Hi everyone, this is Mr. Chandrapala and I'm really looking forward to working with you today.

We're be talking about structure, allegory, and genre in "Lord of the Flies." I always think that structure and genre are two of the best things we can be talking about in essays because if we're talking about structure, we're talking about that order things are happening in and that really affects the way that we actually read the text and the way that we interact with it.

We're talking about genre, we're thinking about the other ideas that the author is trying to sort of propel in us by thinking about actually what type of story they're trying to tell, which I always think is a really fascinating area to explore.

So our outcome for today's lesson is that we can explain how Golding structures the text and subverts the traditional adventure novel genre.

Our key words include the word tyranny, which is an extremely brutal and cruel style of leadership.

We'll be considering the idea of allegory, which is a story, poem or image that has a hidden message, typically a moral or political one.

We're gonna be considering foreshadowing, which is an advanced warning of what has come in the future of a text.

We're gonna be considering the verb to subvert, which means to undermine or go against the expected norm and also the adjective inevitable, which means something that is certain to happen, something that is unavoidable.

So we're gonna start off today by tracking death across the novel.

First, we're gonna ask you though, to turn to the person next to you, one of the really key concepts for today's lesson and really in all of English literature, is what is structure.

So I want you to answer that question with the person next to you, or if you're working alone, just jotting down an idea for yourself and when you're ready, hit play.

So when we're thinking about structure.

Structure is how the tax is being put together, what comes where and why.

We're gonna be thinking about that as we discuss Golding's use of structure by tracking death throughout the novel, we're gonna be tracking death because obviously death is one of the key plot points within the novel, but also it's a really good way of measuring time and the order of those events within the text.

Arguably the deaths drive the plot forward.

So tracking the deaths can be a useful way of discussing Golding's use of structure.

So again, I'm just gonna ask you to pause the video.

Can you give any examples of deaths in "Lord of the Flies?" Pause the video now.

Have that conversation with the person next to you.

And when you're ready, hit play.

Really good work there everyone, some really thoughtful approaches to that.

Well, I was so pleased with the fact that so many of you were trying to name them in order.

Some of you were going by also how significant you thought the deaths were or just the ones that first came to your mind.

That's absolutely fine.

We're gonna start off by putting them into chronological order.

When we say chronological, we're talking about the order, the deaths happening within the text.

So we've got the fact that we learned a little with the mulberry mark has died in the fire in chapter two.

Then in chapter three, we know that Jack attempts to kill two pigs, but that both get away.

And then eventually in chapter four, Jack successfully kills a pig.

In chapter nine, we have the death of Simon, followed by the death of Piggy in chapter 11.

And things reach their head, the climactic point in chapter 12 when we have the intended death of Ralph.

But I'm gonna ask you to go back to that very verse, death and the novel, the death of the littlun and with the mulberry mark, what's so significant about that? Pause that.

Pause the video and have the discussion with the person next to you or jot down some ideas.

What's so significant about the death of the littlun in chapter two? Once you've had that discussion, hit play.

Some really thoughtful ideas there.

Let's take some of that feedback.

So the first death in the novel, the death of the littlun is entirely accidental.

There's no intention behind the death.

It's just a careless accident caused by the boy's negligence.

But what do we notice about how the deaths escalate? Are there any patterns in the deaths? Pause the video again.

Have that discussion and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting approaches that I was so pleased with the fact that some of us were thinking about actually standing relationship with the death of the pigs and the death of the humans.

So Aisha argued, well, "As the deaths progress, they get more intentional.

The first death of the littlun with the birthmark was a tragic accident, but the killing of the pig son and piggy were truly intentional.

Or do we agree with the killing of that?" The killing assignment was intentional or not? I want you to argue why or why not be able to explain why and when you've had that discussion.

Hit play.

A really interesting range of ideas there everyone.

So let's explore on the subject of death.

Andeep had this to say, "I find each new death harder to digest and process on the last one.

