Modern Classics Summarized: Lord Of The Flies

[@superfluous9726]

I love the fact that this entire book was literally the author complaing about the little assholes he was teaching and wrote and entire book about how if they were forced into a survival situation they'd all die because they suck.

[@danwroy]

If that were true it would have been a lot worse

[@RecordedMercury]

You do realize he was also a war veteran and most of what he's saying is a criticism of war and the violence that plauges mankind right?

[@RecordedMercury]

Imagine missing the entire fucking point of a book. I really doubt he made this book because "kids suck". That's so fucking dumb you even said that

[@flightless2680]

@@RecordedMercury Jeez, chill out. Its not that serious.

[@julialungan4722]

@@RecordedMercury chill. Did somebody piss in your cereals?

[@Fischohnerad17]

I love the fact that Golding's reason for writing the book is basically "I'm a school teacher and British school kids can't keep calm under any circumstances, let alone fending for themselves on an island with no adult supervision"

[@rowanheart8122]

I have heard British teenagers be compared to wild bears

[@guyver441]

So...children of literally ANY culture?!

[@maucazalv903]

@@guyver441 yes, that was kind of the point of the book xd most island adventure books give the idea of "British/"every civilized country" kids could overcome these situations thanks to their intelligence" but in a very easy way, kind of like Isekais being power-fantasies based on the idea of being in a less advanced world(? if kind of like "yeah knowing advanced math is good but unless you can cover basics needs like food u wouldn't survive the wild enough to give an actual use to your knowledge" *which honestly I like for some reason*

[@princeaz4138]

@@rowanheart8122 We got called feral hooligans

[@blondebishonen]

can confirm as a British school kid

[@ReddwarfIV]

If you are ever stuck on a deserted island, build a giant triangle out of stones, with a fire at each point. This creates an unmistakable distress signal.

[@kabobawsome]

It works with most geometric shapes really. Mainly because it's extremely unnatural to have several, small, isolated, well-maintained fires in a perfect geometric shape. Triangle is the easiest one, though. Because it has the least number of fires, meaning easier maintenance.

[@justme7410]

I learn something new everyday. Thank you, people of the internet.

[@trod146]

Yeah because All the effort of building the triangle and finding wood and maintaining 3 fires is totally fucking possible...

[@virgin_olive_oil7550]

hmmmmm an ark reference I see

[@ram333]

@Star Saber nice one

[@cynthiaanderson6410]

Imagine Ralph, poor, traumatized Ralph, on that boat ride though. That child was basically glued to an adult the entire time and you can’t convince me otherwise. They killed Simon and Piggy, it’s implied that the tortured the twins, and they just led a manhunt to try and kill Ralph. I doubt he can be in the same room as Jack without panicking.

[@beretperson]

"Imma call it Shelly" "Seems fair" "So Ralph blows Shelly..." "nO"

[@Ohflipsnap]

We haven't even gotten to the gruesome parts of this story and already I'm scarred for life!

[@mvmlego1212]

While I'm ashamed to say that I got a good laugh out of that, I'm still wondering how that works, anatomically speaking.

[@zEr-ne5ri]

@Mateo Gg I laughed when she said that to............that’s what she said

[@Grim_Sister]

(Snorts) I’m am a grown woman, I should have grown past this kind of humor

[@attackonponyproductions4927]

This is immature... but I'm 17 so... Lol!

[@discrot8568]

"This book needs more dead kids" is my new main book critique.

[@grantkelly8696]

Andreas Stormdrake Agreed. May sound insane but I feel like if there was more murders it would've better represented the descent to madness.

[@ayiniseasilyamused9215]

Andreas Stormdrake Considering that the books he was criticising were books with totally unrealistic luck in shipwrecked situations, yeah. Any survival based adventures with kid protagonists needs more dead kids.

[@BonDieu617]

Go read Worm, the world is slowly getting destroyed by kaijus with superpowers and they're running out of adults with superpowers so a lot of kids with superpowers have to go fight and they all die. It's a pretty upbeat story actually.

[@blue-eyedfangirl8760]

good to know that like half of all authors are following your writing advice, myself included

[@dayalasingh5853]

Grant Kelly k

[@creativeusername2202]

I always wondered how Ralph and Jack readjust... just see each other in the halls like... “Oh... it’s.. uh... you...” “Yeah.... uh...” “How uh... how ya been?” “Fine.... fine...” “Okay... I uh... gotta go to class” “We murdered two innocent children” “Right then... cya... around..”

[@kn1ght-788]

I think I need to write a fanfiction, excuse me...

[@kn1ght-788]

Random Classmate: “Why do you have such a problem with Jack? He doesn’t really seem all that bad.” Ralph: Stares at the camera like Jim Halpert.

[@ineffabledolphin9139]

KN1GHT - i dare you to write a fic. Link it when ur done

[@Themudeater]

Well Ralph didn’t kill anyone.

[@ghostysstories3104]

so...um... sorry for trying to kill you?

[@Anastas1786]

"See, Jack is one of those people who'd rather establish his own badassery than actually get them all rescued." You mean like darn near everyone in _The Walking Dead?_

[@dragonheart1236]

Everyone in my dnd group...... ..... Including myself

[@trod146]

There is no "rescue" in the walking dead... shitty comparison.

[@Cajek2]

...or Trump.

[@Apollo_G]

@@Cajek2 or like 95% of politicians

[@aidoll3692]

@@trod146 honestly i could say something dickish but it just seems your bitter about something and your lasting out...

[@themandownstairs4765]

what the teacher says: "the author is trying to represent the battle of nurture vs. nature, of civilization vs. our innate instinc-" William Golding, who I just raised from the dead: "children are little shits so I wrote a book about it"

[@wandanemer2630]

I believe that.

[@Pyre]

This is *absolutely* the correct interpretation.

[@emperorthylord]

Ah, yes my nephew is worse than uncle adolf

[@derekbates4316]

really? Cuz my take was that he liked lil', half naked boys.

[@bjjkickboxing7876]

@@emperorthylord give your nephew a chance and he will blow the whole european continent up and have no remorse

[@Orionzeus05]

Oh you forgot the best part, the Naval Officer finds the boys and berates them, asking how they could act so savagely toward each other and kill one another rather than act civilized, then looks back at his waiting battleship offshore and realizes the war their fighting is a direct mirroring of the violence that the boys commited only on a more grand and organized scale thus showing what happens when those same boys become men in "civilized" society with the same impulsiveness and fears displayed on the island. A pretty epic moment of self awareness and allegory 👍

[@orlandogreenhow2870]

Jordan Barnette Doesn’t the naval officer joke that the whole ordeal is just them playing a game resembling war? Also, him appearing right at the end (and the first adult they meet since the pilot) essentially implying that the adult world is just the island but on a much bigger scale as it is just a massive war

[@eyegrinder94]

@@orlandogreenhow2870 I would argue that a crazy person rallying an entire country into a giant death cult with the intent of murdering everyone who doesn't have his favourite genes is kind of worth going to war over.

[@zennistrad]

The whole point of the book isn't to expose "human nature," as many English teachers will tell you. It's _specifically_ a commentary on British colonialism and imperialism, demonstrating that beneath all of the British rhetoric about "civilizing" the untamed world, the truth is that they're astonishingly brutal and cruel when stripped of all pretenses. That's why the war that the British are fighting is intentionally made parallel to the events on the island. The entire "British schoolchildren set up Civilization on an island" genre that LotF takes to task was based on a colonialist narrative to begin with.

