LORD OF THE
FLIES
William Golding
TITLE TRANSLATION
The name Lord of the
Flies is a literal
translation of the
name of the biblical
name Beelzebub, a
powerful demon in
hell sometimes
thought to be the
devil himself.
Beelzebub is often
described as a
demonic fly.
WILLIAM GOLDING BIO FACTS:
Golding was born in England in 1911.
He went to Oxford, published a book
of poems and settled down to teach
high-school and then WWII happened.
He spent five years in the navy and
participated in the D-Day invasion
and the war affected him deeply. He
later said:
Before the Second World
War, I believed in the
perfectibility of social man.
But after the war I did not. I
had discovered what one man
could do to another Anyone
who moved through those
years without understanding
that man produces evil as a
bee produces honey, must
have been blind or wrong in
the head.
WILLIAM GOLDING BIO FACTS:
After the war, Golding returned to
teaching, which he didnt like very
much. In fact, he often spent class
periods working on his own novels. He
wrote a couple of books in that time,
which he never published, then one
day he said to his wife:
Wouldnt it be a good idea
if I wrote a book about
children on an island,
children who behave in
the way children really
would behave?
SYNOPSIS
A group of English school boys are being
evacuated in the middle of a nuclear war, probably.
So, the plane carrying them was shot down and
they're stranded on a desert island, and at first it's
fun. There's plenty of fruit and fish and fresh water
and they elect a leader, Ralph, and they build some
shelters and light a signal fire in the hopes that
they'll be seen and rescued. But, then things start to
go wrong. A group of boys from the school choir, led
by a kid named Jack, become overwhelmed with
blood lust, and they dismember one boy, Simon,
when they mistake him for a mythic beast. And then,
they kill Ralph's buddy, Piggy. And then they try to
kill Ralph and they probably would have succeeded,
but a military ship arrives and he's saved and they're
all rescued.
INSPIRATION
Lord of the Flies grew partly out of
Golding's experiences in World War II.
It also took cues from literature. The
most obvious model for Lord of the
Flies is Coral Island, the hugely popular
Victorian children's book that Golding
refers to a couple times. Having been
one of a mass of English schoolboys
who read Robert Ballantynes idealized
island adventure book Coral Island,
Golding explained that he wanted to
write a realistic alternative to it.
CORAL ISLAND vs. LOTF
In Coral Island, a trio of British boys are stranded on an
island and they use their bravery and their good Christian
values to defeat pirates and savages. Those boys are named
Ralph, Jack, and Peter - essentially the same names Golding
uses for his main characters - but the similarities pretty
much end there.
In Lord of the Flies, the dangers aren't external, they're
internal. There aren't any savages to fight, just the savagery
that apparently dwells within each of us.
The contrast between what happened on Coral Island and
what occurs in Lord of the Flies is severe. While the contrast
between how life is at the beginning of Lord of the Flies and
how it is at the end is also striking, it is even more
disturbing, since the same boys act so very differently in a
relatively short period of time. Not only do they kill other
boys, but their desire to kill leads them to set such a
destructive fire on the island that they destroy even their
own source of protection and food; destruction seems to
know no limits.
PHILOSOPHICAL DIFFERENCE
Most earlier desert island stories follow the beliefs of
the philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who
believed that humanity was at its best and most
innocent in the state of nature and that the
social order was a corrupting influence.
Rousseau argued that if we were free from social
constraints, we would behave really well.
But Golding is closer in spirit to English
philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who described life in a
state of nature as "nasty, brutish, and short." Hobbes
thought that without social constraints, we would
immediately fall into violence and aggression,
which is why we needed society and good
government to keep people in order.
MAIN
CHARACTERS
RALPH
Twelve years old, fair-
haired, and attractive.
Although he is readily
elected chief, he still needs
the help of Piggys
intelligence. His actions in
the position are what
prompt the reader to
believe there is hope that
practicality and civility can
exist, even among
youngsters left to care for
themselves in the wild. His
mistreatment of Piggy and
his joining in the violence
against Simon show how
easily it is for even the good
to succumb to evil.
PIGGY
Intelligent and sensitive, yet
because of other, mostly physical
characteristics, he is ultimately
overpowered. He is overweight,
has asthma, cannot swim, and is
the only boy who wears glasses.
As intelligent as he is, he
misjudges the evil of the others,
believing they can be spoken
with rationally and never
realizing the seriousness of the
situation and the potential for a
deadly response. He stands as
the example of the power of
intelligence, strong enough to
overcome many flaws but not
strong enough to overcome a
blind spot when it comes to
understanding human nature.
JACK
Red hair, an unpleasant face,
and demands control over the
choirboys he is placed in charge
of in school. He is quick to show
that he carries a large knife and
almost never backs down from
confrontation. He is excited
about having an army of
hunters and about having rules,
because he anticipates the
pleasure of punishing those
who will break them. Ironically,
he is the rule breaker who splits
from the group, forces others to
join him, and becomes more
and more evil. He shows how
easily evil gains power.
SIMON
A member of the choir,
is sensitive, quiet, and prone
to fainting. He wishes he
could speak publicly to the
boys and be accepted by
Ralph and his group, who for
the most part find him
batty. He needs time to be
alone, is brave and giving,
and understands humanity.
Golding has called him the
Christ figure of the book,
since he has a message to
impart to the boys and
becomes a martyr.
