Lord of the Flies

English IOP

I, Shanay Patel, of B.D Somani International School, Mumbai, am doing my Individual Oral Presentation on the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I have decided to look into the thoughts of the naval officer for my Individual Oral Presentation.

Rationale:-

The reason I have chosen this topic is because the naval officer caught my attention the moment he was introduced into the novel by William Golding. I find it strange how suddenly, just at a time of need the officer arrives there, as though God has sent him down. I want to look into the topic further to see the consequences of him being there. Had he not come, the island could have been a totally different place. This is also one of the main parts of the novel, a time when savagery is almost taking over. The naval officer is also a very important symbol in the book and provides us with the first real adult intervention in this child-filled novel. He is a very commanding figure, and the author purposely introduces someone as commanding and high ranking as a naval officer, as there has been a total absence of adults in the novel. He being the first real adult to feature in this child-filled novel pushed me even more to explore as to why he was introduced and to go into his mind and listen to his thoughts.

“Aye Captain I think it’s time for us to do our daily round of the sea. Important to keep patrolling during wartime eh?” “Aye aye officer, let’s head out to the open ocean.” the Captain of HMS Spurs replied. “The daily reports suggested there would not be any sort of bombings today, but we still got to do our duty, ‘aven’t we?” I have some kind of gut feeling something is wrong, even though there isn’t any attack or air bombardment scheduled for today. Gut feelings never lie. I am hoping we find nothing bad and come back without anything. Today is one of the few days of rest I have got, well not totally rest as my country is in a middle of a war, but nothing on the agenda as yet. I could...