Lord of the Flies End-of-Unit Assessments

(1) Lord of the Flies Vocabulary quiz
Make study cards.
The quiz is on Friday, January 17.

(2) Lord of the Flies Characters, motif, events, and lenses quiz
Study reading checks, your own reading notes, and lens notes.
The quiz is on Tuesday, January 21.

(3) Lord of the Flies Analysis of a character and visual motif (symbol)
A complete draft must be shared with me by class time on Wednesday, January 22.
Revisions will be accepted until Friday, January 24 at midnight.
Final draft is due by class time on Friday, January 24. (See me if this presents a problem.)

Imagine that you are William Golding. From his point of view write a letter to the students of Gloucester High School explaining how Golding develops a particular character* and a particular visual motif to explore an essential question about the human condition**. You will write a single letter explaining Golding's use of both the character and the motif. (Remember that in the letter you will pretend to be Golding.)

Support your explanation of the character’s and the motif’s significance by citing places in the novel where you, as Golding the author, use the character to develop the novel’s meaning and specific places where you, as Golding, use the motif to develop the novel’s meaning**. Make sure you thoroughly and insightfully explain how the parts -- the particular uses of the character(s) & object(s) -- contribute to the meaning of the novel as a whole**.

* Or, pair of characters (Sam and Eric) or group of characters (littluns)

**Think of "explore an essential question about the human condition" as a different way of saying "develop a theme" or "develop the novel's meaning." Make sure the essential question is one that you think is central (or essential or fundamental) to the novel.]

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Special considerations because you're writing as Golding...

(1) Consider what Golding has said about his mankind and his novel.

When thinking about Golding’s point of view and Golding’s purpose in constructing the novel, consider some statements Golding has made about the novel.

“I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”

“The theme (of Lord of the Flies) is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical mature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.”

For more of Golding's views you'll find his Nobel Lecture at nobelprize.org.

(2) Consider Golding's life.
The following is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize website. (Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.)

"Taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years afloat, except for seven months in New York and six months helping Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. He saw action against battleships (at the sinking of the Bismarck), submarines and aircraft. Finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship. He was present off the French coast for the D-Day invasion, and later at the island of Walcheren. After the war he returned to teaching [until 1962], and began to write again. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, was published in 1954."

You have additional biographical notes here.

(3) Consider Golding's writing style, particularly his syntax and diction. 

Use sentence structures and word choices characteristic of Golding’s way of writing. (In other words, identify and mimic a few sentence structures used by Golding. Also, use words from the vocabulary list!