Lord of the Flies
Time Required: 2-3 class periods
Suggested Grade Level: 10
Arkansas Standards of Learning – Social Studies
EF.2.E.1 – Analyze the 4 factors of production (natural, human, capital, entrepreneurship).
EF.2.E.2 – Examine the three basic economic questions that must be answered by every
economic system.
EF.3.E.1 – Explain the role of specialization and voluntary exchange in the marketplace (e.g.
absolute advantage, comparative advantage)
Common Core State Standards – Reading, Literature and Writing
CCSS.ELA – Literacy.RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis
of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn
from the text.
CCSS.ELA – Literacy.RL.9-10.3: Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple
or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text,
interact with other characters, and advance the plot or
develop the theme.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.7: Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two
different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or
absent in each treatment
CCSS.ELA – Literacy.W.9-10.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant
and sufficient evidence.
CCSS.ELA – Literacy.W.9-10.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey
complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and
accurately through the effective selection, organization, and
analysis of content.
Economic Concepts:
Capital resources – goods used to make other goods & services
Comparative Advantage – ability to produce an item at a lower opportunity cost
Entrepreneur – one who undertakes innovations and introduces new ideas/products
Human resources – knowledge and skills possessed by workers and used in production
Natural resources – resources that occur naturally in the environment
Opportunity cost – next best alternative foregone when a choice is made
Production possibilities curve – diagram showing production possibilities for an economy
Scarcity – result of an inability to satisfy all of everyone’s wants
Specialization – production of a limited variety of products by a person, firm or region
Tradeoff – a choice that involves giving up of one thing to have more of another
Voluntary Exchange – process of trading that occurs in markets
Activity 1: Most Important Things
Ralph and Jack emerge as the two leaders sparring for control of the other boys on the island.
Ralph and Jack have very different views regarding which activities should be prioritized among
the islanders. The four activities are: (1) maintaining the fire, (2) hunting for meat, (3) collecting
fresh water and (4) building shelters. Below you have a column for Ralph’s priorities and one
for Jack’s. Finally, a third column allows you to prioritize the activities according to your own
views.
Ralph
Jack
You
_________________
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_________________
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Part b. Write an essay explaining why you prioritized the activities in the order that you did.
Compare and contrast your list with those for Ralph and Jack.
Activity 2: Production PPC
Assume that initially, food production on the island could best be described as a free-for-all.
Some boys hunted meat while others gathered fruit without any order to the process. Each boy
spent roughly half of his time hunting and half of his time gathering fruit. The resulting food
production is shown below:
Meat
Fruit
Jack
4
1
Ralph
1
5
Opportunity Costs
1. Draw the Production Possibilities Curve for food production on the island given the
information shown above.
2. What is the opportunity cost of Jack hunting for 1 unit of meat? Ralph? _____________
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3. What is the opportunity cost of Jack gathering fruit? Ralph? ______________________
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4. Which boy has a comparative advantage in hunting meat? ________________________
5. Which boy has a comparative advantage in gathering fruit? _______________________
6. Now, the boy with the comparative advantage in hunting meat should specialize in this
activity and should spend his hours of labor hunting. Likewise, the boy with the
comparative advantage in gathering fruit should specialize in this activity and devote his
working hours to fruit only. The boys would then engage in voluntary exchange and
trade half of their output for half of the other’s output. Draw a new table, like the one
above, showing the new levels of production for Jack and Ralph.
Meat
Fruit
Jack
Ralph
7. Draw a new Production Possibilities Curve showing the benefits of specialization in
terms of increased productivity and economic growth. What is each boy’s gain from
trade?
***For additional practice with production possibility curves, see the Federal Reserve lesson at
www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/production-possibilities.
Activity 3: Basic Economic Questions
Suppose you are among a group of stranded people on an island. The island provides the same
set of resources as the one described in Lord of the Flies. You are chosen as leader of the group
thus it is your responsibility to ensure that people are provided for. How would you address the
following questions?
1. What goods and services are to be produced and in what quantities? ________________
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2. How will the goods and services be produced? _________________________________
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3. How will the goods be distributed? ___________________________________________
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Activity 4: Writing Assignment
Watch the film Lord of the Flies. Compare and contrast the scene when the boys ignite their first
fire on the island. How does the scene from the film compare to that in the book? What
differences and similarities can be pointed out? Please explain in your own words.