[@kilroy6429]

**Frantically edits English paper**

[@Machialemmi]

@@eyegrinder94 ashamed German noises

[@goodnewsgeek42]

I always thought the dead pilot drifting down was meant to symbolize that deep down the adults are no better than they are. They are sitting here waiting for the good rational adults that are peaceful and orderly to come rescue them, but they don't realize the true adulthood that lies behind that image and don't realize that the adults are slaughtering each other in a world just as barbaric as the one they are making for themselves on that island. They want a signal from the adults and dead pilot showing that the adults are too busy killing each other in their own hell to notice them, is that signal.

[@doornik1142]

You're not far off. At the end of the book when the naval officer chastises the boys for their uncivilized behavior he turns and awkwardly stares at his own warship moored out on the sea.

[@ianbyrne465]

The beauty of literature is... Even when you're "wrong" you can still be right. Just because the message you glean isn't the one that the author had in mind, doesn't mean that it doesn't work as a message.

[@MrBitz-om9vo]

Damn I wish I had read this before I had to write my paper

[@Giganfan2k1]

As above so below.

[@AegixDrakan]

ooooh, I didn't actually realize this on my first read. Good talk, GoodNews Geek.

[@Emilie13love]

Golding was actually a teacher at an all boys school and knew how typical boys behaved. So after reading the popular adventure books of young boys living off the land on a dessert island, he thought: "Are you serious? That would never happen. I'll show you the real outcome of pre pubescent boys being forced to share living space and having real responsibilities for 2 years." And thus Lord of the Flies was born.

[@katspurway645]

I would love to live on a dessert island! I'd just eat ice cream until I was sick!

[@Ie_Shima]

To be fair much of the original writings, the most popular of which would be "The Coral Island", have the boys be much older, in their mid to late teens, and either acting as crewmen aboard a merchant ship or midshipmen aboard a warship. They were also set much earlier than "Lord of the Flies" ranging from 1690 to 1850ish, in a time when "children grew up much faster" or became more mature in a shorter span of time than, say, a group of prep school pre-teens from 1940's or 50's England. This means that the characters are older, wiser, far more mature, and are most likely capable of actually thinking beyond the next 10 minutes. Also, I have never known a teacher who actually thinks that the brats they have to deal with for 8 hours of the day can be capable of conscious thought without their help.

[@hamster_in_a_wheel_8099]

a DESSERT island not a deserted island but it was a joke on the misspellings of the first comment

[@bobshore1977]

Btw they were saying big ones and little ones. Littluns and bigguns basically just their accents

[@ES50678]

pre-pubescant well off properly spoiled English boys* This book acts like it's a representation of humanity but is only representative of one group of people. Maybe because Golding only recognized white men as human and all others as less he failed to thoroughly think through what would actually happen if humans lost "civilization" and had to live together in the wild. But I mean humans never had to live off the wild without modern amenities.... except for like most of human history.

[@laureneras9523]

We had to write an extended ending for English class. Keeping with the tradition of this book that everything is dust. I wrote Ralph became a depressed and disillusioned alcoholic at a VERY young age (I implied it started right after coming back to civilization) while the others adapted really well and never mentioned it. Jack lied and implied he was the real hero which he used as an adult to give him a rise in politics....my teacher wrote in the notes "Just as depressing...good job!"

[@nathanseper8738]

The really sad thing is....I can actually see that happening in real life.

[@positivelink6961]

Holy fuck. I can see this actually happening

[@mahnoorahmad1690]

The fact that you got to write lord of the flies fanfiction In class is just… wow

[@Cairo40000]

I wrote: "The ship then got attacked by japanese fighter planes and the ship explodes and everyone fucking dies."

[@GamerAJ-1025]

Wait they actually asked you to write fanfiction in school?

[@AyakoHideko]

One of the most depressing realizations I've come to after I finished reading the book was that we never really got to learn Piggy's real name. He was picked on and bullied so much as well that the fact that we don't even know his name throughout the whole story, and even after his untimely demise made me grief so much harder for him. He truly didn't deserve the end that he met.

[@StonedtotheBones13]

I wonder why that is? Maybe for the reason you just stated, I'm just wondering if piggy=adulthood, wth does that mean?

[@ellynneg.6926]

One of the themes in the book losing personal identity (and morality) to pressures of the group. The boys in the school choir, when they first come walking along in their matching uniforms are compared to being a single beast. The twins (and I think this is their only purpose in the book) are treated as a single entity rather than individuals. Piggy's true name is lost (and his destiny to die as prey to the other boys who hunt pigs is also implied).

[@antonemberbroque4452]

The real lord of the flies was the friends they made along the way

[@hotelbellamuerte3669]

Kinda

[@Maxisamo1]

The friends they *killed* along the way

[@magentaplatinum1430]

yeah... sure... uh... gonna forget the fact that they doomed their selves several times by killing their own people

[@caleb_artzs2533]

@@Maxisamo1 *Bruh* to true

[@FizzyPopVevo]

You know what that's actually kinda True, the Lord of The Flies himself states that he's inside every human on earth.

[@gonzothegreat1317]

The real horror is at the end of the book, once you realise that all the 'civilisation' talk is made by a grown up, who is in the middle of fighting a war. It's subtle to pick up, but that is the message. Nothing changes. The grownups are even more savage than the boys on the island.

[@General12th]

If that was completely true, everyone would be murdering everyone else constantly.

[@SerDerpish]

J.J. Shank in absence of laws, that is exactly what happens. To quote Louis CK: “The main thing preventing murder is the law against murder.”

[@joycelinlgbtq]

Actually the real horror was the confusing prose.

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

Julie Walker not necessarily. Like, obviously we need laws, but shockingly, humans are a compassionate species that don’t default to wanting to murder each other in all situations.

[@mr.cup6yearsago211]

Kerberos panzer cop I would recommend you attempt to move to the nation named Literally Anywhere Else as soon as you possibly can, because that sounds fucking terrible.

[@elenakufta3236]

Ralf: "Follow me and we'll be able to get off the island quickly!" Jack: "No, follow me! I can hit a C note!"

[@theodorsik]

Elena Kufta cant we all see the Trump paralel?

[@garbageOwO]

Excuse me but it's _C sharp_

[@elenakufta3236]

Aw shit! Well then, that changes everything!

[@ayaoldacc3580]

Or the G note.... Hah I feel the emo coursing through me xD

[@EuphrasieFauchelevent]

actual quote

[@s.g.7572]

"And Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." One of the most beautiful, thoroughly depressing, emotionally raw endings to any book I've ever read.

[@Couch_Banana]

Too bad it's kinda ruined by the fact that Ralph and Piggy's friendship isn't built-up all that well.

[@adhritray6365]

But that is not the ending of the book

[@laoshij9382]

@@Couch_Banana How so?

[@Couch_Banana]

@@laoshij9382 In the final few chapters, it still feels like Ralph doesn't respect Piggy all that much. Sure, he got better at it as the book went on, but it didn't feel like enough really changed between them. That's just me, though.

[@thesunwillneverset]

@@adhritray6365 Yes it is, unless you consider there to be an ending beyond the last line of said book?