'Cause the more the deaths occur, the more preventable they become.

The boys had an opportunity to prevent any further deaths after the death of the littlun and they failed." But whose death do you find the most shocking of a novel? Which one do you find most concerning and why? Do you think there was any point at which the boys could have turned back and prevented any further deaths? Pause the video, have that discussion and when you're ready, hit play.

So really interesting arguments there.

I really like the way that we've been able to get into the particular choices behind those deaths.

Andeep said, "Well, I think there was a real opportunity for the boys both after the littlun died and after they killed Simon to reflect on their actions and make changes to their behaviour tension or no further death occur.

Only Ralph seems to be reflective and brave enough to recognise how brutal Simon's death was and he even takes responsibility for it." This is really interesting argument because it's questionable whether any of the other boys really take responsibility, whether they're so swept up in that moment of savagery and barbarism that they failed to question things as they happen.

Let's just track the deaths in order again.

We have the littlun in chapter two by accident who dies in fire.

We have Jack who attempts to kill two pigs that both get away in chapter three, then his successful killing of Pig in chapter four, the death of Simon in chapter nine, followed by the death of Piggy in chapter 11 and finally the intended death of Ralph in chapter 12.

Why do we think Golding orders the deaths in this particular way? Whose death do you think Golding was leading up to? Consider the fact that there are three chapters towards the end, nine, 11, and 12 that all involve the attempted murder or the successful murder of a human.

Why is that so significant? Pause the video, have that discussion.

When you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there from everyone again, I think I really like the way that some of you were thinking about the fact that actually the murder of the pigs becomes less prevalent towards the end of the play.

It becomes something that may even just happen in the background.

But what really seems to drive the novel forward is the fact that actually it's the humans that seem to be attacked again and again and again.

We have some of our Oak students who provided these ideas.

Aisha said, "Well, all the death me seems to face significant.

I think Golding wanted to end the novel on the intended death of Ralph because Ralph represents democracy and civilization.

So in seeking to kill Ralph, Golding illustrates how the boys are no longer simply ignoring their civility, but they're now seeking to actively destroy it." Andeep argued, "Well also, all the deaths of people except Ralph's intended death have been committed in the heat of the moment.

They've been spontaneous moments where the boy's self-control has failed.

Ralph's death has been plotted meticulously, which makes it spine-chilling." Let's just go back to Aisha's idea here.

I knew that Jack would try to kill both Piggy and Ralph before it happened.

How do you think Aisha knows this? At what point in the novel do we realise that both Piggy and Ralph may die? Have the discussion, pause the video and once you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there from everyone.

One of the arguments that we could use is the fact that Golding foreshadows the death of Piggy throughout the novel.

Through that escalating violence displayed towards the pigs during the boys hunting efforts, Piggy's name links him to the pigs, the alarming escalation in Jack's violence towards the pigs.

But that ultimately, it's highly likely that he or one of his hunters would direct their brutality towards the next living creature, Piggy.

We know how Piggy is dehumanised over the text.

He's made to seem less than because of his physicality, because of the fact that he's of lower class, because of the fact that he allies himself a democracy.

And so it's worth saying that actually him being made to seem other is an example of that escalating violence.

He's treated like an animal even in death.

Let's just quickly take a check for understanding here.

What do we think foreshadowing means? We went through it in our keyword slide.

So is it either a music and character or object to represent a specific idea in a text? B, an advanced warning of what is to come in the future of a text or C, repeating images across the text? Pause the video, select A, B, and C.

And when you're ready, hit play.

Well done everyone, we can clearly see that the answer is B.

Foreshadowing is the advanced warning of what is to come in the future of attacks.

So if you don't have that, if you didn't get that right, I would suggest getting that down because it's a word that we really need to know, not only for "Lord of the Flies," but well into the rest of our studies of English literature.

So make sure you've got that note and when you're ready, hit play.

