Discussion: Banning and Challenging of "Lord of the Flies"

Airbase-Seven · 10-26-2005, 10:01 PM

Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

A book originally written in the 50s, it has been challenged and successfully banned at many book stores and schools throughout the decades, even recently in a texas school district.

Why would this book be challenged or banned from sale? Why would certain book seller's refuse to put it on their shelves? Conversly, why do some teachers list it as required reading(and some take flame for that)?

I think it has most superficially to do with the violence/primal instincts the boys in the book revert to. In a deeper sense, i think it has to do with the fact that the author shows that, in time, without expectations from "civilization," and allowed free run, humans will revert to the primal instincts that lent us survival before we knew better ways. It essentially states, that humans are animals, and if not kept in check, they will revert to their roots.

I also think it states how fragile the young members of a generation are, vs the older(or previous generation), by how they let the captain/pilot die. They know if they nurse him to health he will institute civilized ways. The differance between the boys and the captain being that the captian, so much older, is much more "set in his ways"(of civilization), whereas the boys are sort of a "clean slate."
That fact alone futher illustrates that people, at heart and without education(or without time to become set in their ways), are animals. The less education and less expectation a person has(being younger as an illustration of not having "lived a life" of either of the aformentioned items) a more "pure" state, and therefor, man, in his pure state, is an animal.

Those are some reasons i can think of for challenging the book. Do you think its proper reason for banning such a novel? i truely enjoyed the book(and thought the movie was decent) and i certainly wouldn't want it banned or challenged.

P.S.
the "reasons i can think of" are not my view as such, but rather i am mearly exploring reasons taht might be seen as relivant to other readers.

Nano · 10-26-2005, 10:25 PM

I read it in highschool. A girl i know had to read it this semester for her highschool class. its a good book.

And i live in texas.

Airbase-Seven · 10-26-2005, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

I read it in highschool. A girl i know had to read it this semester for her highschool class. its a good book.

And i live in texas.

if i were to say its ludicris to be banned, would you agree?

seriously, why do you honestly think it could be challenged? can you think of any examples?

Tape · 10-26-2005, 10:35 PM

it brought up a side of human behavior that we would almost never see in our civilized world, yet it felt so possible. I thought it was a great book because of that.. no idea why it would be banned. maybe because it was basically children taking other children's lives?

Nano · 10-26-2005, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airbase-Seven

if i were to say its ludicris to be banned, would you agree?

Yes, because i personally feel that banning any book is retarded.

Quote:

seriously, why do you honestly think it could be challenged? can you think of any examples?

People are stupid, and dont like things that disagree with their world view. Thats enough reason for something to be challenged. That doesnt make it right.

MHZ · 10-26-2005, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

Yes, because i personally feel that banning any book is retarded.

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

The only reasons I could find through google stated that the book has been banned/challenged because it was considered "demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal."

I'd say that that was one of the more retarded reasons I've ever heard to ban a book... But that's sadly not true.

Arjuna · 10-26-2005, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

Yes, because i personally feel that banning any book is retarded.

...

People are stupid, and dont like things that disagree with their world view. Thats enough reason for something to be challenged. That doesnt make it right.

[/thread]

Airbase-Seven · 10-26-2005, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MHZ

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.

The only reasons I could find through google stated that the book has been banned/challenged because it was considered "demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal."

I'd say that that was one of the more retarded reasons I've ever heard to ban a book... But that's sadly not true.

This man speaks the truth.

What did u all think of the "culture shock" the author dishes us at the end of the book?

HybridPyro · 10-26-2005, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

Yes, because i personally feel that banning any book is retarded.

So you don't think that any book should be 'banned' in a high school? Nothing?

flurby · 10-26-2005, 11:50 PM

Banning books is retarded.

MHZ · 10-26-2005, 11:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flurby

Banning books is retarded.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

MHZ · 10-26-2005, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Airbase-Seven

What did u all think of the "culture shock" the author dishes us at the end of the book?

Culture Shock...

It's been 3 years since I last read this book, and Wikipedia isn't giving me anything on that.

What are you refering to?

Nano · 10-27-2005, 02:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LEGOS

So you don't think that any book should be 'banned' in a high school? Nothing?

No. Any literature, regardless of its actual worth and merit, should be available for anyone over the age of 15 to read.

Airbase-Seven · 10-27-2005, 02:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MHZ

Culture Shock...

It's been 3 years since I last read this book, and Wikipedia isn't giving me anything on that.

What are you refering to?

by taht i mean the entire book is spent in savage ways of the boys

and then out of nowhere civlilization strikes the reader when the climax of the book peaks with the one boy about to be killed by another and he "runs into" a navy/military man who has apparently landed on the island.
-Woah what a change: what ephiphanic realization

ilkka · 10-27-2005, 02:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nano

No. Any literature, regardless of its actual worth and merit, should be available for anyone over the age of 15 to read.

What about the Necronomicon Ex Mortis from the Evil Dead movies? If such a book were to exist, surely you would not allow any one to read it.

Or perhaps a closer to reality example: government files classified for national security purposes. Or even the source code of Windows XP. Perhaps the new Harry Potter book before it is released. There are a whole variety of literature that does not need to be available to everyone over the age of 15.

Nano	I read it in highschool. A girl i know had to read it this semester for her highschool class. its a good book. And i live in texas. __________________ Im not elitist, Ive simply been marginalized by the preponderance of idiots in the world.
10-26-2005, 10:25 PM	#2

Tape Endlessly Sticky	it brought up a side of human behavior that we would almost never see in our civilized world, yet it felt so possible. I thought it was a great book because of that.. no idea why it would be banned. maybe because it was basically children taking other children's lives?
10-26-2005, 10:35 PM	#4

flurby I can't think for myself so I let the Democrats do it for me!	Banning books is retarded.
10-26-2005, 11:50 PM	#10