Alyssa Lee

Dr. Billie Dzeitch, Prof. Sue Bourke

Kids Who Kill

26 March 2020

Lord of the Flies Response

Quite frankly I have never liked Lord of the Flies. My first viewing of this movie was in

high school and I remember hating it. I don’t like the vagueness. The audience is assumed to

have read the book so the director just has some aggressive music and slideshow of pictures as

the opening. The viewer is supposed to piece together that England is involved in another

devastating war and chooses to send the children away for their safety just as they had done

during WWII. Every student who has ever taken a Psychology class is of course interested in

what would actually happen if a group of boys were left alone like this, but we know it is an

ethical and moral impossibility. Instead, what always fascinated me the most was the ending. I

was always more concerned with what happened after the boys were rescued by the Royal

Navy. How did they adjust to life back in England? How many of them had families to return to?

Would Jack continue down his violent path? Would Ralph ever get over his guilt about Piggy?

The first act of violence in Lord of the Flies that truly disturbed me was when Jack and

his “tribe” are hunting a wild pig. The boys go from shouting a chant about the violence they

will inflict upon the pig they are hunting, to singing a religious hymn. Something about watching

a group of children kill an animal and then go back to singing a song they presumably learned in

Sunday school shook me to my core. (Which, as I recall from high school, was the ultimate point

of the book. It highlights how easy it is for a civilized society to fall apart).

There are two brutal murders committed that shock and disturb the viewer. First, a shy,

quiet boy named Simon discovers that the beast Jack and the others are trying to wage war

against is actually the body of a fighter pilot. He runs to Jack’s camp to explain but is mistaken
for a disguised version of the beast. The boys attack and kill him. The second is when Ralph and

Piggy go to Jack’s camp to negotiate the return of Piggy’s glasses. One of Jack’s tribe loosens a

boulder and causes it to tumble down the hillside and crush Piggy. Both are haunting. Watching

kids kill each other in such a brutal manner gives you heebie-jeebies, as my grandma would say.

Near the end of the movie when Jack bullies two young twins known as “SamandEric”

into joining his tribe, it reminded me of an article I read in high school about the Hitler Youth.

Boy Scouts were on the Nazi list of banned items/organizations, and one scout who refused to

give up his uniform was attacked and almost killed by a group of Hitler Youth boys. Even

viewing the film I am reminded of the Hitler Youth. Jack’s manipulation of the others is a

striking reminder of the reaches of Hitler’s propaganda. Jack offered a disregard of rules and

promised only fun, something he knew boys that age would not be able to resist. In the same

way, Hitler offered the HY programs initially as summer camps and organizations to fill the void

left by the Boy Scouts. It was only when the Allies started turning the tide that he began using

them as child soldiers. Additionally, Jack’s use of his tribe to raid Ralph’s camp and steal Piggy’s

glasses is another common Hitler Youth activity. Jewish teachers and professors were initially

allowed to start their own “Jews only” schools. Eventually it became a common activity for

Hitler Youth to wait outside the gates and assault Jewish students.

WWII has always been my favorite area of history, so I absolutely agree with Golding’s

theory that there is darkness in every man’s heart. When you study history for long enough you

start to see patterns in people’s behavior over time. People always unite in savagery and hatred

of an “other.” So many German citizens who were members of the Nazi Party joined because

they wanted to, because they genuinely hated Jewish people and were glad to have found like

minds. White Americans in the South were united in their hatred and terrorization of black

people. And now, I see it again in the supporters of Donald Trump.