[@beetlejuiceblues12]

I wrote my senior research paper on this book, and "Jack, who represents... just kinda being the worst." was basically my thesis.

[@chrisnaden3590]

For sheer visceral horror, the moment when one of Jack's boys deliberately crushes Piggy's glasses, and he realises he's now blind on an island, really stuck with me. ... Perhaps I shouldn't have read this book when I was myself 11 years old.

[@gabesynnott6506]

I read it yesterday, I'm like 15, and the freaking pig head on a stick talking to Simon is going to haunt me for a while! sure do love english class

[@maucazalv903]

@@gabesynnott6506 I think I read this with 16 but honestly, as an even younger age we read books like "La Mecanica del corazón" and "nada" In the first one, a kid used the needle of his watch-hearth to cut his bully eye, and in the second one they beat a 12-year-old to death and a bunch of kids raped a girl..... *It didn´t traumatize me but it always annoyed me how our school keep saying that violent behavior was caused by exposing kids to violence in things like games or TV and then made us read that xd*

[@blackkitty369]

I read this in middle school and it gave me nightmares for a long time.

[@potatoextreme4252]

I read it when I was nine. And now I am a 13 year old acting Piggy in a play and it still brings me to tears.

[@himesilva]

As a person with a strong glasses prescription... I never ever want to be marooned on a deserted island e.e

[@calla1643]

What i learned from this book: Don't get too attached to your favorite people. They all die.

[@ayiniseasilyamused9215]

Derp UmWell Now that you've learned that, go watch Game of Thrones!

[@halfaliveclive4697]

Or play Danganronpa

[@horseenthusiast9903]

Simon was my favourite character, so my read was a bit disappointing

[@amethyst_cat9532]

Most book-series fangirls know this

[@daughter-of-loki1062]

You could've learned that from A Song of Ice and Fire.

[@lexin8139]

We read this first semester freshman year, and as part of it one of the English teachers will blow a conch shell so we could hear it. Fast forward to a couple weeks ago (I'm a sophomore now). We hear a weird bellowing noise. Hardly anyone questions it for more than a couple seconds - "Oh, the freshmen must be reading Lord of the Flies" - and we start reminiscing on the good ol' days of early freshman year.

[@atheris1641]

Lol sounds nice

[@onettaviator5396]

Hey, fellow sophomo- oop, wait, junior now. This still happen?

[@somedude4967]

* *INSERT STRESSED OUT JOKE* *

[@koramagna]

Wow. Our school 'You-have-to-read-this-thing-I-don't-give-a-damn-you-think-it's-stupid-you-have-to-read-this-or-you-will-prove-you're-idiots-not-worth-of-other-people's-time' (Oooof) books in Poland, are usually about bunch of idiots who are suffering SO MUCH because the evil system/society crush their dreams, totally not because they made stupid life choices. We didn't try to make things like these because exams (ironically, we totally had time to talk about ONE SHORT POEM by Adam Mickiewicz for a whole week, but Orwell's 1984 wasn't so important). The only time we had some deeper interaction with some 'you-have-to-read-it' book was when we were reading Macbeth. And that ended up with school theater, where our class was preparing the whole thing (I was assassinating Lady MacDuff). It kind of bumped me out when I found out that this treatment gets only these classes in which are children of our Teacher of Polish Language (it left sour taste in my mouth, because my younger brother couldn't get involved in such project, just because he wasn't class mate of our Teacher's kids)

[@JetstreamGW]

I changed schools a lot when I was young. It worked out such that I read this book *five fucking times.* I can no longer stand this story.

[@CJusticeHappen21]

*New Title:* _Jack and Roger's Excellent Adventure_

[@brokenearth7079]

*Bill and Ted Air Guitar noises*

[@randallmokjialung3592]

JoRo's Excellent Adventure

[@ddietz8778]

Everyone: *brutally murdering a kid* Simon, being murdered: Dude, bogus.

[@klairgreystone4655]

Roger's Bizzare Adventure

[@jaxyaboy]

More like Jack and Rodger's Bogus Journey

[@rebelturtle7494]

Just remembering one detail from when I read it for class, the little kid that first started the rumor about the lord of the flies, and then "vanished" didn't just disappear. He was killed in a forest fire all of the other boys started in like, the first or second chapter

[@Levsa399]

The Mulberry boy, I remember.

[@marcoasturias8520]

Only 3 dead children?! That´s not as high as I imagined...

[@Levsa399]

@@marcoasturias8520

[@CC-rg3tc]

It gives me indescribable joy to learn that Lord of the Flies was an edgy hatefic for a genre that doesn't exist anymore.

[@wjzav1971]

That's what the Simpsons originally were in the 90s.

[@Omnomnomnius]

Golding was my grandfather's English teacher at the time, and the kids were based on *HIS* English class. He's never told us which one he was part of, but my grandad was in LotF!

[@cdkumquat4953]

Which character do you think represented him, if there was one at all?

[@grantkelly8696]

Adam Livneh Plot Twist his grandad represents Rodger.

[@atheris1641]

That sounds super cool lol

[@voidnoidoid]

That’s rad!

[@Hinatachan360]

Wow, family history is so cool. 😎

[@user-ps6do9lu3n]

I remember hearing that the writer got pissed off because the books portrayed upper class British boys wrong and he knew that on their own they would turn into vicious assholes because of their own socialisation in society

[@hellspawnstudios]

Wouldn't we all?

[@caveragefacts3395]

Yes

[@NeutralL12]

I mean realistically couldnt Rodger assassinate that asshole guy in the middle of the night with a big rock and tell people the beast did it? Course that would lead him into a villainous area. Which is kinda against his own characters point. Oh

[@ea.fitz216]

They're not all upper class. You have Piggy, a working class cockney kid whose Aunt owns a sweet shop, you have the littluns, from all areas of society, Ralph who lives in the countryside in an estate, with a father who is a Naval Commander and the choir, who are upper class dickheads (except Simon, I miss you pal).

[@ForrestFox626]

He isn't wrong.

[@TheFrugalVideoGamer]

You forgot one interesting parallel at the end, though - the adult berating them was, as you mentioned, a naval officer, and the final line in the book was him looking at the (war) cruiser in the distance as he allowed the boys to regain their composure. The adults are no better than the children in regards to violence.

[@entr3_nou5]

Every girl in my class: awww Simon is so sweet!! He’s my favourite!! Me, who has read the book before: honey, you got a big storm comin’

[@dewmilk7266]

The girls in my class liked Jack at the beginning

[@rednecromancer2579]

@@dewmilk7266 this is much more accurate to real women.

[@dewmilk7266]

@@rednecromancer2579 bro i am a real woman also your name is *scott* somehow i doubt you know anything about it

[@rednecromancer2579]

@@dewmilk7266 1) I was agreeing with you and 2) why do you use my name in a negative connotation

[@dewmilk7266]

@@rednecromancer2579 Oops, sorry! I think I misinterpreted your comment! There's nothing wrong with your name, I was trying to imply that as a Scott, you wouldn't know about being a real woman (tho I suppose a transwoman could keep her old name). Sorry about the confusion that was mostly my bad.

[@eldritchcupcakes3195]

"this book is meant to shred your faith in humanity" That's long gone, so I'm good.

[@RHKang-hl3ps]

Ah, nothing like a little bit of dark humor to start the day.

