Lord of The Flies - help?

[heaven__eyes]

Im doing a project on Lord of the Flies in my grade ten advanced english class. I know im quite young, but I have read a lot of books and I take interest in reading. This book confused me a little, i dont think Goldings writing style quite suits my reading style, if that makes sense. There were a lot of descriptions that were hard to follow and a lot less dialogue. He writes beautifully, but teaching this book in highschool, in my opinion, isn't a great idea. For one thing, I am an athiest, brought up that way by my parents, and I dont understand when people talk about biblical references, because i haven't read the bible. I think they should teach it in a higher level of education, or just leave it out of the curriculum all together.

My issue is, my teacher assigned us to find a poem in Chapter 11, made from only quotes, or words in that chapter, and nothing else. Im having an extremely difficult time doing so because im not terrible poetic, although i have written poems, I can't write them on demand with a certain subject.

Can anybody help me get started or give me some tips?

[Bysshe]

I'm the same age as you, and I've recently studied Lord of the Flies at school. I'm an agnostic so I don't have a huge knowledge of the Bible either, but to be honest, I don't think it affected my enjoyment of the book in any way. Someone stop me if I'm talking complete rubbish, but I didn't think that there were that many Biblical references. The only one I can think of off the top of my head is some subtle reference to how the line of choirboys at the beginning looks vaguely like a snake, which could be some reference to the snake in the garden of Eden story. I'm sure there are more references hidden throughout the book, but I'd have to go back and look at it.

I can't say I agree with your opinion that it should be taught at a higher level or left out of the curriculum. Compared to many other "classic" novels, it's relatively easy to understand and there's nothing too complicated in there. The language is very straightforward and there are people in my class who hardly read at all who have coped with it. It would probably be too simplistic for people studying literature at a higher level, so in my opinion, studying Lord of the Flies somewhere between the ages of 13-16 is the best time to do it.

I've left my copy of Lord of the Flies at school, so I can't remember what happens in Chapter 11. It's quite an odd task you've been given - I don't think I've ever had to do anything like that - so I'm afraid I don't have any very useful advice. Try re-reading the chapter a few times and highlight some of the more descriptive words and phrases. Then see which words rhyme or fit together nicely, and jot down a couple of lines at a time, rearranging them until you've got something that works.

Not great advice, I know, but it's the best I could come up with...

[Jorrit]

sry
never had to do anything like that... thank god :P
but I had to do a lot of other reports on it :S