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1. 
   ms-mcgregor Teacher
   High School - 12th Grade

   The importance of the setting is that is isolates the boys from any contact with other human society. This allows the boys to develop without any input from adults. The progression from little boys to savages seems to be a natural occurrence. It is something that comes, a the Lord of the Flies says, from inside the boys. I suppose any setting that would isolate the boys from the rest of society could work to promote Golding's message. However, a tropical island is supposed to an idyllic place, free of stress and natural beauty. The contrast between the beautiful place and the development of the boys into savages seems all the more ironic given the contrast between nature and humanity.

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/flies

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   Posted by ms-mcgregor on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 9:47 AM
   
   

2. 
   timbrady Teacher
   College - Senior

   It's also interesting that the intrusion of man on the perhaps idyllic island (the plane crash) creates a "scar" on the island.  It is almost as though the intrusion of man begins the disintegration of the island, even though it will recover quickly when the men/children leave the island.  The boys are not the noble savages of Rousseau ... they come with backgrounds and some "issues" that have clearly been controlled by the social structure.  On their own, without the structure, the bad things that are in some of them come to the surface (almost sounds like Freud, except the superego is absent in some of them).  

   The island becomes a sort of "tabula rasa" where this can be written without the intrusion of the adult/controlling world.  

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/flies/themes

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   Posted by timbrady on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 12:40 PM