Parallels Between Novel and Nation: Why Lord of the Flies is a Reflection of Modern Society

So·ci·e·ty. Səˈsīədē/. Noun. The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. By definition, one could see the society of Lord of the Flies by William Golding, as a more or less ordered community. It's made up of a group of people, stranded boys looking for the guidance of adults, and they are involved in constant social interaction with annual meetings to discuss the way the society is running. They share the same territory, as they live on the same deserted island, and are under the same leadership with one boy as their leader. In many ways, one could truly see the community of children in Lord of the Flies a a society. One could also argue that it mirrors the very society we all take part in today. Ultimately, Lord of the Flies is definitely a reflection of modern society because it accurately displays the problems we encounter as a growing group of people.

William Golding riddles his book with symbols that represent the things that we chase after in the real world. For example, on the island a conch shell is a symbol of power. If someone wanted to call a meeting, they would have to blow the conch. In order to speak at a meeting, the speaker must be holding the conch in his hand. The conch is the very thing that keeps the boys running like a well-oiled machine, and without it the community fall apart. The conch is also a symbol of hope, as the children are able to understand that the one has the conch in in power, and that things are under control. Today, our conch is money. Money is what gives us power and those who have more of it, have more opportunities, and abilities to shape the way the civilization works. however our conch, just like on the island, can make or break us. If one were to abuse this power, then hell would break loose. Golding also highlights the archetypes that most of find in the people of the real world, in the characters that he has crafted. These archetypes are what make our society unique, but also make it sinister in the trouble that some bring. The main characters Ralph, Piggy, and Jack all have qualities that play the biggest roles in the growth of the Lord of the Flies civilization. Ralph, the head of the stranded boys, is the born hero and leader. And although this may not seem detrimental to a growing community, Ralph and today's born "leaders" fall short when their leadership is truly tested or when their power is challenged. In addition, because they are naturally the one everyone looks to for guidance they see themselves as above those who are not as powerful as they are. Jack is the rebel who challenges the government, wanting to overthrow it with the sole purpose of running it his own way. He's the type that believes in the concept of being the best of best in whatever he does, but can't seem to prove that he is the best, to himself. Piggy is the underdog, who has untapped potential in being able to save a society by being a true leader. In today's society, there are too many Ralphs and Jacks with not enough Piggys. Most Piggys are treated as Piggy himself had been treated in the book. Even the origin of his name is evidence of how cruel a society can be, and why it's development is often behind where it should be. Piggy is known as Piggy because it was a name he was called at his school before landing on the island. When the other kids realized it was a funny name to call someone it stuck, and whenever the opportunity ridicule or make fun of Piggy arose, a boy always was able to take it. 

Lord of the Flies drops many hints as to why it is a reflection of society. There are qualities people have that can make or break a society, and materials that are the very things that make your civilization what it is. Ultimately, Lord of the Flies is definitely a reflection of modern society because it accurately displays the problems we encounter as a growing group of people.

How Heavy are the Chains Holding Down our Monsters?

According to Stephen King, “If you don't control your temper, your temper will control you.” In other words, if you can't muster the power to take control of your emotions, it will turn you into a monster, leaving desolation in your wake. Have you ever asked yourself,  "Is that's all it takes? Does that mean that having a sentimental fit, turns you into something of nightmares?" In some ways, it can be both yes and no. What we can say for sure however, is that there's a beast inside all of us. Whether we like it or not, we have to force ourselves to accept that something or someone is there. It's slumbering in the bottom of our gut, ruling over our decisions at the roll of the dice. For Junior Rennie, there is no problem in accepting that his beast is in control, as he is his own monster. In Under the Dome by Stephen King, Junior is introduced to the readers as the classic, "troubled kid with a troubled past" archetype. However, as Junior's story starts to unfold, as he begins to pave his own path, the readers can begin to understand what exactly Junior is. Junior's identity began to develop with the killing of his childhood friend Angie, along with killing Dodee, Angie's friend, and has yet to come to a close. With an unexplainable dome caging Junior, and all the people of Chester Mill, trapping their hate, insecurities, and despair, it's only a matter of time until the monsters can't bear being behind bars any longer. People can relate to Junior's constant battle with the the monster hiding within himself. However, people also need to be able to control their emotions, and prevent those emotions from turning them into devilish creatures. 

