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Q6 - The Monsters

※WARNING※

This post contains some gruesome pictures. Do not view this post if you dislike pictures of mutilated monsters.

In this book, one of the main threats to mankind, that has lost its superiority over other living creatures, are the triffids.

Triffids are plants that can pull up their roots from the ground and walk. Also, these strange plants have stingers that can whip out and attack any kind of creature accurately. A triffid can walk quite fast, and its stings eject deadly poison. Not only are these creatures mobile and dangerous, they are intellectual. The idea of triffids being smart is started as an idea, but more and more proof of intelligence is shown in the triffids throughout the story.

So triffids are hideous creatures that bring danger to humans. We could also classify these plants as monsters.

Many times in fictional stories, we can see monsters. Sometimes, those monsters are terrifying for another reason: they were created by humans.

Sure, triffids were not exactly artificial existances brought to life by mad scientists, but through human greed they were produced and grown. For profit, sometimes humans create monsters, even when they do so without realizing it.

Another example of a monster that was created through the stupidity of a human was the monster in the Han river, a fictional creature in a movie that is quite famous in Korea.

This monster was actually groups of fish mutilated due to poison that was carelessly thrown away into the drains that led to the Han river. Had the scientist not done such a foolish thing, many lives would have been spared from this monster that fed on human flesh.

Another monster which everybody should know is Frankenstein: a poor inhuman creature created by a crazy scientist.

Composed of dead bodies, Frankenstein was not what we'd call a truly 'living' creature. However, my point isn't about whether Frankenstein was alive or not.

My point is that sometimes humans make monsters. Even when we scream and point at them, sometimes they are results of are mistakes.

If monsters are born by humans' fault, are humans monsters?

Q5 - Current Situations

In the book, Bill mentions the possibility of how the catastrophe of blindness was perhaps not coincidental. He theorizes that the blindness and the plague that killed many of the blind people was not accidental, but caused by artificial forces. To be said directly, Bill thinks that all these disasters were caused by biochemical weapons; satellite weapons that would destroy mankind.

When mentioning these kinds of mass destruction weapons, the first subject that most people are able to think of is nuclear weapons. Especially the nuclear bomb, the symbol of destruction that leaves a scar on the land and history forever. So, are there any situations in the modern world that relate to the novel? Yes. Starting from nuclear bombs that threaten to wipe out millions of lives, there are millions of similar situations out there like the ones in the story. The only difference is that the book has situations that are a bit more extreme.

Like Torrence, there were communist nations that forced their citizens to suffer for the equality of everybody. Even today North Korea is still learning its lesson under a Korean Torrence. Like the time when Coker kidnapped people with sight to make them help for the welfare of the blind, sometimes people try to help others, but in the wrong way. From Miss Durrant's case, there are people who try to live a life that they think is right, but refuse to change anything for fear of proving themselves wrong and losing their pride. Another common phenomenon in the world today is the thought that there will be somebody else who will do something. This is the way the girl who believed the Americans would have pulled off a miracle and stayed quite stable thought. Often people tend to think that 'it's okay since somebody else will do something about it' and refuse to solve any problems that come along the way.

There are a lot of things that have connections between the book and the real world, but why are there so many negative ones?

The answer is simple: everything starts from the fact that people are the cause of all of these. More specifically, how the human mind thinks is what brings in all the chaos. When the situations above are examined carefully, it can be observed that everything begins from how humans think: to be better than others, caring about morals only for the ones who are worse off without considering the other people and logic, their pride, the thought that I can be free of responsibility, and so on.

Most of these thoughts have a common spot. It is that nearly all humans tend to consider, or want to think, that he or she is more superior than others. Pride is another word for this state.

These kinds of situations happen because we think we are always better than other people. We want to seem like good people even when we know we're not, and we don't like to lose or admit that we are not as good as some people. People think that they don't have to do anything because the hard work belongs to others. It is such a selfish way to think, but it is a part of human philosophy that is too difficult to get rid of.

More in the case of nuclear bombs and triffids, (which are another symbol of man's greed because triffids wouldn't have kept on existing if men hadn't grown them for money) are more in the form of physical violence. Why would people choose violence as a strategy to be better than others? These days, even little children have fun torturing little creatures or playing violent games. What causes this? Why, of all things, is it physical abuse against others that humans endulge themselves in?

