Piggy as a blob of fat; he didn't even see them as humans anymore, and so he threw the boulder down at Piggy, this time with every intention to hit and to kill. At first, I thought that Golding was trying to tell us that people will become evil after being isolated from civilization for too long, but then at the very end of the novel, he introduces us to another war, the real war, the war of the grownups. The difference is that the grownups are wearing uniforms and carrying guns instead of running around naked with body paint and wooden spears. So I think the real question isn't so much about the children; they can be rescued by the grownups. The real question is, who will rescue the grownups?
REFLECTIVE QUESTION #2- What lessons have you personally learned through the actions of the characters in this novel? For example, did Piggy teach you how to be compassionate? Explain.
I learned the most from Jack and Roger and their pack of savages. It's strange, because they are antagonists, but I felt that the main point of the protagonists was to show how they would be overpowered by evil in the end. I learned from Piggy about the importance of intelligence; the boys could have been so much better off if they had listened to everything Piggy had said. I'd agree that Piggy is compassionate, shown by his concern for the littlun with the mulberry mark on his face, but I think his intellect is his main characteristic, and that is what I learned the most from him. I also learned from Simon because of his genuinely kind spirit, which was so rare among the boys stuck on the island. It's rather obvious that the boys who did not join the savages' pack were the good ones, but I just didn't feel like Golding was trying to teach us good things like compassion through these characters. Instead, I learned about the cruelty, bloodlust, and insanity of the human instinct gone savage. It's one of those things that people who have spent their entire lives in civilized society don't think about that much. Golding didn't describe most of the boys on the island, but at the end, only Piggy, Ralph (and the deceased Simon), and the littluns were still not part of Jack's pack. I learned from the actions of these characters that savagery tempts humans more than civilization. There is a certain satisfaction that comes with knowing that one has the power to kill. In the "Lord of the Flies", there was nothing that could stop Jack, because they were on an island with no grownups, so his desire to hunt was completely uncontrolled. Even Ralph, who had been so disgusted with Jack's barbaric behavior, had felt the thrill in hunting the pig. When Roger had first thrown rocks at a littlun, he was careful not to hit the little boy, because he still saw the protection of police, parents, and the other things in civilization that prevent savagery. Later, when Ralph and Piggy came to confront Jack, Roger saw Ralph as a shock of hair and Piggy as a blob of fat; he didn't even see them as humans anymore, and so he threw the boulder down at Piggy, this time with every intention to hit and to kill. At first, I thought that Golding was trying to tell us that people will become evil after being isolated from civilization for too long, but then at the very end of the novel, he introduces us to another war, the real war, the war of the grownups. The difference is that the grownups are wearing uniforms and carrying guns instead of running around naked with body paint and wooden spears. So I think the real question isn't so much about the children; they can be rescued by the grownups. The real question is, who will rescue the grownups?
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