Junior is a perfect example of how people are in the present. Sometimes when the chains of society and responsibilities are no longer in place to weigh us down, we let our monster run rampant and take over. When Junior decided to follow trough with the murders of Angie and Dodee, although he didn't know it at the time, but he had completely stripped away what was left of his humanity. He let one emotion take over, and use him, sucking out his personality, and leaving behind something dastardly. He had expressed such brutality in his actions, that it was hard to differentiate between the "Junior" we knew, to the savage we were now forced to trust was Junior. As he tried to reach the comfort of his home, his safe place, he felt like a thief or a ghost. Junior was tiptoeing through, as an intruder to the only place that accepted him for who he was. As he climbed into bed, slipping under the covers, he remembered performing a similar gesture as a kid to hide away from monsters. On this occasion however, Junior was was trying to hide from himself, and what he had become, as he was the monster. This shows that Junior doesn't really belong anywhere. There must have been some point in his life when everything turned to crap, and the only way he found comfort was forcing people to feel empathetic. If someone was dead, then they would have to be able to understand what it was like to feel dead. Furthermore, Stephen King suggesting that Junior tries to hide from himself demonstrates that he is so far gone that he can't run away or hide from the thing that he has become. 

In today's day and age, we are surrounded by people who make us feel small. In Junior's case, that was Angie. We try to find ways to deal with these people, however, sometimes the chains that keep our monsters at bay can snap, and we lose jurisdiction over our emotions. Some people's chains are thicker than others, and for some there are more numerous, and weaker chains to hold our creatures down. In other words, we all have the potential to break the boundaries of our self-control and become someone we don't recognize. This can also push us to make irrational decisions, as it pushed Junior to thinking that committing suicide, and leaving the face of the Earth was going to help people, as he was protecting people from himself. However, this mindset only complicated things. 

According to Stephen King, “If you can't laugh when things go bad--laugh and put on a little carnival--then you're either dead or wishing you were.” In other words, when things start to turn to crap, or if someone is making us feel small and we can't laugh it off, we change on the inside. We want to erase ourselves from the equation and wish we were never put on paper. We may feel like there is nothing left of who we are, or who we once were. Or maybe that we can't control the simple things in life like our feelings. However, having this mindset is the very thing that makes our monster stronger and more able to assert its dominance, instead of the other way around. Ultimately. we must ask ourselves if our monster have the power to control us, or if we have the power to control it. 

The Line Between Certainty and Insanity Runs Thin

According to Stephen King, “…the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, and unrelenting sanity.” In other words, the line separating sanity, and hysteria runs thin within one’s psyche. Have you ever wondered how thin that line can run? Well, Louis Creed has crossed his line and back many times, in ways you wouldn’t expect. In Pet Sematary, Louis seems like a generic fellow who is starting to grow his roots into unfamiliar soil. He has a wife, two kids, a cat and a well paying job as a university doctor. Louis appears to have everything in his life, but his house of hopes and dreams for the future of his family begins to fall apart brick by brick. It began with the death of Church, the family cat, and really hit home with the death of Gage, Louis’s son. With the power of a mysterious burying ground that can bring pets back to life, Louis tries to play God in bringing back dead memories. With each visit to the brinks of the “Pet Semetary”, Louis leaves a part of himself until there is only a husk of the man he once was. Teenagers can relate to Louis in his battle against the pain and grief of losing someone. However, teenagers need to know that pain comes in many forms, and it trying to forget about it won’t make it go away; it needs to be faced and dealt with before it gets out of hand. 

          

As a wise man in Pet Sematary once said, “sometimes dead is better”. This was something Jud Crandall, a father figure to Louis, said to Louis Creed, hoping to steer him away from the alluring and evil power that lurked within the Pet Sematary. This advice is relevant to Louis Creed along with the readers, as it sheds light on a habit we all love to kick under the rug. Adults, as well as teenagers, try to bring back things that should stay dead. In other words, we try not to accept that something is no more. We can’t give life to something that is non-living, or find something that was never there in the first place. We have to learn from our mistakes and we have to learn from the reason why this thing, that we are so desperately trying to bring back, is dead; and move on. If Louis had realized this, most of his family would have still been alive, and Louis wouldn’t have lost sight of himself.

Although teenagers face similar pains that Louis has experienced, they shouldn’t try to bury their problems and issues, but rather deal with them before they snowball out of hand. For example, Louis decided that burying his grief would seal it away in a coffin of misery, never to be dug up again, however, it came back to life in a more evil form, bringing even more issues to the surface. Trying to revive Gage by bringing him into the Pet Sematary, and hiding this act from Louis’s family, was a flap of a wing in the butterfly effect that left his family in ruins. This was a crucial moment for Louis, as he showed signs of being “worn”. Louis wanted to back out of reviving Gage on many occasions, as he thought he wasn’t making the right decision, but an unearthly and evil power urged him onward. There was no longer a “Louis Creed” in the Louis Pet Semetary presents to the readers, as something was controlling his actions. In our lives, young adults can also feel worn or “puppeteered” as Louis had been. Overcoming this feeling is important however, as the strings connected to you, the strings that keep you together with yourself, can be cut.

