book review lord of the flies

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Lord of the flies.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 12 Reviews
• Kids Say 111 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

By Kenneth Butler , based on child development research. How do we rate?

Gripping story of marooned schoolboys and mob mentality.

Parents Need to Know

​​Parents need to know that Lord of the Flies has been described as dark, brutal, pessimistic, and tragic. Written from the point of view of British author William Golding, the novel tells the story of a group of White British school boys who survive after their plane crash lands on a remote island in the…

Why Age 12+?

One boy is bullied. Two characters are murdered: One is beat to death and anothe

A taunt includes calling a character's asthma "ass-mar."

Any Positive Content?

The book's basic premise is that some people, deprived of the rules and restrict

The novel raises questions about personal choice and individual humanity in appa

Ralph is the main character who's elected leader in the name of staying "civiliz

The British schoolboys depicted in the novel are White. Their descent into "sava

Violence & Scariness

One boy is bullied. Two characters are murdered: One is beat to death and another falls to his death after being hit by a boulder pushed by one of the other boys. The acts are described in detail. Frequent mention of blood. Brief torture sequence. Boys hunt a pig and poke a sharp stick up its rear end while it's still alive. The setting and atmosphere are fraught with the potential for violence.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Educational Value

The book's basic premise is that some people, deprived of the rules and restrictions of society, will revert to barbaric behavior. This central conflict between nature versus nurture when it comes to morality is found on every page. Readers will also learn something about survival on an unpopulated island.

Positive Messages

The novel raises questions about personal choice and individual humanity in appalling situations. People are capable of selflessness, even when their own lives are at stake. There are times when it's critical to put the needs of the group ahead of individual needs or wants.

Positive Role Models

Ralph is the main character who's elected leader in the name of staying "civilized." He thinks strategically and shows compassion and perseverance, but his motives are questionable, and he does not succeed in his leadership of the group. Piggy, who is brainy and logical, represents the rational side of human beings; unfortunately, he's also deeply unpopular. Only Simon, who looks after the younger boys, seems naturally kind and good, as if born that way. Jack seeks power ruthlessly, but is charismatic, so he's able to command leadership, even when it results in more chaos. Other characters represent baser, more violent human impulses or the innocence of children. The characters, and how they relate to one another, underscore the value of ethics in collaborative situations.

Diverse Representations

The British schoolboys depicted in the novel are White. Their descent into "savagery," a term used repeatedly throughout the book, relies on racist stereotypes of Indigenous peoples from Africa, Asia, and the Americas being more violent and less civilized. The character Jack explicitly differentiates between "savages" and the English, suggesting that only the English know how to "have rules and obey them" and "are best at everything." A boy described as fat is nicknamed Piggy. He also has asthma. For those reasons, he's viewed as weak by the others. Women are not present and are only mentioned when the boys miss their mothers. The comparison to tying their hair back like "a girl" is used in a derogatory manner by the boys.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

​​Parents need to know that Lord of the Flies has been described as dark, brutal, pessimistic, and tragic. Written from the point of view of British author William Golding, the novel tells the story of a group of White British school boys who survive after their plane crash lands on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean. The boys bully and eventually kill two members of their group, one in a brutal, frenzied beating, in the other murder, a character causes a boy to fall off a cliff. Both scenes are described in bloody detail. The book often compares being "civilized" with Britishness, while the boys' violent behavior is depicted as more primitive and draws on negative stereotypes of Indigenous peoples -- a false idea that was historically used to justify the colonization and oppression of people in places such as Africa, Asia, and the Americas. The story deals with a fundamental issue of humanity: Are people naturally prone to evil? This and other issues in the novel are well-suited for parent-child discussion.

Where to Read

Parent and kid reviews.

• Parents say (12)
• Kids say (111)

Based on 12 parent reviews

Great book for deep discussion

The classic of savagery, what's the story.

In LORD OF THE FLIES, a group of British schoolboys is marooned on a tropical island and left to fend for themselves, unsupervised by any adults. At first, the boys enjoy their freedom, playing and exploring the island. But soon the group splits into two factions: those who try to preserve the discipline and order they've learned from society, and those who choose to give in to every instinct and impulse, no matter how chaotic or cruel.

Is It Any Good?

This novel has been a perennial favorite since its first publication in 1954, and when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, William Golding was lauded for his deep concern for humanity. Today, Lord of the Flies remains a staple of school reading lists, although some of its dated views about the nature of savagery are worth reexamining and discussing. Golding's prose is unadorned and straightforward, and the result is page-turning entertainment -- as well as a highly thought-provoking work of literature.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Lord of the Flies is considered a classic and is often required reading in school. Why do you think that is? Are there aspects of the novel that seem dated now? How does the depiction of the boys' bad behavior rely on stereotypes?

The boys on the island hope to survive their ordeal. How do they persevere through their difficult circumstances? What helps them survive?

Do you think people are born "good" or "evil" -- is our behavior always the result of choice? How is it that good people are capable of bad behavior, and vice versa? How do you think you might behave under the circumstances of the novel?

Is it always best to sacrifice your own wants and needs for the common good of a community? What are some examples of when characters show compassion ? What effect does compassion have on the characters and the events of this story?

What do you think some of the prominent elements of the story -- the conch, Piggy's glasses, the sow's head, the island's "beast" -- might symbolize?

Book Details

• Author : William Golding
• Genre : Literary Fiction
• Topics : Adventures , Friendship
• Character Strengths : Compassion , Perseverance
• Book type : Fiction
• Publisher : Perigree
• Publication date : January 1, 1954
• Number of pages : 304
• Last updated : August 16, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Suggest an Update

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Review: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies William Golding Penguin Books Published December 16, 2003 (Originally Published 1954)

Amazon | bookshop | goodreads, about lord of the flies.

