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Lord of the Flies

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"Lord of the Flies" is singularly the most important novel for required reading, whether assigned in school or self-imposed. It regularly appears as number one on my own list of best books.

Let's play "What if." What if a plane carrying a full load of school boys crashes on a deserted island with no adult survivors? What would happen to those boys? What would you expect to happen?

William Golding works with this premise: an idyllic setting, innocent schoolboys. One boy, an older boy just short of teenage years, a boy with fair hair, assumes leadership to stir the others into some semblance of organization and survival mode, much like adults would do if adults were present. He also saw a need to defuse the web of fear of the younger ones. Where are we? How long will we need to wait before someone comes for us? All questions with no answers at this time.

Ah, yes, Golding tells us, everything goes well for a while. But remember the "scar" made by the crashing plane? Something ugly is on this island (but it's not the scar). It's in the bushes, in the dark, in the depths, in the depths of hearts, and it grows like the malignancy it is.

A blatant revelation of what is about to come occurs when Roger silently and stealthily watches a young'un, unbeknownst to the little child. All the young'un is doing is running a stick through the sand, disturbing a crab in a tiny pool of water. Even he imposes control and fear on a helpless creature as Roger boldly picks up a couple of rocks and tosses them the youngster's way. He deliberately misses but comes closer with each throw. Next time he will probably hit the young boy, but not yet. This taboo--deliberately and unnecessarily causing pain to one smaller than you--has not been broken--yet.

Although the dance of the spears, the primeval chants, the attack and killing of the pig, then feasting on its flesh, their kill, are shocking acts of savagery, this event is foreshadowed by the seemingly innocent lob of the stones. From a casual incident, but one with eventual intentionality, the ritualistic slaughter is not so far-fetched or surprising. Golding prepares his readers. This is how the chaos of society starts. It begins with one simple disconnect from the rules. It begins in the minds and hearts. Will I do what society expects? Will I follow the rules to keep things running and working? Do I break a rule or two for my own enhancement. Will I feel a power surge if my rock hits that young `un?

Ralph would probably speak of the terror of knowing that rules WILL be broken. He would speak of the utter horror that any rule can be and will be broken and he won't live to tell about it. Just ask Piggy.

This novel is the only one I taught over and over during the twelve years I worked with high school seniors. My other choices I would switch around those years, drop some, add some. This one I kept. It is that important. I think of "Lord of the Flies" as a necessary manual for societal behavior and an effort to keep the chaos of evil at bay.

Is it even necessary to ask how many times that rock has been thrown since this novel was published in the 1950's? Or how much chaos has imploded so many lives?

Like the way of manuals, some remain in circulation and are deeply read; others fall by the wayside out of disinterest. Some are thrown in the trash. "Lord of the Flies"--what is its current status? And society--how is it doing? Reader, are you a little bit fearful?

William Golding wrote this book as a response to "Coral Island," in which a group of boys shipwrecked on an island make Christians out of cannibals, hunt pigs but do not spill blood, and are cheerfully rescued. Obviously, Lord of the Flies is much more than an adventure story about good little boys. It is an exploration into the darker side of man and the true source of the beast, or Devil.

Meet Ralph, who represents sanity, common sense, and the conscience of man; Jack, who loves nothing more than hunting, blood, and power, and who Freudians might say embodies the Id; Piggy, who personifies intelligence, logic, and reason; and Simon, who discovers the true nature of the beast and represents a ray of hope for mankind.

I love this book because contained in less than 200 pages is an insight into human nature and the failings of society. When you read this, be prepared not only to examine the book and all its symbolism but yourself and your civilization.

Just a note that this particular book is a work of background and criticism ABOUT "Lord of the Flies" and not the novel itself, which has over 1,200 amateur reviews on Amazon.

With this his first novel, author William Golding wrote a novel that he could never surpass in greatness. Lord of the Flies is a novel about our human nature. Too often I think, people jump to quick conclusions about the book and Golding's stand on human nature. "His stance is too pessimistic" or "That books really gross." What these people fail to realize is that Golding tried to paint a picture of human nature as he saw it. He wasn't making things up, I don't think he was particularly angry, he wrote Lord of the Flies to expose people to the atrocities that he witnessed in World War II.

One of the largest underlying principles in Lord of the Flies is of course, human nature. William Golding gives the reader three interesting characters to analyze: Jack, Piggy, and Ralph. It's quite apparent as you read the novel that Golding must have read a little Sigmund Freud before writing Lord of the Flies. Let's start with Jack. Jack is the definite Id on the island. He wants to survive but he also wants to eat meat and have fun. Jack is clearly unable to control these urges and in turn has a pretty large influence on the other boys on the island. Piggy is the definite Superego on the island. Piggy is always referring to "well my auntie..." and always finds an excuse not to do something. Piggy has no intentions of satisfying his id, and in turn influences only Ralph and Simon. Ralph on the other hand, takes the middle road. He is clearly trying to find a way to satisfy his id, but he can't seem to find one. Take what he said in chapter eight for instance: "...Without the fire we can't be rescued. I'd like to put on war-paint and be a savage. But we must keep the fire burning..." Ralph is definitely trying to satisfy his id, but those laws of culture still remain with him, telling him it's not the thing a proper English boy should do.