According to Stephen King, “The soil of a man’s heart is stonier: a man grows what he can and tends to it.” This quote applies to not only the lives of teenagers, but to adults. The soil of someone’s heart is stony, and it’s hard to grow many things in stony soil. Whether you’re trying to plant the seed of a relationship, or the seed of your hopes and dreams, it may not become the healthy plant you planned for. If try to grow a plantation’s worth of plants in stony soil, you’ll end up with nothing. You grow what you can, and tend to it. Ultimately, you determine how much horror you can bear. You have to search for the power to grab the videotape of your pain, realize that sometimes it should be left alone, realizing that stashing this tape away won’t mean that you will forget about it, and destroy it. If you have nothing to hold you down, no roots to anchor you, then there will be nothing left to protect you from an inevitable insanity.

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Lee is a simple man. A simple man with a simple job, and a simple life. Lee would've kept on believing that he was just as normal as the next guy, but all of that was about to change. Lee came from a family of simple people, who wanted just one thing from him; straight A's. His father and his mother expected so much of him, and for a while, Lee was able to deliver. Day in and day out, Lee's mind was in the books. Lee's brother on the other hand, Haruko, always had time to keep his face glued to a screen. Grades came flowing to Haruko, however, Lee had to paddle upstream to get to a precious A. It seemed like Haruko put no effort into his work and when a test came around, it would always be prominently displayed on the fridge. Lee was ready for the moment when Haruko would come home with a grade that would make Lee the golden standard, and an example for Haruko to follow. When that moment came, Lee would plan his attack to overthrow his brother, and push him off the podium upon which he stood, brandishing his medal of excellence. Lee would steal this medal, rip it from his brother's filthy hands.

That day never came.

Lee's life began to crumble on the night of Haruko's graduation. Lee was forced into a suit and tie, and he writhed within the clothe's layers. Lee's parents tried to mold him into the kid that they wanted, and not the kid that they had. Coincidentally, Lee's suit was a hand me down from Haruko. When they all came down to the campus of Haruko's college, Lee wanted to sink in the concrete. He wanted to disappear from the world, without a trace. Little did Lee know however, that he would dissipate within the shadow of his brother.

They all took a seat, and the presentation began. With the booming music and the acoustics of the auditorium, sound began to crash into Lee's skull. It was almost too hard to bear, but the graduates and their speeches distracted him. Then came the abomination. The mistake that should have been erased, but the eraser couldn't quite get the job done.

My Summer Reading Experience

Sum·mer, səmər. Noun. The warmest season of the year, in the northern hemisphere from June to August and in the southern hemisphere from December to February. This is the definition of summer. My definition of summer is just a little different. In my opinion, summer is an opportunity for further growth, even after the school year has finished. Sure, it's also a time for people to "max and relax" in their own unique way. However, you can't pass up your one way ticket to greater knowledge and power. If you want this ticket, your payment lie in the books that you've read. I haven't always gotten this ticket, or quite caught the train as it left the station. Despite these limitations, I'm still able to read at least one book that contributes to my ticket fare. The book I read over this summer, that got me my ticket was Jaws by Peter Benchley. 

When I was looking for a good book to read over the summer, Jaws wasn't something that would have drawn me in right off the bat. It was a hidden gem that I found while looking for books based upon movies (I'm a film enthusiast). At first I thought that Jaws was a strange book based off of the iconic movie that I loved so much, however, it was really the opposite which got me tangled within its web. Many readers at this point might be yelling at me saying, "Shawn! Shouldn't you read the book before seeing its movie?", and to that I say, "why yes, that is usually the golden rule." One could argue that seeing the film first may damage or stain the your experience of just reading a good story, because a book's surprises are spoiled before you can even reach them. With this in mind, I believe that Jaws is an exception. In my opinion, reading a book after you see its movie can be beneficial. There is an ease of visualization when it comes to many key events in the book, as I was able to see them expressed on screen beforehand. 

All in all, reading Jaws changed my perspective on films based on books. It gave me a greater understanding of the film industry and novel industry, and how they are very similar. It also made me wonder about what other books might be in a situation such as Jaws, where there is a dilemma of either seeing its movie first or reading the book. In conclusion, not only was Jaws a fantastic read, it taught me to be a little more careful around beaches.