Thread: The real Lord of the Flies

Had to study the book Lord of the Flies. When I found this story was told could not quote in my essay for the exam as it would not meet the requirements of the exam board. An important life learning about giving the boss what they want if you desire to be rewarded.

The Six Tongan Castaways of Ata Island | The Real Lord of the Flies

Vol. 37, No. 10 ( Oct. 1, 1966)

Book written in 1970. Naked island and other South Sea tales. - Version details - Trove

I remember this when it happened. They seem to have managed a bit better than the English boys in the original book - possibly because they were Pacific islanders to start with. Or possibly because it was real life not fiction.

The Pacific islanders are on the whole very family and community centred, gentle and spiritual peoples who are Prob ably the best people to be stuck in a remote environment with. I studied alongside Fijian and Tongan fellas at College in Launceston, as they were at the AMC and we shared a lot of Engineering subjects with maritime. Some are still lifelong friends. I was accepted in to their family groups and spent many a kava fuelled evening watching Rugby all night . Such generous, family focussed peoples. 😊

Originally Posted by 3toes

Had to study the book Lord of the Flies. When I found this story was told could not quote in my essay for the exam as it would not meet the requirements of the exam board. An important life learning about giving the boss what they want if you desire to be rewarded.

If you were answering a question about "Lord of the Flies" as a piece of literature, I can't imagine a question where it would be at all relevant to mention the other incident.

"Lord of the Flies" is a work of fiction. I would have expected any exam question to be about its literary merit, not its historical accuracy.

I am assuming you were studying it in English. If you were studying it as part of a sociology or possibly an ethics course, it might be relevant.

I'm not sure that the teacher was doing anything more than warning you not to include information that would have no relevance to the question. That would have been good advice.

There's no doubt that it is a truly remarkable story- and that fact demonstrates what a fruitloop the author of this recent book is. He has started out with a fixed idea (that humans are essentially good) and has scoured history to find a single event that, on superficial examination, appears to support his idea. He has then run with his idea to expound a version of human history that exists only within the confines of his own mind. Never mind the overwhelming weight of human history that stacks up against his premise, like a stage magician using his lovely assistant to divert our attention, he wants us to take the most superficial details of this one event and consider his idea to be proven.
Even in this one event, the boys did not suddenly appear out of a vacuum, in a naturally benevolent and co-operative state. They had run away (for the afternoon!) from a boarding school; who ran the school, and what were the boys taught? They say they ended each day with prayer and singing; what did they sing? To whom did they pray? From whom did they learn to do these things?

Golding's book is not a commentary on what happens when a group of children are marooned; it is a commentary on human history. So the 'Real Lord of the Flies' is not on a pacific island; it is Sarah Island, Batavia, Buchenwald, Sarajevo. When Golding said that he could 'understand the Nazis, as I am of the same kind', he was saying not that he is a nazi, but that he is a human being.

3Toes, I suspect that your teacher was trying to tell you that in referencing this incident in your study of LOTF, you were showing that you had completely missed the point.

Fruitloop indeed. All great in theory, just doesn't work in reality. Have a look at his other books to see how far away from reality he has strayed.

Lord of the Flies was written as the ‘real story’ of what would happen as opposed to the book Coral Island which while also fiction had an upbeat view. This background was part of the course study work. My finding a real life story that was closer to the earlier book which I then wanted to use was the problem as it did not fit the official narrative. The earlier book was positioned as unrealistic rose tinted fiction where as Lord of the Flies was what would really occur. This was the truth despite what I may have found

Will admit I was probably not in the right subject though. Another text by a respected author started with the main character going from the light in the cabin into the dark on the deck. From this was were to deduce the story was about the battle between good and evil. I though about this while underlining the verbs as I turned the pages in the novel. Then am hearing more knowledge being imparted where the author was Polish yet had chosen to write the novel in English as ........ this set me thinking and after some research could show at the time there were far more people who could read who spoke English. These people also had the largest disposable income, a well established publishing sector who were geared up for this type of novel and global distribution systems. Hence the language chosen was an economic decision. I did pass and amazingly remained on good terms with the subject master however decided Economics was more my thing