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued.

Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, LORD OF THE FLIES is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

LORD OF THE FLIES is one of those iconic books that gets referenced all the time in our culture, but I’d never read it before. My daughter had to read it for school last year, and she had some anxiety about the content. I decided to read it first so she’d be ready for anything that might be difficult for her.

I read the book last fall as things were heating up before the presidential election here in the US. At that time, I actually wrote an initial review. But because I kept pushing back the date for posting the review, I have updated the review and added some more stuff that I’ve thought about on reflection.

Before I started reading LORD OF THE FLIES, I felt really weird reading all these big name authors talking about how pivotal this book has been for their writing. I think it’s Suzanne Collins who says that she reads LORD OF THE FLIES every year. That seemed really weird to me for a book with such a dark reputation. Every year? I mean, no offense meant. When a book resonates with you like that, I get wanting to read it every year. For a long time I had a book that I read every year, too. I guess I just found myself surprised about people feeling that way about a book that’s often referenced to describe uncontrolled violence or mayhem.

Anyway. So I went into the book with both some dread (expecting violence, which can be hard for me to read), and some, I don’t know, fascination, I guess?

The thing that still stands out to me most about the book is how easily some boys began to think of others as not human, as animals to be hunted. There’s a moment, after one boy has been killed where two boys talk around what happened. One boy comes right out and says that it was murder. The other boy recoils and tries to defend what happened as something else. He tries to explain it away as something not evil and wrong. It doesn’t work, and for a moment they’re both confronted with the horrible truth.

Watching the vigilantism and the violent language increasingly used by elected officials and repeated online while reading LORD OF THE FLIES was really creepy, y’all. Like, it seriously marked me. I would read a scene and feel like, this is awfully close to the way people are talking to each other or about each other right now. Or I’d get to a scene and think, well, surely our leaders won’t sink this low. And then. Stuff happened.

I couldn’t stop– and still can’t stop– thinking about the way the story explores the power of fear. The collapse of reason that happens when people are afraid and respond with that fear and anger. The steady shift toward things that once seemed unimaginable. I knew what was coming because I’d heard enough about the book that I basically knew what to expect. And yet, the violence of it and the dehumanization of it still shocked and shook me.

Reading this book, I can see not only from the story why it endures, but also from the writing. Like, I felt genuinely pulled into the tale. Even when I wasn’t reading, I thought about it. I wanted to know what would happen. Even though I already pretty much knew what was coming, I couldn’t look away from what was happening. It gripped me and paralyzed me with horror. (Much the way I felt weeks later watching the coverage of the January 6 insurrection.)

Honestly, I won’t say I enjoyed it– not like, celebrated reading it. But it really moved me. I think I would read it again. I think I NEED to read it again.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages  16 up.

Representation All the boys are British private school students.

Profanity/Crude Language Content Mild profanity used infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content None.

Spiritual Content The boys fear a mysterious evil they call the Beast. They leave food sacrifices for it, hoping that this will keep the Beast away from them.

Violent Content At least one racist comment equating Indians with savages. Multiple violent descriptions of hunting and killing pigs. Boys beat another boy to death. A boy falls to his death after being hit with a rock.

Drug Content None.

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About Kasey

2 responses to review: lord of the flies by william golding.

My interest is piqued to give the book another chance. I read it a while back, while I was I in middle school, and at that time I had little idea about what was happening (I lost my way about halfway through), and I hadn’t heard much about the story like you had before diving into the text, so I suspect that the full impact (philosophical, political, psychological, social) wasn’t felt.

Yay! Yeah, I have definitely had that experience with books that I read in school before and then again later. I hope that if you read it again, you are able to connect with it a lot more. 🙂 Thanks, Abigail!

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Publisher: Faber and Faber | Genre: Allegory, Social Commentary

Title : Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Genre: Allegory, Social Commentary

First Publication: 1954

Language: English

Setting Place: Deserted Tropical Island

Protagonist: Ralph

Major Characters: Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Samneric, Roger

Narration: Third person Omniscient

Theme: Evil, Outlets for violence, Human nature, Loss of innocence, Savagery Vs Civilization

Book Summary : Lord of the Flies by William Golding

In the midst of a nuclear war, a plane carrying a group of British school boys crashed on a deserted island. Without adult supervision they must work together and govern themselves to survive. At first the boys are civilized and elect Ralph, a boy of twelve years old, as a leader. Things start out okay and boys use Conch shell as a talking stick.

The first day goes rather smoothly and they discuss about hot to get rescued and what they have to do until then any ship come to bring them home. Ralph is determined about creating a smoke signal, so Samneric, a pair of twin boys, is assigned the duty to start and watch a signal fire. Another group, the choirboys lead by Jack, elect themselves to become the hunters and provide meat for the group. Simon, an enlightened boy and Piggy, a scientific thinker, quickly become the counsel for Ralph. Besides these boys, there are several younger boys about the age of six.

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”

Jack and his group become increasingly interested in killing sows. They begin to paint their faces and track the animals for hunting. All the boys begin to be afraid of an imaginary beast in the jungle. Their fears are further fueled when a dead man with a parachute landed on the top of the mountain. The boys begin to see Jack as a protector and look to him for leadership.

Then the conflict increased between Ralph and Jack. Most of the boys on island joined Jack’s tribe, except Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric and a couple of the littluns. Jack and group have become complete savages partaking in daily hunting and tribal dancing.