[@victorsimmons6769]

*BREAKING NEWS* Man loses additional bit of hope he never knew he had

[@Pokemonleafmon]

Ralph blows Shelly.

[@KanaidBlack]

"I'm an adult"

[@Pokemonleafmon]

KanaidBlack hehehe

[@michaelolynyk4319]

hahahahahahahaha! press 3 to repeat this as many times as you want.

[@howdoilogin]

Only an infantile person would laugh at a stupid joke like that. (I laughed for 15 minutes straight after that)

[@garbageOwO]

If you want more innuendos, read the actual book. It's great. To quote Lord of the Flies itself, "Piggy panted and looked at the glistening thing in his hand." And lots of Jack and Ralph's quarrels seem like breakups.

[@navada4789]

“Write your own paper!” I AM T R Y I N G

[@tamikapage4337]

this video came up as i was in the middle having a panic attack because i have an essay due on this book tomorrow lmaoo and i haven’t read it

[@StarshadowMelody]

Pictured: The only reason anyone reads this dumb book.

[@tnaoro]

Here’s when it happens: 5:26

[@beanie_babe_xo6799]

**brutally kills a kid** **steals a kid's glasses then kills him later** **plans a freaking man hunt for another kid** **sets an entire freaking island on fire cause... reasons** **seriously they should've just left the boy choir** half my class cause they can't think properly for the life of them: "tHe bOYs ArE sO pURe aND SwEeT!!"

[@drakenstarcross1347]

Amen..... im a sophmore and they all say that about piggy and how they "wouldn't bully him" *BS DETECTED* *edit:wow 160 likes*

[@barrocaspaula]

I'm a teacher. Some of my kids would seriously become bullies in the absence of adults. I think the girls would save the day. They are more capable in general.

[@AhmadFIksan]

@@barrocaspaula Funny you say that cause Hollywood apparently has a different idea, as they try to make an All-female Lord of the flies remake lol deadline.com/2017/08/lord-of-the-flies-scott-mcgehee-david-siegel-female-cast-warner-bros-william-golding-novel-1202158421/

[@wherethetatosat]

Sounds like my 9th grade English class alright.

[@justinbury1945]

HAH

[@T_Kelso]

I love this book. It's horribly depressing but the feeling one gets after reading quickly through the last chapter of the chase and then the end... incredible. My favourite part is where the naval officer asks if anyone's dead, half jokingly, and Ralph responds with something like 'just two'.

[@poulomi__hari]

The irony at the end.... an adult talking some sense to the kids: why y'all fighting like savages. While going back to his battleship.

[@thelonelyipad8648]

I literally never realised this and I have a paper on this book thanks so much

[@williamcrowe2576]

Classic case of Pot Meet Kettle.

[@Mantella4606]

So you read all the magical British schoolchild books, eh? But did you read, *The Magic Treehouse Series?*

[@awkward_chaos8322]

YESSS

[@Rie_Bot]

omg I remember being addicted to it all those years ago lol

[@leeschelly8384]

Oh my gosh, I LOVED those books!

[@adriholt4277]

I read those in first grade

[@doriangrayapologist]

they're from pennsylvania,,,

[@hatch22]

Im glad I watched this before I read it. For some reason I thought the kids would go on an adventure and the Lord of the flies would be the main antagonist. But apparently he's just a dead pig.

[@JoyAndAgony]

Hatch22 i wonder why the entire book was named after a seemingly small detail? i guess it weighs a lot metaphorically speaking, but for my simple mind, a title should give you a glimpse into the book, not just... a "roll credits!" sensation in the middle-to-end of it

[@exomancer3632]

Actually, The "Lord of The Flies" is the English translation of the word Beelzebub- otherwise known as the devil. The title is both foreshadowing and a *very* christian explanation at the dissolution of society.

[@kaziislam2785]

Hatch22 dude, the pig was a representation. In the fever dream that Simon has thinking that the pig is talking to him, it calls itself the beast and that it says that it is a part of him. The lord of the flies _is_ an antagonist, it a hideous, savage monster, its the embodiment of evil, and it exists in everybody.

[@samwelltarly6700]

The Lord of the Flies is Satan aka the evil that lurks in everyone. The rotting, fly-ridden pig's head on a spike is rather Golding telling us what he thinks about humanity.

[@ferretprince4054]

yeah from what i've seen people use the devil and beelzebub interchangeably but from the -admittedly little research i've done on it- beelzebub and satan are two different entities. the devil is...the devil obviously and beelzebub is like the chief demon of sloth or something. satan i saw was typically associated with either wrath or pride. but yeah when people say beelzebub "the lord of the flies", nine times out of ten they referring to satan....for some reason. anyway knowing this, the title makes perfect metaphorical sense, and i'm sure a ton of people have beaten you over the head with this by now. so sorry, i'm one of them -_-

[@buchling1]

Man I am glad I found this channel. You guys are the best :)

[@nondescriptindividual3793]

this video helped b/c I had to read this book for the next school year :) -The Late Commenter

[@leonardofranzinribeiro4220]

LieutenantPants Yeap.

[@lexijuliette2362]

Me too!!

[@felted_catfish]

Cool

[@stefanmakhoul9934]

Ikr she's soooooo good

[@RobbieTaylor]

If you want your faith restored, the story was inspired by a real-life situation in which a troop of Boy Scouts was marooned on an island for some time before being rescued. Contrary to Golding's dismal view of how children would react to a lack of external order, they kept themselves fine, tended to the sick and wounded, and were generally a great bunch of kids who came through the worst survival training ever with flying colors

[@Dr.Sho_Minamimoto]

This reminds me of when I was still in middle school. When we got to this book a teacher thought it would be a good idea to make us go through a thought experiment of what would happen if a random sample groups of the class were put into a similar situation (think “Lord of the flies” D&D edition). As it turns out, I’m a monster who will make sure everyone survives... until they try to kill another person, that’s when they are buried up to their head and get a nice sea spray facial with the tide rolling in.

[@MrDraacon]

I think I'd just try to be on good terms with the person the group chose as leader so I can indirectly control the group a bit. Making suggestions what to do and so on (and not being blamed when something goes wrong of course :)) )

[@redpup6931]

Why don't more schools do this? I want to play books disguised as D&D.

[@jx7945]

red it would definitely get a lot more students interested and focused on the learning.

[@acasualcactus5878]

I’d be the one who tries to establish a system of government and then gets thrown off a cliff.

[@beccag2758]

I think I’d be that person who’s read too many survival books but nobody really listens to but I can’t go off and survive by myself because group survival is generally a better plan

[@merrittanimation7721]

My head canon is that after getting on the boat they don't have to deal with pesky readjustment because as they are in a war the ship is attacked and they all die

[@kokobean5921]

Why?

[@julianathomas8597]

Aren't you a pessimist

[@crimsonscourge8539]

Merritt Animation ok

[@zuha9541]

Makes sense, pesky readjustment sounds like a nightmare equally as traumatizing as the Island itself.

[@coyowolf4609]

Perfect ending!

[@TomorrowWeLive]

"I must say that anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head." -William Golding

[@rhyzvanic3660]

I for one do not project malice onto other people, especially since I don't have PTSD from one of the world wars.

[@Thorntonian]

So the average person makes 1 1/2 teaspoons of evil in their life? That's not too bad, actually.

