1. Lord of the Flies William Golding’s Masterpiece 1911- 1993

2. Author and Context  William Golding was born on September 19, 1911 in England  1940 Golding joined the Royal Navy  Participated in D-Day  Experience in WWII had a profound effect on his view of humanity and the evils of which it was capable.  His first and greatest success came with Lord of the Flies (1954)

3. About the Novel  Set in mid 1940’s when Europe engulfed in war.  A plane carrying British school boys is mistaken for a military craft and shot down.  Only the boys survive the crash, and try to form a society and govern themselves.

4. The Island

5. Themes  Civilization vs. Savagery  Loss of Innocence  Original Sin  Fear that separates one from God  Nature of Good and Evil  Goodness is rare and fleeting  Absolute Power

6. Allusions –Reference to a well known “thing” from history, literature, work of art Classical literature Mythology Christian Symbolism

7. Symbols in the Novel  The Conch-  Piggy’s Glasses-  Lord of the Flies-  Fire Signal-

8. Religious Symbols  The Island...  The snake in the Garden of Eden  The parachutist and Piggy...  Jack and Ralph...  Simon...

9. Allegory  A work of fiction carrying two levels of meaning: - 1) a surface plot/narrative (literal) - 2) symbolic/metaphorical meaning in which everything in story symbolizes something greater

10. Concerning the Title  Beel’zebub- Hebrew translation for Lord of the flies  The title is said to be a reference to the Hebrew name Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Ba'al-zvuv, "god of the fly", "host of the fly" or literally "Lord of Flies"), a name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan. [3]HebrewBeelzebubSatan [3]  Ba‘al Zebûb might mean 'Lord of Zebûb', referring to an unknown place called Zebûb, or 'Lord of things that fly' (zebûb being a Hebrew collective noun for 'fly', thus the common lay translation 'Lord of the Flies').HebrewLord of the Flies

11. Modern Day Allusions  Allusion- (n.) an indirect reference to something There are many, many modern day allusions to Lord of the Flies in popular culture. For example….

12. The Simpsons  The Simpson’s episode titled Das Bus is a parody of Lord of the Flies.

13. Survivor  MarK Burnett’s CBS island show is said to have been inspired by LOTF.

14. Sponge Bob Squarepants  The episode Club Spongebob is a spoof of LOTF.

15. Popular Music  Bands such as Taking Back Sunday, Nine Inch Nails, AFI, Iron Maiden, Rolling Stones, and Pink Floyd have written songs about or have alluded to LOTF in their music.