Lord of the Flies- the significanse of the Pig on stick

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Uranos
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Lord of the Flies- the significanse of the Pig on stick

Post by Uranos »

Hey guys i have to write on this

What is the significance of the dead pigs head on the stick?
How did that become the title of tha book?

Thanks

alex
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Post by NotHisRealName »

It's been a while since I read Lord of the Flys, but if I remember correctly (and I probably dont), wasn't the pig seen as a 'monster' to the kids to begin with?
The pig was keeping the children scared, and yet some of the boys managed to find the courage to kill the pig.
The boys hadn't done anything like that before... they'd never taken a life, and yet they managed to do that.

The pig was the end of their innocence because, by killing it, it made the children grow up even more (that's not to say they didn't have to grow up after the plane crash, but you know what I'm saying).
In killing the pig, they killed their innocence.
And yet, at the same time they defeated their fears.
Now, to them, the pig was no monster. It was now nothing more than the Lord of the flys. And how petty is it to rule such pesky little, insignificant creatures. How could the lord of the flys scare these brave hunters?

It signified their loss of innocence.
That's why it's important.
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Post by rory »

i read this book this year in my english class i remeber talking about this same subject and the pig on the stick is the lord of the flies and it signifies the devil and the evil inside of us all, all humans are currupt (sp) and the lord of the flies are the evil inside all of us. the boys try to rationalize the "beast" by claming it is a monster but what they dont understand is that the beast is the natural human evil inside all of them and the only one who actually understands what the "beast" really is, is simion.
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Jeremy
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Post by Jeremy »

hmm, interesting difference in interpretations. I haven't read the book - only seen the film (both actually) but I'd like to read it. Regarding the difference in interpretations - dare I say that that's a difference between American culture - which seems to often talk about things in terms of "good" and "evil" and the rest of the world, which seems to be more of the opinion that good and evil are only relative to your personal views.

I don't know - it's just something you notice much more in American culture and listening to American politicians compared with other media. I guess that's why I like movies by Yimou Zhang so much (getting off topic a little now here, sorry) because in the ones I've seen (Not one less, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) it's really not about good and evil at all but shows how different people can have equally justified opinions but be completely different - there's really a lack of "evil" in his movies - which I personally like as I don't really believe that evil exists in the literal definition of the word.

Oh something else off topic. In the movies I thought the fat kid in the black and white movie was cool and wanted to beat up the bully kids (maybe not literally but you know what I mean) while in the colour version I hated the fat kid and laughed when he died. I guess I found it pretty hard to take the colour version seriously, probably because the kids were all bad actors and too dramatic about things. Actually maybe kids are like that but I found them all to be annoying anyway.
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Post by Muffinman »

The great thing about literature is that the pig on the stick is whatever you interpret it to be, as long as you can provide evidence of your interpretation. I took this crazy intense british literature course and now I over-analyze movies (and books...) like crazy @__________@

Watch Battle Royale -- it's like a really action-packed Lord of the Flies (if I remember Lord of the Flies?...it's been, like 6-7 years...)
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Post by Blackend »

If you liked the style of Lord of the Flies, try reading the Butterfly Revolution. The plot between the two are very similar. Since it's been so long that you posted about it and it's been three years since I've read the book, I'm not going to bother posting the significance of the beast. But read the B.R. It's a great read.
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Post by Troyson »

rory wrote:i read this book this year in my english class i remeber talking about this same subject and the pig on the stick is the lord of the flies and it signifies the devil and the evil inside of us all, all humans are currupt (sp) and the lord of the flies are the evil inside all of us. the boys try to rationalize the "beast" by claming it is a monster but what they dont understand is that the beast is the natural human evil inside all of them and the only one who actually understands what the "beast" really is, is simion.
i had to read this book also and thats exactly what my teacher told me so everything he said is correct.
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