It is probably because violence really hurts. Physical pain can be felt, and it is a direct way to harm others. Through hurting other people, people can feel more superior than whoever they are tormenting. Feeling superior gives a feeling of being worthy. It is a filthy truth, but that's how some people think. It's true: mankind is more cruel than it seems.

Q4 - The Climax

I think that the climax of this story is when Bill takes his group of people that lived with him for six years and escapes their home to abandon Torrence.

Torrence had discovered Bill, Josella, their baby, Susan, Dennis, Mary, the Brent's baby, and Joyce in their home at Shirning. Now an officer in a clan that rolled by military rules, Torrence was about to force Bill and the others to be separated and to work (actually labor) for the survival of many other blind people. With harsh conditions to overcome and too many obstacles in the way, it was simply not possible to take care of so many helpless people in an environment that could hardly serve as a habitat any longer. Bill didn't like this Communist-style of politics, so he and his group make a get away during the night. The group head for the Isle of Wight, where Beadley's group are building a community without triffids.

The point where Bill fills up Torrence's vehicle tank with honey and makes his escape was a very important part of the story. It surely was the point of no return, where Bill and the other members would not be able to return to their home that sheltered them for six years, and now Torrence's lot was no more or less than mere enemies to Bill's lot. They had left everything behind and started forward for a new life in a new place where the return of humanity to the top of the food chain was being planned.

I was very pleased with this series of events. I disliked Torrence very much for his limited consideration for moral or ethical life. I personally think that he deserved to be it on the back of the head like that. I also was very satisfied and astounded by Bill's choice in this course of action. Sure, it was the right choice to not follow under Torrence's politics, but Bill's wit and cleverness in escaping the unpleasant situation by trapping Torrence and his men was unexpected. I found this scene quite a bit unhappy, too. When thought over carefully, the home that Bill had just abandoned was where he and Josella lived with Susan and the others for many years. It was also the birth place of the two babies in the group. It would be saddening to leave a home, no matter how many hardships you faced there, just because of some rude men who tried to ruin your life.

This climax was a good one, especially the fact that Bill made a choice based on what he thought was right. It was an event that showed the values of a person and the choice that we make due to those values.

Q3 - The Characters

Bill Masen is the main character of the whole story. He is an ordinary man who was simply lucky enough to injure his eyes and have them bandaged so that he couldn't see the meteorite shower, the very sight that blinds more than half the population in England, and perhaps even the whole world.

To me, Bill is a character that I have come to like very much. He is a very logical thinker, and he can make intelligent choices. He also knows how to appreciate others most of the time, and he knows how to resolve conflicts. I especially liked how Bill was not apathetic enough to ignore others in pain, thus being an ethical human, but also that he was not the type of person to make bad choices because he was swayed by his emotions. In the situation where strictly emotional and ethical decisions were the only one made, survival would hardly be possible (the case of Miss Durrant). Yet, Bill still retained humanity inside him, and was not too strict or violent for survival (the case of Mr. Torrence).

Josella Playton is another important character in this story. She is an infamous author of a particular book. Bill rescues her from being captive a blind man, and she becomes his partner for survival. They develop a precious relationship, and later on become husband and wife.

Josella is quite brave and she thinks a few steps ahead most of the time. Very honest to her feelings and open about herself, Josella is a confident girl who comes from a rich family. She is the very motivation for Bill to live productively in this ruined world full of hazards. If Bill was the logical thinker who theorized several ideas accordingly through facts, Josella was a more emotional character who analyzed situations hopefully but only through assumption. I do not mean that Josella was illogical or too emotional, but I am showing the contrast between her and Bill to show how the two of them balance each other out.

Susan, a little girl that Bill picks up during his journey in search of Josella, is a fast learner and cunning survivor. Due to her loss of family members, especially caused by the fatal stings of the triffids, Susan uses her vengeance against triffids to destroy them when she has the chance. Susan is practically the only character in the book, other than the baby of Dennis and Bary Brent, who symbolizes the new generation. She is part of the generation to follow the blind adults; the generation that have their sight and can learn from their parents how to avoid making mistakes the adults made. In short, Susan and her generation are a symbol of hope: the hope of recovering the land that is now inhabited by triffids.

