The Book is Always Better

By: Matthew Carlson

Lord of the flies by William Golding is much better than the movie Lord of the Flies by Harry Hook. In the movie there was a loss of symbolic meaning of items, tension between the main characters wasn’t clear and events in the movie didn’t allow us to see the author’s message.

In the book Lord of the Flies, it takes you through it bit by bit each moment, item, and/or character which symbolizes something, and keeps the reader thinking. While in the movie its skips through important parts and things with symbolism, and there is less understanding into why it appeared in the movie. For example the Pig head. In the book the Pig Head represented The Lord of the Flies, the devil, Beelzebub. The pig head talked to Simon and foreshadowed his death. While in the movie, the pig head just appeared as food for the beast, and nothing else. The pig head in the movie didn’t even speak to Simon.

As of the start of Lord of the Flies you could tell that there was some tension, and rivalry between Ralph and Jack. They were friends at first, but then came that division of power, as Ralph was the chief, but Jack was the alpha. This division of power was visible in the book. While in the movie, it doesn’t elaborate much on that division; it is too direct and doesn’t show that importance of that division.

The authors message (one of the most important parts of the book), isn’t shown at all in the movie. The significance of the book Lord of the Flies wasn’t shown at all in the movie. The movie didn’t show how the human kind is an abomination to the world, how the island they are stranded is represents the Garden of Eden, and when humans were placed there, it was completely destroyed. The movie didn’t show this as clearly as the book.

To conclude this essay, it is easy to say that the book-as always-is better than the movie, because it show more detail, it emphasizes more in important moments, items, and characters. The book describes the relationships between characters much clearly, and doesn’t leave the audience confused. And finally, the authors’ message is shown much better in the book rather than the movie. The authors’ message is very important, because this is the reason the author wrote the book, this is what the author is trying to teach the readers. The movie didn’t show this message, and if they did, they made a poor job emphasizing it. If you hadn’t read the book, and watched the movie you most certainly would have not understood what was going on.

Boys Only

Upon the introduction of a female character, it would drastically change the story, and the message the book is portraying would be altered, but then this may depend on the female characters’ characteristics. Golding may want the female character to be able to tempt (because the island they are stranded on represents The Garden of Eden-paradise-where god placed two humans, Adam and Eve) the male characters to do specific things, as in hunt, or to take something that may be prohibited or sacred such as the Conch, specs, or other symbolic items of the island. Or the female character could be tempted to do something for someone (because of the snake tempting Eve in The Garden of Eden). Also a women figure on the island can also mean organization, more order, and having supplementary moral values. There would be a bigger voice of truth, and perhaps many of the uncivilized acts the male characters were doing would have been avoided. The female character can also cause jealousy. With jealousy fights might occur, and a bigger division could perhaps have happened, but not only with Jack and Ralph, but possibly with some others of the Bigguns. Golding obviously meant this as a complement to women, as though he shows the savageness of society through the acts of boys of the island.

Like Eve in the bible, she tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit of The Garden of Eden. Eve in the bible was tempted by the snake, which in The Lord of the Flies would be the devil or Jack. The forbidden fruit could represent the specs, something that Jack wants by the end. Jack would be able to entice the female character, to take the specs from Ralphs’ group. This would have also caused a big problem, but would have also caused them to have had fewer savage moments. The way the women could be tempted, also could show how today men (as in men and women) have power over each other, and how they can easily control others to work for them to gain more.

Many people see-stereotypically-that females in general as more organized, and less savage compared to men. This being the reason, that if a female character were to have been introduced, then she would have been the adult figure of the island, and would have lead the characters of the island with less savagery, more sanity, and better judgment. Now not only will she be most probably representing the adult figure of the island, but she would also be the motherly figure, the one who entrusts hope of being rescued in the littluns and the bigguns, and she would also take care of the littluns at night, when they had nightmares.

With a female character on the island, she can enhance their moral values, and stand up for what is ethically right. She could become a much bigger symbolic reference to order and civilization. She would be able to convince the group that there really wasn’t such a thing as the beast. She would have held the group together, and avoided that division between Jack and Ralph. She would have gotten more things done, because she is the one most capable of being the adult figure of the island, which was what the boys were trying to find, the adult figure of the island that would lead them, and tell them what to do. She would be able to comfort them from the fears of the nightmares.

As the story normally goes there are only boys on the island, causing there to be rivalry, as in having the Alpha, the leader, and the followers. But with a female character there would be a bit more. There will not only be the leadership relationship with everyone, but probably some kind of romantic relationship might emerge in more than one character. Thus, causing a fight between each other and more savagery could happen. If the female character actually falls for one of the male characters, this might cause another male character to have jealousy therefore, also starting a fight, or just assassinating the other character, but that would be taking too far.

Its easy to say, that Golding meant this as a compliment to women, because he is basically saying how men are savage, of course he is portraying that all mankind can be savage, and uncivilized, but as he shows in the Lord of the Flies, it seems that that savagery was easily shown through the male characters on the island, Jack, Roger, the choir group (hunters), and many others of the island. In my honest opinion, the story is well without a female character, because with the female characters, those memorable moments of the book would have not happened, it would have completely changed symbolic means of different characters, scenes, and items. With a female character, the book would be completely different, and would not be as interesting as it is now.