Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies
William Golding
In Between the Modern and the Postmodern
Content:
1. Fragments chosen.............................................................................. 2. In Between the Modern and the Postmodern - essey........................
3. Questions..............................................................................................
4. Bibliography........................................................................................
"[ ... ] The reef enclosed more than one side of the island, lying perhaps a mile out and parallel to what they now thought of as their beach. The coral was scribbled in the sea as though a giant had bent down to reproduce the shape of the island in a flowing, chalk line but tired before he had finished. Inside was peacock water, rock and weed showing as in an aquarium; outside was the dark blue of the sea. The tide was running so that long streaks of foam tailed way from the reef and for a moment they felt that the boat was moving steadily astern. "
"I was choosing a place," said Jack. "I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him."
"You should stick a pig," said Ralph fiercely. "They always talk about sticking a pig."
"You cut a pig's throat to let the blood out," said Jack, "otherwise you can't eat the meat."
"Why didn't you - ?"
They knew very well why he hadn't: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.
The fragment is from Wiliam Golding's Lord of the Flies. The action of the novel takes place on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The book indicates that it takes place in the midst of an unspecified nuclear war. Some of the marooned characters are ordinary students, while others arrive as a musical choir under an established leader. Most appear never to have encountered one another before. The book portrays their descent into savagery, left to themselves
William Golding
In Between the Modern and the Postmodern
Content:
1. Fragments chosen.............................................................................. 2. In Between the Modern and the Postmodern - essey........................
3. Questions..............................................................................................
4. Bibliography........................................................................................
"[ ... ] The reef enclosed more than one side of the island, lying perhaps a mile out and parallel to what they now thought of as their beach. The coral was scribbled in the sea as though a giant had bent down to reproduce the shape of the island in a flowing, chalk line but tired before he had finished. Inside was peacock water, rock and weed showing as in an aquarium; outside was the dark blue of the sea. The tide was running so that long streaks of foam tailed way from the reef and for a moment they felt that the boat was moving steadily astern. "
"I was choosing a place," said Jack. "I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him."
"You should stick a pig," said Ralph fiercely. "They always talk about sticking a pig."
"You cut a pig's throat to let the blood out," said Jack, "otherwise you can't eat the meat."
"Why didn't you - ?"
They knew very well why he hadn't: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.
The fragment is from Wiliam Golding's Lord of the Flies. The action of the novel takes place on a desert island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The book indicates that it takes place in the midst of an unspecified nuclear war. Some of the marooned characters are ordinary students, while others arrive as a musical choir under an established leader. Most appear never to have encountered one another before. The book portrays their descent into savagery, left to themselves
Bibliography: 1. Bloom, Harold, Lord of the Flies: Modern Critical Interpretations. ed. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1998. 2. Olsen, Kirstin. Understanding Lord of the Flies: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historical Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2000. 3. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Boston: Faber & Faber, 1958.