Character List: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Ralph- The main protagonist of the story, a twelve year old boy who was elected as leader of the boys. Ralph tries to maintain discipline, order, structure. He represents the civilizing instinct of human beings.

Jack – The antagonist of the novel, and one of the older boys and leader of the choir. Jack becomes increasingly dark and disturbed during his stay on island. He represents the evil that exists within all men in uncivilized situations.

Piggy – Piggy is Ralph right hand man. Though criticized for his weight, asthma and lack of physical agility, He is the scientific mind and the rational thinker of Ralph’s team.

Roger – An oddly secretive and sadistic older boy who thrives on preying on those who are younger and weaker. Roger quickly becomes Jack’s first follower and carries out Jack’s evil wishes.

Sam and Eric – Also known as “samneric”, they are twin boys who seem to be one person. They are follower of Ralph and enjoy their duty of keeping the fire signal going.

Maurice-  He is Jack’s key supporters, accompanies him on the raids on Ralph’s camp.

Simon – The “enlightened” boy with a true natural sense of morality who spends a lot of time alone with nature. Simon helps and comforts the younger boys in their dreadful moments.

The Lord of the Flies – It’s the name given to the sow’s head that Jack’s gang transfixes on spear as an offering to the “beast.” The Lord of the Flies comes to symbolize the primeval instincts of power and barbaric nature that take control of Jack’s tribe.

Littluns-  The littlest boys, around ages six and up.

Book Review: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

In 1954, William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies, when the world was in the middle of the silent yet terrifying Cold War soon after the World War II . It is not only a tale of boys surviving after their plane crashed on a deserted island; it is an allegorical novel about the conflicts between savagery and civilization.

The significant symbolism which is rather easy to comprehend, made it one of the most popular and admired books in history. Lord of the Flies by William Golding presents a memorable and haunting account of believable characters portrayed so subtly and accurately.

“The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is based on a series of events following a plane crash that leaves a group of young school-going children stranded on a deserted Island during the Cold War. Lord of the Flies by William Golding is the story of those boy’s shocking survival. The dreams of all the boys have finally come true: after all, who wouldn’t want a whole island all to themselves to play on without any nagging from adults? Soon after a day or two, the boys realize they needed a leader. The main protagonist, Ralph, is elected as a leader of the group because to his popularity and leadership skills, with Piggy as his sidekick.

All the boys befriend one another, because there is nowhere to go. As the days pass, Jack gets hungrier for authority. What seemed to be a joyous escape from the chaotic adult world at first, soon advances into something far more disturbing and sinister.

I remain convinced to this day that Lord of the Flies is one of those controversial classic books that depends upon how you read it. On the surface it could be read as a simple moralistic tale – a portrayal of what happens when you take people away from society.

“The greatest ideas are the simplest.”

It may look as if Lord of the Flies is just a children’s adventure story. However, there is also a truth concealed deep inside the novel where Golding makes reader conscious of certain issues. The issues it concerns are: society, human nature, good vs. evil, ecological balance and cooperation. This is an allegorical novel where Golding employs the scene of a deserted island and a group of English school boys to serve as a framework, through which he explores the theme of his book.

William Golding uses this deceptively simple setup to question just how civilized we really are and how quickly we can descend into a mob of crazies. The question for the reader is whether these are but immature children or an allegory for the adult world and how quickly mob rule can take over and how few dare to go against the herd.

This story is a powerful depiction of human nature and its role in the rise and fall of democracy. Central to this story is the theme of fear: how it can be used as a means to control people and how it chisels away at our humanity.

“Which is better–to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?”

The three main characters Ralph, Jack and Piggy are archetypes of a natural leader, a bully and a nerd. They are not terribly complex people but they are still quite vivid characters who are defined more by their action than their brief moments of introspection. The early chapters have a spirit of adventure or perhaps a child’s idea of utopia, a world without adult supervision. As the characters degenerate into savagery the tone of the book become very dark and disturbing.

William Golding’s prose style is deliberately prosaic; there are no lyrical passages to speak of. This has the effect of amplifying the visceral impact of the narrative. There are however, some creepy surreal scenes involving a pig’s head on a stick. The ending of the novel is clearly telegraphed by the trajectory of the preceding chapters but it is still very effective for all that.

Symbols and motifs:

You will love the action-packed provocative tale of survival in Lord of the Flies by William Golding but also learn three very important characteristics of human nature. First: Human’s desire for social and political order through governments, legislatures and parliaments, depicted by the conch and platform. Second: Human’s natural tendency towards violence, savagery and every nation’s need for military and defense, depicted by the choir-boys-turned-hunters-turned-murderers. And third, our beliefs in the divine interventions and supernatural powers, depicted by the sacrifices and ceremonial dances to appease the “beast”.

Those who didn’t have the opportunity to read it before must not put it on hold any longer.

In search of book review services to help write your Lord of the Flies essays? Please visit https://writemypaperhub.com/book-review.html and get it written from scratch.

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I JUST finished this book and my review will post in July. So glad to see you liked it, too! This is required high school reading for most folks in the states, but glad I read it later (really later) in life as I don’t think the story and its meaning would have meant as much without the real-world experience I have now. Truly appreciate and enjoy your in-depth reviews. Well done!

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IndieBound Bestseller

LORD OF THE FLIES

by William Golding ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1954

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1954

ISBN: 0399501487

Page Count: 212

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1955

TEENS & YOUNG ADULT LITERARY FICTION | TEENS & YOUNG ADULT GENERAL TEEN

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A Summary and Analysis of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Lord of the Flies was first published in 1954, although it very nearly wasn’t published at all. Its author, William Golding, was a struggling grammar-school teacher when he wrote it, having been given the germ of the idea by his wife, Ann.

