It took me three days to read Lord of the Flies. I am not sure why I was so drawn in. It wasn't a particularly exciting story and I definitely didn't feel like I could relate to the characters. Still, I was so curious about what would happen that I basically couldn't stop reading. It was like a bad accident where you can't look away.
I had to read this book as a freshman in high school, but like all the books I hard to read in high school, I kept up for a few days and then fell behind and caught up via sparknotes. There were certain events I knew were coming (Piggy dying, Piggy's glasses breaking, the paratrooper falling from the sky, the pig hunt) but all the details I missed the first time put everything in perspective. I knew what Piggy was feeling when Ralph kept shoving him off as a friend. I knew what Ralph was feeling when no one understood how important the fire was. I knew the frustration they felt when Jack felt it was more important to hunt than build shelters or tend the fire.
One by one, the characters succumb to savagery and tyranny until it is just Ralph left. He is the one who is able to cling to any sort of thought about life beyond the island. He was the only one who wanted to have a fire, and he created order at the assemblies initially. All the other boys (except Piggy) slowly forget their lives and fall victim to Jack's tribe toward the end. Ironically, it is an act of savagery, trying to smoke Ralph out of the jungle, that ends up saving them, although it is by the same means that Ralph was suggesting all along. Perhaps the most striking part of the book was the ending. Although the boys are rescued, this does not constitute a happy ending, even though a rescue was what they were hoping for all along. Instead, the boys are shamed by the officer regarding their behavior, and when they start to cry, it is evident that they cannot go home and resume life as normal. The island has changed each one of them.
I think the character I most identified with was Piggy. He was the voice of reason throughout the novel, and the butt of all the other boys' jokes. However, Piggy had good ideas and advice, and eventually Ralph began to trust him, especially without Jack around. I see this kind of dynamic all the time at school--kids being nice to each other until the "cool kid" shows up, at which point one puts the other down to look "cool." However, this rarely works, and it didn't work for Jack either. There are times when the person with the better ideas is often not heard for whatever reason (for Piggy it was his size, his glasses, and his constant complaining). It was interesting that Piggy was created by Golding to be so "disadvantaged" in comparison to the other boys. He can't move as quickly as them, he has asthma, and he can't see without his glasses. When Jack and the others steal his glasses, he is rendered helpless. In this way, reason (Piggy) does not even begin on the same playing field as some of the other forces at play in the book, namely savagery (Jack).
Anyway, this was an interesting book and unfortunately probably more true to life than fiction.
A couple of quotes I liked:
"I know there isn't no beast--not with claws and all that, I mean--but I know there isn't no fear either." Piggy paused. "Unless--" Ralph moved restlessly.
"Unless what?"
"Unless we get frightened of people."
"Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!"
-Lord of the Flies talking to Simon
Up next: I don't know. I was on vacation recently, and I read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and half of Prisoner of Azkaban. I also read half of my summer reading book for school (The Reading Promise) and part of The Help. I am also reading Emma and have been for a while. My plan is to finish those (except maybe Emma, for now) and then jump into something different, maybe Middlemarch. However, this is a busy summer, so if I can even finish Harry Potter I think I'll be doing OK.
