As GT has completed 10 chapters of the novel, we examined the broader themes and workings of the allegory.I first noted how "Lord of the Flies" is a reverse mirror of the 1837 novel"Coral Island" and Golding's attempt was to reveal how man's violent nature would in fact devour any efforts to maintain civilization - even in the short run -in the absence of authority figures. I noted that in the romanticized "Coral Island" the boys all achieve harmony with each other and even convert the natives on the island to Christianity. . We then discussed certain political implications of the allegory noting how Jack is reminiscent of Nazis while Ralph represents the order of the British civilized society. We then reviewed the symbolic significance of the title and how the lord of the flies appears in the novel as a decapitated pig, but actually represents evil or the devil. GT did a good job recognizing that beyond the political implications of the novel, the thematic heart of the novel lies in the realization of the character ,Simon, that the "beast ' all the boys fear is not an external force but an internal intrinsic character flaw of mankind. I pointed out how in the novel Simon serves as the mystic seer who is the only one who can see this truth, thus causing his inevitable murder by a society that refuses to hear the truth. We last looked at how Ralph and Piggy rationalize the death/murder of Simon analogizing their excuse as being mere bystanders to the populations in Germany and Poland during the Holocaust. For homework, GT is starting to read Chapter 11.