Another thing about Susan is that she meets Bill, and they both save each other from the grasp of loneliness. Both of them comfort each other during their search for Josella. In a devastating situation where the feeling of loneliness can lead to giving up and despair, the existence of Susan and Bill were of great help to each other.

Other than these three characters above, there are a number of characters who represent several different perspectives of life. There was Miss Durrant, who based lifestyle on Christian views that were strict and not practical. Her pride and stereotyped prejudice against some people was very ineffective for survival. On the other hand, there was Torrence. He represented something similar to military rule or Communism. His way of politics resembled feudalism in a vague way. Very much based on force and power, Torrence's way of governing was quite inhumane. The ineffectiveness of this system of rule was centered mostly on people with high ranks, thus only increasing difficulties for people in low ranks. As a result of this disagreeable political system, Bill and his group of people escape their former home and abandon Torrence. Other characters include the Coker (the cynical side of life), Beadley (the logical side of life that doesn't consider exceptions), the people who gave into death without finding hope, and so on.

Q2 - The Settings

The Day of the Triffids is a story that happens in England. However, there is no sign of the England that we know. There are no crowds of people doing their shopping, no tourists taking pictures of magnificent buildings, and certainly no happiness or joy at all. England is transformed into a true dystopia that contains the most hideous sights: blind people scattered everywhere in the country as they scavenge for food, bodies that no longer have life in them in every district, a plague that leaves no survivors, and gruesome enemies called triffids.

This unfamiliar scene of decay and desolation is nowhere near anything that a person would associate with England. It was quite a disturbing setting, and I couldn't really find anything very beautiful about any settings in the book.

From the start of the story, we have distasteful sights covering the whole of London. Dead bodies and blind people fill the hospital that Bill was in. He goes to the streets only to discover even more victims of the whole catastrophe. London is turned into a great morgue in a short period of time.

Although the metamorphe of a familiar city to a world that is turned into a perfect dystopia was slightly disturbing, I did see that there were glimpses of the old England beauty left in some places. Even though the land is now a desolate, empty space that conceals evil that lurks in the shadows, the artificial and natural beauty of the region is still quite untouched. All the old beauty of England will slowly be buried under dust, time, and corruption.

There is a point in the story where Bill thinks about how he would never see the old England again. He also mentions how the city would be destroyed slowly through decay and collapse. It is a true statement, and it is a bitter one, too. Bill says that he is looking at the beginning of the end of London. It is true. That setting is what we see in the story.

These depressing settings relate largely to what the characters in the story feel strongly. This desolate nation that no longer has any feeling of community is a lonesome place. In the midst of a dying country full of threats and dangers, and with most people now alone, the need for society is strong. People can't live without each other.

Bill and Josella met each other, and therefore were able to not feel lonely. The existness of even one person that will be there for you can become enormous strength and hope. Bill searched for Josella because of that strong will to be with her: a person who he could love and be loved back by. Companionship is what is most desperately needed in this place that has been plunged into darkness and isolation.

Q1 - A Significant Passage

As I stepped outside, another door farther down the passage opened. I stopped, and stood still where I was. A young man came out, leading a fair-haired girl by the hand. As she stepped over the threshold he released his grasp.



"Wait just a minute, darling," he said.



He took three or four steps on the silencing carpet. His outstretched hands found the window which ended the passage. His fingers went straight to the catch and opened it. I had a glimpse of a low-railed, ornamental balcony outside.



"What are you doing, Jimmy?" she asked.



"Just making sure," he said, stepping quickly back to her and feeling for her hand again. "Come along, darling."



She hung back.



"Jimmy-- I don't like leaving here. At least we know where we are in our own apartment. How are we going to feed? How are we going to live?"



"In the apartment, darling, we shan't feed at all--and therefore not live long. Come along, sweetheart. Don't be afraid."



"But I am, Jimmy--I am."



She clung to him, and he put one arm round her.



"We'll be all right, darling. Come along."



