Young Writers Society

OK my English class just got done reading Lord Of The Flies but i feel my class is underestimating the book. throughout the whole time we read it people only took it as a joke saying what they would do if they were Ralph or someone else and half of the things they said would have never had happened, especially in the 50's. by the time we finished reading it everyone said the book sucked and that they hated it and were glad they were done reading it. I'm bummed that my classmates would act so immaturely about a book. i personally thought it was very good and that the author played out the story very well. i just don't understand why people can't enjoy such a riveting tale. anyone else feel like that or am i the only one?

You're not the only one. I agree completely with your post. I experienced the same thing after my class read the book.

but i don't understand why they would act like it's one big joke
1) reading the book was a grade
and
2) it's an honors class. they're supposed to be more mature
you'd think they'd take this more seriously

Geez, what kind of school do you all go to?

I remember reading Lord of the Flies either in tenth grade or eleventh grade, and the guys by and large loved it. The girls were split in half just about on the book. While everyone definitely took to giving certain people the name of "Piggy," there was also a pretty broad discussion about it, especially with regards to whether or not William Golding was right. I've never agreed with him, but the book is awesome all the same.

I've read this book on my own recently, so I can't say what I've experienced in a classroom setting, but I personally enjoyed it. I can see why people may have made a joke of it, though. I told some of my friends about it as I was reading it, and they're like, "Wow, that's stupid." But I thought it was good, and an interesting look at human behavior, to say the least.

twilght zone i was just thinking about this book...
Anyway that is insane lord of the flys is like my favorate book EVER. Maybe it is because i read it 4 foun not class? Awesome book. Totally not a joke, very scary.

I remember reading Lord of the Flies either in tenth grade or eleventh grade, and the guys by and large loved it.

I agree with Nate, it's surprising to hear that your classmates didn't really like the book. Everyone who I've talked to about it pretty much enjoyed it. I just read it this year and we had really deep discussions about it. One of the girls was a huge Jack fan and stuck up for him the whole time. Ralph is one of my all time favorite characters.

It is an amazing book and I'm really sorry that you're class wasn't really into it.

I don't know about the book. I haven't read it . But i saw the black n white movie, which was pretty good. The idea was really awsome. I agree with it to a certain extent. I think that living together in societies makes human beings better people.

Its the basics of any society/civilization/government: the people follow the laws that the government makes (hopefully for there own good...) in exchange for protection. In early civilizations (towns), they were protected from military threats. Maybe there was a huge wall around the city or something. Or they had there own army to defend the town. So the government protected their lives. Then later on as civilizations and societies evolved they began to protect the inhabitants from crime, and such, and even made laws dealing with moral/ethical issues. Basically where I am going with this is that if there were no governments or societies, the world would be a much different place. Human beings are selfish by nature. We lie, steal, kill, do whatever we want.

Society (and our parents) teaches human beings such things as being honest and not killing other people. While human beings all have an inside sense of right/wrong, selfishness often overcomes it. And these rules which society teaches us are put in place for a reason. They are not religious doctrines (some modern day ones might be, but the basic laws are not). Why shouldn't you lie? If everyone lied, then the ability to speak would be rendered useless. What good is it to understand what someone means, if they are not going to say the truth? We'd literally be back in the stone age before language was invented.

What about killing? If everyone thought it was okay to kill whomever they pleased, then the society would fall into chaos. Nothing could be accomplished without this rule.

How 'bout stealing? If everyone stole things, nobody would have a motive to work. I'd be like communism in a way. If you can work for an hour for a loaf of bread, or steal it in one minute, the obvious choice is to steal it. Unless there's a law against it.

Think about it this way too. Do people follow laws because it's the right thing to do or because they know that if they are caught they will be punished? I'd bet for most people its the latter. Not in all situations, because we have been trained very well, but if there were no punishments, boy this would be a scary world.

Okay,hopefully I've made my point. to those few who actually read through the entire rant, I admire you. If you're wondering where I got this information, it was in my Developing An Examined Life Class. Kinda a combination of religions, ethics, philosophy, mental illnesses, and learning to dig for the truth under a media that is biased and likes to bs the audience.

i totally agree. Lord of the Flies has a lot of symbolism and shows us why having a society with rules is so important to our survivial

I loved The Lord of the Flies. LOVED it. But my teacher ruined it with all the symbolism. I could have figured out what the stupid pig's head was supposed to mean on my own, you know?




PS - 'you really suck' - Cool avatar.

ha ha thanks dream_deep, Nirvana rocks
i loved the book as well
my teacher did the symbolism thing too but he only mentioned it he said we were smart enough to figure it out on out own
but I'm still mad that people in my class don't get it
like this one kid was like "why'd they kill Simon he wasn't the beast was he?" i mean HELLO they're in the middle of nowhere all alone no adults and the human savagery is coming out in them. when you're in that environment it's hard to remember society's rules.
i just feel like no one got the book and what it was all about.

I want your teacher for a day. I agree with you 100%.

-My avatar is somewhat less cool. It's from Tales of Topographic Oceans, which is a record that no one has ever heard of, by a band (Yes) that no one has ever heard of, yet is really quite superb. You have a cooler avatar, though, musical abilites of Yes not withstanding.

yeah my teacher is the best
he's like a hard core rock and roll dude
AND he looks like Jesus
he's the best teacher ever
he lets us listen to music in class...but he makes it an assignment so we won't get in trouble
i think he made the book more interesting as well
he used lots of examples about things that happen today with what was happening in the book
but i think thats what made the class think it was a joke because he used some funny examples
idk

Cool.

Dream Deep wrote:I want your teacher for a day. I agree with you 100%.

-My avatar is somewhat less cool. It's from Tales of Topographic Oceans, which is a record that no one has ever heard of, by a band (Yes) that no one has ever heard of, yet is really quite superb. You have a cooler avatar, though, musical abilites of Yes not withstanding.

Not really related to the thread, but I love Yes. I don't own Topographic Oceans, but I'm getting it soon. I have Fragile, though, which is wonderful. Yes have to be some of the most talented musicians ever. If only I could play like Steve Howe If you have ever heard his work on Mood For A Day, then you know what I mean. Man, he is great....

O yea, great teacher "you_really_suck." Seriously. I love teachers like that. Never have had one look like Jesus before though.

Kinda reminds me of the computer department at my school. In class they play videogames like AoE 2 and say they are "beta testing."