** MS. KALMAR'S BOOK CLUB - LORD OF THE FLIES **

The pink made a come back in Chapter 8 that gave it a new twist for me. It was when Jack and Piggy were talking about what was important, and Piggy felt like Jack was respecting him and on his side. Using the train of thought that Piggy is supposed to represent reason and a democratic society, perhaps that is part of what Golding is using pink to represent? 

Good call by earlier posters on the split in the groups! Jack put himself in an impossible situation in Chapter 8 by trying to oust Ralph through a vote. No one voted against Ralph and the only thing for Jack to do was leave and try to draw others away. What I found interesting is that even though Jack's intention was to go against the established order, he still tried to use the established order - calling an assembly with the conch and calling for a vote - to accomplish this task. He has not completely lost his old democratic habits, at least not yet. 


I'm not so sure, Ben. I think that Simon saw what he calls the Lord of the Flies. It's pretty clear that the Hunters end up killing the pig in the same clearing that Simon is tucked away under the creepers. Golding gives us the clues in Simon's description:


Then it follows in the chase and slaughter of the pig:


So, it's reasonable to assume that Simon is actually seeing the pig's head on the stick with the flies swarming. Now, the voice that is talking to him...this day was particularly hot and Simon was "thirsty, and then very thirsty"(118). I think that Simon was suffering from dehydration, and the voices were in his head. Even still, we know that Simon is self-conscious and has self-esteem issues (especially in front of the others), so what the Lord of the Flies is saying to him could easily have come from his own thoughts. Ugly thoughts projected onto an ugly entity. 

Happy Reading!
Mr. Grondin

I just finished reading chapters 9 and 10. Jack seems to be on a major power trip since he started his own tribe. I think in a way he represents savagery. His tribe doesn't really have any rules. All he cares about is being chief and hunting. Also I think it is really sad that they killed Simon. He was one of the nice guys in the group. This also proves how focused Jack and all the hunters were on trying to kill something. They thought he was the beast and killed him. It was interesting to see how after his death Ralph points out the fact that it was murder. He took responsibility for what he did. Piggy, no matter how hard he tried to defend himself, even realized that it was murder. There was also another example of savagery by the way Jack acted about killing Simon. He convinced himself it was the beast just disguised. Then they raided the other boys' camp and stole Piggy's glasses so they could have fire. Now I'm really excited to see where this goes and how the book ends.

********************* SPOILER ALERT ***********************************
Just finished the book. I was sooo relieved that Ralph was saved. I don't really care about what happens to the rest of them though because they were so mean.



I think by the end of the book, no one was what they were. They had all changed, and gone completely mad. Something had taken over inside of them and they were filled with sellfishness. Who cared about the others as long as he himself could live? Without the grown-ups, the order, and the rules, the boys had lost sight of what was important. It makes me wonder why Ralph was the only one, besides Piggy, that never lost sight of what was important. What made him so special? Maybe his parents had made a bigger impact on him then the other boys' parents had. I'm also wondering when exactly the officer got to the island. Because one second he's being chased by 'savages'and then the next is the officer. When all the boys coward and let Ralph take charge I realized: he always controlled them. Even when they were under Jack they were worried about Ralph.

At the beginning of chapter 11 I thought it was kind of funny how Piggy reacted to having his glasses stolen. He said that he was going to tell Jack that he should give the glasses back because it was the right thing to do. Even though we all know Jack wouldn't be willing to do that. I was sad when Piggy died. He was the voice of reason at times. This was represented by the conch being broken. It was the end of civilization for all the boys. Now they felt they didn't have any rule to live by since the conch was gone. In chapter 12 it was basically just Jack's tribe trying to kill Ralph. I was a little disappointed that Sam and Eric went to Jack's tribe but they had no choice. It was interesting to me that at the end of the book the boys set the island on fire to kill Ralph but it actually got them rescued. It was a bittersweet ending because they got rescued but all the innocence they had was now gone.

Simon, to me seems like a metaphor for Jesus. The kids should listen to him but they don't and as we know they end up killing him for a reason that isn't even justified.

I thought that this book was really good all and all. In the beginning i'll be honest i was not really looking forward to reading this book, i was kind of like oh great another book (i'm not a big reader). But this book was good. Like Nick said, once the book picked up, I enjoyed it. the author did such a good job of putting you right there with them, and making you feel compassion for the characters and when something bad happens. looking back on some of the things that they did, it makes me wonder what i would've done in there situation, would i have done the same, or chose differently.