Lord of the Flies Group

Question:

janum
janum
Student
High School - 11th Grade

Do you think that a person that recognizes the evil in a man's heart is able to guide others to be released from it?

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Posted by janum on Saturday November 7, 2009 at 2:22 PM and tagged with chapter 9, lord of the flies.

Answers:


  1. jseligmann Teacher
    High School - 11th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    At the Bronx Zoo in New York City, there is an exhibit that is nothing more than a vertical mirror with a plaque over it. The plaque says, "The Most Dangerous Animal in the World." The point of the exhibit is lost on very few visitors to the zoo.

    In Golding's "Lord of the Flies," the scary beast is nothing more than a dead human. And the point of this should be lost on no one who reads the book, for it is the point of the book: we are the most dangerous creature on the earth. We are dangerous to ourselves, to other humans, to other animals, to plant life, to the ecology of the planet we live on and to all its life-sustaining properties.

    Does knowing this fact, recognizing the power and drive we have for destruction guide us and help us choose light over darkness, cooperation over chaos, life over death? If we look to the novel and to the history of mankind, ancient and modern, the answer is clearly, No.

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    Posted by jseligmann on Saturday November 7, 2009 at 4:13 PM