"But Jimmy, that's the wrong way."



"You've got it twisted around, dear. It's the right way."



"Jimmy--I'm so frightened. Let's go back."



"It's too late, darling."



By the window he paused. With one hand he felt his position very carefully. Then he put both arms around her, holding her to him.



"Too wonderful to last, perhaps," he said softly. "I love you, my sweet. I love you so very, very much."



She tilted her lips up to be kissed.



As he lifted her he turned, and stepped out of the window.





This passage comes from page 68, and it is a scene that comes out the morning Bill and Josella decide to go out to find some clothes. Josella has already left, and Bill is coming out when he sees the young couple and their fate.


After this passage, there is a brief dialogue by Bill about how he must get used to the disastrous happenings that occur around him. The young man's suicide with his loved girl was a mentally critical hit to Bill. Until now, the deaths of people were not that much of a tragedy, mostly because Bill did not see anybody in the act of dying yet. However, this passage is about a man who chooses to die with his love, and does this in a swift, subtle act without informing her about her death that was to happen. The passionate love between the two people is shown vividly in their conversation, where signs of affection can be seen without spare.


It is incomprehensible to many people about how people can choose death, or the idea about dying with somebody you love. This passage represents both cases, and I really couldn't keep my mind off it.


Choosing death is an extremely difficult decision to make, and many people don't find the courage to do so. However, sometimes people choose to commit suicide. This act is done when the people feel utterly hopeless, and when they feel like nothing in the world could help them to feel better. Death is sometimes what people see as an eternal escape from pain.

Another rare event in the modern world is to die with someone who you love. Often people do not see why anybody would which to do such an act, but it happens. The philosophy behind joint suicides is simple: it is too heartbreaking for one person to leave behind the other in death. The very desire to die in the arms of someone who you truly love is a romantic, happy ending for those who think a life without their love is too cruel. Although it is hard to comprehend, it is a true opinion of some people.

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David Kang
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Jun Do
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Tanner Midkiff

Q6 - The Mood

The mood of this novel is very negative. The novel is serious overall, and not much joy or positive feelings can be discovered within the entire novel.

I would say that the mood is depressing, gloomy, desolate, cruel, and so on.

What a dark story.

Starting off from many boys being stranded on an island, we are immediately swept off to the point where a boy has gone missing after a forest fire. From the beginning of the story nothing seems very bright.

Next thing we know, Jack is starting to feel some kind of ecstasy in his hunting, and Ralph is having a very unsuccessful time in building huts along with Simon and the others. Jack and Ralph have something somewhat like a conflict, and Jack shows the first signs of potential violence. The story is getting darker by the page.

After that, we have the infamous incident where Jack leaves the fire to go out while a ship passes by just so that he can kill a pig. Jack and Ralph are having some major frictions going on now. Also, it seems like the hunters are starting to like the taste of bloodspill. Am I the only one who is finding this creepy?

Later on in the story, one of the little boys says that he saw a beast come out of the water. The boys dismiss this statement, but still it makes an impression on them, leaving them uneasy. By the terror of a beast, the group is cracking apart: Jack and Ralph are getting more and more distance between themselves, with the boys each following either one of them. I can't say that this is a happy sight.

Continued from the beast chat from above, the twins claim to see a beast during their night watch: which in fact was a dead man in a parachute. Ralph and Jack lead the boys to the mountain where the twins glimpsed the beast, and their struggle for power becomes more and more evident. Eventually, they go up and see what they think is a beast, which is actually the dead body and his parachute casting distorted shadows. The boys excape and run to the camp. Evrything seems to be going downhill.

Soon enough after the encounter with the so called beast, Jack claims Ralph is unworthy of leader. However, nobody vote Ralph off chief, so Jack stomps away to another side of the island. Other boys follow Jack soon, and Ralph become depressed. Afterwards, Jack's tribe kill a sow, and stick its head upright on a stick. It seems like things are getting pretty ugly now. Later, Jack invites Ralph's group to a feast, and Simon confronts the head of the sow that now swarms with flies. Simon sees an apparition, which is called the Lord of the Flies, and soon he faints.

