Saturday, April 22, 2006

Lord of The Flies

Apparently, I am the ONLY PERSON ON EARTH who did not have William Golding's Lord of The Flies on my required reading list in high school. I think I got the book from a yard sale many years ago and it has been sitting on my shelf collecting dust until last week. I finally picked it up and read it. Now I understand why it is considered required reading in many schools.

The book is well-written and the symbolism it contains is very powerful. It really does make you wonder what would happen to society if all organized government, rules, and absolutes were removed. Would anyone eventually resort to the kind of savage behavior that occurred amongst the group of boys in this book?

I wonder why there were no female characters?

Oh well, another book finished. Time to start The DaVinci Code.

3 comments:

Steve S said...

Hi, I'm new here, I like your blog and your random thoughts.

I definitely think people would revert to that behavior, look at what happened after Katrina when law enforcement became ineffective. There was rioting and looting all over town and there were rapes and everything in the stadium. Not everybody in society would revert, but a lot would.

There's a lot of good men and women though, who would rebuild and presevere.

Christine Bakke said...

I'd be curious what you think a female Lord of the Flies would be like?

It's not a trick question or anything...

Your comment just made me think.

Women have their own issues and power struggles and back-biting and nasty tendencies. I've heard that this is more true when men are present (something to compete over), but I know that many lesbian coop living situations have ended up fractured as well, so that's not the whole truth.

Anyway, you made me think (ow, OK, I'm going to bed now)...

Nonsequitur said...

I agree with you there Steve... I've come up with the same conclusion. I believe there would be anarchy for a little while, but structure would eventually make inroads again.

Christine, after just over a quarter century of quietly watching social dynamics between and among the sexes, my honest opinion (as a feminist) is that women put in the same position would likely be far more civilized.