Talking Back to Golding
This site contains quotes from an interview with William
Golding shortly after he finished writing Lord of the Flies.
Mr. Golding began his post-secondary education in the study of
science, but after two years he switched to literature.
He served in World War II as a member of the British armed
forces.
Our goal is to discuss the quotations with respect to the book,
the actual events of World War II, and other points in history,
both ancient and modern. Where we can, we want to link to
other books and authors, and to ourselves, as authors of our
own life stories.
Excerpts from Talk: Conversation with William Golding, copyright 1970 by Jack Biles and renewed 1998 by Edith L. Biles, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc. This
material may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Enduring Understandings
Great literature delivers an important message
about life or the human condition in original
and thought provoking ways.
Art is not created in a vacuum; it has a social
context that influences its creation.
The rules governing war and peace are
influenced by social contexts.
Essential Questions
• What is the message (theme) of Golding’s
book, Lord of the Flies?
• How effective are Golding’s techniques?
• What is the social context of the book?
Essential Questions
• What were the rules of war that governed
the various participants in WWII?
• What are the rules of war and peace in the
world today?
• What aspects of culture affect the rules?
• Are the current rules acceptable?
Quote One
“Lord of the Flies was simply what it seemed sensible
for me to write after the war, when everybody was
thanking God they weren’t Nazis. And I’d seen enough
and thought enough to realize that every single one of
us could be Nazis….”
See possible responses on the next slide.
Talking Back to Golding
Quote #1
Who were the scapegoats in the book?
Who were the scapegoats victimized by the Nazis?
Who are the scapegoats of our society today?
Consider the idea of “mob mentality” that develops in
the minds of the participants during a lynch party. How is
that similar to the book?
Research the
Japanese
How do group rituals
and masks allow
internment, the Zoot
characters in the book
Suit Riots in Los
the freedom to commit
Angeles or the
atrocities? How is this
segregated units in
similar or different from
our military during
the goose-stepping
WWII in light of this
Nazis, the white sheets
quote. Explain the
of the Klan or the colors
of a gang?
irony or the
similarity to Nazi
Germany.
Quote Two
“The defects of the society trace back to the
defects of the individual.”
Talking Back to Golding
Think of some of the world’s leaders—past or present. Which of them had/have
flaws that affect their societies?
Ordinary people also shape society when they speak with a collective voice—Jim
Crow laws of the past are an example. Can you think of others?
Borrowing a line from an Emily Dickinson poem, you might write a “letter to the world” in
which you talk to the children of the future, trying to give them advice on human nature,
both the reality of how people are, and the way they should or could be.
Talking Back to Golding
The Third Quote!
“Piggy understands society less than
almost anyone there. He’s a
scientist. He is naïve, short-sighted
and rationalist, like most scientists.”
In your opinion, have there been times in
the past when scientific advancements,
inventions or technology should have been
prevented?
Think about Piggy’s death
There are many ethical
and how much he valued the
issues in science facing us
conch. How might it illustrate
today where “naïve” or
this quote?
“short-sighted” decisions
could have serious
consequences. Your
thoughts?
Quote Four
“The only real progress is the progress of the
individual toward some kind of ethical
integration and his consequent effect on the
people around him.”
Talking Back to Golding
Which people in the story
show a sense of ethics? What
happens to each of them?
What do you think Golding
is saying about the odds of
ethical people affecting those
around them? Do you agree
with him?
Talking Back to Golding
The Fifth Quote!
“It is the ordered society which keeps us in shape and which enables us to
show our bright side. Take away these sanctions, and we fall into the dark
side.”
Which characters represent this quote? Why? Explain how this quote
applies to a current event in the world today.
In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne tells us that “the founders of a new colony, whatever Utopia of human
virtue & happiness they might originally project, have invariably recognized [the need for] a prison.” Your
thoughts?
Which characters
would agree with this
quote: “Without law,
there is no freedom?”
Some say that society acts as a
powerful conforming force
and schools exist to deliver
the message of conformity to
the citizens.
What would your life be like without your free education? Investigate
the educational system in a third world country. In your opinion, what
is the relationship between education and poverty there?
Do
schools
enable us
to “show
our bright
side?”
The Sixth Quote!
