Two JaCKS. One Enduring Question.
Do our circumstances or our choices determine who we become?
At the center of each novel is a character named Jack—but Jack Merridew and Jack Shaw inhabit dramatically different worlds.
Golding places Jack Merridew on an island where the structures of civilization begin to disappear. Murlin places Jack Shaw in the familiar but often isolating world of high school, where friendships, family pressures, belonging, fear, and uncertainty begin to reshape his understanding of himself and the world around him. One novel explores what happens when civilization falls away; the other explores what happens when certainty does.
The High School as a Modern Island
At first glance, the settings of Lord of the Flies and Valedictorian: An Origin Story seem worlds apart. Yet both settings create a similar isolation. Golding’s island strips away the structures of civilization, while high school becomes its own world of social hierarchies, expectations, first love, and the pressure to belong. Physical isolation in Lord of the Flies becomes emotional isolation in Valedictorian.
In both novels, setting reflects the characters’ inner turmoil. As fears and conflicts intensify, their surroundings become increasingly uncertain and threatening.
Setting becomes a pressure cooker, forcing characters to confront who they are, what they fear, and the choices they are willing to make.
From the Island to the Hallways
