A Horrifying Look Into Life Without Society (Lord of the Flies - William Golding)

Name: Recon

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Product:	Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Date:	16/02/08 (295 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent read, well-written, Very interesting, Great plot

Disadvantages: Quite scary - based on Golding's view on people

This fantastic story was one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading, for it was very appealing, exciting and had an interesting plot. First written by William Golding and published in 1954, he wrote the story with his knowledge of human behaviour in the back of his mind after serving in the war. As well as fighting in the Royal Navy, Golding also participated in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day. From his experience of war, his feelings inspired him to write this novel. It is very similar to another novel called Coral Island. William Golding thought that the boys would never act in such a civilized and sensible manner, so he wrote a novel that he felt was an accurate portrayal of what would really happen in such a situation.

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Plot
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After a plane crashed on a tropical island, which was carrying many school students and adults too, the boys were left stranded on this island with the slim chance of survival unless they were somehow rescued. There are two main characters: Ralph and Piggy, who has been nicknamed that when Ralph told the others after being told not to by Piggy himself. The boys were of different ages from 6-12, so they didn't know each other personally.

Ralph and Piggy started off by being very civilized and sensible. A conch was found in a nearby pool of water, and it became a symbol of authority in the novel. Rules were invented at early meetings such as: whoever held the conch was allowed to speak and no one could interrupt. The conch was one of the few symbols of civilization. Unlike the story of Coral Island, civilization broke down rapidly, which was all due to one boy called Jack who had an opposite view on what to do.

Jack was into hunting, and created a clan called the Hunters. They went off hunting for food, before performing dances like a ritual after they had caught the boar. At first, civilization was holding back Jack, and he didn't have the power to actually stab the boar, and he pretended that it got away to the others. Jack becomes further and further away from a civilized manner as the story progresses. He ends up painting faces and going hunting all the time, which at one stage prevents them from a possible rescue as he was supposed to be taking care of the fire.

Another character, Simon, is a very mystic and unique character. Different to the others with fair blonde hair and a very shy nature, he comes across as a bit weird and doesn't last long on the island as he is mistaken for a 'beastie' that the children were afraid of, and so is recklessly attacked by the others and killed. Even Ralph was involved in this attack, just showing how he slowly broke down from civilized order.

In the end, Jack takes his hunters and anyone else who wishes to join him off to a place called 'Castle Rock'. He says they will have fun, play games and enjoy themselves. With Ralph, Piggy and a few others refusing to join Jack, they stay back by the beach where it all started. Piggy was short-sighted and had glasses, which were another key symbol of civilization as they were the tool to make a fire, which would give off smoke for any passing ships to see for a possible rescue. Because Jack and his gang needed the glasses to make a fire to cook the boar they had caught, Jack and Piggy undergo an attack from them to get the glasses. The glasses end up being broken and snatched from Piggy, so he is left almost blind.

Piggy is later killed by a boulder, which he is crushed by. Jack and his gang capture others that weren't on his side, leaving Ralph by himself. After Ralph hides from the gang who begin hunting for him, it isn't long before they discover where he was hiding. As he runs away from them through the forest, Jack orders it to be set on fire to find Ralph. Jack has become so destructible and wild that he has gone to such an extent of setting the island on fire to hunt down Ralph. As Ralph runs out of the burning forest towards a beach, he is confronted by an officer of a naval ship that was passing by. Ironically, the wild act of setting the island on fire was the key to rescue, and for the first time in the novel, Ralph cries. The officer makes the children out to be playing some sort of game, and doesn't realise what has been going on.

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My Thoughts
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I think this is a well-written novel with an excellent story and plot. Golding creates a microcosm of what is going on in the real world with the war. He portrays what he thinks is likely to happen in such a situation, and it's quite terrifying. Golding obviously felt that we all had evil inside us, and without the pressure of society and rules, we would all break down into our natural and evil personalities.

There is great contrast from the beginning of the novel to the end. In the beginning, some of the children think it to be remarkable that they are free and can enjoy themselves with no adults around. They strip themselves of all their clothes and run around naked, swimming and enjoying themselves. The more civilized ones worry about rescue, and think that they are going to die if not rescued. Later on in the novel, there is an essence of terror when one boy goes missing, and is thought to of burnt to death in the fire. As deaths of the main characters begin to occur, it is clear that the breakdown of civilization was imminent. Towards the end of the novel, the society was a ramshackle, the meetings were never held again, the conch was smashed into a million pieces and civilization was non-existent.

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Conclusion
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I think this is an excellent novel that is very easy to read and well-written with an excellent plot. I feel that it is a realistic, but horrifying prediction of what would happen without society. The characters featured are only children, and it is quite scary how the story progresses and what happens. Having fought in World War II himself, I think it is a brilliant story to understand Golding's view on the natural evil instinct inside us all.

Many different covers and versions available
- Paperback cover available at Amazon.co.uk for £5.99
- Highly recommended - Excellent read

Thanks for reading,

- Recon -

Summary: An excellent book with an excellent plot and a revealing story