So what I'd like you to do now is I'd like you either as a class or in your pairs, or if you're doing this alone, you may just wanna take notes, but to discuss the following questions, what do we think would've happened if the boys had not been rescued and Ralph had been killed? Where might the violence have been directed to next? And where do you think the group of boys would've like after a few more months on the island? Do you think that they would have stayed at the same number or do you think they would've just whittled down more and more? Pause the video, have that discussion.

You may want to take it one question at a time, or you may want to just jump organically between the three, but have that discussion and when you're ready, hit play.

A really interesting range of ideas there.

I was so pleased with the fact that so many of you were jumping on the rest of your colleagues' ideas, the rest of your peers, and actually just thinking about actually how you could expand those ideas further.

It's really impressive and chose really good listening skills.

Well done.

Aisha was thinking about this and said, "Well, I think Roger and Jack would keep killing members of the group until only they remained.

I think Roger is ultimately the most ruthless character, so he may have been the only survivor." I want you to use the conversations you've had this lesson so far to discuss the following question with your peers.

So again, you may want to do this as a class or as a small group or in your pairs.

And I would suggest making bullet point notes of any interesting ideas that are raised during the discussion.

I want you to consider how does Golding structure the novel to make the death of Piggy and the intended death of Ralph seem inevitable? So unavoidable.

You may wish to discuss the missed opportunities for redemption and reflection, de escalating violence within the text, the deaths of the pigs out which alongside the deaths of the humans.

And finally, Golding's use of foreshadowing have that discussion and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there everyone.

Let's take some feedback.

If you haven't gotten the notes that are about to come up now, you may want to add them to your own notes in a different colour pen just so that you can make future reference to them across the rest of the lesson.

And throwout the time study in order the floods.

So did you refer to these parts of the text, including the fact that at the end of chapter two when the boys refused to verbalise the fact that the mulberry-birthmark littlun, had died in the fire, that could have been seen as a redemptive moment or when Ralph was the only character to acknowledge that Simon's death was murder and not an accident in chapter 10, or when Roger and Jack brutalise and torture the sow in chapter eight.

If you haven't consider how you might use these sections of the text to strengthen your discussion about structure and Golding's use of foreshadowing.

How could we use those to develop that idea that actually we're building that to this idea that actually Piggy's death isn't as or is as inevitable as it seems maybe changes the way that we view it.

Pause the video, add those notes, maybe change our final decisions.

And when you're ready, hit play.

So we're now gonna move on to looking at allegory and genre within the text.

So the "Lord of The Flies" is an allegory.

This means that Golding is using the novel to convey a political or moral message.

Golding employs his characters and plot to represent more abstract ideas that are more moral or philosophical.

But which historical events does this novel allude to? Pause the video, speak about the context of Golding's own life and some of the work that he produces.

What do you think are the historical events the novel is trying to allude to? Once you've had that discussion, hit play.

Fantastic, there everyone.

So we may want to think here about the fact that Golding didn't just write a historical account about World War II or a formal essay about the dangers of controlling dictatorial leadership.

We know, and I tried to point that out to you in that last question, the wording around it.

We know that he was really heavily influenced by World War II and his own experiences, but ultimately he chose not to write just a memoir or a particularly fictionalised account of World War II, he chose to write something a little bit different.

Why do you think that was? Pause the video, have that discussion and when you're ready, we'll take some feedback.

Some really interesting ideas and people are thinking about actually why it would be more effective to rather have a story involving children to express these ideas.

Or actually the fact that we're putting it in a totally different space.

So actually we are maybe broadening it to a wider audience rather than just people who would necessarily recognise the context of World War ii.

We could start off by thinking about, well, it's a children's book and therefore perhaps it's a little bit more accessible.

Or the fact that the novel humanises the message.

We see the impact of tyranny upon the characters.

Sometimes it's quite difficult to imagine the impact of tyranny.

We can talk about statistics, and figures behind World War II and the numbers of deaths, but sometimes it's really difficult to convey that whilst actually if we have characters, individuals that we can really imagine and empathise with, it becomes all the more powerful and evocative to us.

