Lord of the Flies

Over the years I must have read this book five or six times. Last night I was reading it on a train with a highlighter in my hand, because I decided to teach it this year again. Teachers wreck books, of course. We all know that. On the other hand, whatever you have to study-read, you tend to carry a bit of it with you. You don't forget that book, at least. Although I must add, that it's quite risky introducing to a Scottish classroom a book with the memorable words: I must have read it for the first time 30 years ago.

Published in , the phrasing would have been pretty modern then. Even now, most of it has work well. The phrase that jumped at me -- and it only appeared once -- was when Piggy I think compared the boys detrimentally to 'niggers', instead of just 'savages'. Mental note to make them look hard at this bit. After all this is such a horrible little group of boys.

As complacently white as can be, one group of them from a choir school or a public school with a choir , no less. And Ralph, the 'hero', son of a naval officer. Golding, as a teacher in an upmarket school, presumably knew those sort of boys all too well. The boys being prepared to carry the empire forward. Except the setting suggests the empire may not be going forward. Somebody somewhere is fighting a war that is evidently nuclear.

It's never quite clear what is going on or how the officer turns up cool as cucumber on a naval cutter at the end. Most of the young people in my class this year have sigh seen the film, so they know what happens. The group of boys marooned on an idyllic Pacific Island first start off having a sort of cheery adventure. They want to have fun, and one of their number -- Jack -- talks a great deal about 'fun', though his idea of fun is killing pigs. They arrive a fairly civilised little group but they gradually degenerate.

Golding's moral message is about the "darkness of man's heart" and it's a good moral companion to Heart of Darkness now I come to think about it. The boys natural fears escalate and the younger children create a mythical 'beast', which then seems to materialise as a fact when the body of a dead airman, killed a war fought in the skies overhead, floats down to the island in a parachute. But the real beast is their own desire for control and domination, as well as an interesting bloodlust -- the word 'lust' is used of this, and the killing of the first pig is certainly described with unmistakable sexual resonance.

One of the boys pushes a sharpened stick "up her ass". There are no girls in the group -- what a different novel it would have to have been if there were! What a strange, strange thing to put into your novel.

Common Sense says

Not just the killing, but the slaughtering of a mother pig and a kind of sexual frenzy. But hey -- he's intending to shock. He's intending to show that this blood lust thing isn't far away from human kind, or male human kind at least, and that it doesn't take much to call it out. Even Ralph, the Aryan protagonist, feels himself getting caught up in it. Paint your face, start whooping and chanting and you can do, it seems, almost anything. The kind, poetic, imaginative Simon gets butchered teeth and nails at this point -- not spears.

PIggy is despatched by Roger, the executioner. The whole of their little society is clearly turning into a Stalinist regime, with each boy taking his place, as prescribed by Golding, which is what you get to do when you write an allegory. It's a powerful read, though more repetitive, in linguistic terms, than I remembered - almost as repetitive as D H Lawrence in places. At the highpoint, towards the end, when Ralph is completely isolated and being hunted down, the word 'ululation' is done to death. But at least you can't read this book without learning what it means!

What I both like and don't like about it is the way it makes me want to argue. The whole thing is completely manipulated. Is this what would happen? Would the darkness of man's heart take over? I have not much doubt that man's heart is dark, I guess, but when I got off the train I left my very lovely reddy-orangy furry scarf, and the chap who was sitting opposite me I didn't speak to him during the journey ran after me with it.

It brightened my day. Perhaps he was a 'Simon' and would quickly get trampled if our civilisation were to decline.

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But look Golding, my lad -- that bit where you allow the man in the parachute to get dumped, dead, on the island, scaring the boys out of their wits -- if that hadn't happened -- your choice plot element -- well, the three boys Jack, Roger and Ralph, would have established Absence of Beast.

It might all have turned out very differently.

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If Piggy hadn't been wearing glasses, there would have been no fire If it had started raining sooner If Ralph had been a bit more intelligent If the pigs had been a bit better at getting away On an island, living on fruit and getting scratched and cut, one or two of them would have developed fatal infections and their main enemy would probably have been illness and death, which would have drawn them together a bit.