Another interesting connection I made while reading, was one between Jack's status of leader and the ideology of Thomas Hobbes. Unlike Hobbes though, Jack's power was used for quite the opposite affect. Hobbes believed that in order for a perfect society to exist, a higher power had to be in charge, in order to keep the other citizens in check. Jack was that higher power on the island. He was in control of everything, however, his power had quite the opposite affect of "keeping people in check." Jack used the powerful persuasion of the id to persuade others. Jack could promise meat and fun, whereas Ralph could promise labor and fruit, something the other boys definitely didn't want.

Lord of the Flies is also a novel filled with symbolism. Probably the most important of these symbols was the conch. The conchs represented several things, including freedom and order on the island, and possibly, even for a short time, unity between the boys. One of the most interesting aspects to the conch was the fact that Piggy couldn't use it. This shows a lack of leadership or strength on Piggy's part. The conch became a tool of free speech. Those who wanted to speak at the tribal council had to hold the conch in order to be heard. However, as the story progressed, this practice diminished more and more, until the island was a place of complete chaos and anarchy. In one of the last chapters of the novel, the conch gets completely destroyed. This symbolizes two things. First, it symbolizes the end of order on the island- no more meetings, no more assemblies, none of that, the island was a place of anarchy. Secondly, this destruction symbolizes the end of Ralph's leadership. The boys had become slaves to Jack and his power, their conscience gave in.

Finally, about the novel itself. Golding is quite obviously a fan of Joseph Conrad. The writing style is almost identical, and the subject matter is very similar, with Golding opting to use children (young boys) instead of the men of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The novel moves very quickly and it's rather short (202 pages in my copy.) You'll be immersed in the varying characters and degrees of humanity that they present. Keep in mind, that although Golding's view on humanity may seem very pessimistic, he's writing from his perspective on human nature, something that he witnessed first hand during WWII.

If not for anything else, William Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES (1954) is remarkable for having come out at a time when Western society was being bombarded with visions of totalitarian nightmares. The Nazis were gone, but still in modern memory. Russia's totalitarian state was a constant threat. McCarthyism hovered over everyone's privacy, as did J. Edgar Hoover. And recent fiction, like Aldous Huxley's BRAVE NEW WORLD and, especially, George Orwell's 1984 presented world views where the human spirit is all but squelched by governments and technologies.

LORD OF THE FLIES, in its own way, says, "Hold on a second! Humans do need to be regulated. And they do need to protect themselves from each other." His tale is a warning: Humanity, without government, will degenerate into savagery and anarchy. And that is precisely what happens in this book. You know the plot, by now. But what has to be mentioned is that William Golding is a visionary who has the story-telling mastery to convey and do justice to that vision. LORD OF THE FLIES is a remarkable and powerful book, one that should be on everyone's bookshelf.

Although I have not quite finished Lord of the Flies, I love the book so far. From my observations, the readers who enjoyed the novel loved the premise and the symbolism. Those who did not really like the book had problems either with having children as characters and carrying out these acts, or that it started out too slow. From where I am at in the book, it has been pretty good.
In September 19, 1911 British author William Golding was born in Cornwall, UK. Golding went to Oxford University to study in natural science; he then changed his major to English literature. Golding joined Britain's royal navy and fought in World War2. In September of 1954 he published his first, and most successful book, Lord of the Flies. Golding passed away on June 19, 1993.


The idea of these children stranded on this island and trying to survive is a fascinating plotline. The fact that these kids create their own little factions is also quite captivating. If this were to happen in real life, the factioning of the boys would have most likely happened. It would happen because as history can back up, people always separate themselves based on difference, whether it be due to opinions or race, people always segregate. The symbolism is this book is heavily implied. Ralph for instance is the leader, and it is implied that he is the voice of reason. Piggy is the timid follower who is very logical. Then, you have Jack. Jack is meant to represent the devil. He leads the children away from Ralph and teaches them to kill and disobey. People who did not enjoy the book missed all of this. All of this symbolism made the book so much more interesting because it turned a survival story into a story about human nature and the struggle of good vs. evil.
I will agree with the critics that the book did start out a little bit slow, but it picked up shortly after. I have enjoyed this book for the most part; that must be why it is on my outside reading list. It may not be one of my favorite books thus far, but it must be a classic for a reason.

It is always with a sense of foreboding that I pick up a book that I loved when I was much younger and read it after several years have passed, my fear being that the book will no longer hold up after the passage of time. Lord of the Flies was a book that I read at least three times a year when I was growing up, starting at about age 12. I eagerly devoured it, grappling with all of its symbolism, and even writing poems about some of the main characters. Fortunately I was never required to read it for school or I likely would not have enjoyed it as much.