We also would probably say that an essay could feel like we're being lectured and people may be put off by that.

Whilst naturally people are going to be far more confident coming to their own conclusions, quite directed ones maybe from Golding, but still their own conclusions by the fact that he's written this adventure novel.

But do you think that "Lord of the Flies" is a children's book? Can you explain why? Pause the video, have that discussion.

When you're ready, hit play.

Well done everyone.

I think it's a really interesting idea, isn't it? Because it is an invention novel, but the fact that are we right to think of it as a children's book when it's dealing with such weighty topics? I've definitely heard of views expressed either way, and it definitely has aspects of a children's book, even one of them being the fact that it involves young children.

But some people say that the ideas are too mature for children to really grapple with.

I want you now to pause the video and have the discussion about an allegorical text being something that we're meant to learn from.

What do you think we're meant to learn from "Lord of the Flies?" Pause the video, try and identify that if you're working alone, maybe just try and work it down.

Write it down for yourself.

So Golding is teaching his audience that.

And then when you're ready, hit play.

A really interesting range of ideas.

So arguably, he is teaching us about the importance of rules and laws within the text or through the text or the dangers of tyranny and dictatorial leadership, or the fact that human beings capacity for evil and wickedness is clearly that.

Now let's look at how Golding delivers these allegorical messages because all of these exist within the text through his use of genre.

In chapter one, when the boys learned that there are no adults on the island, they excitedly remarked that they, that being on the island will be like being part of a book.

They reference "Treasure Island," "Swallows in Amazons" and Coral Island.

But what do you know about these books? These are texts which actually would've been really common for people to have read in a period where Golding was writing.

If you don't know anything about them, you may not feel really confident about answering this question.

But judging from their titles, what do you think they could be about from what they've just, what they sound like.

Once you've had that discussion, hit play.

Some really interesting ideas there, everyone.

So these books are all adventure novels about children who have great and epic adventures without adults around that's either by choice or by circumstance.

So for by due to shipwreck or adventure.

But why this reference be ironic.

Why would Golding include these references to novels with adventure at their heart when there is no adult around, when actually the boys are in this situation for themselves? Pause the video, have that discussion and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really thoughtful ideas there.

And I was really pleased with the fact that so many of you were thinking really carefully about why Golding would choose to do that.

Well the reference is ironic because instead of having an adventure full of fun and discovery, the boys' time on the island ultimately turns into a living nightmare.

And that's not because of anything on the island.

Well it is because of things on the island.

It's because of the fact that they're on the island with each other.

They are the thing that turns it into a nightmare.

So let's look at the illusions Golding makes to "Coral Island" in a little bit more detail.

"Coral Island" was written in 1857 and it's about three boys, Ralph, Jack and Peterkin who was stranded on in a desert island.

Ralph initially declares that he should be the leader, but Jack soon insists that he would like to lead and this is agreed.

Throughout the course of the novel, the boys are threatened by savage tribes that inhabit their surrounding islands.

At one point, Ralph is kidnapped by members of a tribe, but is ultimately returned unharmed.

What similarities and differences can you immediately notice between Ballantyne, the author of "Coral Island" and Golding's "Lord of The Flies?" Once you've had that discussion, hit play.

Some really interesting choices and I'm glad so many of you are picking up on the fact that Golding was clearly influenced to use the names Ralph and Jack because of their appearance in "Coral Island." Golding remarked that in writing the "Lord of the Flies," he wants to explore what actually happen in the group of boys was stranded on a desert island.

He wants to show how he believed they would actually behave.

But whose portrayal of a group of boys Ballantyne in "Coral Island" or Golding in "Lord of the Flies" being stranded on a desert island, do you think is most realistic and likely? Can you explain your choice? Pause the video, have that discussion, and when you're ready, hit play.

Some really interesting discussions, again there everyone.