The novel’s title is a reference to Beelzebub, a name for the Devil, which means literally ‘lord of the flies’ (at least in most translations ). Given the fact that power, devilry, and, yes, flies are all central aspects of Lord of the Flies , the title is especially apt.

Golding (nicknamed ‘Scruff’ by his pupils) struggled to get the novel accepted by numerous publishers before Faber and Faber took it on. However, even there it was initially rejected (the initial reader at Faber dismissed it as ‘absurd and uninteresting fantasy’ and ‘rubbish and dull’) until a young editor, Charles Monteith, saw potential in the manuscript and got it accepted. It still sells tens of thousands of copies every year.

But how should we interpret this tale of post-apocalyptic barbarism? Before we offer an analysis of Golding’s novel, here’s a brief reminder of the plot.

Lord of the Flies : plot summary

The novel begins with a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys being shot down; the boys land on a desert island. Two of them, Ralph and Piggy, find a conch shell on the beach, and they use it to signal to the rest of the schoolboys, who then start to form their own ‘society’, with a leader elected among them.

Ralph is named the leader while Jack is his sort of second-in-command, in charge of finding food on the island.

After they start a fire to try to signal for help, they accidentally burn down a large part of the nearby forest, killing one boy. When a ship does sail past, it doesn’t stop to rescue the boys because Jack’s band of hunters have carelessly allowed the signal-fire to go out.

Jack and his gang have managed to hunt and kill a pig for them to eat. Things start to get out of hand, and some of the younger boys in particular are terrified that some sea-monster will come and kill them.

When a parachutist – part of a team of fighter-pilots flying overhead – lands on the island, several of the boys think his flapping parachute is the wings of the mysterious island ‘beast’, and they run away, terrified, and spreading fear to the other boys, who organise a hunting trip to try to catch the beast.

Jack and Ralph fall out, with Jack trying to oust the more senior boy from the position of leader – a move that the rest of the boys resist. Jack stomps off with his hunting band, and many of the other boys subsequently desert Ralph’s ‘side’ for Jack.

Jack, emboldened by his new supporters, ritually sacrifices a pig, which is decapitated, its head placed on a stick. Simon sees it, and thinks it’s talking to him: some devil-like figure known as ‘Lord of the Flies’. When Simon returns to the others, they set upon him and kill him, not realising who he is. Jack and his hunters run off with Piggy’s glasses. Jack and Ralph fight, and Piggy is killed with a rock.

Jack and the others hunt Ralph, who flees, only to be rescued by a British sailor who was on board a ship that spotted the fire raging on the island and came ashore. The other boys turn up, and when the officer confronts them over their appearance, they all break down in tears.

Lord of the Flies : analysis

Golding conceived Lord of the Flies as a sort of dark counterpart, or response, to the classic Victorian boys’ adventure novel, The Coral Island by R. M. Ballantyne, in which three boys are marooned on a Pacific island.

But whereas in Ballantyne’s 1857 novel the stranded children encounter evil as an exterior force on the island, Golding inverted this: he shows us, unsettlingly, that evil is always lurking within ourselves, and is only ever just beneath the surface in so-called ‘ordinary’ or ‘civilised’ people.

Golding’s working title for his novel, Strangers from Within , makes it clear that the devil – that ‘Lord of the Flies’ – is within us, all of us, rather than outside, elsewhere.

But although Golding’s novel is often viewed as a dystopian tale about ‘human nature’ and how, in times of desperation and disaster, certain people will seize power and others will be the victims of their oppressive control, Lord of the Flies actually has its roots in something more specific than this: the British class system.

The three principal characters of the novel – Ralph, Piggy, and Jack – represent the three main classes in England, much as the famous class sketch from The Frost Report captured in a sketch just over a decade after Golding’s novel appeared.

As John Sutherland argues in his discussion of Lord of the Flies in How to be Well Read: A guide to 500 great novels and a handful of literary curiosities , Ralph is a grammar-school boy, Piggy the product of a working-class ‘tech’ school (a short-lived post-war phenomenon), and Jack the privileged public school boy.

Ralph, therefore, is riddled with self-doubt about his middling position in English society: the Jacks of the world are above him and the Piggies below him. Jack has all of the confidence of someone born into privilege and with an almost innate sense of their right to lord it over everyone else.

The message of Lord of the Flies , then, is that if you remove these schoolchildren from Britain, the British class system will still reassert itself as they construct their own stratified ‘society’. The island on which the boys are stranded becomes like the island of Great Britain which they left.

Piggy, however, is working-class. As Sutherland argues, his use of phrases like ‘the runs’ instead of, say, ‘an upset tummy’ are subtle ways in which Golding, without hammering home Piggy’s origins, reveal his status to the reader. He was always destined to be the scapegoat because the English class system dictated it. Coupled with his physical or evolutionary disadvantage (his extreme myopia and reliance on glasses) and he was doomed from the start.

The British class system, then, informs the novel, making it a peculiarly British dissection of power structures. According to Sutherland, Golding – himself a teacher at the sort of grammar school which produced the decent and honourable Ralph – once said that he would happily blow up every public school in England, and Lord of the Flies shows how it is the Jack Merridews produced by the English public school system which are the most capable of wreaking destructive power over others.

But it’s also true that Lord of the Flies bears the influence of another important experience in Golding’s life: his experience in the Second World War fighting in the Royal Navy, which showed him first-hand how ordinary men could become capable of performing acts of great evil.

Of course, the horrors of Nazi Germany were also an important source for Golding’s depiction of evil, especially the way the other boys merrily join Jack’s command.

