!*HELP PLEASE!*lord of the flies

Just a thought; I wouldn't use the verb "proving". The book does not prove that society will collapse without rules and morals; it illustrates how it might, and Golding's contention that it would.

Another thought; you haven't anywhere mentioned that the book is about children. The boys' attempts to manage their isolated existence fall apart so fast because they are not fully socialised; they bear the exterior marks of the civilisation they were born into - school uniforms, etc - but have not truly internalised its values. This is surely the point Golding wished to stress by making the most cruel and dangerous group of boys a cathedral choir - they have sung all that beautiful Christian music in Christian church services but (except for Simon) they have not absorbed Christianity. That said, civilisation has itself failed the boys - they were only on that plane in the first place as evacuees from a war, and when Ralph asks for "a sign" from the grown-up world, all that comes to them is a shot-down airman from that war.

I don't know if I've helped you much!

Just a thought; I wouldn't use the verb "proving". The book does not prove that society will collapse without rules and morals; it illustrates how it might, and Golding's contention that it would.

Another thought; you haven't anywhere mentioned that the book is about children. The boys' attempts to manage their isolated existence fall apart so fast because they are not fully socialised; they bear the exterior marks of the civilisation they were born into - school uniforms, etc - but have not truly internalised its values. This is surely the point Golding wished to stress by making the most cruel and dangerous group of boys a cathedral choir - they have sung all that beautiful Christian music in Christian church services but (except for Simon) they have not absorbed Christianity. That said, civilisation has itself failed the boys - they were only on that plane in the first place as evacuees from a war, and when Ralph asks for "a sign" from the grown-up world, all that comes to them is a shot-down airman from that war.

I don't know if I've helped you much!

You did thank you.. any other ideas?

the children will be mentioned. I didnt think it was important to mention them in the intro or thesis, do you think it is?

WOULD William Goldings' contention of society, in his novel Lord of The Flies, illustrating that without a civilized societal environment with rules, government, and an outline of what is right and what is wrong, man will eventually return to his savagery roots.

Acceptance of s=new rules and codes
An interesting point to mention would be to watch what happens to Piggy's glasses during the book and how this mirrors the way the children'r rules and codes fall apart.

Syntinen's point about the use of the "prove" is right on target. I was going to say the same thing, reading your first draft of the intro. The book -- any book, really -- doesn't prove a thing; it merely expresses the author;s point of view.

Now, I'm not going to write your intro for you, but I think you're missing something very important if you're trying to sum up the book in a few introductory sentences. You're right in saying that Golding attempts to show that some form of control is necessary for a human society to function in an orderly manner. This control usually manifests itself in some form of government and/or religious organization (note that the dominant group of boys shows up early on in the book dressed in choirboys' robes; that is symbolically significant). But it's evident from the title of the novel that Golding has a larger message as well. The term Lord of the Flies is historically one of the names for the Devil. Why did Golding choose that title for his book? The story illustrates throughout how evil arises quite naturally and spontaneously among a group of supposedly "innocent" children.

Golding's main thesis is that the seeds of discord, destruction and -- for lack of a better word -- 'evil' are all inherent in us, that it is not 'learned' behavior. I don't have the book handy right now, so I can't quote you a direct passage, but I remember a scene in there where, late at night, Piggyhas an epighany -- he realizes that the bagaboo of all his fears is not 'out there' but somehow within him, that the Lord of the Flies is a part of his own nature.

This is a very deep and disturbing book. Anyone who thinks that it's a book about a bunch of kids marooned on an island would also think that Hamlet is about a demented Danish prince who sees ghosts.

Let me know if any of this helps. If not, ask me a question. I'll try to answer to the best of my ability.