Lord of the Flies

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys with no adult supervision.   At first, they celebrate their freedom because this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. 

Lord of the Flies  (LOTF) was published after World War II.  Critics called it  "a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse." 

To begin, you must first enter the mind of another person.  You will investigate that person's background. Learn all that you can about him until you know what made him the person he was, how experiences in life affected him, how he thought and mainly how he would react after reading LOTF.   Your final task will be to provide a report on your subject's reaction to LOTF.

You may choose one of the people listed on the next page as the subject of your investigation. 

You will be provided with two resources.  Use them wisely.  Do not waste valuable time.  Guard your notes carefully because if they become lost, you will have to retrace your steps. 

The first resource is Smart Lookup.  Activate Smart Lookup by highlighting a name listed below in Microsoft Word.  A panel will open on the side of the page giving you fast access to important biographical information. Be observant! Always look for "more."  Scroll up and scroll down to see everything. Gather as much information as you can to learn about the person that you select. You will need that information to complete the task.  To learn more about using Smart Lookup, click here to see an image.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Thomas Hobbes

Sigmond Freud

Karl Marx

William Golding

The second resource is Best of Novels for Students.  It is an ebook in the Gale Virtual Library. 

1. Go to the high school Library’s listing of eBooks and select the Gale Virtual Reference Library. 
2. Enter the password of empirelink 
3. Then type in Lord of the Flies
4. You will see Best of Novels for Students and you an search within that eBook for literary criticism on LOTF.  
5. Search the article using the Ipad search box .  Try using concepts learned from your biographical research as search terms. Start with the person's field of study or expertise.  Look in the definition for more keywords. The search box at the top of your iPad can help to find your keyword in the text of the article but it is not smart.  It will not look for synonyms or related concepts. It is simple and only looks for the exact word you type.  Expect to run multiple searches terms to find enough information.  Click here for help on using the iPad search box.