Along with its searing commentary on the inherent evils of the British class system, Lord of the Flies is a powerful narrative about how fear is all it takes to persuade many ‘normal’, ‘decent’ people to behave horrifically.

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2 thoughts on “A Summary and Analysis of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies”

We “did” this at school. I don’t know why they thought a book about badly-behaved boys would interest a class of girls!

Badly behaved boys always should interest girls

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By William Boyd

• July 16, 2010

In the late 1960s, some 15 years after the publication of “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding confessed to a friend that he resented the novel because it meant that he owed his reputation to what he thought of as a minor book, a book that had made him a classic in his lifetime, which was “a joke,” and that the money he had gained from it was “Monopoly money” because he hadn’t really earned it. Golding was drinking heavily at the time (he had a lifelong struggle with alcoholism) and one may have to take his bitterness advisedly, but these remarks reveal an interesting artistic conundrum. What is it like to owe virtually your entire reputation as a writer to a single book? One thinks of J. D. Salinger, Ralph Ellison, Joseph Heller — to cite only the 20th-century American exemplars — but such one-book writers are legion in all literatures. John Carey seems to allude to the category in this biography’s subtitle (even though Carey eventually disputes the implication). However, if anyone thinks of William Golding today, it is almost certain that his name will be conjoined with his extraordinary first novel.

A blessing and then a curse of some sort — though by the time the book finally appeared in 1954, Golding wouldn’t have cared about any downside. He was a 42-year-old provincial schoolteacher, desperate merely to have a novel published (it was the fourth book he had written, incidentally); renown and wealth were not even remotely considered. In fact, even “Lord of the Flies” was rejected by many publishers before an alert junior editor at Faber & Faber, Charles Monteith, saw its potential and encouraged Golding to make ­changes. By 1980, sales in the United States alone had reached seven million.

Golding, to other writers, is a model of the late starter (along with Anthony Burgess and Muriel Spark). You don’t need to be young to make your name, so his career asserts, and once Golding had achieved that first success it never ­really left him. “Lord of the Flies” was swiftly followed by “The Inheritors” (1955) and “Pincher Martin” (1956), both published to great, if not universal, acclaim. A new and highly distinctive voice seemed to have arrived in contemporary British literature. The critical reception was not always so favorable for subsequent novels ( “Free Fall,” in 1959, suffered a near-unanimous pasting), but it is fair to say that Golding’s life as a writer was forever financially secure thanks to the rock-solid, never-­ending sales of “Lord of the Flies.”

Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911. He was only eight years younger than Evelyn Waugh and is effectively part of that generation of English novelists (including Graham Greene, Anthony Powell and Aldous Huxley) who had reached their maturity by the time of World War II. But we never think of Golding in their company because his success as a writer was entirely postwar — he seems in some way more modern and contemporary.

Golding joined the navy a year after war broke out (he was already married with a child). At D-Day in 1944 and the Battle of Walcheren some months later, he was in command of a rocket-firing landing craft, a vessel designed to deliver a terrifying “shock and awe”-style blanket barrage of thousands of small deadly rockets. Golding, operating the firing mechanism on the bridge of his ship, clearly saw the indiscriminate, devastating effect of the wall of fire and destruction that was unleashed as his myriad rockets erupted on beachheads and coastal villages.

He survived the war unharmed and with some reluctance went back to the tedium of schoolmastering in Wiltshire. ­Carey makes the valid point that his war in the navy was profoundly destabilizing for him in various ways (both personally and artistically), and many of the key themes in his work can be traced to these formative and disturbing experiences.

Carey summarizes the abiding obsession in the novels as the collision of “the spiritual and the miraculous” with “science and rationality,” and it is this per­sistent hypersensitivity to the numinous and immaterial aspects of the world and the human condition that sets Golding apart from the broad river of social realism that so defines the 20th-century English novel. He was a kind of maverick in the way D. H. Lawrence was, or Lawrence Durrell, or John Fowles — to name but three — and I think this strangeness explains how throughout his life, after his initial success, the critical responses to his work were so violently divided. You either loved William Golding, it seemed, or you hated him.

Golding himself was abnormally thin-skinned when it came to criticism of his work. He simply could not read even the mildest reservation and on occasion left the country when his books were published. What is fascinating about “William Golding” is the portrait that emerges of a man of almost absurdly dramatic contrasts. He fought with commendable bravery at D-Day, yet in life was the most timid arachnophobe. He was married for more than 50 years, yet was probably a repressed homo­sexual. He was an accomplished classical musician and excellent chess player and an embarrassing, infantile drunk. He loathed and detested the stilted conventions of the British class system (particular scorn was directed at the Bloomsbury group), and yet when already a Nobel laureate and a member of the elite group to whom the queen grants the title Companion of Literature, he still frenetically lobbied his important friends to secure him a knighthood — successfully — and was a proud member of two of London’s stuffiest gentlemen’s clubs. Time and again the impression is of a man in a form of omnipresent torment of one kind or another: sometimes it would be mild and possibly amusing; at other moments, debilitating and damagingly ­neurotic.

John Carey has had unrestricted access to the Golding archive, and it is unlikely that this biography will ever be bettered or superseded. Moreover, Carey, an emeritus professor of English literature at Oxford and one of the most respected literary critics in Britain, writes with great wit and lucidity as well as authority and compassionate insight. Perhaps because he has had the opportunity of reading the mass of Golding’s unpublished intimate journals, he brings unusual understanding to the complex and deeply troubled man who lies behind the intriguing but undeniably idiosyncratic novels.