I was pleased to read it again and find that Golding's novel of World War II era prep school boys surviving on an island after an airplane crash that kills all the adults is just as good as I remember it being. I could go on and on about the various symbolism in the book, and the descent of the boys into savagery, but I don't want to over analyze it.

It is a terrific book, with well thought out characters. One cannot help but feel sympathy for Ralph as he tries to keep a semblance of order. Anyone who has ever been terrorized by a school bully will sympathize with Ralph's struggle against Jack; and Piggy is a truly pathetic character. My favorite character has always been Simon, who is just a little off kilter but in the midst of his ramblings speaks a great deal of truth.

Kids, don't wait until your teacher makes you read this book. go out and get it and read it for yourself. Unlike most of the books you'll be required to read for school, this one has action, adventure, and enough gore to make it a good read. Later on you can worry about the symbolism and the deeper meanings within the book, but for now, just read it for fun.

If I were scoring the story, it would have 5 stars. Unfortunately this reading my the author isn't all that great. For one, it's dated and the audio quality suffers from that. There is no consistency in the sound so one minute he sounds okay and the next as though he's stepped away from the microphone. Another annoying factor is the breathing and sighing while he's reading making the whole thing sound like a chore. It's a pity because this is an excellent story but the narration could use improvement.

A group of young schoolchildren (all male) are evacuated from Britain in the wake of a nuclear war. As it turns out, their airplane has crashed onto an uninhabited island, with the result that there are no adult survivors to be found. In the opening scenes, children begin to slowly emerge from the forest and converge on the beach at the summons of the book's main character Ralph. As they are now thrust together in this new environment, it becomes apparent that a new sort of social order is going to be necessary. What follows for the length of the book is an elaborate working out of this (attempted) democratic style of social order.

After an initial confrontation of two groups on the beach (one led by Ralph, the other led by Jack), Ralph is elected as leader. Early on, we see that Ralph's interests tend to be "group" oriented. His concern is with rescue, and with keeping the others focused on this objective through the maintenance of a signal fire. We see shadows in Jack however, that are more temporal, concerned with the hungry rumble in his stomach. And here we sense the beginnings of conflict, and the age-old fact looming to remind us that, even in democracy we need to recognize submission to elected leadership.

In a pivotal chapter (ch.5) one of the children declares "We're drifting and things are going rotten. At home there was always a grown-up." The significance here is that, by filling his island with castaway children (rather than adults) Golding allows us to consider more aspects of innate or instinctual human nature than if it had been otherwise. Children are raw. If this island were inhabited by castaway "grown-ups" the results and conclusions they came to would be conditioned by all of the ingenuity, resourcefulness, and maturity with which they'd have dealt with previous struggles and needs. Socially, they would have been able to draw upon the results (good or bad) of past decisions made in the clash and clang of more mature inclinations and inhibitions. But children are not afforded this perspective of experience. Golding populates his island with children because he wants to emphasize the full range of possibilities that are INNATE in the human condition, typified in this case by Ralph's tears on the very last page. Tears, we are told, which he wept "for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart."

With the frenzied killing of Simon in ch.9 comes the real disintegration; a rapid descent into moral anarchy. Ralph is the only one who dares to say it... "That was murder." He has the keenest sense of the mob mentality that will inevitably run roughshod over the individual conscience. Earlier than any of the others he understands their own capacity for evil when he says to Piggy, "I'm frightened. Of us."

I had the heartrate of a chased fox in the last chapter... you will too. And when the question was flung out at the end "Who's boss here?"... Ralph's loud cry of "I am" rang through my very soul. Those two words signify the triumph of perception over ignorance.

The lasting value of the book is its ability to pose the question "What if I were thrust into a similar situation?" Which character would I most resemble... with whom do I most identify? How is it then, that we in fact, do behave? What if?...

This story speaks to any overly optimistic answer to that question when we remember that the entire reason these children found themselves on this island in the first place, was that they were fleeing a nuclear war that "grown-ups" had started.

"Lord of the Flies" was enthralling, terrible, and fascinating. I read it in a day, and it consumed my thoughts. The book starts out quite harmlessly, and I began by almost thinking I was in for a fun adventure story. However, I felt otherwise as I absorbed the dark, gaunt style this book was written in. There was something ancient and evil behind the pages of this book, in the unwritten words, and unuttered dialogue. The line that seemed most significant to me were the words spoken to Ralph by Jack after he has returned from pig hunting. They are discussing the feeling that both of them have had in the jungle, of being followed, and "as if it wasn't a good island." The Beast is a recurring theme throughout the story, and I don't believe it refers to any one thing. The Beast takes the form that the children want it to, and it begins with their imaginations, but amounts to so much more. The children are the Beast, in a sense, in the aspect that their own selfishness, jealousy, and savageness have awakened this monster.