Lord of the Flies Survival Challenge

Right now, my students are in the middle of reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The novel, if you are unfamiliar with it, takes place during World War II and is about a group of British boys who survive a plane crash, landing on an uninhabited island. There are no adults that survive the crash, and the boys that do survive range in age from about 6 to about 12. Initially, the boys elect a chief and formulate a plan for surviving and eventually getting off the island, but things quickly deteriorate, and nothing really goes as originally planned. I won’t get into more detail as I don’t want to spoil the book for those who haven’t read it, but suffice it to say, things get beyond desperate at the end.

When I teach the novel, part of my goal is to get my students to see the realistic side of the story, because some of them begin the novel thinking it’s going to be a fun adventure for the characters. Many protest loudly when problems first arise, and think that if they were to suddenly be placed in a similar situation, it would end much like most Disney movies.

To help them consider the realism of the novel, before we begin, I present them with what I call a Survival Challenge. In groups of three to six, depending on class size, I give them a scenario where their group has landed on an uninhabited island. I’ve done it different ways over the years, but this year, I made up cards with two types of islands. One choice was a mountainous island off the coast of Alaska, and the other was an island near and very similar to Aruba. The island near Alaska brings with it natural resources like evergreens, a waterfall, blueberries, raspberries, salmon, and various wildlife. It also brings challenges, including the winter temperatures and the aforementioned wildlife. The island near Aruba brings with it natural resources like palm trees, cacti, coconut palms, a desert interior, and various fish like snapper, mackerel, and grouper. It also brings challenges, like less-friendly wildlife and the aforementioned dessert.

Then, each group member chooses one random resource from a grab bag. This resource is the only thing they have brought with them on the island. They are not meant to be realistic in any way, but are more meant to get the students thinking and to elicit certain responses from them as they consider the Survival Challenge and then discuss it later with the class.

Personal resources include potentially practical items, like a fishing net, a crab trap, a pocket knife, a tent, 20 yards of wool, a one-person blow-up raft, a compass, 50 yards of rope, a hatchet, a hammer, a solar-powered flashlight, a fishing pole, seeds, a tiller, and (their favorite) a solar-powered chainsaw. They also include items meant to solicit frustration and/or laughter, like a really cute pair of shoes, a basketball, and (this was my older son’s suggestion this year) an ordinary guy named Bob with no skills whatsoever.

During class, I pass out an assignment sheet that looks like this:

 

The Survival Challenge: Are You Up For It?

You have landed, mysteriously and inexplicably, on one of two uninhabited islands. You will be given a card with one resource. That resource is the one resource you are guaranteed to have with you on the island. To increase your odds of survival, you must form alliances with other people in the class, who have also found themselves in the same predicament. However, alliances may not consist of more than four people.

Step 1: Form your groups. Choose group members wisely.

Step 2: Get your location card. This tells where you and your group have landed as well as what natural resources you will have.

Step 3: Get your resource card. Evaluate the resources you brought with you in light of your new location.

Step 4: If desired, you may trade one of your resource cards for a resource card belonging to another group if the other group also agrees to the trade. Remember, each group may trade only once, so trade carefully.

Step 5: If you wish, you may trade one resource card for an unknown resource from my grab bag. Once you make the trade, however, you must stick with whatever you get from the grab bag.

Step 6: Now, form a survival plan that includes the following components:

1. You must choose a designated leader for your group. You must all agree to abide by the decisions of your leader.
2. Your leader, without input from the group, must come up with a list of the five most important rules for your island. Your leader must be willing to enforce these rules, regardless of whether your group likes the rules or not.
3. Your group must come up with a prioritized list of goals for the group while your leader is creating the rules. Your goals should include your plans for surviving on the island as well as your plans for getting off the island. Once you have made your goals, the leader should review the goals, check to see that they will work with the rules, and make any necessary amendments. The leader has the right to veto any goals and to create new ones. You must have at least five goals on your final list.
4. You must decide how you will best utilize each of the resources you have.
5. You must identify what your biggest weakness as a group will be. Once you have identified it, determine how you will handle it as a group.
6. Before you leave, you must submit a written plan that includes the name of your leader, the five rules chosen by the leader, the prioritized list of group goals as approved by your leader, an explanation of how you will use your resources, and a description of your weakness as well as how you will overcome it.

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I read through the assignment with them and discuss it, and then they choose their groups. Then, a member from each group picks a card from a bag that tells them where they’ve landed. Next, each group member picks their personal resource from a bag, and groups discuss how to use resources. At this point, they may orchestrate the two trades allowed in the assignment if they wish. Finally, they elect a leader and begin planning their goals and rules as well as identifying their weaknesses.

I usually give them a class period to work on this, and then each group presents their plan the following day. When they present, I try to point out potential weaknesses in their plans in an effort to get them to see that the Survival Challenge in real life might be harder than they think. For instance, some will come up with ideas of simply tying a few logs together and sailing 100+ miles to the nearest mainland. Or a leader will suggest that he or she will just “make everyone obey me,” so I’ll ask how, realistically, he or she plans to make that happen.

I’ve already referred back to this exercise in our class discussions, and plan to revisit it once we conclude the novel. It usually sparks some great discussions. For instance, right now, many of my students are really irritated with the character of Jack, tired of his aggressive and sometimes violent nature. Yet, some of these same students talked about things like working the random Bob guy like a mule or worse as a means of getting what they wanted from their island, so I relish bringing that and some of my other observations to their attention as we finish.

Feel free to use this assignment however you wish. I’ve only used this assignment in my classroom, but if you homeschool, I think the Survival Challenge could still be facilitated by either incorporating siblings or by having your child choose a few friends as imaginary group members. Basically, if your child can be honest and realistic about assessing the personality traits and abilities of his or her friends, I think the exercise will still generate the thinking and the discussions you may want to have before starting the novel.

By the way, if you haven’t read Lord of the Flies, I highly recommend it. And holler if you have any questions about the novel or the Survival Challenge, or if you’ve tried something similar with your students. I’d love to hear from you!