[@barleysixseventwo6665]

Dude, the next most intelligent species we know of are Apes and Dolphins who are wanted murderers and rapists respectively. I say we're doing pretty well. Me, 4 seconds ago

[@Enderchangling]

More that they both do both

[@kaziislam2785]

Tomorrow We Live damn. Pessimist is an understatement.

[@devinaughney8329]

"So Ralph blows Shelly" I LITERALLY LAUGHED SO HARD MY MOM HEARD ME FROM DOWNSTAIRS IM SO MATURE

[@MidoriMushrooms]

same, and the "I am an adult" part I said out loud before even reading it ;v

[@ooficusrex3347]

XD I've watched this vid multiple times before and I always laugh at that

[@raspberrycrowns9494]

It's not that funny...

[@General12th]

There's nothing immature about laughing at sexual references. Sex is, by definition, a mature practice.

[@opticalyoutube5597]

@@General12th lol nerd

[@ThiccFish]

YOU MISSED THE IMPORTANT PART OF THE ENDING. The naval officer looks back at his own ship and pauses briefly.

[@nikkiewhite476]

The thing is there have been several actual incidences of groups of children becoming stranded since this book came out. Same age groups even, they worked together to survive, comfort each other and get rescued. I think he projected adult behaviors on the kids characters he wrote about.

[@Levsa399]

He was writing about a specific class of kids he taught. Some of the characters were based off of specific students. He wasn’t trying to bash children as a whole, he just wanted to destroy a genre and rant about his class.

[@GamerAJ-1025]

True, kids have actually fared well in some of the instances where this sort of thing has happened.

[@starsun6363]

Were they spoiled upper class british kids tho? That's my running theory. Yeah this miiiight have happened (alebit, slower, in my opinion.) but if it had been literally anyone but super entitled bratty rich kids they would have been fine.

[@maucazalv903]

if that works or not depend on their knowledge, if u are on a desert island and don´t know how to cook for example you are kind of death the gang of kids in Lord of the Flies were confident just because "we are British"(?

[@chongliyang4044]

@@starsun6363 if jack didn't exist probably none of this shit would have happened

[@VelvetCondoms]

I actually liked Lord of the Flies, but my view of humanity is a little ... bitchy.

[@renrenthemadscientist]

Nate Watson and if you want to be nicer say cynical. Or pessimistic.

[@oddluck4180]

clood lunk Or a realist.

[@VelvetCondoms]

That was deliberate word choice. If I was merely cynical or pessimistic, I would just find the story to be realistic to the point of being boring. But I genuinely enjoy that it's so soul crushing, because I enjoy stories that deconstruct any form of idealism in our society.

[@IngoSchwarze]

+Nate Watson: Maybe surprisingly, excessive idealism happens to be the main weakness of the book. It essentially says "if only we are a bit more considerate of each other, and consciously restrain our inner leaning towards destructiveness, we can make this world a better place". Unfortunately, that is only a necessary condition towards the goal, not a sufficient one. It does show that humans must establish Order without establishing (or rather, at the same time as dissolving) Power, but it lacks any hint that, while wont of kindness and love may be the first hindrance on that path, and in that sense a major one, it is far from the only hurdle and certainly not the hardest one to overcome.

[@aronpuma5962]

While I can appreciate it's deconstruction, and I can like a lot of the language, I can't quite embrace the soul crushing as something as, real as advertised. This book wants to be the realist yo, and, it isn't. That's mainly because a character like Ralph is not realistic, and once everyone starts feeling like, hungry, and wet, and cold, and do not want to sleep on sand, they would not be so bitchy toward the idea of getting rescued, or at least I don't think any child would be.

[@tron-do7ii]

2:01 "I'm an adult" Yup, even in the twenty first century on one of quite possibly one of the darkest books I've read, sex jokes are still aparent... yup

[@derronmendel9650]

I love how you casually skipped over the first time jack sets the island on fire, or the horrific detail with which the book describes Piggy’s BRAINS splatting out of his head when the rock drops on him. But yeah, RIP Shelly, I guess.

[@verity_amo]

We studied this book in high school, and honestly I thought it was great. I loved all of the motifs, the symbolism, etc. There is so much more that can be said about this book and what it means.

[@pforgottonsoul]

i'm kinda disappointed that so many people hate this book i personally loved it.

[@solsystem1342]

I read it by myself but I've always felt like I get more invested in books about children when they're in really messed up situations. I guess it's hard for me to relate to children who lived lives without serious trauma? It feels unreal to me even if I'm aware some people experience it. That being said I need forewarning it's going to be dark. Previously lighthearted stories that try to pull that make me mad. Sometimes I get invested in other things to. Like fantastical worlds and animals and whatnot I just noticed looking back this was a trend.

[@therafmaster5958]

Jack's Mom- So, how was the island, I guess? What'd you do? Jack- *nothing*

[@khaosreborn7899]

Okay, I fully expected this to be about Beelzebub the actual Lord of the Flies, but hormonal teenagers with murdering tendencies is pretty much right up my alley.... so carry on

[@horseenthusiast9903]

Khaos Reborn I just wanted Beezlebub to actually show up and like, haunt the island or something instead of having a hallucinated conversation with Simon as a pig’s head

[@Dr.Sho_Minamimoto]

@@horseenthusiast9903 We can always treat the pig head on a pike as Simon's inner daemon, much like an avatar of Beezlebub to the slowly deteriorating mind of an unwell child.

[@manmoy4104]

Beelzebub is kinda present in the book already if you interpret the Beast as the Devil

[@pancakes8670]

Well Beelzebub is commonly associated with war, and this book as a heavy war theme and portraying the savagery of Humanity. So I think it checks out

[@colt9836]

@@Dr.Sho_Minamimoto It's heavily implied that the Pig Head *is* Beelzebub, symbolizing that darkness even exists within childern.

[@RunawayComics]

Maybe you could do a Brothers Grimm fairytale saga? Not sure if that will restore faith in humanity per say but it will be entertaining

[@ariannaclearwater4973]

Whoop whoop brothers grim 😊

[@Azalea_rose]

I actually hate to break it to you but most of the stores are really dark and just destroyed your faith in Humanity before Disney got to them

[@Azalea_rose]

Your funny you look seriously some of the lesser-known Grimm stories we're really messed up can you tell me this one about a beaver person who murdered people with a Golden axe

[@Azalea_rose]

Sorry. Got screwed up a little bit and voice to text

[@barrocaspaula]

Awesome tales but somewhat dark.

[@weiqi3916]

Jack is a really interesting character. When my English teacher said that other character “shifts” to savagery except for Jack and Roger who are savages in the first place I say nah, Jack gone through a process too, remember he can’t kill the piglet at first? Remember one if the first line he said? “We’re British, not savages.” Well Jack, you don’t say. ◉‿◉ It’s like he just flipped a light switch and poof he a freakin savage. It’s like he just do whatever he believes will give him the most prestige regardless of morals or values. I got a feeling that he will be one of the first to adapt back to civilization once they got back (granted he won’t be sent to reformation camps or something like that for what he did).

[@mufffin4582]

You forgot to mention that Simon already knew that the beast was inside them. But couldn't explain it. And when he tried Jack just said poop and the kids laughed at him

[@alienz8641]

"I HATE THIS BOOK" Can't say that I blame you Red. Can't say that I do.

