Name:
About the Author: William Golding
Knowing a little about the author can helps one to understand his purpose for writing, which in turn may further help to best appreciate a novel’s themes.
Task: Access: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1983/golding-bio.html to read about William Golding. Use the information you find to answer the questions below. Type your answers in black below the question. The following site will be helpful to you as well: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/about/
Questions:
1. Golding is a native of what country?
2. What was his occupation during the 1940s?
3. What was the first novel Golding wrote and in what year was it published?
4. Where is the Nobel Prize given out?
5. In what year did William Golding win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
BUILD A CONTEXT: WAR ON THE BRITISH HOMEFRONT
From what was read earlier about William Golding, one can infer that his experience in the Royal Navy during World War II influenced his writings. Hints in Lord of the Flies also cause us to infer that the boys were evacuated from their homes during the war and it was in the process of this evacuation that their plane was shot down, leaving them stranded on the island. The following site will help you to build an understanding of life in Britain during World War II. This is a British-authored educational site. We normally learn history from the American perspective. It should be interesting to read from an authentic British source. You will enjoy this site.
Task: Go to: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/homefront/preparations/
Go to the link: Second World War 1939-1945
Read each of the following sections: Evacuation, Gas, Internees, Home Guard. They will help you to answer the questions below.
A. Evacuation:
1. Why were children evacuated from Britain in the 1940’s?
2. Which countries offered to accept evacuees?
3. Why did the British public support oversees evacuation?
4. What caused the government to change its mind and discontinue the oversees evacuation policy?
5. How many children were evacuated or sent oversees from Britain or its colonies during World War II?
B. Gas
1. By September of 1939, who had gas masks in Britain? Why?
C. Internees
1. What is meant by the term “internee”?
2. Who was interned in Britain during World War II?
D. Home Guard
1. Which was the last country in Europe to stand fighting against Germany
(Hitler)?
2. What was “Dad’s Army”?
Milgram’s Experiment/My Lai/Hugh Thompson
According to author William Golding, one of the themes of The Lord of the Flies is "man's inhumanity to man." Is the power of a situation stronger than the character or personality traits of those involved? To what degree do our surroundings shape who we are and how we act? Find answers to the questions by researching people and situations who were shaped, either positively or negatively, by their surroundings, much like the boys in The Lord of the Flies.
Task: Respond to the following questions using these links:
Milgram Experiment –
http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/ucce50/ag-labor/7article/article35.htm
Hugh Thompson – My Lai Massacre –
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mylai/myl_hero.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkFa2lSNAGc
1. Based on your readings, why do you think Hugh Thompson, Jr. did what he did, even though it caused him to disobey his authorities?
2. How do his actions contrast with the results of the Milgram study on obedience to authority?
Good vs. Evil: Children Killers
One of the major motifs in The Lord of the Flies is good versus evil.
Task: Use the article on my webpage titled “The Unthinkable: Children Who Kill” and answer the questions below.
1. Can a person be born “good” or “evil,” or does a person learn to be good or evil? Explain using examples from the article.
2. What do you think is an appropriate age where a child can take responsibility for his/her actions? Explain your decision using examples from the article, your life, and literature/movies.
3. Is it cruel to sentence a teenager or child to life imprisonment without parole? Why or why not?