Monday, August 21, 2006

Lord of the Flies


Reader response to Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Back cover reads:
"Lord of the Flies is an adventure tale in its purest form, a thrilling and elegantly told account of a group of British schoolboys marooned on a tropical island. Alone in a world of uncharted possibilites, devoid of adult supervision or rules, the boys begin to forge their own society, their own rules, their own rituals. With this seemingly romantic premise, through the seemingly innocent acts of children, Golding exposes the duality of human nature itself- the dark, eternal divide between order and chaos, intellect and instinct, structure and savagery. Critics and readers have agreed that Golding's metaphorical vision achieves its greatest power through the pure dramatic intensity of the tale itself. The book's terrifying escalation of violence seems as inevitable as it is chilling."

My Rxn.
I love survival stories. I've read at least 5 this summer. This one is just flipping scary, psychotic, and SMART! i'd recommend it to anyone 14 and up. it's quite grusome at times, but i think some younger readers might be mature enough to handle it.

a disturbing quote.

"Even if he shut his eyes the sow's head still remained like an after-image. The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life" (157).



So the reader is faced with grusome descriptions of death and survival. Pretty interesting. I also found it disturbing how quickly innocence can be lost when someone needs to surivive. The kids in this book are awesome. most of them are just kids... only a few want to think like adults... but most of them don't think very long about planning tactics or anything. They just run screaming into the night doing whatever they want. When a there's a confrontation, they meet it head-on instead of taking a step back to be stealthy. only does Golding's story win him the Word Nerd Seal of Approval, but also his use of vocabulary! I'm not sure if LOTF was written as children's lit, but i highly doubt it judging from the gynormous selection of vocabulary words i picked out! I don't think the average 14 year old would know half of these words! I know the bold words, and i've italicized the words i might know. click on each word to read a definition.

Word/Page
proffer 3
specious 7
decorous 11
interposed 11
pallidly 19
suffusion 20
hiatus 30
contemptuously 43
assented 44

recrimination 45
vicissitudes 52
tacit 56
declivities 57
inscrutably 60
clamorously 60
gaudy 60
susurration 61
sepals 61
opalescence 62
dubious 63
belligerence 64
impalpable 65
incursion 65
detritus 65
myriad 65
sinewy 68
irked 70
errant 74
grimaced 75
ludicrous 85
derisive 94
condemnation 84
sough 96
tremulously 111
embroiled 114
incredulity 116
leviathan 118
plinth 119
dun 123
impervious 137 (MY FAVORITE WORD! LOVE IT WHEN AUTHORS USE IT!)
illusive 157
torrid 184
barmy 190 It's meant to mean "crazy" in the book
truculently 205
pinnacles 205
acrid 215
antiphonal 218
ululation 219

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