Even the biting insects would probably have driven them potty. One or two of them, it's my bet, would have descended into depression and just dwindled away. It wouldn't have been like The Coral Island , but it wouldn't have been the inevitable collapse of civilisation either. Steven King likes this book. It fits beautifully with his love of dramatic thriller, increasing isolation of central brave character, and underlying opposition between good and evil. Here evil wins, though. Ralph is about to be exterminated when the officer arrives, so the deus ex machina is just there as an ironic way to end the book.

That bastard is even 'embarrassed' when Ralph bursts into tears. That's British stiff upper lippery for you. I don't believe, in the boys' behaviour. I don't believe that Jack, the killer I nearly said Jack the Giant-Killer , is there just below the surface, although I do believe that wars bring out the worst in us. I don't believe that Roger -- just a little boy -- is the natural henchman, with a desire to execute his peers running just below his veneer of civilisation.

But then perhaps I do. I've seen it, haven't I? Seen nasty young people doing nasty young things nastily. Conditioned into that, in their turn, by not very delightful adults, damaged adults. Oh bloody Golding -- go away! I put my money on man's intelligence. You gotta use your head to survive, whichever allegory you seem to be inhabiting.

And sometimes you do survive and sometimes you don't, but the 'darkness of man's heart' is offset by the light, which always returns. The trouble is, the dark heart goes for power - doesn't it? And the desire for power and control over others can be wielded quickly and wrongly by just a few people. It's what's happening all over the world at this minute. And yet -- the majority are good-hearted souls, who will pick up your scarf on a train and return it to you.

There are more good guys than bad ones. Some of them are quietly and happily reading books at this minute. Otherwise, what would be the point? Jul 24, David rated it did not like it Recommends it for: I just don't buy it. This book is famous for unmasking what brutes we are, just under the surface, but, well, for all the hype, it just isn't convincing.

People--even teenage boys--just aren't as savage as Golding seems to want us to believe, and nothing in this book persuades me otherwise. Perhaps if I'd gone to English boarding school I'd feel differently--but then that's the real irony of this book, that the brutality from which the British Empire was supposed to save so many people and culture I just don't buy it. Perhaps if I'd gone to English boarding school I'd feel differently--but then that's the real irony of this book, that the brutality from which the British Empire was supposed to save so many people and cultures was in fact the Brits projecting their own savagery onto others.

What Lord of the Flies is really about

But the rest of us, no, we aren't monsters underneath. A little messed up, maybe, a little more raw, but nowhere near the kind of brutes that Golding wants us to believe.

View all 48 comments. After that, I began wondering how I would respond to the other books I had to read and analyze as a youth. Hence my rereading of Lord Of The Flies. Both books are deserved classics. I don't regret a moment spent rereading either one. So… perhaps this will become a series. Catcher In The Rye? Anyhow, on with the review What do I remember from my first reading? After a plane crashes, a group of English boys finds themselves stranded on an island and, with no adults to guide them, form a kind of society that quickly breaks down, resulting in madness and murder.

I knew a couple of children died, and that eventually the rest were rescued. What do I appreciate now? And though there are lots of vivid descriptions of clouds, forests and sun glinting on sand, nothing is gratuitous. Perhaps he was raising sons at the time. Is this a fact of nature? But the fact that everyone, from the oldest to the youngest, teases him, is very disturbing.

How do we make a society work? Is hunting to feed us more important than providing shelter or coming up with a way to be rescued? And Ralph knows that if he blows the conch and no one comes, it will be irrevocable. Or do we create monsters as a mere projection of our own fears? Golding cranked up the tension to Even though I knew how the book ended, I was still turning every page, heart thumping, hoping Ralph survived being pursued by Jack and his gang.

I can imagine a million students underlining that with a big "Aha! Once read, it has the power and heft of something that is so true and essential that it must have always been around. But, and here's the weird thing, I think this book is better appreciated as an adult. Younger people are so caught up in the immediacy of every complication. I remember studiously talking about themes before I fully understood them from life. Adults, because we've lived through decades, can recognize the patterns of behaviour, the archetypal figures looming behind bullies and visionaries, both in private and public life, that emerge so strikingly in this book.

View all 46 comments. Sounds like a partaayy! A lot of giggling 3. Pig chase re-enactments 4. Touch the conch game. Laughing fits mostly at the expense of Piggy. I hope you have a wonderful day with loads of love and surprises! I couldn't find a paperback copy of Jane Eyre. I hope this'll do. View all 33 comments. Esta historia es para pensar, para medir y para plantearte quien eres en realidad.