[@MrDraacon]

5:39 \*A kid is crushed to death by a boulder* Red: "Shelly!! Nooo!! " While not caring about the kid at all

[@giorgiomezzanzanica3693]

If the author wanted us to care he could have killed his character less comically. (

[@MrDraacon]

@@giorgiomezzanzanica3693 Very true. He should've known that these scenes would become peak comedy.

[@docette2015]

I remember reading this book in school -- and I remember enjoying it simply because I considered it a great thriller/horror story. Jack is downright creepy, man. As is good old Roger -- and the really sad part is, because of the time period of the book, it's unlikely any of them got the help they needed upon rescue. Feel-good novel indeed!

[@landofthehazymist]

even now therapy or any kind of mental health services, let alone anything adequate, is impossible or near impossible to access for a lot of people, myself included

[@CalliopePony]

Fun fact: You can't start a fire with a near-sighted person's glasses. (Piggy is specifically stated to be near-sighted in the book.) The curvature of the lenses diffuses the light instead of concentrating it. Your best bet would be with glasses made for a far-sighted person.

[@void-creature]

does it count as murder if there are no adults to yell at you? that honestly killed me

[@arzzeyy]

so how come you are commenting this if you are dead?

[@Wheezr]

"Ralph blows Shelly" NOw the image of one of my classmates BLOWING another one of my classmates is forever branded in my head. Thanks for nothing Red

[@ashinjoy9368]

Noo

[@u_s_e_rname]

Oh no

[@batchuswati3007]

You know, if you were teaching this book, I might have actually enjoyed it. High school English destroyed the lord of the flies for me. In hindsight, it really was an amazing(and not amazing cuz murder) book.

[@emblemblade9245]

Batchu Swati It always does

[@shorewall]

@@emblemblade9245 I remember my college freshman english class being the first time that I realized that the books I was reading were being ruined by the education process. I can remember books being ruined by school before, but this was the first time I was cognizant of it happening as it occurred.

[@Machialemmi]

Murder is amazing

[@ucnguyen6375]

I was trauma for a month after reading this book

[@seamusburke639]

Feel ya there. High school English class was my introduction to Ray Bradbury. Y'know what book of his they had us read first? "Dandelion Wine", which is insufferably twee and probably Bradbury's worst book. Years later I discovered "Farenheit 451" and was like YOU COULDN'T OPEN WITH THIS?!

[@rockuboi9121]

"I'm an adult" - Red

[@pRahvi0]

It's good to remind yourself (and others) every now and then. :P

[@davehoffman4659]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@rongusta11]

Me 2

[@js66613]

Allegedly.

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

You know, you'd probably make for a much better literature teacher than most, especially when it comes to engaging your audience. I've read all the books you've summarized and overly-sarcasticized XD and I have been a literature professor myself, and wish I had half your ability to talk about these classical works. Great video, as usual.

[@clavesseptem7223]

Fun history note: There actually WAS a group of kids who got stranded on a deserted island! Except they didn't turn into little murdering jerks. They banded together and got everyone safely rescued/returned home. Reference date: 18 June 1965. Some Tongan boys wanted to get away from their uh....Catholic school (who can blame them honestly?) and run off. They get stranded on a remote island for 15 months. One of the lads, specifically the one named Mano, told all about it in an interview years later.

[@CMAlongi]

Fun fact: something similar to this actually happened. Some boys got stranded on an island for a year and a half. But, unlike these jerks, they actually worked together, looked after each other when one of them got injured, and were all rescued. Someone once pointed out that Lord of the Flies is really only an accurate prediction for entitled white boys of upper class. But if you get poorer people (who have been scientifically proven to be more empathetic) and/or people from oppressed minority groups in this situation, the chances of murder go way down.

[@wegner7036]

Empathy is not a proven science. And the way people act in the upper class is due to the society that is the upper class. Take a poor person and throw him into upper class society and he'll pick up the attitude after a few days. Throw an entitled rich kid to the train's cargo cars and it'd take just as long to adjust. As someone who often travels long distances on foot (because planes are expensive are cars are terrifying), it's in communities where co-reliance and co-dependence are necessities where you'll find the most compassionate folk. I'd form a half-theory it's a phenomenon related to Stockholm syndrome, but I'm not a sociologist.

[@solsystem1342]

@@wegner7036 when you have to depend on eachother for survival cooperation and kindness is your best strategy because pissing people off/breaking connections could kill you. It's just a natural consequence of the circumstances from a purely rational perspective.

[@blackjoker2345]

Wasn't that "real life lord of the flies" that the media was a buzz about a group of college friends who were Purposely trying to find an Island to live on? That was a Very different scenario to the book...

[@solsystem1342]

@@blackjoker2345 there have been a lot of situations where a group of people get stuck on an island.

[@blackjoker2345]

@@solsystem1342 And lots of them end with the group trying to kill each other. not just "little white boys"(seriously, racist much?) like the OP said.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

"Are there any dead?" "Just two, Sir."

[@_aiseyahreads.1477]

yeah, about this-- what about that kid with the mulberry birthmark? shouldn't there be three? I was so confused lol

[@Levsa399]

Mulberry boy: Am I joke to you?

[@asageadayart]

@@_aiseyahreads.1477 I think his death was only implied since he went missing during the fire. They also weren't able to keep track of just how many littluns there were when they first congregated, since they were all wondering off. Therefore, there could have been a lot more that nobody knew about since the boys were all coming from different schools.

[@noysho1281]

I owe my mental health to red, i realised after three chapters that i can't finish this work of pure evil but this video got me through the basic knowledge test.

[@ginnundso]

same

[@ginnundso]

Literally I tried reading this book and normally, when I read books, I read really fast and I am most of the times captivated that I am able to read like idk 10 sites in 15 minutes or so But everytime I tried reading this book I got tired after just one site and to not fall asleep I have to stop reading lol This never happened to me before lmaooo

[@js66613]

You also owe her precisely one human soul.

[@aidantran3409]

I heard "shred your faith in humanity" and immediately liked, shared, subscribed, and connected to the video on a level unfathomable to the human consciousness regarding interdimensional planes.

[@Ambibop]

In my current (Sophmore) english class we are reading lord of the flies for one unit. And everyone in my class just LOVES Jack, going on about how he's the best character and how great he is! The things they will learn in time...

[@kamronspencer4910]

life is not okay for me unfortunately jack appeals to a large portion of people becuase despite how horrible he is he’s basically the stereotypical “fun jock cool kid” who lets everyone do fun things even though those fun things make it actively harder to actually live properly and due to that character type even his bullying is ignored by most who weren’t bullied themselves for the same reason real bullying is ignored in real life. It only when he starts killing people that it starts to dawn on a lot of people how horrible he actually is

[@eithandjdjd4902]

This

[@yellowstarproductions6743]

Agreed

[@BradK4444]

When I was in grade school, every adult I knew used this book as a "this WILL happen if boys get stranded on an island." A few years later, the news reported about the real British boys who really were stranded on an island and worked together for months. Nobody died or staged a violent mutiny or anything.

[@morgant.dulaman8733]

Part of me wonders if those kids read this book, or one's similar to it, and that had a hand in keeping anyone from doing something remarkably stupid or violent.

