William Golding
A British novelist, playwright, and poet
Educated at Oxford University
Was part of the Navy and experienced World War II
He wrote his first novel Lord of the Flies (1954) while teaching at school
Awarded the Booker Prize for fiction and Novel Prize in Literature
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
― William Golding, Lord of the Flies
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the
true, wise friend called Piggy.”
― William Golding, Lord of the Flies
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us.”
― William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Golding once asserted in an interview that the theme of Lord of the Flies is "an attempt to trace the
defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend
on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or
respectable." - [Link]
The first scene of the book introduces a fair haired boy who lowers himself down rocks on a beach. He
then encounters a chubby, intellectual boy who wears glasses. The fair haired boy introduces himself as
Ralph and the chubby one as Piggy. They have a conversation and we can infer that their plane carrying
English boys was shot down over the ocean. It crashed on the island, and the boys lost each other and
the pilot is nowhere to be found.
They wander around the beach looking for the other boys. While doing so, they find a pink shell called a
“conch.” Piggy realizes that it could be used as a trumpet and convinces Ralph to blow through the shell.
Hearing the loud blast, boys start to gather onto the beach. The oldest around twelve and the youngest
are around six. Then a group of boys enter in two parallel lines dressed in black gowns led by an older
boy named Jack.
The boys decide to elect a leader. The black gown boys vote for Jack, but all the other boys vote for
Ralph as he seems as the closest connection to the adult world and for the reason that he holds the
conch. Ralph notices Jack’s look of disappointment and thus, appoints him and his group as hunters.
Mindful about their environment, they climb up a mountain and see that they are on an island. While
going back to the beach, Ralph, Jack, and Simon see a pig entangled in creepers. Jack draws out his spear,
but hesitates and the pig ends up running away.
After discussing in a meeting, Ralph decides that they should light a fire in order to send a signal to ships
passing by. Everyone gets excited and succeeds in lighting a fire, but the boys focus on their enjoying
and didn’t think about the fire, and the flames quickly burn the forest. One of the youngest boys in the
group isn’t seen, ostensible that he burned to death. At first, the boys enjoy the freedom from grown-
ups and spend most of their time, splashing in water and playing games. In one hand, Ralph as the chief
complains about maintaining the fire being their number 1 priority and how they should focus on build
shelters. On the other hand, Jack becomes excessively occupied with hunting.
A seemingly miracle comes before them. Ralph and Piggy notice a ship on the horizon and automatically
look at the top of the mountain. In their shock, there was no signal fire which was the hunter’s
responsibility to maintain. Without knowing this, Jack merrily comes up the mountain with his first kill.
However, Ralph is still fuming and confronts Jack. But the hunters still living the moment reenacted the
chase in a wild dance. When Piggy criticized Jack, Piggy gets hit across the face. Ralph then blows the
conch and scolds the hunters in the meeting to restore order. It becomes clear how the younger ones or
the, “littluns” were having nightmare problems about an unknown beast, and more and more boys
started to believe this. The older boys try to convince them that the beast cannot live on this island. But
then one of the littluns suggests that the beast lives in the sea terrifying the entire group. The next
scene shows an airborne battle between military planes above the island. The boys were asleep and
couldn’t see the flashes of light and explosions in the sky. On that day, they
Sources: [Link]
Questions for the Analysis
1. What do u think of the novel?what are the elements which made it controversial?explain
I think that the novel although fiction, resembles many aspects of the society during that time and maybe
even now. I believe that this novel is the perfect depiction of society during that time because it was
written by Golding after he was part of the US navy and experienced the world war. The transformation of
the innocent and educated English kids into their original state as savage animals kept my heart beating
throughout the novel. He uses numerous visual words which enables the readers to illustrate each scene
in our own minds and somewhat asserting that it is different from other fictional novels as it is very close
to reality.
The elements that made it controversial were the characters. This novel was written after the world war
which is mostly countries and their men fighting each other for beneficiaries. In this novel however, kids
are the main characters and the whole plot revolves around them. They may seem innocent, but they too
have their own savages within them. So it would depend on the person to be able to control this
temptation and not succumb to order and civilization. This can be seen in Jack. As the leader of the choir,
he can be seen innocent with his angelic voice. But as the story progresses, we see how he “adapts” and
gives in to the disruption of order as he gets overly preoccupied in hunting and the sensation of his first
blood.
“The brilliant work is a frightening parody on man’s return to that state of darkness from which it took him
thousands of years to emerge. Fully to succeed, a fantasy must approach very close to reality. Lord of the
Flies does.” – THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW
2. Which character can you relate to?why?
Among the many different characters in the novel, I can relate to Jack the most. I believe so because I
know I also have the inner savage in me.
Jack’s turning point in the novel was when he had his first kill and got elated when he saw the blood:
feeling superior. After he gets debauched, he then does not focus on the most important thing on the
island which is maintaining the fire. I can relate to this because I tend to stray away from the rational side
of thought and get distracted by temporary pleasures and comfort.
3. What are the 3 most important themes in the book? Explain each one with specific examples.
The dominant theme in Lord of the Flies is the conflict between human’s natural state to give in to
savagery and the rule of civilization trying to contain this. This is accentuated by the clash between Ralph
and Jack, whom represent civilization and savagery respectively. These disparate ideologies resemble
how they use their authority. In one hand, Ralph as the chief tries to maintain the civilized state of the
young English boys by implementing rules, and governing themselves. On the other hand, Jack as a
representation of savagery uses his power to satisfy his own pleasure
4. What happened in the ending and what do you think of it?
5. What lessons does the author want the reader to grasp?