And the fiction is highly unusual and uneven, right up to the end of Golding’s energetic working life — his last novel, “Fire Down Below,” was published in 1989, only four years before his death at the age of 81 — emblematic of the warring forces in his imagination, of a writer (in Carey’s words) “interested in ideas rather than people, and in seeing mankind in a cosmic perspective rather than an everyday social setting.” Anthony Burgess described his talent as “deep and narrow,” and Golding’s own demons often drove him to analyze the extent and limits of his achievement. After the publication of “The Inheritors,” as the acclaim flowed in, Golding remarked that he saw himself “spiraling up towards being a . . . universally admired, but unread,” novelist. This was horribly prescient. With the exception of “Lord of the Flies,” Golding’s strange, haunting, difficult novels have few readers these days, and his post­humous reputation is neglected and in decline. At the very least, Carey’s superb biography should take us back to the work again and allow us to make up our own minds, anew.

WILLIAM GOLDING

The man who wrote “lord of the flies”: a life.

By John Carey

Illustrated. 573 pp. Free Press. $32.50

William Boyd’s most recent novel, ­“Ordinary Thunderstorms,” was published earlier this year.

The Literary Edit

Review: Lord of the Flies – William Golding

When I was about fourteen, one of my best friends Sian and I gate crashed a year-ten drama trip to a near by theatre to watch Lord of the Flies. I remember little of the play itself other than the deeply unsettling feeling I was left with when the curtains closed. Thus upon discovering that William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was featured on the BBC’s Big Read, I was somewhat reluctant to read it. However, having been recommended it by my cousin Hal, and upon finding a battered copy in a book shop near my work, I decided to give it a go.

Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel by nobel-prize winning English author William Golding, about a group of boys stuck on an uninhabited island who try to govern themselves with disastrous results. When it was first published, Golding’s debut novel suffered from poor sales but when re-released in the 1960s it went on to be a best-seller, and soon became required reading in many schools and colleges.

The main protagonists are Ralph, Piggy, Roger, Jack and Simon all of whom are vividly portrayed throughout the novel. Ralph is chief of the group; Piggy, poor-sighted and overweight is his side-kick, Roger is one of the first to develop animalistic tendencies, Jack epitomises the worst aspects of human nature while Simon is a representation of peace and tranquility.

The novel follows the boys as they try to survive on the island by implementing a set of rules and regulations to follow. However, as the rules disintegrate, Jack forms his own tribe of terror, and events in the book progress from simple bullying to stylised animal rape and eventually murder. Golding effectively uses these episodes to explore the darkness of man’s heart, and the novel can show us what we are capable of in a similar situation.

A chilling yet compelling read with stunning imagery and great use of symbolism, Lord of the Flies is both a great piece of literature and a dire warning about humanity.

About Lord of the Flies

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable tale about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

About William Golding

Sir William Gerald Golding was a British novelist, poet, and playwright best known for his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies.

Golding spent two years in Oxford focusing on sciences; however, he changed his educational emphasis to English literature, especially Anglo-Saxon. During World War II, he was part of the Royal Navy which he left five years later. His bellic experience strongly influenced his future novels. Later, he became a teacher and focused on writing.

Some of his influences are classical Greek literature, such as Euripides, and  The Battle of Maldon , an Anglo-Saxon oeuvre whose author is unknown. The attention given to  Lord of the Flies , Golding’s first novel, by college students in the 1950s and 1960s drove literary critics’ attention to it.

He was awarded the Booker Prize for literature in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage, the first book of the trilogy To the Ends of the Earth. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983 and was knighted in 1988.

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2 comments on “Review: Lord of the Flies – William Golding”

the story shows us the Brutal Truth of life. Normally people blame the society, that because of the society they became evil. But the story tells us that There is evil inside us, sooner or later, we all have to face it.

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Book Review

Lord of the flies.

• William Golding
• Coming-of-Age

Readability Age Range

• Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group

Year Published

This coming-of-age book by William Golding is published by Riverhead Books, a division of Penguin Group and is written for ages 13 and up. The age range reflects readability and not necessarily content appropriateness.

Plot Summary

When a plane wreck strands a group of British boys on a tropical island without adults, the children initially revel in their freedom and try to develop a society by holding assemblies, appointing hunters, and tending a signal fire to alert passing ships. It isn’t long before their “savage natures” take over; they argue, paint their faces and hunt bloodthirstily, eventually even killing some of their own. They fear and stalk “the Beast,” whom they believe to be a dangerous creature on the island. In fact, there is no such animal — their anxiety about the Beast symbolizes their fear of the emerging monster within each of them. In the end, they are rescued and returned to the “civilized” world — a world in the throes of a war.

Christian Beliefs

Literary critics consider Simon a “Christ figure.” He demonstrates compassion for his fellow man and looks for goodness in a rapidly-declining civilization. His conversation with The Lord of the Flies (which is a rotting pig’s head the boys have left as an offering to the Beast) is likened to the temptation Christ experienced during his fasting in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). The loss of innocence the boys experience is sometimes compared to the fall of man (Genesis 3:1-21).

Other Belief Systems

Lord of the Flies contrasts democracy and anarchy.

Authority Roles

The boys initially elect Ralph as their chief; he chooses Jack and Simon to assist him. Ralph’s primary concern is to keep a signal fire going in case a ship passes; he tries to maintain order and structure within the group. As Jack’s lust for hunting and blood increases, he convinces most of the boys to join a new tribe under his leadership. He is dominating and brutal, rousing the boys to kill pigs and, eventually, other humans for sport.

