Monday, August 8, 2011

What could be included on a poster to illustrate the concept of loss of innocence in Lord of the Flies?

To make a poster showing the loss of innocence in Lord of the Flies, it might be helpful to think of before and after images. When the boys arrive on the island, they seem innocent, but they quickly allow their darker natures to take control. For example, at the beginning of the book, Jack stays his hand and can't kill a piglet that is caught in a thicket, but later he takes enjoyment from killing the sow. The conch is an important symbol in the book that represents how the boys all agree to follow rules. There is a counter image to the conch that occurs in chapter 12 when Ralph is on his own in the forest. He comes across the sow's skull on the stick--a symbol of the depths of depravity the boys have fallen into. He strikes it down and it breaks in two, but he doesn't smash it to smithereens like the conch has been smashed. The island itself changes as the boys change; at first it seems like a paradise with its pink granite cliffs and swimming hole, but by the end of the book, fire engulfs the island. At the beginning of the book, the boys were able to have happy meetings together, but by the end of the book, two boys have been murdered and a third is being hunted. Piggy's glasses in their unbroken state could represent innocence; at the end they are seen broken hanging from Jack's belt, and Piggy can no longer benefit from them because he is dead. To make your poster, think about ways, possibly symbolic, to represent these before and after images. For example, you could find a picture of boys playing on the beach together and then a picture of two graves with headstones or crosses to represent the murdered boys. 

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