ADV Soph. English Journal Response 2

In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the story’s characters are all males. If the characters included females then William Golding would have had to make some changes in his decisions when developing the plot and events of the story. The first thing he would have to change is the way they are characterized. The girls would be mostly characterized mainly by their words and thoughts (while boys are characterized mainly by their actions and reactions of others). This would change how the characters are introduced. The second thing the author would have to change is the decisions made throughout the story. For example, Ralph and Jack explored the island for any human inhabitants and along their way attempted to kill a pig. If there were girls involved, the exploration of the island might have been limited to the beach’s surrounding area because of disagreements with their expedition. They even might not have been able to even get a chance to kill the pig with the females present. Another example would be when Jack abandons Ralph’s assembly to slowly create his own hunting tribe. The females would probably detest this kind of activity and stay with order and civility. Ralph’s group would now have enough human power to convince the other “littluns” and “biguns” to stay with his central idea of rescue thus making a new ending to the story.

The third decision that Golding would have to change is the dialogue between the characters. Except for Piggy and Ralph, the other kids speak with little logic, reason, and purpose. They have a sense of independence among them also (each trying to defend their own opinions). The females would changes the story by suggesting reasonable ideas for rescue (matching Piggy’s thoughtfulness and logic). Their logical suggestions (and amount of females as opposed to Piggy and Ralph only) could change the decisions on survival and rescue on the island. Another decision that could be changed was how the children interacted with each other. With females as characters in the story the boy’s angers, fears, and confusion would be suppressed because naturally the boy’s try to imitate or exceed the female’s maturity with control and order. The females though would also create difficulties in the story when it comes to feelings and emotions expressed. This would create a “slowing down” of the rescue efforts because of all the explaining that would be done between both genders about the new and different possibilities that will occur.

Lastly, the theme would have major changes to it because of the possibility of differing outcomes of the story (based on female decision). The general theme might change from “human civility lessening without the influence of society” to “the likeliness for the good and orderly in humans to prevail in any situation”. With the addition of females the theme could vary based on the outcome of their relations with the males.