Lord of the Flies

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1. 
   robertwilliam

   The choir are just the boys who arrive with Jack. It's common in English private schools for there to be an all-male choir, and clearly Jack was the leader or the head boy (he wears a golden badge). Choirboys are traditionally a symbol of goodness, religious purity and innocence - and do note that, when they arrive, Jack's choir all wear their uniforms:

   each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge in it. Their bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks which bore a long silver cross on the left breast.

   Also - rather brilliantly, I think - it means that the descent into devilish savagery for Jack and his gang starts from the highest possible point: a group of innocent, angelic, beautiful-sounding choirboys become a savage, animalistic-sounding group of murderers.

   Peter Brook makes a lot of the image of choirboys in his film of the novel (made in the 1960s).

   Sources:

   http://www.enotes.com/flies/themes

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   Posted by robertwilliam on Sunday November 2, 2008 at 10:30 AM
   
   

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