Later on, Simon awakens and goes to the mountain. There, he frees the body of the dead man in the parachute and he goes back towards Jack's group to tell them the truth of the imaginary beast. Ralph and Piggy have joined the feast. Then, the weather is getting harsh. The boys are getting nervous about the beast again, when Simon appears. However, nobody recognizes him, and poor Simon is murdered by the boys...

I'm stopping the summary here. The story is very gloomy and dark up to this point in the story, and it gets more gruesome and tragic as the story develops the climax. By the resolution, the mood is overwhelmingly dark and desperate. I can't help but say that more than being saddened by this mood, I feel disgusted. I just have to say that this story is so realistic, it makes you feel depressed by the end.

Q5 - A Different Ending

What would have happened if the navy officer had not come to rescue Ralph?

What kind of disaster would have occured if the stranded boys were never noticed, and nobody ever found them?

Had the officer not come along, Ralph would have been unable to escape a terrible fate. As the twins had said to Ralph, Jack had sharpened a stick at both ends: the exact act he had done after killing the sow that later became the Lord of the Flies for a short period of time. This act shows that Jack intended to do the same thing he had done to the sow to Ralph: killing, cutting off the head, and sticking it on the stick. Ralph had been lucky enough to escape the doomed death, but what if he had not been so lucky? What if rescue had never come? The outcome would have been much worse.

If no adults were able to intervene with the affairs of the island at all for the rest of time, then the story would have turned out different. Very different.

First of all, Ralph would have been killed sooner or later. With over twenty boys who wielded spears that could kill pigs as his enemies, Ralph's death would have been inevitable. One person is certainly no match for so many dangerous people. Then, when Ralph was killed, Jack would have Ralph's head just like the sow's: hung up on a stick.

When Ralph's head is severed and hung like a mere decoration, it would symbolize the end of rational thinking, the finish of democracy, and the destruction of all morality on the island. To the boys who would then be no less or more than savages, his head would represent everything that had oppressed them and the useless rules of the world. Then under the rule of Jack the island would become a hunter's land.

With Ralph, Piggy, and Simon dead, nothing is left on the island except violence and dictatorship. The morality, intelligence, the goodness all gone, evil roams the whole island. Then who is left? The savages and the little boys who have no power whatsoever. The little ones would not survive long, for it is now obvious that the older ones will not let them live. With their eyes fully opened to the sweet taste of power, the boys will not be able to stop killing. The pigs will die, perhaps even no longer exist on the island. When no little ones are there anymore, who is there to reign over? For the feeling of being superior to be fulfilled there must be another person to look down on. However, when the savages have only themselves left, then the power isn't as powerful as it was before.

When this kind of line of events come out, then the most likely two results both end up in total destruction: either the savages start killing each other, or the lowly ones who don't like the dictatorship start a rebellion and the savages have a war by themselves. Whichever the outcome is, not many will survive. Probably at least half of Jack's tribe would no longer breathe when the killing is over. If it ever ends, that is.

So, if the officer had not appeared, probably mass murder would have started itself, and ended itself with the death of the very last survivor on the island. Then the island would become what it was before: an uninhabited island.

I have written this because I wanted to simply see is anybody agrees with me that the boys would have ended up destroying themselves if civilization had never been able to make contact with them.

P.S. Just an afterthought: perhaps the same outcome of destruction is waiting out there in modern society for the boys. Even thought they were safely rescued, the boys would never again normally function in society. Who knows? Maybe Jack and his followers still seek to kill Ralph, and they might even become mass murderers in the world.

Q4 - The Climax

Personally, I think the climax is when Piggy dies.



The situation is very much like this:

Jack and two other boys of his tribe had attacked Ralph's group of boys during the middle of the night. After the attackers are gone, Ralph and Piggy quickly realize that Piggy's glasses has been taken. Ralph is outraged by this act of thievery. The next day he takes Piggy and Samneric with him to go to Jack and ask to have the glasses back. Soon Ralph and his friends are confronting a massive group of savages, each behind a painted mask, unrecognizable as the civilized boys they used to be. Ralph fights Jack, stops, and tries to convince the boys to give back the glasses. Meanwhile, Roger is learning the thrill of dropping boulders on people, very nearly killing them.