• “It is one of those terrifying things that at
the moment when Germany was right for
it, like the breaking of a boil, you get this
man emerging. Then, you get all the
potential of man given free rein, and
there it was.”
Talking Back to Golding
Explain the exact moment the “boil” broke in the book.
Explain the simile in this quote and whether it is right for
this book.
Explain how the circumstances of a current event fit this
quote.
Talking Back to Golding
Quote Seven
• “…most of us have a road stretching to the
horizon laid down for us by our social system.
Most of us are potential murderers and most of
us are potential surgeons, but our path leads us
(in) so straight a line that, unless we are
brought by nature to be surgeons because we
have three generations of surgeons behind us,
we don’t become surgeons.” See next slide for possible responses.
Quote Seven:
In America, we like to believe that anyone can be
anything they want to be—even president. Is that a myth?
Are there modern examples of the “rags to riches”
dream?
Discuss the gap between the rich and the poor. How does
it relate to Quote Seven?
On the average, how many generations does it take to
double a family’s wealth? How does this relate to Quote
Seven?
What percentage of the prisoners who are released from
jail commit a crime and return to prison? How does this
statistic relate to the “rags to riches” dream and Quote
Seven?
What does it take to become a surgeon—SAT scores,
admission process and standards, length and type of
education, and cost?
The Eighth Quote
• “The hierarchy of society must be based
ultimately on a hierarchy of people.”
Is society only as good as its weakest link? Do the best people always
rise to the top?
How is this quote worked out in the book?
Talking Back to Golding
Quote Nine
• “It seems to be the dilemma we are faced
with that, on the whole, the politician is
likely to be a Jack, and, at best, a Ralph–
never a Simon.”
– Evaluate the leadership abilities of these characters.
– Explain the roles of these characters in the story.
– Compare and contrast a character and a past or current political
figure.
– Do you agree with this quote?
Talking Back to Golding
Symbolism in the Book
Explain two possible levels of
meaning for the conch— what is
it, literally? What did it symbolize
for the boys?
Explain two possible levels of
meaning for the fire— what is
its importance, literally? It came
to represent something else–
what noun would Jack use to
finish this equation? Fire = ?
A symbol is something that
functions on a
literal level in a
story but also
works on another
level of meaning.
A rose is a rose
but it is also a
symbol of beauty
or love when you
use it to compare
to your significant
other…..
Symbolism in the Title
• What is the actual Lord of the Flies in the
book?
• What does the Lord of the Flies symbolize?
• How is it related to the Hebrew Beelzebub?
– Tell why the idea and its symbol (the Lord of the
Flies) should or should not be the center of the book
and its title.
Talking Back to Golding
Talking Back to Golding
Symbolism of the Beast
-The little children are afraid of the Beastie
-Jack & Ralph “see” the Beast on the hilltop
-The Beast on the hilltop is a dead parachutist
-Simon says the Beast is within each child
-Jack sacrifices part of his kill to the Beast
What does the concept of Beast mean in each of these situations?
Why would Golding include a dead parachutist in the concept of beast?
Given the above connections, what does the Beast symbolize?
Talking Back to Golding
The Book as Allegory
• Political/Historical Allegory
– People and events in a book represent political events in real
life, past or present
– Do the major characters seem to represent world forces such as democracy,
tyranny, empiricism, and ethics?
– What does the author seem to be saying about the balance of power among
these forces?
!
Talking Back to Golding
The Book Ends and the Criticism Begins
• People have criticized the book’s ending as too good to be true. By now you
know that Golding was a thoughtful man who deliberately chose to end
the children’s war with a rescue by adults at war.
– Did he intend for us to see irony in this rescue? If you fight a war for peace do you
perpetuate violence or peace? What do you teach a child when you hit them for
hitting other children?
– Is he saying that the force of democracy will ultimately triumph over tyranny?
Discuss America’s current foreign policy—will democracy ultimately flourish where
we have planted it? Can you force a people to be free?
– Or, does the miracle rescue simply complete the allegory by pointing out how
close Western Civilization came to being defeated by tyranny? There have been
times in history when Western Civilization seemed to face the danger of extinction
and was preserved by an individual or an event. Research and report on one of
these events.