Piggy in Lord o fthe Flies (1)

Piggy can be ignored by readers at the opening of the story - let's face it: Golding's writing is so skillful that he makes us dislike Piggy intensely! There are many paradoxes and contradictions in Piggy; to find our more you need to listen to this podcast.

Piggy understands that order is needed. The philosopher Rousseau argued that 'Man [that's what he said, it was a sexist time!] is born free and everywhere lives in chains'. He really thought that civilisation was a bad thing: it made us mad. Golding (and Piggy) would disagree!

Lord of the Flies - Fire on the Mountain

Here is the second podcast on Lord of the Flies, and how it foregrounds later events. Think of the fire as deeply symbolic; it unleashes powers that the boys cannot control!

Lord of the Flies - Chapter 1 - An Introduction

Lord of the Flies is William Golding's dark masterpiece. As well as being a story noted for its sumptuous language and eloquent prose, the symbolic meanings and messages of the text are profound and varied. Noticing the symbolism and being able to think about the CONCEPTS behind the story are the key to an A*.

All the symbolism and ideas are the novel are foregrounded in the opening. The motifs that appear all the way through the story will be set up here. This is an opening discussion of some of the important ideas. Have a think about the ideas mentioned here and how they relate to the rest of the story...

Heroes - Chapter One - An Introduction

You're doing 'Heroes' as your novel for the Literature exam? You lucky thing! Your teacher must really like you! This podcast is about the first chapter of the novel 'Heroes'.

Any start to a novel is the most important part - closely followed by the end in order of importance. At the start of 'Heroes', Robert Cormier sets up themes that will run all of the way through the novel. You need to be aware of them - and that's where this podcast comes in.

Key terms you might want to secure are: 'foregrounding' and 'motif'.