Piggy then holds out the conch, the last remaining symbol of organized society, and tries to speak. As he delivers his logical speech, the event that shreds the last pieces of humanity apart happens: Roger rolls an enormous boulder onto Piggy, thus succeeding in killing him outright. Piggy's body is soon washed away into the ocean, and the boys start to attack Ralph.

This is the very part where the story reaches its highest and most devastating part of its plot. Through the death of the intelligent Piggy, the boys finally have destroyed the wall that kept them from the extremes of violence: pure murder. The death of Piggy becomes the climax of the story by bringing everybody on the island to the inescapable point of no turning back. Nothing can ever be the same, and now chaos is to reign upon the island of the boys who are no longer boys.

Ralph has lost his most loyal and wise friend at this point, and now the standards of life in the island have all flipped to Jack's side. Either to be hunted, or to be a hunter. This climax is the start of where escaping from the beast within men has become impossible. The only choices are to be either killed by the beast or to become the beast in order to survive.

This climax was very well-plotted, but I can't help but say that I was rather disgusted by the events. The boys cheer and whoop at the death of Piggy, which signals how the boys have totally given in to the evil within themselves. I also feel pretty sorry for Piggy, who was killed instantly without even knowing it. He was pretty unlucky, when you consider the fact that Ralph was rescued by the navy officer soon after Piggy's death. However, it was due to Piggy's death that the boys started to hunt down Ralph and burn down the forest, which attracted the eyes of the officer. So, Piggy's death was what triggered the end of the story, and called the attention of the navy officer.

I am frankly amazed by how the savageness inside a person can actually make that person immune to flinch from murder. This metamorphosis from civilized boy to a cold-blooded killer is very realistic, and is quite creepy. Also, I personally think that this story shows the surprising ability of humans to be able to adapt to nearly anything. It didn't take very long for the boys to get used to hunting and killing. I can't help but say that the human instinct is one of the most frightening things in the world.

Q3 - The Theme

The major theme of The Lord of the Flies is mentioned quite directly at the end of the book. In the last page of the story is is stated that "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." The first two reasons of Ralph's weeping is the main theme of the novel: the end of innocence and the darkness of man's heart.

This entire book is about the life of the boys who are stranded on an island by themselves. More specifically, this story describes the demoralization of people who are isolated from civilization and the corruption of humanity. At the start of the book, the boys are all what most civilized boys are like: slightly playful, reasonable, and a bit selfish. No signs of violence can be seen at all from this point. However, as time passes, most of the boys realize that there is no need to heed the rules they had to abide by when they lived in a modern society. Thus, the reason of maintaining rational thinking and ethical lifestyle is gone; the wall that had kept the boys from listening only to their instincts as savages has been destroyed. During their time on the island, the boys, with Jack as their leader, learn how having power over others is sweet, and that power can be easily achieved by force, which naturally leads to violence.

This desire for being superior of others is what guides Jack and the boys to become what they later become: savages. Then, why did this happen? That is one of the main points that this book is addressing. This happened because Jack and his followers felt pleasure in violence, being better than others, and harming people physically. Apparently, Ralph and Piggy did not successfully escape from this instinct of savageness, for they also joined the dance of killing, the dance that was to murder Simon. So, it seems like everybody in the book except Simon seems to have this secret joy in evil. Simon, the only one who seemed to have no evil in his heart, was killed by the others, which might as well have been an inevitable outcome.

The darkness in man's heart is the love for being better than others, which often results in violence: a physical procedure of harming other beings in order to feel more superior than them. This darkness that lurks within probably most humans is also what the Lord of the Flies in the book represents. It is not something that can be escaped from, because it is part of everyone. Ralph later realizes this, and he weeps for this inescapable chaos. He also weeps for the end of innocence: the ability of being ignorant of all the evil within humans and being able to believe in the good of people. Now that he has discovered the darkness that presides in himself and all the other boys, because he witnessed the deaths that were outcomes of that evil, Ralph can never again return to when he never knew that evil. He must now face that darkness forever, even when he returns to the heart of the adult society. This realization of evil that lurks within all men is what ends innocence, and this theme is what the whole book is based on.