[@0ctopusComp1etely]

Ooo, I love this book. It's symbolically rich enough that an entire island of young boys could survive on its provocative thoughts alone. Or make them question the very foundations of rationality and what it means to be human. Either way. Somewhat on that same note, Samneric represent Rationality coupled with the desire to Survive. Call them primitive survival instincts vs conscious thought, if you will. They are the first older boys to "believe" in the beast, symbolizing the dawning realization of the boys' society that they will have to defend themselves from any inherent threats that may occur on the island since they haven't yet and likely WON'T receive any adult help on the island. It's the catalyst that begins the inherent fear that permeates the latter half of the book, and the escalation of relying on brute force to survive an unfamiliar situation vs calmly thinking it through. Samneric are also the last two to "yield" to Jack's hunters, after being kidnapped and tortured. Jack's primal representation of dominance-through-violence takes hold of the last bastions of Rationality and ultimately force them to choose: succumb to the fear-induced craze of survival instincts to live to the next day and abandon the only remaining shreds of civility that could hold back that inherent barbaric nature, or... well, die? Samneric's last talk with Ralph is Rationality effectively stating inwardly that Civility will be abandoned because it's no longer needed in the current situation, and would only serve to hold survivability itself back.

[@niyar.2791]

i liked it a little bit and I'd like to see Animal Farm

[@Hecatonicosachoron]

+Ninja Niya A (fairly old) animated version of that has been done, and it's pretty decent (all things considered) - have you seen it?

[@niyar.2791]

+Jason93609 Nope. Thanx for telling me

[@profmalicious]

+Ninja Niya There's also a live action version made in 1999 that's pretty good too. Both versions tack their own endings onto the official ending, and they really represent the time period each film was made in.

[@donpacificbobcat9er615]

Niya R. Ohhhhhhhh yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!

[@zucc9944]

+profmalicious Would you mind spoiling the endings? I'm pretty sure I'm not going to be seeing the films anytime soon.

[@kenkastlekausmo701]

"He had first discovered the idea of having a happy story in kid books, and was having none of it." *Extreme zoom-in* I can't help but find that humorous. :)

[@RaitheaFilms]

Here's a quick restoration of some faith in humanity. This premise actually did happen off the coast of Tonga. In 1965 6 boys set out on a boat they knicked and proceeded to strand themselves on an island, 'Ata. And the exact opposite thing from that dumb book happened (btw I have never liked that book since I first read it in HS) The boys looked after each, even when 1 broke his leg the others made sure he rested and recouped. They were stranded for 15 MONTHS! before they were finally able to flag down a passing ship.

[@Stormkrow280]

When my class was reading this in school we were split up into groups and preformed the scene where Simon talks to the pigs head in sort of a competition. My group won because of my reading the part of the lord of the flies, I had chosen to do a suave, smooth voice with a hint of a threat and had the entire class riveted with my performance

[@KaiseaWings]

I've heard someone say that the point of the book was a critique on the notion that the English are the most civilised genteel people EVER and clearly superior to everyone else, a popular notion at the time. Less a reflection on humanity as a whole.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

but also, morals are learnt, not intrinsic and instilled by a god for which satan tempts us from. more like the opposite. #nihilism.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

+jorgepeterbarton That is not nihilism...

[@jorgepeterbarton]

I need no channel youtube! What isnt nihilism? How is a lack of intrinsic meaning and morality not nihilism?

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

+jorgepeterbarton I jave misread your comment. I apologise. Still, nihilism alao includes the addendum.that morals are useless and life is meaningless. Without those you have existentialism.

[@jorgepeterbarton]

I need no channel youtube! True. Arguably lotf doesnt give much in the way of that. As a few will say, exhistentialism will come from rejecting a preceeding position of nihilistic despair.

[@rainbowpearlvlogsandanimations]

I remember my local youth theatre group put on a play of Lord of the Flies, which I was incredibly surprised by considering how dark the story was, and the fact we were only a few years younger than the characters- turns out it remained pretty faithful to the source material (though we did add a few female characters so everyone could have a role and double-casted all the important ones from the book), but what I find interesting is that we changed the ending a little. We kept the murder stuff, using red glitter for blood, but when the naval officer appears, we had him say something like ‘I see you were all playing a game! Not a very safe situation to play in, I see, but I hope you all played nicely…’ and then ended it with the characters looking at each other awkwardly, the final line being spoken by Ralph: ‘Yes… nicely…’ and the characters following the naval officer off… though a little more optimistic, as it insinuates that the kids can and want to change and be better people, I feel like it lessened the blow of the original source material. Then again, it had to be an appropriate ending for a show performed by ten-year-olds!

[@coldcovoi5408]

R.I.P Simon, the only reasonable character.

[@ninjamonkey2251]

"Why don't you want kids?" See above.

[@Geek69420]

Ralfs bizzare adventure *Ceasar's death music plays as the bolder gets pushed onto piggy* Ralf: Piggggyyyyy

[@littleblueclovers]

Oh man, I *hated* this book as a kid. Calling it a horrible downer would be an understatement. Any character that was even somewhat likable was ignored, tortured and/or killed and... ugh, man... there was hardly anything to look forward to. I was just glad Ralph made it out alive. I wished everyone else died or something through.

[@redballoon9007]

Piggy didn’t deserve any of it though...

[@tiredoptimist277]

I also hate this book. A lot. I find it completely impossible. At least in today's society also the leaders are all like 11? Right. They should know better and know about the war. Plus Simon has a mental illness and I often felt his character made no sense and was just a cheap way to make you sad.

[@bettiegabrsek741]

@@tiredoptimist277 I agree, the book makes you think all people are evil. If you need your faith in humanity back, just remember that a situation like lord of the flies actually happened in the sixties. Six boys were stranded on a deserted island for 15 months and unlike their book counterparts, they managed to keep sane and work together all that time.

[@tiredoptimist277]

@@bettiegabrsek741 Oh wow really? I didn't know that. That's really interesting.

[@crimsonstrykr]

Man, you must really hate books then. If you ever come across a good literature book that DOESN'T involve depressing things then let me know ok fruit cake? Jesus.

[@kamomile_tea]

That book fucked up my weekend. Thank God there's channels like this which make absolutely hilarious jokes to make me forget the horrible feelings of death and the questions of morality.

[@pesky2746]

"A ship was passing." 3:20 I love those kind of ships.

[@raptorkid7477]

Thank you for helping me get an A on a test for a book I haven’t read

[@imperialistbrit128]

This is completely accurate for the mindset of young boys, when I was in school at around fifteen a bunch of us got sent on a wilderness survival thing and about two days in I went to go for a piss only to see a slug stuck to a tree with its guts hanging out below it, as I looked around I noticed, all of the trees, had slugs stuck to them with their guys hanging out, a little later I found out why as I saw one of the year 7’s of the group go up to a tree with a slug on it, and using one of the pairs of small harder shears we had to cut branches with, stick the blunt end of said shears into the slugs breathing hole and close the blade, which cut the slug open and its guys dropped out, needless to say then little bastards made bows shortly afterwards and started trying to shoot the rest of us with sharpened sticks and generally piss everyone else off to the point that the “goodietwoshoes” of the group who was my age, yeet one of these sharped sticks back at a kid after being shot and nearly skewerd this kids eye. In short, barbarianism is only one unsupervised group of kids away from becoming reality

[@bellablackmist5033]

Mwahahahahahaha! Now I have ALL THE SPOILERS FOR MY HONORS ENGLISH CLASS! MWAHAHAHAHAH!

