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We just got done reading the book Lord of the Flies in my English class. I rather liked it. I'm a Boy Scout though, and Sea Base is about as close to that expierence as you can get. Only without the dying people.
Anywho, the teacher assigned each student a character. The point is that we are supposed to write a "journal entry," or summary of each chapter from that character's point of view.
And I got Satan. My little devil. Dearest Roger. Until he killed Piggy, I didn't really understand why the twins, Samneric, were so scared of him.
Now, I've realized that there was torturing and such going on. So, I'm putting a spin on my journal to play if off like Roger is telling Jack everything to do. Making it look like Jack is just a figurehead and Roger the loyal advisor.
Or so it would seem...muhahahahahahahaa!
Who else read this book in high school? (Probably a stupid question...) And what did you think of it?
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I loved Lord of the Flies, but it's been forever since I read it too. I remember it being very freaky when I read it, because I could picture the rolls the different kids in my class would take if put in a similar situation. I remember having little hope that we would have survived very long.
If you liked it, you might try getting your hands on Battle Royale. It's a much more gruesome, although somewhat similar story. Well, they both have kids on an island who kill each other, but that's mostly where they're the same.
On second though, I'd just rent the movie of Battle Royale. The story was good, but there were so many kids with such unfamiliar names that I had a really hard time keeping them apart in my head. The movie was bloody, but mainly kept to the book, and was fun to watch.
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I read it freshman year of high and school, and HATED it. With a passion. I probably can't help you a whole lot, I've spent the past five years blocking it from memory.
And it's by William Golding.
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And, also, you should try reading it again. You may have disliked it then, but you might like it now.
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I liked it; I didn't project it onto anyone but myself (who would I be in this situation). I think rather than thinking of Roger as the devil you might try looking at him as man at his least civilized. Civilization is created by all these little laws and courtesies that we take for granted day to day. Take that inherent structure away and society would divide into those who have internalized it (e.g. Ralph, Piggy) and those who haven't (e.g. Roger). It's interesting that in a small, isolated society, with no hope of future propagation (like that of the island) the less-civilized, more animalistic subculture wins out, whereas the converse appears to have been true in human history (I posit because of inter-cultural mobility and the long term advantages of civilization).
I did a paper (freshman year at college) where I compared Roger, Ralph, and Simon to Freud's theory of the id, ego and superego. It was an interesting exercise.
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That's how they discussed it in high school. I so dislike Fruedian theories, but they ar euseful when it comes to explicated literature I suppose. Simon was the coolest character in the whole entire book...
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I had a dual major in college, English and Psychology (before I went back and got a Baccalaureate in Nursing, too). Whenever I had to write an English paper and was stuck for ideas, I'd plunder some psych theory (Freud, usually) and apply it to the characters. It always seemed good for an "A", and it really wasn't all that hard to do.
Sometimes for a Psych paper, I'd analyse some work of literature (usually Shakespeare) according to whatever theory was the professor was professing. Another knock-'em-out-of-the-park home run.
I was not a big fan of "Lord of the Flies". I mean, it was better than Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance", but not as good as Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings".
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From what I've heard, the movie isn't so great. I don't think it's really easy to make a movie out of such a subtle and complex book. And Sonej, that paper sounds really intersting.
I read the book in 9th grade, and I loved it. I talked about the symbolism of the conch shell, and what it meant to the characters. Good times.
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I think it's good exercise to write from a villain's point of view. Thing is, the villain thinks (at least at the surface) that he's right. How do you convince yourself that you're right to enslave and murder people? "Self-defense" wouldn't wash here. "Might makes right" could.
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Sorry, Battle Royale is by Koushun Takami. The movie version is sometimes difficult to find, you may have to look on ebay or websites which specialize in foreign films.
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I read LOTF as part of an english/history class about the Holocaust. Roger is kind of an Eichmann, or Goebells...or whatever their bloody names are....the one who does all the really bad things with his own hands while Jack stands around and gives orders. As far as writing from his point of view, I think you got the hardest character! Its hard to say anything about him, since he seems so ridiculously evil and uncivilized. With Jack, you can trace everything he does back to every day feelings that we've all felt, but with Roger its a lot harder. Then again,, its been like...four years I think since that class so I really don't remember...But i know Roger was (SPOILER warning if anyone cares) the one who rolled the rock on top of Piggy, but I dont remember what his reasons for that were. Just that he liked the power of having a huge rock on a lever above someone else, i guess, but it really doesn't explain doing that....I don't think even Jack wouldve done that.
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I am sad so many people did not enjoy that book.
Lord of The Flies is one of my all time favorite books, I've read it numerous times (partly because it took me many times to understand exactly what was going on.)
As a story about ordinary boys in an unsupervised environment I think its very interesting story. You can play around with all the symbolism but I hate hearing lectures on "The alegory of LOTF."
As for Roger, I see roger as the sadist who now has no limit to what he can experiment with. What scares me most is how easy it is for people to become Rogers.
Spoilers*
The scene where Roger basically kills a pig by ramming a spear up its rectum is supposed to show us Rogers character. What bothers the reader about that whole scene? Was it the screaming of the pig, Rogers laughter?, the act of reaming a pig?
If roger had been raised at a pig slaughter house would we have been more accepting of his indifference to the pigs suffering? How many of us have ever burned an ant to death with a magnifying glass because of the novelty of it? Does the ant feel any less than the pig? If the ant could make an audible noise would we stop killing it? Would the noise intrigue us?
I am just asking questions because I do not think Roger is the personification of evil, merely the manifestation of the evil potential we all possess if left unchecked.
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I loved it, but I think that you are oversimplifying the whole story by calling Roger the Devil.
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BlackBlade--you should have been in my LOTF/Holocaust class. It's the idea of "after the first". This is shown most clearly with Jack, who at first hesitates when he's bringing a knife down ontop of the pig, who's right there in front of him. By the end of the book they're slaughtering pigs gallore. Kind of. But the point is, Jack is no longer at all squeamish about killing a pig. It's how you go from a simple person dedicated to their country but would never hurt a fly, to someone working in the death camps. (Yes I took this oppurtunity to reread LOTF despite the fact I didn't like it much the first time.)
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