How our group's initial understanding of Lord of the Flies has changed from T1 and T2

From the start of Term 1, we only thought that Lord of the Flies was going to be a story that revolves around only survival and teamwork between the boys. Little did we know that there were way more underlying themes beneath the pages of the book. We had to read between the lines in order to find out the hidden meanings that some objects had, such as, the conch, which represented the authority to speak, linking back to civilisation. In addition, we were able to learn more about how a group of boys stranded on an island could turn sour.

At the start of Lord of the Flies, we were imagining that the story was set around an Utopian perspective. Instead, we found out that despite the resources given to these boys, human nature's hidden destruction could still render all these resources useless. Who would expect the sudden conflicts that affect the boys' friendships? We have also went into Lord of the Flies in deep detail, and we have found out that the need to gratify one's desires, the act of violence to obtain supremacy over others. We would never have thought that Jack would be the one to hold supreme power, from how he manipulates others to serve his own purposes, how the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group is overshadowed by the savagery and sheer evil of the "beast" lurking in everyone.

In addition, we were able to learn about how every human. when left to their own devices, naturally reverts to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow’s head on the stake, which we would not have perceived as possible in the Utopian world we live in at this moment. We learn to appreciate our lives, and how we are not left to our own devices. The deeper we delve into Lord of the Flies, the closer we could relate it to our daily lives. We often see people who are left alone, who often go down the wrong path of life. Therefore, we have changed our mindset on how Lord of the Flies may impact our lives. In this case, after 6 months of studying the book, we are able to see how the book relates to our daily lives.