Now, why would a teenager need to know of such a sick truth, of such an awful existence of evil within ourselves? It would be better to not know, to be ignorant of it, so that we can never discover it, therefore innocent for all our lives. No, that is not a good thing, and that is why we need to know this theme: the evil within men's hearts and the end of innocence. I have stated above that this darkness is not something that can be escaped from, because it is part of everyone. In the book, the Lord of the Flies says to Simon that the beast is not something you can kill. Surely, it can't be killed in a biological way, but I believe that it can be diminished in a moral way. Simon possessed innate goodness, even when he knew the Lord of the Flies and its truth. This is because he was able to face it, know it, and still be the better of it. Even though he was killed, Simon is morally the better of everyone in the book. We need to know this darkness in us; people must identify this evil and know it from top to bottom and become the better of its natural savageness. It is stated in Tuesdays with Morrie by Morrie himself that you can't escape from something without even knowing what it is. Teenagers living in 2008 should know this theme so that they do not fall as victims of this terrible evil within us; to defeat the beast we must know the truth. Therefore, this theme must be known by teenagers who live in 2008 in order to prevent the destruction of morality and society.

Q2 - A Significant Passage

This passage is from the point where Jack hunts down his first pig while the fire has gone out, and a ship passes by...

Ralph spoke.

*"You let the fire go out."

Jack checked, vaguely irritated by this irrevelance but too happy to let it worry him.

**"We can light the fire again. You should have been with us, Ralph. We had a smashing time. The twins got knocked over--"

"We hit the pig--"

"--I fell on top--"

***"I cut the pig's throat," Jack said, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it. "Can I borrow yours, Ralph, to make a nick in the hilt?"

The boys chattered and danced. The twins continued to grin.

****"There was lashings of blood," said Jack, laughing and shuddering, "you should have seen it!"

"We'll go hunting every day--"

Ralph spoak again, hoarsely. He had not moved.

*"You let the fire go out."

This repetition made Jack uneasy. He looked at the twins and then back at Ralph.

"We had to have them in the hunt," he said, "or there wouldn't have been enough for a ring."

He flushed, conscious of a fault.

**"The fire's only been out an hour or two. We can light up again--"

He noticed Ralph's scarred nakedness, and the sombre silence of all four of them. He sought, charitable in his happiness, to include them in the thing that had happened. ****His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will on it, taken its life like a long satisfying drink.

He spread his arms wide.

****"You should have seen the blood!"

The huinters were more silent now, but at this they buzzed again. Ralph flung back his hair. One arm pointed at the empty horizon. His voice was loud and savage, and struck them into silence.

*****"There was a ship."

This passage is the conversation between Ralph and Jack after the ship disappears over the horizon along with the hope of rescue. The hunters that Jack ruled over were in charge of keeping the fire alive, but Jack took all the boys to hunt down pigs. Due to that action, the fire burned out and the ship passed by without noticing the boys at all. This causes Ralph to be angry with Jack, and for the first time the two main characters have an obvious conflict.

This part of the story is the point in the plot where the fire seems to lose its importance, thus causing the connection between the boys and civilization to become thinner. Several statements here show how the values of the boys have become.

*Ralph openly accuses the boys of what they have done, and this act shows how Ralph considers being rescued as the most important thing above all.

**Jack states that the fire has been out for only a while, and that it can be lighted once more. This is proof that Jack no longer considers being rescued as a priority. He is already losing his rational way of thinking.

***Jack proudly says that he killed the pig, but he twitches as he says so, as if it was a rather repulsive fact. This single fact is the lingering trace of Jack's reluctance of killing. This is the very last time Jack shows the civilized reaction towards slaughter.

****Jack practically enjoys how he made another living creature spill out its blood and its life. This part is where the inner savageness of a person is shown, and this scene is where Jack finally is metamorphed into the savage he becomes had in himself all along.

*****This one statement of the truth is where Ralph's anger comes from. This terrible fact is also a synbol of how the hope in everybody is crushed. From this point, the relationship between Ralph and Jack is torn down, and somehow the sommunity among the boys from then on slowly turns upside down.

