Initial Thoughts VS Current Thoughts

        

Lord of The Flies written by William Golding A plane crashes on a desert island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast. As the boys' delicate sense of order fades, so their childish dreams are transformed into something more primitive, and their behavior starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.

Initial Thoughts

At the beginning of the novel, the boys are still civilized. There was some tension between Jack and Ralph at first. However, the boys develop a "shy liking" towards each other. The boys get friendly with each other. There was hope that all things would go well and the boys would get rescued without any casualties. Despite Piggy acting like a doomsday prophet at the start, the suggestions that he give is the most sensible among all the boys. Ralph is described as a very likeable character with fair hair and "eyes that proclaimed no devil".  The boys would willingly vote for Ralph. Jack, on the other hand, is arrogant and cruel towards those who are weak like Piggy. Personally, I did not really like Jack at the start of the novel as I was greatly irritated by his arrogance. He did not care for Simon when he fainted and simply told the choir boys "All right then. Sit down. Let him alone.". Golding hints that all things would falling in the later part of novel.

Current Thoughts

Just as Golding hinted, all things started going downhill. Jack and Ralph begin to have different priorities. Jack's priority is meat while Ralph's priority is to get shelter and be rescued as soon as possible. The boys get into arguments.Initially, I completely demonized Jack. However, he now strikes me as a resourceful person. He uses clay to smear onto his face as camouflage while hunting. He also quickly adapts to the environment by being "dog like, uncomfortably on all fours yet un-heeding his discomfort". He goes through the trouble of ensuring that he can provide the boys with meat. Meanwhile, we can also see that Jack is unscrupulous by breaking away the tension from letting out the fire. He injures and imitates Piggy so that he would have no need to apologise. Ralph sees through his actions and comments "That was a dirty trick.". Ralph begins to grow as a leader and realises that everything is not fun and games on the island. Ralph's bond is severed with Jack and he begins to connect with Piggy. I foresee that things will continue to go downhill and there would be even more deaths.