I think reading this book as an adult affects me more. You come to realize that things and circumstances can change drastically with no rules or repercussions. I really loved Lord of the Flies and think everyone should read this one day. It's not a long book but it will make an impression on you.

It makes you think and dread what would happen if With no rules to govern, you can easily see how a group will follow the stronger and more manipulative leader. Let it be a lesson to us all to always have a sense of morality and know when as a society we've crossed the line. View all 11 comments. Jun 01, Gothadh rated it did not like it. I absolutely hated this book.

That's my over-riding memory of it I'm afraid. I had to read it in secondary school when I was about 12 and I never remember disliking a book so much which was surprising as I was a voracious reader. I just could not relate to the story at all and just wished they would all kill each other as soon a I absolutely hated this book. I just could not relate to the story at all and just wished they would all kill each other as soon as possible so the book would finish. The fact that we had to read the book in class at the pace of some of the slower readers agonisingly painfully slow readers and then discuss it afterwards, which was like trying to get blood out of a stone, probably didn't help.

Sep 22, Natalie Vellacott rated it really liked it Shelves: This book shocked me. Not so much because of the content, I will come onto that, but because my gentle, kind, mother recommended it to me. My mum who mutes the TV when a swear word is coming up and who can't stand any type of violence recommended a book that involves children killing each other. Perhaps in her case familiarity has rendered the content less offensive--she studied it in high school and it had her childish scrawls all the way through, also entertaining!

That said, there was a lot t This book shocked me. That said, there was a lot to this book. I can see why it has become a classic. I guess, I was just taken aback having started the story and expecting it to continue in a Peter Pan type "lost boys" style A group of boys are abandoned on an uninhabited island. Ralph takes the lead and formulates a rescue plan. But it isn't long before the group are embroiled in internal conflict as they battle for supremacy and status.

What is really needed is for them to band together and for everyone to do their part to keep the group alive and alert any ships that happen to be passing. But they cannot even get that right--those meant to be tending the fire are off hunting pigs when the first vessel draws near. The divisions widen over time as some of the children begin to adopt savage-like behaviour resulting in tragedy. It is not a Christian book but there are a great number of spiritual analogies and lessons worthy of comment. The book reminds us that children do not learn sin from their parents.

They are born sinful and if not disciplined, given appropriate boundaries and taught right from wrong, they will choose sin as it is predetermined due to the fall--"born in sin and shapen in iniquity. There is also a lesson about the pack mentality. How much easier is it to fall into sin or temptation in a group than it is alone?

When young people goad, dare and egg each other on they can be capable of great evil--peer pressure is a powerful force. We see it in the media when a group loses control and in a violent frenzy attacks a person in the street. But we will not ultimately stand before God in a group but by ourselves to account for our behaviour.

It is why the Bible warns us about the company we keep and who we choose to be our friends. I was also reminded of the damage that can be done to children who spend too much time playing video computer games. They become lost in their own worlds of darkness where theft, violence and killing are normalised and those who murder are heroes not criminals. Lord of the Flies made me realise how easy it was for these children to begin playing a very dangerous game with life and death when they became immersed in their own world and had lost touch with reality.

Maybe it will make some parents think about what their children are filling their minds with alone in their bedrooms. We shouldn't be surprised when the same children translate their video game world into a murderous rampage on our streets. That is what they have been taught to do! The last chapter of the book was for me the most impactive as the sequence of events was unexpected. The narrative is chilling in places but definitely held my interest and I wanted to know what happened to the children in the end.

There are a few swear words in the book but nothing major. There is no sexual content. There is some graphic violence and animal slaughter. This book is not really suitable for younger children but may hold lessons for older teens. I would recommend the book for Christians for the spiritual lessons that can be learned but it is not particularly uplifting!

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Lord of the Flies - Wikipedia

Edit Cast Cast overview, first billed only: Jack Merridew Danuel Pipoly Piggy James Badge Dale Simon as Badgett Dale Andrew Taft The Twins Edward Taft The Twins Gary Rule Edit Storyline After a plane crash in the ocean, a group of military students reach an island. The classic story of conflict and survival.

Edit Details Official Sites: Edit Did You Know? Trivia Filmed in Goofs When Piggy gets hit by the rock, his hands are by his side when he falls, and when he hits the ground his hand is above his head. We did everything just the way grownups would have. Why didn't it work? His body drifts down to the island in his parachute; both get tangled in a tree near the top of the mountain.