I personally think that one of the biggest things is that in Ballantyne's work, Jack and Ralph simply have that discussion about the leadership and Ralph seeds control, he gives it over to Jack.

I don't think that's how my experience of leadership groups amongst young boys works.

It's often a real power struggle and I think Golding's is much more representative and therefore it becomes that much more gruesome.

I can imagine it just that little bit easier.

But why do we think Golding uses those same character names as Ballantyne? Why does he make the illusion so obvious? Pause the video, have that discussion and when ready.

Hit play.

Yeah, so I think that this is clearly to do with the fact that he's trying to show that actually he things shouldn't be as idealised, but long time suggests there's not going to be the same peaceful passover of power.

And it's almost a rewrite, a challenge to Ballantyne's ideas around that.

Perhaps Golding is trying to show that while some people such as Ballantyne previously had belief in the integrity of mankind, the War World War II had shown Golding that humankind are the true savages or monsters, he's not surprised anymore by the nature of their behaviour.

So which of the following statements are true in this check for understanding? Is it that A, "Coral Island" was inspired by "Lord of The Flies?" B, the outcomes of both novels are the same.

C, Golding uses the same character names as Ballantyne or D, Golding disagreed with Valentine's portrayal of unsupervised boys' behaviour.

Pause the video.

I'd suggest selecting two statements and then when you're ready, hit play.

Well done there everyone.

I could see a lot of really careful thinking.

I could see several people checking back through their notes.

And we know that C and D are correct.

"Coral Island" inspires "Lord of the Flies." "Coral Island" was written close to a 100 years before "Lord of the Flies." And the outcomes of both novels are not the same.

We cannot say that the boys return unharmed and we cannot say that there is a lack of danger in "Lord of The Flies." So we're gonna practise putting all of our understanding of allegory and genre together now, and I'd like you to discuss with the people next to you or in your class, why do you think Golding subverts the traditional children's adventure novel genre to create something utterly horrifying? What allegorical message is he trying to convey in doing this? So think about everything that we've discussed so far.

Think about the wider message he's trying to convey.

And when you've had that discussion, hit play some really thoughtful ideas there, everyone.

And I was so pleased with the fact that so many of you were starting to discuss the fact, discuss those ideas that we were getting into over the course of today's lesson.

Let's take some feedback too that we can expand those ideas even further.

So you might have discussed the following ideas.

The fact that Golding arguably subverted the traditional children's adventure novel, perhaps to emphasise the idea that after the war innocence has been lost and these children's adventure books are no longer representative of the experiences of children in the post-war era, or the fact that children are frightened of so many fictional monsters and imagined threats growing up.

So Golding creates a horrifying moment of realisation that human beings are actually the greatest threat to humanity.

Or even the fact that Golding returned to teaching after the war.

Perhaps he recognised tyrannical or dictatorial traits in some of his students and it led them to question how children might behave without the influence of adults or rules.

Pause the video now.

Take any notes that you need from this slide in a different colour pen.

When you're ready, hit play.

Really good work there everyone.

So we've come to the end of our lesson on structure, allegory and genre in laws of life.

So we'll just have a quick recap and summary of the lesson.

We know the deaths in the novel drive the plot and they escalate in brutality and intention as the novel progresses.

We know that Golding foreshadows the Death of Piggy and the attempted murder of wrath from the beginning of the novel.

And then Golding's novel is an allegory about the importance of rules and the innate evil of mankind.

Golding alludes to Ballantyne's "Coral Island" throughout the novel, arguably to offer a different perspective of the same situation.

And he subverts the children's adventure novel genre to create a horrifying allegory about the true nature of evil.

You've been absolutely fantastic this lesson, and I've really appreciated all your efforts.

Allegory, genre and structure are such difficult things to understand, but if we can master them now and use them in our essays, we'll be in a really good position.

They should really help to support the wider work you've done on individual characters and particular extracts.

I really appreciate the efforts that you've put in this lesson, and I hope to look forward to working.

I look forward to working with you again soon.

Bye for now, everyone.