Literature studies

As we ease into summer mode, inshAllah, I thought the boys would enjoy a literature study. We've done these before and they usually find them interesting, maashAllah. This time I chose "Lord of the Flies"by William Golding and read it aloud to them, a chapter each morning. They were gripped by the story and were interested in the motivations and behaviours of the characters. The story is very violent too of course, and they were quite shocked by it. J couldn't wait for the last chapter, so he read it himself the afternoon before I read it aloud to them both.
Having finished the reading and all the discussion along the way I set aside time for them to do some essay writing . In this "end of term" mode I just cancelled a couple of other items of the shedule to give plenty of relaxed time for the writing.
I gave them the title of "Discuss the theme of authority in Lord of the Flies". In preparation I had made a series of sub-questions designed to be the content of paragraphs (eg, How is authority established on the island? How and why does authority breakdown and change? What are the symbols of authority? Discuss the differering natures of authority as shown here etc.)
We discussed the ideas for the paragraphs and then they got writing. It may seem like a lot, but because this is something they enjoy and find interesting the ideas flow, maashAllah. It is certainly a lot less stressful than a lesson on division of decimals!
I have a couple more topics up my sleeve for next week, inshAllah, "Discuss the many forms of the Beast" and "Playing with fire, fire as destruction and survival in Lord of the Flies". I think three topics altogether will be enough, although this book is so rich in themes and ideas that you could go on with it for weeks! Might take the edge off the enjoyment though! Again I've already sketched out an outline for these topics, which we will discuss and then they'll use to support their writing, inshAllah.
I asked R if he wanted to try rereading the book by himself, but he said he'd prefer to go back to it in a while, when the memory of it is not as fresh. I think if he does that then he will discover much more with a second reading.
Reading this novel as a Muslim it does strike me how the novel illustrates the need for divine authority, and how without that humans can so easily fall into oppression of each other. This is shown in both the island world and in the outer world, where a war is taking place. Critical analysis is often done through the lens of the critic's belief, be that Marxist, Feminist or whatever. This novel does lend itself to being looked at through a religious (or anti-religious)lens, but an Islamic lens in our case.