#i hate lord of the flies

[carohasopinionsonbooks]

A Case for The Wave by Todd Strasser to replace Lord of the Flies by William Golding

*disclaimer - these r just my 2 cents, feel free to disagree*

Ok if you went to an American high school, chances are you were made to read Lord of the Flies by William Golding. You usually read this book as a type of cautionary tale to show how slowly and yet fast a society can devolve. One little hiccup within the people in power and the dominoes can fall towards a world of chaos and injustice, usually at a gradual yet effective pace. Now, I will say that the point the book makes is a good one and one all of us should keep in mind.

Given that, I did not like this book one bit...

For a bit of background, Golding wrote this book on the beliefs of Thomas Hobbes, those being that the lives of humans are "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short" and that without structure, humans would just descend into chaos and become, especially in the context of Lord of the Flies, carnage machines. This is something I don't personally agree with but it makes a lot of sense when you find out Golding fought in WW2. He, like many others after the war, questioned how things could go so south so fast. He happened to decide on the theory mentioned above and this way of thinking sets the tone for the whole plot of the book.

(tangent - Golding was also just a really messed up guy, seriously, look him up, he was wild....)

Brief plot overview - A group of British boys crash land on an island and are faced with the task of living alone with no adults and with no one telling them what to do on a remote island in the middle of no where. The boys at first try to deal with their situation civilly, but within a matter of weeks it all devolves into violence and chaos.

The main issue that I have with the book is that it just seems so unrealistic. Now you might be like, "Caro its exaggerated at some points bc he is trying to make a point, not all of it is gonna be realistic, its the message that's important" which is true but like holy moly is the violence just a lot sometimes. Also the fact that its all British boys just creates another detachment. As a person who identifies as female, there is a bit of disconnect there. The racist undertones in regards to indigenous peoples do not help the book's case either. The whole book comes across and looks like a raging angry dumpster fire (I mean have you seen some of the covers? Its really intense :|).

(a fun little fact: there was actually a real life Lord of the Flies example with a group of Tongan boys - here is the wiki in case you want a brief overview of the story - which ended in literally no drama so that deducts another point for believability)

Another reason why I just did not connect with this book at all was because I had read a different book that has the same message as Lord of the Flies which was 1000x times better. That book was The Wave by Tod Strasser. The Wave is a fictional account of a real experiment done by a high school teacher in California. The book starts out with a high school history teacher trying to teach WW2 to his class, specifically the part where Hitler rose to power. The students, all of them bored, complain that they have heard this so many times already and that they would 100% know, detect, and intervene if something like that were to happen again. The teacher, in response, decides to start an experiment with his students to put them to the test. What that experiment is I will not say for spoiler reasons but at first everything seems fine and then devolves oh so fast and oh so slowly. It takes place in a familiar environment (a high school) and I feel it is much more relatable and realistic than Lord of the Flies which is why I find it all the more impactful and effective. I read this book freshman year of high school and the story still sticks with me to this day. I would seriously recommend everyone go read this book if they haven’t already. Why we haven’t already replaced Lord of the Flies with The Wave within high school curriculums is beyond me and probably would have saved me a few brain cells …

[foryoufirst]

i cant do this anymore i hate this god damn essay but wdym stroked his arm shyly 😭

[mj-thrush-gxn]

Merridew

[callabosgeis]

Simon in chapter nine:

[gnomeballed]

Hey y'all I just realized it’s mermay and I don’t wanna miss out this year so here’s a lil colored sketch of Simon just sitting on a rock :p

[sim0nww]

Some lotf art I made on spring break 🔥🔥

[simorys]

Redraw of some old ass art from 2022 🙏

Except Robert got to be here this time (Rip Simon, who's still banished to the floor 💔)

Idk if I ever posted the og to Tumblr

[roger-d0dger]

THIS IS WITH PEACE AND LOVE GUYS ITS JUST FOR GIGGLES

Based on this iconic image:

[jackmerrizzler]

HAPPY GAY MONTH LOSER LOTF TUMBLR COMMUNITY PEOPLE I DONT KNOW 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 i dont like gays/j (im literally gay) HAVE JALPH ART TO CELEBRATE THESE LOSERS!!!!!

[vessel214]

piggy needs more love tbh

[luminary-of-the-marz]

The voices in his head are getting louder (and gayer ig)

[ellegreenwxy]

being in this fandom is so embarrassing sometimes. sending hate to people over pixels is objectively fucking insane LMFAO like i’m begging you to get a job or a hobby or idk literally find anything else to do

[sanctuaryblur]

Jack’s ginger, British and a choir boy why couldn’t he choose a struggle 😭

[mj-thrush-gxn]

The Split

[bubblingcolaa]

A thing I made:

[afullygrownflowerboy]

THIS IS HOW I FEEL WHEN PEOPLE HATE ON PIGGY

HES LITERALLY MY BABY!!! HES MY SONNNNNN LEAVE HIM ALONEEEEEE HE HAS AUTISMMMMM☹️☹️☹️