Lord of the Flies and Stand by Me
English Essay
How Have the Composers of the Texts you Have Studied in the Area of Study Represented Journeys That Have Challenged out Thinking and Broadened our Understanding of the World?
Something that everybody goes through in his or her lives is adolescence. This is one of the biggest journeys we will have to overcome. This journey is not only physical but mental as well. These journeys take us from childhood and go through the necessary means to adulthood. Both the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding and the film ‘Stand by me’ by Rob Reiner explore this concept. They expose us to a world we haven’t always seen before and explore the reactions and perspectives they leave us with.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ we start with a clear innocence in Ralph, ‘…he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy ‘no grown ups’ ”. The boys have fun on the island and play games. This is the stage before they realise the seriousness of their situation later in their journey.
This innocence isn’t as strong with the boys in ‘Stand by me’, as they are already corrupted by the adult world from their families. Chris’s father is an abusive drunk and their whole family is screw-ups, Gordie’s older brother died in a car accident and he and his parents struggle to cope with the grief and Teddy’s dad burnt Teddy’s ear off and is locked away in a mental hospital. This is again shown as we start with the boys smoking and playing cards. This innocence is still present though as they mock Vern, Gordie’s reading a comic book and the scene is set in a tree house.
In the beginning of ‘Lord of the Flies’ Ralph has a very narrow view of the situation, “daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy and when he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us”. This attitude of being entirely reliant on his father shows his childish view on the world, the classic view that your parents know everything. Later in the text with Piggy’s encouragement, Ralph takes on more responsibility,
How Have the Composers of the Texts you Have Studied in the Area of Study Represented Journeys That Have Challenged out Thinking and Broadened our Understanding of the World?
Something that everybody goes through in his or her lives is adolescence. This is one of the biggest journeys we will have to overcome. This journey is not only physical but mental as well. These journeys take us from childhood and go through the necessary means to adulthood. Both the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding and the film ‘Stand by me’ by Rob Reiner explore this concept. They expose us to a world we haven’t always seen before and explore the reactions and perspectives they leave us with.
In ‘Lord of the Flies’ we start with a clear innocence in Ralph, ‘…he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy ‘no grown ups’ ”. The boys have fun on the island and play games. This is the stage before they realise the seriousness of their situation later in their journey.
This innocence isn’t as strong with the boys in ‘Stand by me’, as they are already corrupted by the adult world from their families. Chris’s father is an abusive drunk and their whole family is screw-ups, Gordie’s older brother died in a car accident and he and his parents struggle to cope with the grief and Teddy’s dad burnt Teddy’s ear off and is locked away in a mental hospital. This is again shown as we start with the boys smoking and playing cards. This innocence is still present though as they mock Vern, Gordie’s reading a comic book and the scene is set in a tree house.
In the beginning of ‘Lord of the Flies’ Ralph has a very narrow view of the situation, “daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy and when he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us”. This attitude of being entirely reliant on his father shows his childish view on the world, the classic view that your parents know everything. Later in the text with Piggy’s encouragement, Ralph takes on more responsibility,