The Choice is Yours..
December 2, 2009This blog compares the ending of Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.
The ending of Lord of the Flies to me was a partial surprise. I’m sure many of us wanted Ralph to get beat up a little after all the build up. It seemed like one of those movie endings where break into sweat when the main character is about to die, but secretly you know he can’t die. If he died, the movie would die. You try to put that fact in the back of your head and go on watching, waiting for that ‘BAM!’ moment, so you can proudly say, “I saw that coming”. After it’s over you realize he couldn’t have died being the protagonist even if you wanted him to. Ralph was certainly beat up quite a bit, but the savage attitude the story brings among us influences us to become part of the story as well. Are you as the reader, going to be a good guy or a bad guy? The choice is yours.
Your choice in Alice: A believer or a non-believer?
If you are the believer, you may enjoy this story. You may like the power to create your own Wonderland, to make the character how you want them. It may make you feel childish again, unlimited thoughts; dreams come to life. Or you may be the believer that doesn’t want to believe, the creepy idea of an alternate universe where animals are in authority over humans, well thats how it seems.
If you’re a non-believer, its simple; “I told you so”. Yes, thats what you get to say when you finish reading the book or watching the movie. It was all a dream, but even deep down a non-believer could yearn for that wink. That wink at the end of a movie when you know it was all fiction, but then you see something from the ‘dream’ in the reality. Like in The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy reminisces back to who was all there in her ‘dream’.
Whether you are a believer or a non-believer there is one common belief: You should enjoy it while your there.
Christian Long
Katherine H.
Melissa H
Rivu D.
Alex E.
Sylvia A.
I am thrilled to hear that you both enjoyed reading my post. Ryan, I’m glad you can relate to the definition of ‘believer’. It really would be awesome if Wonderland existed, wouldn’t it? But, it doesn’t have to cease existing after you read the book, theres always our own imaginations and dreams. I’m actually laughing at myself right now, I don’t mean to sound like an inspirational billboard on the highway, but I think Alice’s advetures is truly inspirtational to children and adults.
I am perhaps with out a doubt a believer. I believe that Alice and her adventures were as real as you or I (I mean that metaphorically to convey my point that just because it was a book doesn’t mean Alice’s actions can’t touch us emotionally. No I don’t actually believe Wonderland exists… although it would be awesome if it did). Everything you used to describe a believer fits me. The one thing that caught my eye about this though was the terms “believer” and “nonbeliever” these simple terms caught me and held me like no others could. These simple terms imply so much more than there literal meaning. And while I could go on for about four pages on the subject of belief I’ll just say this. Everything used to describe believer, your definition, even the real definition of the word, all describe me as a believer.
I love your point on “believer or nonbeliever”. In fact everything in wonderland seems to be based on belief. It was up to Alice whether or not she wanted to go along with the bizarre occurances she knew would never happen rationally. She could have turned back sooner and said I don’t believe this, and maybe even wake up from her dream earlier. The ablilty to believe almost defines reality for us. To a child what they imagine is real, what they believe is real. In this way I believe the magic of wonderland eventually faded when Alice thought “You’re just a pack of cards.” causing her to return back to the normality of our everyday lives. The power of a dream can be quite real.