Profanity & Violence

Ralph makes fun of Piggy’s asthma ( a—-mar ). Characters use God’s name in vain, and d–n you once or twice. Violence intensifies as the characters become less civilized: First they kill pigs with spears, enjoying the pigs’ squealing and blood. They often dance and chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood. Bash her in.” They even spear the head of one pig, leaving it as an offering for the Beast. By the end, boys are killing other boys by mobbing and hunting them, simply because they “get caught up” in the frenzy of their savage rituals.

Sexual Content

Discussion topics.

Get free discussion questions for this book and others, at ThrivingFamily.com/discuss-books .

Additional Comments

Golding was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in literature.

You can request a review of a title you can’t find at [email protected] .

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Book review – “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding

When I announced that this book was May’s choice for my Facebook reading challenge (theme, a 20 th century classic), there were mixed feelings – it seems a few of our participants had studied it at school for their ‘O’ level English Literature (predecessor to the GCSE for anyone young enough not to know!). Some were delighted…others less so! I did not study this at school, but I read it at University (I did an English degree). My childhood home was not one filled with books, though I spent a great deal of time at my local library, so when I went to University I had a lot of catching up to do on many of the classics. Golding’s book is one of those and is widely considered to be one of the all-time great novels.

Lord of the Flies was Golding’s first novel, published in 1954. I doubt many people could name any of his other works (I couldn’t!), although he won the Booker Prize in 1980 for his novel Rites of Passage , and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. He died in 1993 at the age of 81. Lord of the Flies has been adapted three times for the big screen, and several times for stage and radio.

The basic plot is that a group of boys (thought to number about thirty, but it’s not entirely clear) are marooned on a Pacific island following a wartime evacuation attempt that ends in a plane crash. There are no adult survivors and the boys, ranging in age from perhaps nine to thirteen years, must learn quickly to survive. Three main characters emerge: Ralph and Jack are the two alpha-males of the group, but have very different instincts about the priorities, and Piggy, an overweight, severely near-sighted boy, probably of lower class than Ralph and Jack, who proves to be the most thoughtful, sensible and self-aware but who lacks the leadership skills to wield any power.

Initially, the boys attempt to organise, with Ralph at the helm. His primary concern is that they should get rescued and stay alive and safe until then. He meets resistance in the form of Jack, who is less keen on the rules and disciplines that Ralph wants to impose. His priorities are “fun” and hunting animals so that they can eat meat. As the days and weeks pass morale drops, particularly among the younger boys, many of whom are clearly terrified. They fear the darkness and the heavy forest on the island and what may be lurking within it – they imagine a terrible beast. Order begins to break down and powerful instincts surface. There is a terrible power struggle between Jack and Ralph which intensifies as the novel progresses. Factions form around the two leaders and the behaviours become increasingly reckless. Simon, one of the other older boys, and a sensitive soul, is killed in a case of mistaken identity, the now savage and adrenalin-fuelled group around Jack believing in his night-time approach to the camp, that he is in fact the much-feared “beast” they imagine stalks them.

Simon’s death at the hands of those who were once his schoolmates, unleashes further savagery, like the genie is out of the bottle. There is also, however, a kind of denial; it seems only Piggy recognises and is able to articulate the danger they are in – from themselves! It seems inevitable that Piggy should also die, brutally; Roger crashes a boulder onto him during a fight between Ralph and Jack in which Piggy is trying to intervene. Jack’s group would have killed Ralph too had it not been for the timely arrival of a rescue ship.

Although it was written in the early 1950s, this is very much a post-war book for me in which the author is reflecting on the base levels human beings can reach. If you simply scratch the surface of society you will find some instincts most of us would rather not admit to. A modern reading of the novel might also see the hazards of excessive masculinity and how lust for power can easily corrupt. You can also look at how easy it is for followers to forget their own moral codes and normal standards of behaviour when seduced by charismatic or persuasive leadership. The younger boys are unable to face the reality of their situation, stranded on a remote island, with an unknown chance of rescue, and the picture of excitement that Jack offers, playing at hunting, escapism from their problems, leads them to follow him down a dangerous path.

Whilst re-reading this book, I couldn’t help thinking about the current political turmoil we are in, both in the UK and globally. Some social norms seem to me to be breaking down. And when it came to the Jack/Ralph power struggle the Conservative party leadership contest came to mind! The only thing I couldn’t decide – who in our current crop of politicians is Piggy?!

A must-read for anyone wanting to gain a serious understanding of English literature.

Did you read Lord of the Flies as a teenager – can you remember what you thought of it?

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6 thoughts on “Book review – “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding”

Wonderful review. I have my stack of Golding’s books (13, in total!) waiting for me. Your review reminded me that I must get to them soon.

Thank you. Yes, I’m ashamed not to have read any of Golding’s other work….

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This is one, as you say, everyone groaned over being assigned to read in school. But I’ve never known anyone who did read it that wasn’t completely captivated by it. It would be interesting to read again now, to see what I’d get from it now as an adult.

I agree. You also get a different perspective from being at a different stage in life.

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Review: Lord of The Flies by William Golding

• By: thebookaholic
• On: May 27, 2023

This post may contain affiliate links. I will make a small commission if you make a purchase through one of these links, at no extra cost to you. See full disclosure and disclaimer policy HERE . 

Are you a fan of thought-provoking literature that explores the depths of human nature? If so, then William Golding’s classic novel, “Lord of The Flies,” is a must-read for you. This captivating tale takes readers on a journey of survival and savagery, delving into the darkest corners of the human psyche. In this article, we will explore the key themes, characters, and lessons that make this book a timeless masterpiece.

Table of contents, plot summary | spoiler alert |, civilization vs. savagery, power and control, inherent evil and the loss of innocence, fear of the unknown, social order and the breakdown of civilization, human nature and the duality of humanity, loss of identity and conformity, the duality of human nature, lessons and reflections.

