 The Lord of the Flies. I think probably a lot of you have read this when you were teenagers. I Read it when I was a teenager and I liked it and I took it as an adventure story. I Knew that you know it had a message and I thought the message was that underlingly People are animals and it doesn't take long for them to lose the pattern of civilization Seemed a little banal to me, but you know it's a good adventure story And later I heard that it won the Nobel Prize and I was like that won the Nobel Prize. Gee, you know, that's that's odd You probably know that this is about a group of boys who are who are in a plane and it crashes on a on an island And all the adults are killed and it's just the boys there and so the the novel chronicles the way that those boys gradually Move from having fallen into an island paradise to becoming really really savage and doing some horrible things Well, I re-read it last March I think it was or sometimes sometime around then and it was during the time that the the country was moving towards this war in Iraq and I'm reading the papers and then I'm looking over here and I'm reading this The book revolves around the fact that these boys become terrified and then They come to have the notion that there's a beast on the island and What happens as a result of their terror? Is something that made me when I looked at the news Realized that this book is not about what we would do if we lost civilization It's about the way we are as civilized beings and Once I flipped over into that way of looking at it I found it terrifying to read page after page because it just seemed so incisive analytical and and I dreaded Reading more as I dreaded experiencing more of what was going on And I'm I'm just gonna read a little bit. I feel like it's cumulative and there's there's no little passage that can really That can really convey what it is But this is a part where around the middle They have one imperative which is to keep a fire going on a on a hill so that there will be smoke if a ship goes by It'll see them But over the course of this time there's a boy named Jack who has found that You know, it's a real thrill to kill pigs. There are pigs on this island and Some of the other boys are going more and more into the pig hunting less and less and attending the fire So they're having this meeting and there's there's some rules One of them is you can't speak unless you have the certain shell a conch shell and the talk has turned to the beast that's on the island and Somebody says well, maybe that beast is a ghost and Ralph the chosen leader of this band of boys Says there's too much talk about ghosts. We ought to have left all this for daylight a Hushed an anonymous voice broke in perhaps. That's what the beast is a ghost The assembly was shaken as by a wind There's too much talking out of turn Ralph said because we can't have proper assemblies if you don't stick to the rules He stopped again the careful plan of this assembly had broken down What do you want me to say then I was wrong to call this assembly so late We'll have to vote on them on ghosts I mean and then go to the shelters because we're all tired. No Jack is it? Wait a minute. I'll say here and now that I don't believe in ghosts or I don't think I do But I don't like the thought of them not now that is in the dark But we were going to decide what's what he raised the conch for a moment very well then I Suppose what's what is whether there are ghosts or not? He thought for a moment formulating the question who thinks there may be ghosts For a long time there was silence and no apparent movement then Ralph peered into the gloom and made out the hands He spoke flatly. I see the world that was understandable and lawful The world that understandable and lawful world was slipping away Once there was this and that and now and the ship had gone They there was a ship that came close by but it didn't see them because the fire had gone out The conch was snatched from his hands and Piggy's voice shrilled. I didn't vote for no ghosts He whirled around on the assembly remember that all of you they heard him stamp What are we humans or animals or savages? What's grown-ups going to think going off hunting pigs letting fires out and now a Shadow fronted him tempestuously. You shut up you fat slug There was a moment struggle and the glimmering conch jigged up and down Ralph left to his feet Jack Jack you haven't got the conch. Let him speak Jack's voice swam near him and You shut up. Who are you anyway sitting there telling people what to do? You can't hunt you can't sing I'm chief. I was chosen. Why should choosing make any difference just giving orders that don't make any sense Piggy's got the conch That's right favor Piggy as you always do Jack Jack's voice sounded in bitter mimicry Jack Jack the rules shouted Ralph. You're breaking the rules. Who cares? Ralph summoned his wits Because the rules are the only thing we've got but Jack was shouting against him bollocks to the rules We're strong. We hunt if there's a beast We'll hunt it down We'll close in and beat and beat and beat he gave a wild whoop and leap down to the pale sand At once the platform was full of noise and excitement scrambling screams and laughter the assembly shredded away and Became a discursive and random scatter from the palms to the water and away along the beach beyond night sight Ralph found his cheek touching the conch and took it from Piggy What's grown-ups going to say cried Piggy again