Transcript Lord of the Flies - Mrs. Kelly's website

Lord of the Flies
William Golding’s Masterpiece
1911- 1993
Author and Context
 William Golding was born on September 19, 1911
in England
 1940 Golding joined the Royal Navy
 Participated in D-Day
 Experience in WWII had a profound effect on his
view of humanity and the evils of which it was
capable.
 His first and greatest success came with Lord of
the Flies (1954)
About the Novel
Set in mid 1940’s when Europe engulfed in
war.
A plane carrying British school boys is
mistaken for a military craft and shot down.
Only the boys survive the crash, and try to
form a society and govern themselves.
The Island
Themes
 Civilization vs. Savagery
 Loss of Innocence
 Original Sin
 Fear that separates one from God
 Nature of Good and Evil
 Goodness is rare and fleeting
 Absolute Power
Allusions
– Reference to a well known “thing”
from history, literature, work of art
• Classical literature
• Mythology
• Christian Symbolism
Symbols in the Novel
The ConchPiggy’s Glasses-
Lord of the FliesFire Signal-
Religious Symbols
 The Island . . .
 The snake in the Garden of Eden
 The parachutist and Piggy. . .
 Jack and Ralph . . .
 Simon . . .
Allegory
 A work of fiction carrying two levels of
meaning:
- 1) a surface plot/narrative (literal)
- 2) symbolic/metaphorical meaning in
which everything in story symbolizes
something greater
Concerning the Title
 Beel’zebub- Hebrew translation for Lord of the flies
 The title is said to be a reference to the Hebrew
name Beelzebub ( ,‫בעל זבוב‬Ba'al-zvuv, "god of the
fly", "host of the fly" or literally "Lord of Flies"), a
name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan.[3]
 Ba‘al Zebûb might mean 'Lord of Zebûb', referring
to an unknown place called Zebûb, or 'Lord of
things that fly' (zebûb being a Hebrew collective
noun for 'fly', thus the common lay translation 'Lord
of the Flies').
Modern Day Allusions
Allusion- (n.) an indirect reference to
something
There are many, many modern day allusions
to Lord of the Flies in popular culture.
For example….
The Simpsons
The Simpson’s
episode titled Das
Bus is a parody of
Lord of the Flies.
Survivor
MarK Burnett’s CBS
island show is said to
have been inspired
by LOTF.
Sponge Bob Squarepants
The episode Club
Spongebob is a
spoof of LOTF.
Popular Music
 Bands such as Taking
Back Sunday, Nine Inch
Nails, AFI, Iron
Maiden, Rolling Stones,
and Pink Floyd have
written songs about or
have alluded to LOTF in
their music.