Lord of the Flies

LORD OF THE FLIES

Lord of the Flies by William Golding has got to be one of my favourite novel of all time. I remembered being introduced to this amazing novel when I had to perform a scene (as Simon! XD) from this book for my LAMDA group recital exam piece back in 2000 and later as my O level literature text in 2002. Basing much of his plot and some characters on the book, The Coral Island by Robert M. Ballantyne, William Golding writes this allegoric novel (a literary work in which characters, events, objects, and ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings) about a group of British school boys stuck on a deserted island after surviving a plane crash during a world war. The boys later try to govern themselves with disastrous end results. A fantastic story with its theme reflecting the dark side of human beings that can cause the breakdown of society if it overpowers reason and right thinking.

As William Golding explained,

"The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable. The whole book is symbolic in nature except the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the island. The officer, having interrupted a man-hunt, prepares to take the children off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same implacable way. And who will rescue the adult and his cruiser? (E.L. Epstein. "Notes on Lord of the Flies." The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding. New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 1954, Page 204)."

Not only is this novel exciting, it has many hidden meanings and it tells us about us, about our culture and the world we live in. A highly recommended read for all and for those who have read it, play the Lord of the Flies Game over at Nobelprize.org.

And here is the film adaption of Lord of the Flies. Do watch it!!


FULLSCREEN