Lord of the Flies Group

Question:

rudychacon909
rudychacon909
Student
High School - 10th Grade

In 'Lord of the Flies,' who were the boys on the island? How did they get there?

 

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Posted by rudychacon909 on Wednesday March 4, 2009 at 6:15 PM and tagged with characters, circumstances, lord of the flies, setting.

Answers:

  1. parkerlee
    parkerlee Teacher

    In Golding's novel, a boys' choir (evacuees from a war zone, of which the circumstances are not clearly explained) was travelling from England to Australia and the plane crashed along the way.  The boys find themselves on an uncharted island without any adult supervision since no one among the grownups survived the crash. They are left to fend for themselves, and their instinct for survival is their own undoing:

    "... the novel is the story of the boys' descent into chaos, disorder, and evil."

    This story contrasts sharply with another novel written in 1857, The Coral Island (R.M. Ballantyne). In this story a group of children marooned on an island manage much better than the boys in Golding's tale, clearly in the naturalist school of thought.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/flies/coral-island-revisited
    http://www.enotes.com/flies/summary

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    Posted by parkerlee on Thursday March 5, 2009 at 5:35 AM