Lord of the Flies HAS Relevance to TodayÃÂs Modern AudienceÃÂLord of the Flies no more!ÃÂ was your headline (March 13). Really? Do you really think the modern day Australian audience can find no relevance at all, in a book like Lord of the Flies by William Golding? I strongly disagree.
One point argued in the article was that the story was too far-fetched to be of relevance to the modern day Australian. The characters that are in the story remind you more of cavemen than of human beings. But if you understand what the book is trying to convey you would think otherwise. Many of the themes in this book- destruction, fear, death, authority and order, are still relevant today.
In the book, Ralph symbolises democracy, and good leadership. Jack represents evil and fascism. Once Jack was in power, the savagery increased and life on the island was terrible for those lower down the ranks.
Lord of the Flies
English: Cottages, The Green, Marlborough William ...
Film poster for Lord of the Flies - Copyright 1990...This is like in modern days, when the dictator Suddan Hussein once led Iraq. Life for the people of Iraq was extremely difficult. This is in great contrast to countries like Australia who have democratic systems of government.
Thrusting a group of schoolchildren onto a desert island and showing their inevitable collapse into anarchy in the absence of authority, how is that not relevant to modern audiences? Have you seen the schoolyard these days without the presence of an instructor or teacher? Let me tell you, that they can be little animals to each other.
Golding conveyed that civilised "values" canÃÂt be automatically imposed when the environment is radically different. How often do western societies try to impose their values on others? Even in Australia, ever since the arrival of the first fleet and just recently, in the news there have been reports on how...