Section One: William Golding's whakapapa

William Golding is an English author who published Lord of the Flies in 1954. It is a book that polarises people - on the one hand Golding won a Nobel Prize for his writing and on the other, the book has been banned in some places for its explicit language and violence. It is important to understand who William Golding was in order to understand his writing.

Pick at LEAST THREE of these sources and be able to write about what motivated William Golding to write his stories.

Section Two: Important Context for William Golding

William Golding writes this novel in the aftermath of World War Two where he saw active service. Understanding the horrors of WW2 will help you understand why William Golding needed to explore the evil side of humanity.

Section Three: Close reading The Lord of the Flies

Read The Lord of the Flies for the first time. As you do, complete this task:

1. Character map - on a piece A3, write down each of the characters as you come across them. Draw arrows between the characters to denote their relationships and add in adjectives that describe each character and at least one quote for each characters.

After completing your first reading of The Lord of the Flies, complete these tasks to set you up for a close analysis.

1. Audience positioning. Write down five words that describe how you feel after reading this book. For example, sad, happy. These adjectives will become your tools for discussing the impact on the audience. So always keep them in front of you.

2. Figure out of the theme. What's this story about? To do this, work through these questions:

   1. Who's the main protagonist?

   2. What challenges do they face?

   3. How do they face these challenges?

   4. How do they change over the course of the narrative?

   5. What main ideas are thrown up by the adventures of the protagonist and what do you learn about these ideas?

3. Some big questions to consider about The Lord of the Flies (Source: ThoughtCo.)

Why Is the Novel Called 'Lord of the Flies'?

• What is important about the title? Is there a reference in the novel that explains the title? Hint: Simon is the one who names the pig's staked head.

• Central to the plot of "Lord of the Flies" is the idea of order and society being crucial to survival. Does Golding seem to be advocating for a structured society, or against it? Explain your answer using one of the characters as your evidence.

Plot and Character in 'Lord of the Flies'

• Which of the boys on the island is the most well-developed character? Which is the most poorly developed? Could Golding have done more to explore the boys' backstories, or would that have slowed the plot?

• Could "Lord of the Flies" have taken place at another point in history? Explore this possibility by choosing a time period and determining how the plot would have played out there.

• How important is the setting in "Lord of the Flies?" Would it have been as effective to the plot if Golding had stranded the boys on another planet, for instance? Explain your answer.

• The ending of "Lord of the Flies" is not unexpected; it seemed likely throughout the novel that the boys eventually would be "rescued." But does the ending satisfy you? What do you think Golding was trying to say by letting us hear the Navy officer's inner thoughts?

Putting 'Lord of the Flies' in Larger Context

• If you were going to recommend "Lord of the Flies" to a friend, how would you describe it? Would you warn them of the novel's violence?

• Understanding that the central plot is highly controversial, do you think "Lord of the Flies" should be censored or banned? Does it make sense that it has been banned in the past?

4. Think about which chapter you remember best. It is now time to reread this chapter, thinking about these things as you go:

• 1. What is the title of the chapter?

  2. Who is the main protagonist of this chapter? What are they doing, thinking about, reacting to?

  3. Identify TEN main quotes from this chapter - note these and justify why you have chosen each one.

  4. Identify language features that the author employs in this chapter and explain why you think she used it.

Section Five: Research

Below are the Level Two and Three research options. Work with your teacher to ensure that you are on the right pathway.

Level Two Research

Level Two research asks you to pull an issue out of your text and learn more about it so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Unit Standard Written Texts Research

Level Three Unit Standard research asks you to use articles and book reviews to learn more about the author and what they are writing about so that it increases your understanding of your text. Click this link to find out what you need to do.

Level Three Achievement Standard Critical Texts Research

We are now going to stretch our thinking of the text by engaging in critical text research. What this means is that we read how experts have interpreted, understood and thought about the text so that we can understand better ourselves. Below are some critical texts that relate to this text and to understand what the research project is asking you to do (as well as how to do it), click here.

The following are critical texts that relate to Tu. Some will have a direct link, naming the novel directly, and others will be linked by the insight they provide about the background or motivation of the author to write her story.

In no way should you read all of these, cover to cover. You need to be more strategic; look at the titles, read the contents page to pick which sections of the book are best to read, skim and scan to identify sections of chapters that you need to read closely and take notes from - look for keywords from your questions, use subheadings to identify relevant sections.

Not all of these critical texts will answer your questions; so look for the ones that do. Pick three to four to read and take notes from.

Also, if you find that you aren't answering one of your questions, and/or your reading is taking you in a new and unexpected direction, simply change your questions and hypothesis in line with what you are reading - this is what research is; learning and changing what you think as you learn more.

• Li, Xiaofan & Wu, Weihana. (2009). On symbolic significance of characters in Lord of the Flies.

• Hasan, Mariwan & Sharif, Diman. ( 2020). William Golding's Lord of the Flies: A Reconsideration

• Bruns