[@bellablackmist5033]

*secretly cries when no one's looking cuz it's my own fault for clicking on the video*

[@orecvetkovic904]

@@bellablackmist5033what the hell happened here

[@wildpiercy1141]

When I read this in highschool, I and a lot of the other kids thought the ending was really weak. But we also had never been told about why exactly Golding had written the book in the first place, just had a lesson on the Themes(tm), so instead of the captain rolling up like, "you kids having fun?" being a response to those books, it just felt like the tension of the scene got kneecapped. After I learned why it was written, I actually changed my mind and really enjoyed the ending.

[@floricel_112]

Yeah, I think I for once prefer the french counterpart of this story, Two Years Vacation by Jules Verne. Same premise, same ending, but the pack of rowdy kids actually get their act together, learn to survive and cooperate, create their own little community and keep up with their studies with varied degrees of success depending on their age: the younger children are able to be taught by their older mates while they have to make do with whatever study materials they had with them on the boat that didn't get soaked

[@theoptimistictabby2785]

The reason why Golding didn’t include any girls with the boys was because (and I quote) “Sex would have reared its lovely head, and I didn’t want this book to be about sex.” He also didn’t want to add girls because he felt that they were far more superior than boys (something I find hilarious). He wrote an all male cast because he had “had experience with being male”. He was quite a funny guy.

[@thatotherguy8138]

I read this book for the first time when I was 15. I saw myself in the book, sometimes in the form of Simon, sometimes as Piggy. I grew up with boys who would be Jack, Roger, the twins, etc. (I wasn't sure who I knew who would be Ralph; no one I grew up with struck me as someone I wanted as a Ralph, even if they might have been one) I knew that if all of us were in that same situation, the same general things would happen. Potentially up to and including the murder, on a large enough time scale. I'm not even sure how hyperbolic this book is - everything seems to happen so fast, but even that isn't particularly out of the question. We're not talking about adults here, who can be expected to have some degree of foresight. We're talking about boys - preteens - who would be terrified to do most of the things in the book... until someone else does it. Then when there's no one to tell them no, nearly everyone will do it. Why? Because most boys (and most children in general) derive their world-view and Morals from what Adults tell them. If an adult tells them it's Bad, then it's Bad. If an Adult tells them it's Good, it's Good. 10 year olds aren't old enough (generally) to figure most things out for themselves, so when no Adult is telling them something is Bad, they aren't able to decide for themselves why something is Bad. At best, you get boys going "N is like X, and X is something bad, so is N bad too?" and deciding not to do N because it might be bad. All it takes is one boy to overcome his fear at doing N and then doing N for others to join in. The more who join in, the more likely the hold outs will, until you can reasonably expect the majority to do N. This might take months. This might take minutes. There's no way to predict how long it will take for someone to do N, to NOT get in trouble for it (as there are no adults to punish the boys) and for others to join in. So even the timeline on the island is reasonable. All in all, it's a very reasonable - if bleak - look at how pre-teen boys would act in this kind of extreme situation.

[@Jemini4228]

Why is it that so many school studied books have such a cynical view of human nature?

[@knightofarkronia8652]

Jenny Sweeney It really says something about the school system.

[@arandomcomment1092]

They wanna trick students into thinking that their depression isn’t from school, it’s part of the human condition

[@sarahamira5732]

Because human mmnature isn't really fantastic most of the time.

[@floridamancode_e2673]

the fact that they were found by a naval officer is actually a super important detail. he berates them for being savage and violent when he was literally on his way to kill people.

[@andreaitt2321]

My English teacher, before we started the book, made us get into groups of four and five. We were going to set up how we would live on a deserted island. We had to make rules and punishments and stuff. It was mainly girls in the class and I wanted to see how it would change from the book. One group basically said they would have a feelings circle every night and would have group voting, banish you if they felt it was right, but would try to talk things out first. Group two, said they had set boundaries of no stealing, and if you did you were punished. Not bad at all. Group three, no joke, said that it was survival of the strongest. Murder isn't allowed but if you see someone dying you don't help them or we throw you to the sharks. Group four was all boys, they said no rules, but if you break any rules we kill you. I don't really understand what they were doing. There were only two kids left, me and my partner. We only had two people, which means our rules were do your work, if you get sick I understand, we were socialists basically. Honestly, I am scared to think that me and the other kid might have survived the longest.

[@Rum-Runner]

You left out probably the most important detail in the end. The naval officer essentially berates the boys for their savagery and inability to maintain peace and order while they were left to their own devices. They start sobbing and he turns away to see his warship in the distance. This is Golding’s final point in the novel. He’s saying that civilization isn’t actually any more civilized when left to _its_ own devices. It’s just as savage out there as it is on the island.

[@redshirt8611]

“Go write your own paper” I feel like I’m being called out and I’ve already passed all of the English classes I need for college

[@crispcrosp]

now im really curious if you have read beauty queens, it's basically lord of the flies but with pageant girls

[@zuha9541]

cristina m Do people die?

[@paulharris6538]

Zuha that's a spoiler! :O

[@emilleanthonette]

DO CHILDREN DIE? TELL ME!

[@chosokamosgf]

O!! I read that book afterwards! Not really just one girl goes freaking crazy

[@alexandresobreiramartins9461]

Now, THAT'S a scary thought....

[@SesamUbe]

Am I the only one who actually kinda liked this book?

[@grantkelly8696]

KuroChii Nope. This book easily has one of the highest book followings ever. It's really only the millennial hipsters who think they're being thought provoking and deep if they randomly trash the classics with the simplest and dumbest reasons any rational person with any base of a thought process knows is dumb. Case in point some people actually hate this book because it's "too violent"[facepalms].

[@Awesome_Wow_]

KuroChii It's my favorite book

[@d00diehead52]

Judge C3 THANK YOU finally someone said it. Seriously, some of the argument I’ve seen against this book are as idiotic as “My favorite character died”

[@madmadameminx]

I loved this book as a kid. I think I first read it in 5th grade and by the time my 9th grade class got a hold of it, I devoured it. This one and Bless Me, Ultima. I should probably read them again to see how well I like it 30+ years later.

[@imppro]

I love it.

[@tapiocapearl0304]

Oh boy, LotF. I and my friend shiver in anguish as we remember the days we were stuck in literature hell, analyzing this nighrmare of a story where people tear each other out for fun. I feel like the word 'savagery' was tattooed on me. Literally, you could write the word down and instantly your 3-mark wuestion was correct. But what got me the most was-it is inaccurate. Mankind does have savagery in them, but that is not our identity if we chose not to make it so. I just see this being a mechanism of lashing out Golding's depression after the war.

[@horseenthusiast9903]

XXX L also, a lot of the sentiments the boys hold (and arguably the plot itself) is incredibly colonialist and probably racist in ways I can not see.

[@amorahschultze3781]

XXX L I really did like the book. Maybe I’m just a sadist.

[@arturoaguilar6002]

Well... at least they cried at the end. My expectations for the real world isn't nearly that high.

[@stischer47]

This was one of the many books I recommended some of my 6th grade students read (along with 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm), but then to discuss what they read. It was interesting the insight they had.