The primary theme of Lord of the Flies focuses on the instincts for self-preservation and the underlying human potential for savagery and cruelty. In the conclusion, Ralph becomes hunted by the boys who all now follow Jack, and he is saved only by the timely arrival of a naval officer on the beach who restores a veneer of social order to the group. He is eventually pushed from a cliff to his death by the other boys. Ralph's friend Piggy desperately tries to maintain order, but his asthma, nearsightedness, and obesity make him a frequent target for teasing and torment. Simon, an epileptic who sees visions, attempts to unearth the truth behind this Beast, only to be murdered as he is attempting to share his discovery of reality. Jack and his band soon begin to exhibit a savage delight in killing for meat that turns into bloodlust ruled only by an entity the boys create-an ultimate evil, the Lord of the Flies, also called Beelzebub. The boys begin to obsessively fear a beast in theĭark that is allegedly hunting them-a fear that Jack uses as a means of converting Ralph's supporters into hunters. Although Ralph is originally elected leader, Jack, appointed chief hunter, labors to obtain power and support from the other boys and to undermine Ralph's authority. The boys set about creating a society of their own, and although they begin with an attempt to mimic the democratic, moral, and rational examples they recall from the civilized world, the group gradually deteriorates into a cruel tyranny of the strong over the weak.Ī power struggle evolves between the main protagonist, Ralph, and the head choirboy, Jack. A group of schoolboys have been evacuated from Great Britain, but their airplane crashes, leaving them abandoned without adult supervision on an uninhabited island. Lord of the Flies takes place in the context of a large scale war. Many commentators have viewed it as a religious, social, or political allegory. Although it can be read strictly as an adventure tale, Lord of the Flies contains strong themes and elemental symbolism that have prompted critics to debate the book's true meaning. Lord of the Flies also broke new ground in the young adult novel genre by utilizing poetic description and by borrowing ideas from the schools of modern anthropology and psychology. Many scholars contend that through this novel, Golding was positing that customs commonly viewed as making up "civilization" in many cultures are merely an unnatural façade. Possibly rebuking the Victorian presentation of children as pure and innocent victims of adult society, Golding's children quickly strip themselves of all the trappings of a "civilized" world on the island and revert to savagery. Golding's conclusion is far from idyllic, and despite their rescue from the island, the ultimate survival of the boys in Lord of the Flies is not assured.
While Golding's tale is very similar, it is a darker, more foreboding, and ironic vision. The Coral Island relates the story of three boys stranded on a deserted island who rely on courage and resourcefulness to survive, and who emerge from the experience strengthened and matured. Golding's novel shares many situations, plot elements, and even character names with Ballantyne's work. Although the book has been compared to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Richard Hughes's A High Wind in Jamaica (1929), Golding's primary influence was the nineteenth-century children's classic The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific (1858) by R. INTRODUCTIONĭeclared by many scholars to be one of the most important literary works of the twentieth century, Lord of the Flies has become a classic and is often required reading for high school students. The following entry presents criticsm on Golding's Lord of the Flies (1954). (Full name William Gerald Golding) English novelist, short story writer, dramatist, poet, and nonfiction writer.
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