This is the last chapter in the book (You have been reading along haven’t you?) I have to say that it really didn’t end the way that I expected but I will talk about that in a minute. There are two more weeks of this, today and my wrap-up next week.

So, what to say… Ralph confronts Jack to learn that he is overmatched. As a result, Ralph flees but is chased by fire. As an ultimate irony, the fire that they were endlessly trying to keep going ends up signaling the Royal Navy who comes to investigate and finds all of the kids.

I have to say that I wasn’t expecting a rescue. My thoughts on the whole thing was that it was a convenient ending to a hopeless situation. Once found, it seemed like the boys took the whole thin in a mattter of course, not the savages that they became.

It was probably a mistake, but I read the afterward in my book. The whole thing was an interesting and unexpected take. The author said that she felt compassion or identity with Ralph. She felt sorrow for Piggy and Simon and disdain for Jack. But, over the years and that all waned to which she only felt anger for the man in the clean uniform and the shiny brass (the rescuer). More on that next week.

What do you say about all that transpired in the book. Again, most pundits would say that this is a commentary on society. I find it more interesting on the analysis of the afterword. But, if we stay on the surface, then it is constraints hold people in check. The hunters were all ready to kill Ralph until intervening with a higher authority.

Even the account of what and how it happened was downplayed or even ignored by the boys. I guess I say that doesn’t happen unless they knew what they were doing was wrong. People that are ignorant of what they are doing are not ashamed of the results. Sometimes, they are even proud of it especially when it is normalized.

I hate to go here but I will. This to me is very evident in the normalization of gender confusion. I talk to my kids to find out that some people identify as X or Z or non-binary or whatever. I hope that you know me well enough to know that I don’t care how adults want to associate, but I see in their body language that they see no shame in one of their peers wanting to use a litter box instead of a toilet. That is innocence that is truly genuine.

On the other hand, stories about peers drug use get a much more obtuse and subdued description. The school teaches whatever gender identification is perfectly acceptable, but drug use is not. Those stories’ significance and approach change in their telling depending on the social acceptance. This is another reason why I have a hard time buying the analysis of Lord of the Flies. It just isn’t believable.

So spoiler, the boys get rescued. All is good, what happened is a happy accident. All we need is authority to keep us in line.

End Your Programming Routine: We will get into the reasons why next week, but I have to believe that most analysis of the book is about what the critics want the book to say, not what it is really saying. If I am perfectly honest, then I dont believe that most literary types are conservative leaning. Not that conservatives are bastions of freedom, but they tend to not side with the jack booted authoritarians. In my belief system, conservatives are more likely to let people live (within their set of beliefs) and less likely to tell people what to do. And with that, they are significantly less likely to invent analysis that doesn’t exist.