Survival Encounter: Lord of the Flies

My tutor student came to the library the other day and said, "Whoah, that Captains Courageous is a bunch of craziness!  They don't even speak English"  I glanced at the first page with him standing next to me and said, "OMG, you are so right!"  (We had to pick a book for his summer reading assignment...)

So we found a new book.  Lord of the Flies.  He was lucky; he's not read it before (just moved here).  

I was assigned Lord of the Flies my sophomore year of high school and I'm guessing if you ask any of my classmates today, they will remember this book rather fondly.  The class was called Workshop of Life, and it was a mix of social studies and real-life activities.  When we read the novel, we learned how to stay alive when stranded ("When wet and cold, fire is first priority) and had a Survival Encounter where the school bus dropped our class off in the woods, and we had to "fend for ourselves" over the course of 1 or 2 nights.  We weren't allowed tents or other cool camping gear.  We were graded on our shelter and how we "survived."  We bartered for food, made fires, laughed a lot.  

Our encounter was a lot like the kids' situation in Lord of the Flies.  They have to survive and find their way in the wilderness.  I'm eager to reread this book again with new eyes, at a different stage in my life.  I know what will happen to Piggy, but I bet I still cry again.  I bet I'll remember some of the cool assignments and class activities my teacher created for us.  I guess I learned a couple of things in the woods and maybe the boys in Lord of the Flies learned the same things:  we rocks explode and don't drink directly from the stream.   

We all have to survive and find our way...isn't that just a way of life for everyone?  The book has a universal theme...one of survival, of growing up, of getting along.  

It's all a Workshop of Life.