Later on, while Jack continues to scheme against Ralph, the twins Sam and Eric, now assigned to the maintenance of the signal fire, see the corpse of the fighter pilot and his parachute in the dark. Mistaking the corpse for the beast, they run to the cluster of shelters that Ralph and Simon have erected to warn the others. This unexpected meeting again raises tensions between Jack and Ralph. Shortly thereafter, Jack decides to lead a party to the other side of the island, where a mountain of stones, later called Castle Rock, forms a place where he claims the beast resides.

Only Ralph and a quiet suspicious boy, Roger, Jack's closest supporter, agree to go; Ralph turns back shortly before the other two boys but eventually all three see the parachutist, whose head rises via the wind. They then flee, now believing the beast is truly real. When they arrive at the shelters, Jack calls an assembly and tries to turn the others against Ralph, asking them to remove Ralph from his position. Receiving no support, Jack storms off alone to form his own tribe.

Roger immediately sneaks off to join Jack, and slowly an increasing number of older boys abandon Ralph to join Jack's tribe. Jack's tribe continues to lure recruits from the main group by promising feasts of cooked pig. The members begin to paint their faces and enact bizarre rites, including sacrifices to the beast. One night, Ralph and Piggy decide to go to one of Jack's feasts. Simon, who faints frequently and is probably an epileptic , [6] [7] has a secret hideaway where he goes to be alone. One day while he is there, Jack and his followers erect an offering to the beast nearby: Simon conducts an imaginary dialogue with the head, which he dubs the " Lord of the Flies ".

The head mocks Simon's notion that the beast is a real entity, "something you could hunt and kill", and reveals the truth: The Lord of the Flies also warns Simon that he is in danger, because he represents the soul of man, and predicts that the others will kill him. Simon climbs the mountain alone and discovers that the "beast" is the dead parachutist. He rushes down to tell the other boys, who are engaged in a ritual dance.

The frenzied boys mistake Simon for the beast, attack him, and beat him to death. Both Ralph and Piggy participate in the melee, and they become deeply disturbed by their actions after returning from Castle Rock. Jack and his rebel band decide that the real symbol of power on the island is not the conch, but Piggy's glasses—the only means the boys have of starting a fire. They raid Ralph's camp, confiscate the glasses, and return to their abode on Castle Rock. Ralph, now deserted by most of his supporters, journeys to Castle Rock to confront Jack and secure the glasses.

Taking the conch and accompanied only by Piggy, Sam, and Eric, Ralph finds the tribe and demands that they return the valuable object. Confirming their total rejection of Ralph's authority, the tribe capture and bind the twins under Jack's command. Ralph and Jack engage in a fight which neither wins before Piggy tries once more to address the tribe. Any sense of order or safety is permanently eroded when Roger, now sadistic, deliberately drops a boulder from his vantage point above, killing Piggy and shattering the conch.

Ralph manages to escape, but Sam and Eric are tortured by Roger until they agree to join Jack's tribe. Ralph secretly confronts Sam and Eric, who warn him that Jack and Roger hate him and that Roger has sharpened a stick at both ends, implying the tribe intends to hunt him like a pig and behead him. The following morning, Jack orders his tribe to begin a hunt for Ralph. Jack's savages set fire to the forest while Ralph desperately weighs his options for survival.

Following a long chase, most of the island is consumed in flames. With the hunters closely behind him, Ralph trips and falls. He looks up at a uniformed adult—a British naval officer whose party has landed from a passing cruiser to investigate the fire. Ralph bursts into tears over the death of Piggy and the "end of innocence". Jack and the other children, filthy and unkempt, also revert to their true ages and erupt into sobs. The officer expresses his disappointment at seeing British boys exhibiting such feral, warlike behaviour before turning to stare awkwardly at his own warship.

At an allegorical level, the central theme is the conflicting human impulses toward civilisation and social organisation—living by rules, peacefully and in harmony—and toward the will to power. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. How these play out, and how different people feel the influences of these form a major subtext of Lord of the Flies. In February , Floyd C. Gale of Galaxy Science Fiction rated Lord of the Flies five stars out of five, stating that "Golding paints a truly terrifying picture of the decay of a minuscule society Well on its way to becoming a modern classic".

A fourth adaptation, to feature an all-female cast, was announced by Warner Bros.