full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jill Dash: Why should you read "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


William Golding was lnsoig his faith in humanity. Serving aboard a bsritih destroyer in World War II, the philosophy teacher turned Royal Navy lieutenant was ctoatnsnly confronted by the atrocities of his fellow man. And when he returned to England to find Cold War superpowers tnerihteang one another with nuclear annihilation, he was forced to interrogate the very roots of human nature. These mgisuns on the inevitability of violence would inspire his first and most fumoas novel: "Lord of the feils."

After being rejected by 21 publishers, the novel was finally published in 1954. It tekas its title from blbeuzeeb, a demon associated with pride and war— two themes very much at the heart of Golding’s book. The novel was a bleak satire of a classic island adventure stroy, a popular genre where young boys get shipwrecked in exotic liocaonts. The protagonists in these stories are able to master nature while evading the dangers posed by their new environments. The genre also endorsed the problematic colonialist narrative found in many British wokrs at the time, in which the boys teach the island’s native inhabitants their allegedly superior British values. Golding’s satire even goes so far as to explicitly use the snettig and character names from R.M. Ballantyne’s "Coral Island"— one of the most beloved ialsnd adventure novels. But while Ballantyne’s book promised readers "pleasure... profit... and udobeunnd anmuseemt,” Golding’s had darker things in store.

Open Cloze


William Golding was ______ his faith in humanity. Serving aboard a _______ destroyer in World War II, the philosophy teacher turned Royal Navy lieutenant was __________ confronted by the atrocities of his fellow man. And when he returned to England to find Cold War superpowers ___________ one another with nuclear annihilation, he was forced to interrogate the very roots of human nature. These _______ on the inevitability of violence would inspire his first and most ______ novel: "Lord of the _____."

After being rejected by 21 publishers, the novel was finally published in 1954. It _____ its title from _________, a demon associated with pride and war— two themes very much at the heart of Golding’s book. The novel was a bleak satire of a classic island adventure _____, a popular genre where young boys get shipwrecked in exotic _________. The protagonists in these stories are able to master nature while evading the dangers posed by their new environments. The genre also endorsed the problematic colonialist narrative found in many British _____ at the time, in which the boys teach the island’s native inhabitants their allegedly superior British values. Golding’s satire even goes so far as to explicitly use the _______ and character names from R.M. Ballantyne’s "Coral Island"— one of the most beloved ______ adventure novels. But while Ballantyne’s book promised readers "pleasure... profit... and _________ _________,” Golding’s had darker things in store.

Solution


  1. works
  2. island
  3. threatening
  4. famous
  5. locations
  6. constantly
  7. setting
  8. beelzebub
  9. takes
  10. unbounded
  11. musings
  12. losing
  13. flies
  14. amusement
  15. story
  16. british

Original Text


William Golding was losing his faith in humanity. Serving aboard a British destroyer in World War II, the philosophy teacher turned Royal Navy lieutenant was constantly confronted by the atrocities of his fellow man. And when he returned to England to find Cold War superpowers threatening one another with nuclear annihilation, he was forced to interrogate the very roots of human nature. These musings on the inevitability of violence would inspire his first and most famous novel: "Lord of the Flies."

After being rejected by 21 publishers, the novel was finally published in 1954. It takes its title from Beelzebub, a demon associated with pride and war— two themes very much at the heart of Golding’s book. The novel was a bleak satire of a classic island adventure story, a popular genre where young boys get shipwrecked in exotic locations. The protagonists in these stories are able to master nature while evading the dangers posed by their new environments. The genre also endorsed the problematic colonialist narrative found in many British works at the time, in which the boys teach the island’s native inhabitants their allegedly superior British values. Golding’s satire even goes so far as to explicitly use the setting and character names from R.M. Ballantyne’s "Coral Island"— one of the most beloved island adventure novels. But while Ballantyne’s book promised readers "pleasure... profit... and unbounded amusement,” Golding’s had darker things in store.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
island adventure 3
human nature 2
boy named 2


Important Words


  1. aboard
  2. adventure
  3. allegedly
  4. amusement
  5. annihilation
  6. atrocities
  7. beelzebub
  8. beloved
  9. bleak
  10. book
  11. boys
  12. british
  13. character
  14. classic
  15. cold
  16. colonialist
  17. confronted
  18. constantly
  19. dangers
  20. darker
  21. demon
  22. destroyer
  23. endorsed
  24. england
  25. environments
  26. evading
  27. exotic
  28. explicitly
  29. faith
  30. famous
  31. fellow
  32. finally
  33. find
  34. flies
  35. forced
  36. genre
  37. golding
  38. heart
  39. human
  40. humanity
  41. ii
  42. inevitability
  43. inhabitants
  44. inspire
  45. interrogate
  46. island
  47. lieutenant
  48. locations
  49. losing
  50. man
  51. master
  52. musings
  53. names
  54. narrative
  55. native
  56. nature
  57. navy
  58. novels
  59. nuclear
  60. philosophy
  61. popular
  62. posed
  63. pride
  64. problematic
  65. profit
  66. promised
  67. protagonists
  68. published
  69. publishers
  70. readers
  71. rejected
  72. returned
  73. roots
  74. royal
  75. satire
  76. serving
  77. setting
  78. shipwrecked
  79. store
  80. stories
  81. story
  82. superior
  83. superpowers
  84. takes
  85. teach
  86. teacher
  87. themes
  88. threatening
  89. time
  90. title
  91. turned
  92. unbounded
  93. values
  94. violence
  95. war
  96. william
  97. works
  98. world
  99. young