Thursday, October 16, 2008

After Reading 2

Suppose the naval officer had not come along in the end, and Ralph had been murdered.
How would that have changed the meaning of the story?

11 comments:

Sergio said...

Supposing that in the end of "The Lord of the Flies", the naval officer had not appeared and Ralph had been murdered, the meaning of the story is changed drastically. Although the ending loses the intensity it had throughout, the meaning of the story is showing people that human society is in chaos and in destruction. In the ending, with the appearance of the naval officer, it shows that society still has a small, small chance of salvation.

Now, if Ralph had been murdered, the story would show so many different ideas. It would show how chaos can overrun and overthrow a society created, just so that people can be left to their wicked selves, just as Thomas Hobbes said in his work, "Leviathan". It would show that society has no salvation. "The Lord of the Flies" would show that hope could be the most useless thing in a situation like this, and that society doesn't need faith, but action. These are just a few of the changes I would have noticed if Ralph had been murdered and the officer never came.

But what if, in the slimmest chance, if the naval officer had come to late? What if Ralph had been murdered when the naval officer had appeared?

Amy G said...

In response to Sergio's question, if the naval officer would have come a bit later it would have also altered the meaning of the story. The whole point is that the boy who is always trying to establish order is rescued, isn't it? If he were murdered, it would represent chaos in the world we know. The other boys would have denied the fact that they killed Ralph, and would have gone home. This could be interpreted as the guilty walking free and the innocent paying the price, which also refers to the earlier discussion of the Christ figure in "Lord of the Flies".

Nate Treacy said...

I agree with both of you, I guess.
If Ralph had died then the system would have worked. Picture it like the Bolshevik Revolution. I guess they really aren't that much alike. But if they were, Jack would be Stalin and Ralph would be Trotsky. Now picture that Trotsky had fled, but not been killed.
Where would that put Stalin?
Undoubtedly, the world would know about his brutal regime and it probably would have ended much sooner.
Now, in terms of the Navy Officer, if e hadn't shown up when he did, Ralph would undoubtedly be dead. Unfortunately, Trotsky didn't have a naval officer and things didn't exactly work out.

Erika said...

If Ralph had died, then the story would be "BORING" because there would not be peace in the island. Under Jack's leadership everything would have been, HORRIBLE and chaos. Jack is the sign for death. the only person that would most likely stop him would be Ralph, and if he had died then the story would never end, because Jack would then get tired or if the kids didn't pay attention, jack would get mad and kill them all

Kevin said...

I completely agree with Sergio because to me the meaning of the officer at the end is that society still has a small chance of being salvaged and not being let into a horrible, chaotic society which is happening everyday.

Mariu Mendoza said...

If the naval officer had not appeared and if Ralph had been murdered, the entire story would absolutely change therefore there would not be any meaning to the plot, especially if one of the main characters, in this case, Ralph, is missing.

faaBy said...

If the end of "The Lord of the Flies" is changed, then the message that is transmitted through out the story completely vanishes. As Sergio and Kevin mentioned above, the arrival of the naval officer shows that society still has a very small change of salvation.
If the naval officer had arrived too late, Ralph's murder would be another symbol of savagery and chaos.

jesi hayes said...

I agree with Faby, Kevin and Sergio. The naval officer does indeed represent salvation, but as Sergio had said it looses the intensity that had been accumulated as Ralph began to be persued. Even if it does give the whole idea of the slim chance of salvation I think that it is simply an impossible salvation because I see no sense in why the officer arrives at that point because there was no more fire signal. When the fire signal was no longer being made, that's the point were I believe chaos reached a point of no turning back. No fire means no signal which means no rescue and no officer magically appearing at the perfect momemnt.
Even if the ending seems to contradict all credibility and possibility it just highlights the dramatic changes the boys went through which lets you really understand the trouble society is in because even if there is usually a small chance of salvation, the boys had already lost it. That's why the ending just opens your eyes, and by making such an impossible and incredible ending it opens your eyes more than any other ending would have.

Won Park said...

The meaning of the story would have changed dramatically if the naval officer was not to come along in the end. First, there would be more chaos and more violence as Sergio has mentioned. Also, probably there will be more torturing for any disobeying. Moreover, little kids would be more scared and frightened because Jack doesn't calm them down and Ralph was the only one who did it. Furthermore, the people who were still alive are going to have a less probability of surviving because Ralph was the only leader who had mainly focused on being rescued. In addition, people would die of starvation because all the pigs would be hunted and all the fruits would be eaten. As time passed, probably the children would start eating people in order to survive. These are some of the changes that may have caused if the naval officer was not to come along in the end and Ralph murdered.

Kalif Shear said...

I completely agree with kevin. The officer represents society's ability to not give into the savagery that surrounds and to not revert to a chaotic and terrorizing society.

Heejae said...

If Ralph was murder the story will be dramatic like many people said. It will be dramatic and chaos because is making everything worse. The ending would have changed mysteriously and will have an impact but it could be interesting if the ending changed and Ralph died