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"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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Every kid dreams of what life would be like without adults. No rules, no curfews, and as much of your favorite food as you could ever want to eat. Sounds like paradise, right?
Not for the cast of William Goldings novel, Lord of the Flies. Of course, the complicating factor for the boys in Lord of the Flies is that theyre marooned on a desert island. Which means they have to worry about survival—and a lurking Beast—and cant just enjoy life without adults.
The other complicating factor is that Goldings Lord of the Flies isnt just some cheerful adventure story. Its actually a study in the human tendency toward barbarism. Its about the conflict between civilization and savagery. And its about what happens when we let our primal side get the better of us. One hint: William Golding was not an optimist.
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"Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
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Fast, focused videos on classic literature.
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The Golden State. Such a cruel tease. "Of Mice and Men," by John Steinbeck, presents Depression-era California as a sucker's bet, a place luring decent, simple folk with the promise of limitless potential and prosperity, then knocking them flat with the reality of unending toil and trouble. Decent, simple folk like George and Lennie, the two migrant workers whose story Steinbeck tells in "Of Mice and Men."
In Steinbeck's slender masterpiece, George and Lennie endure just about every Depression-era hardship a migrant worker might endure. "Of Mice and Men" follows George and Lennie to a bad end, which is what we'd expect for simple, decent folk in the hardscrabble West. But Steinbeck's saga is true to the spirit of the times and people he depicts. George and Lennie live and die hard in "Of Mice and Men." So did many thousands like them.
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"Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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Jane is a miserable, mistreated orphan. And a lonely governess. And the love of wealthy Mr. Rochester's life?
Ah, the romance.
Unfortunately, Charlotte Brontë had other plans for her protagonist. Jane is, after all, more than just the fiery main character of "Jane Eyre." She's also a feminist statement. Which means that love-followed-by-marriage would be just a bit too straightforward for Jane's storyline.
Instead of marriage, there's a shocking revelation. There's Jane alone in the world again—penniless and friendless. And there's romance again, too. But with Mr. Rochester?
Well, watch for youself ...
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"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
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Guy Montag is no ordinary fireman. Then again, his society in "Fahrenheit 451" is no ordinary society. In Montags world, books are banned, and Montags job is to start fires, not to stop them—to burn any remaining books, and the houses that hold them.
But being around all those books is starting to have a reverse effect on Montag. He wants to know whats inside the books—and what the world might be like if some of that forbidden knowledge was actually put to use.
Will Montag risk everything—his wife, his career, his life—for literature? Of course he will. And its precisely Montags choices regarding banned books that resulted in Ray Bradburys dystopian novel about censorship ending up on the banned books list itself.
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"Great Expectations" by Charles Dickens
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You'll find two kinds of people in Charles Dickens' world—those who Have, and those who Have Not. The Have-Nots envy the Haves, while the Haves fear the Have-Nots. In "Great Expectations," Dickens creates a character named Pip who does something almost no one in Dickens' time ever really did. Pip starts out a Have-Not, then becomes a Have ... and then regrets it. Big time.
You could call "Great Expectations" a morality tale, but that doesn't give Dickens enough credit for his wild story of Pip's journey from rags to riches to wisdom. The characters Pip encounters—the proud Estella, the demented Miss Havisham, the surprise benefactor, Magwitch—offer a window into a place and a time lost to memory. But Dickens' pen brings life to Victorian England—and a message about virtue and good character that's relevant not only in Dickens' era, but in our own.
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