I personally think this passage is interesting, because it is a turning point in the story, where a conflict shows itself, relationships are flipped over, and the hope that the boys had turns into something dark and monstrous. Also, the fire, which signifies the connection between the boys and the civilization of the world, slowly loses its importance. In conclusion, this passage signals the starting point of where the boys slowly lose interest in the world where they belonged and start to feel actual bloodlust.

Q1 - The Characters

The two main characters of The Lord of the Flies are Ralph and Jack.

Ralph, the protagonist of the whole story, is the ideal leader who considers humanity and morality very important. From the start of the story he is elected leader because of his ability to remain calm, steady, and make rational choices. He is a responsible character who is one of the very few boys that try to maintain a civilized manner of living. I like Ralph very much, partly because he attempts and practically succeeds in acting like he would in a society that has adults and humanity, but also partly because Ralph discovers and despairs at the evil that lurks within people including himself. Ralph regards moral highly, therefore he is more and more depressed at the violence that belongs in the core of so many people. Ralph represents the conscience of most people who grow up in a civilized society.

The antagonist of this story is Jack, who is practically the very opposite of Ralph. Jack is described as a boy who wishes to be a leader from the start of the story. He likes the feeling of having power. Jack becomes a hunter who is eager for blood within a short period of time, and he is the leading example of the boys who give in to the savagery that lurks within them all. I dislike Jack, for he loses all the ethical values of a civilized human very quickly. By the end of the book, Jack is a demoralized savage who pursues power, bloodshed, and killing. Jack ends up like this mostly because he finds that the power of being able to harm others makes him feel more superior and stronger than other people. For his love of being better than anybody else, Jack later on decides to kill Ralph as the symbol of his own power over the isalnd and the other boys.

Another quite important character in the story is Simon, who is the sole character in this book that is shown as a truly 'good' person. Simon follows Ralph, is kind to the little boys, and shows himself as a rather peculiar boy. He seems to be physically weak, where he once has a seizure right after he 'meets' the Lord of the Flies. Simon, unlike Ralph and Piggy, believes in the true value of goodness from the bottom of his heart. He was the first one of all the boys to realize that the beast that the boys feared so much might exist inside their hearts. Ralph and Piggy, even though shown as the civilized type, only acts morally because they were raised to do so. They both have the potential of savageness, which showed up on the fateful night of Simon's death. Simon, on the other hand, shows no signs of forged moral or hidden violence, which was why I took a liking to him. However, Simon is killed by the other boys, which represents how the little true goodness of the world perishes under the hands of the evil of all humans.

Piggy, another central character, is a poor boy who is teased and bullied from the start of the book. Piggy is often targeted as a useless, fat victim of teasing.However, he shows great loyalty to Ralph, a deep longing to return to the society of civilization, and he is an extremely logical boy. As he stands by Ralph's side no matter what he develops into an important cahracter, later to be killed by the savageness of humans. By the end of the book, Piggy is stated as a true, wise friend. However, even though Piggy is a rather likeable fellow, he also shows the trace of violence and savageness during the night of Simon's death.

There are other few characters in the story who take a big part in the story. Roger, the eager follower of Jack, also quickly gives in to the glee of harming others and feeling superior. He shows this early in the book when he throws rocks at another little boy without actually hitting him. Later on, Roger's savageness is fully awakened when he starts to enjoy throwing rocks at Piggy, soon succeeding in killing him. Another character would be the officer who appears at the end of the story. He is the only adult to show up in the whole book, and he represents the adult society which the boys can finally return to, but never be the same again.

The last character, or rather, existance in this book is the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies if represented as the rotting head of a sow, which is a female pig, stuck on a stick. This head is symbolic in its own way. Jack and his followers kill the sow and stick its head as a sacrifice for the beast that they think exists on the island. Later, Simon starts to hallucinate and communicate with the dead head, which is renamed as the Lord of the Flies. The Lord talks to Simon, and is horrifyingly realistic. In this scene, the Lord of the Flies represents the 'beast' that the boys imagined, and at the same time it is the beast inside the boys. The Lord of the Flies is also the very main point of the entire story: the evil that lives in the hearts of men.