In Lord of The Flies , Golding transports us to a deserted island, where a group of British boys find themselves stranded after a plane crash during a wartime evacuation. The absence of adult supervision and the struggle for survival quickly reveal the raw and uncivilized nature that resides within each of them.

Lord of The Flies Central Themes

The novel explores several key themes that shed light on the human condition and the fragile nature of civilization. Here are some of the prominent themes found in the book:

Lord of the Flies book review

Posted November 7, 2020 by Jordann @thebookbloglife in 3 star , book reviews / 4 Comments

At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”

Lord of the Flies was a reread for me and one that I haven’t revisited since my school days. I knew I had enjoyed the concept of the story back then and wanted to see if I could get anything new from the story. I do have to say I really liked certain aspects of this book and I think it has a really good commentary on human nature when left to their own devices. However, there were some parts of this book that left me wondering what the heck was going on and I think there was some potential missed when I think about what could actually have been achieved if it had been seen all the way through. I really hope they continue to teach this book in schools because I think there are definitely lessons to be learnt. I won’t even talk about how unrealistic this book was in terms of how they were able to survive because that was beside the point.

The characters in Lord of the Flies are all based around young children who have crashed landed on a deserted island on their way to be evacuated in WWII. There are two separate groups, one which want to have a series of rules and laws to help them stay safe and the other who want to give in to the more savage and free-spirited side of the children. I really loved the juxtaposition between the two and how even at moments they ended up relying on one another to keep the peace. I also really liked the descent into savagery and the complete lack of foresight, it was as though they had turned into the most extreme version of the children they were. One thing I wish that had been explored a little more was Simon and his experience on the island and what actually happened to him, I think there was something really great started there it just felt a little unfinished. I also forgot how whiny Piggy actually was and actually how much of annoying character he could be at times.

I think the best bits of Lord of the Flies was definitely the commentary and the way the two groups are pitted against each other. I think reading this really puts into perspective how easy it would be for our society to slip into savagery with the justifications to go alongside it.

The worst bit of Lord of the Flies for me was most definitely how underdeveloped some of this book felt. There were moments that I thought needed to have more time spent on them to really drive the point home.

I don’t think this one will be on my list of favourites but there is definitely

Have you read this one? What did you think? Let me know!

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4 responses to “ lord of the flies book review ”.

I have a copy of the book and I’ve been meaning to read it for a long time. After reading your thoughts, I may pick it up sooner. There are just so many books I want to read all at once. 😁

Just prepare yourself for heartbreak because this book is all about that!

Wow, I admire your bravery in facing this one again! I read it at school like everybody and have no wish to read it again – too upsetting and horrible. But you’re right: it does show what humankind can so easily slip into.

Thanks, I remember reading it in school and I had wondered whether my reading of it in school had coloured my experience but yeah, totally scary, horrible and upsetting so I won’t be reading it again!

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Lord of the Flies Book Review

Nobel Prize winner William Golding's classic "Lord of the Flies" explores and exposes the darkest parts of human nature, and the childhood desire of independence. Shield your eyes if you must, as insanity and gore take hold.

When a group of British boys crash land on a desert island, their first reaction is "Yeah! No Adults!". But when it comes time to govern themselves, that's when they start to head down a slippery slope and the tension starts to rise. 

Ralph, the main character, discovers a conch shell, and when he blows it, all the other boys that were on the island come to the sound of the shell. This earns him the spot as Chief, much to the other main character, Jack's, dismay. 

Ralph's goal as chief was to keep a fire burning all the time, so that if a ship passed by, it would see the smoke and come rescue them. Jack, however, could've cared less about the fire, and more about hunting, and his role as head of the hunters.

As the chapters progress, the tension between the two rises, and is ultimately pushed over the edge when a ship passes by, but Jack and his hunters had let the fire go out so they could go hunting. A furious Ralph calls Jack out in front of all of the boys, and Jack leaves to form is own tribe. 

But his new tribe didn't play by the rules. Each day, the members grew more and more savage in their hunting clan. Their only cares were the hunt, and trying to one up Ralph's group. They attacked them unprovoked, and stole from them. They were aggressive, and highly dangerous as more and more savagery was brought out in them.

The book also speaks of a "beast", whose existence is unjustified. The thought of it strikes terror in some, but challenge in others. The boys attempt to find it and kill it, but are never successful. 

But the "beast" also strikes respect, especially from the "savages". During a fateful hunt in the heart of the climax, the savage tribe hunts down a pig for their feast and pyretic dance. As an offering of respect to the beast, they cut off the pig's head, and put the bloody thing on a stick, and jam it into the ground. This "Lord of the Flies" represents the craze and bloodthirst in these boys, but also the so called "beast" being the humans themselves.

This boiling conflict can definitely be described as people versus people; Jack versus Ralph and their building tension that is ultimately set over the edge. But also, Jack's lot of boys versus Ralph's lot. It can also be described as person versus self, with Jack and Ralph both unaware of what this island has birthed and planted in them. This fast paced, high intensity, inter webbing conflict is exciting and engaging throughout the entire book.

Another significant character, and my favorite, Piggy, is also a boy on the island. As his name implies, he's fat, but as Ralph realizes, he's very bright and is an excellent thinker. This earns Piggy Ralph's respect, and friendship. They use Piggy's glasses to light the fire. This is a symbol of how someone may seem useless-- fat and lazy, but are more valuable then perceived. Piggy is also a significant symbol in the book. He represents civility, as he keeps this while everyone else is being subconsciously changed by the island and the lack of rules and civilization. His appearance, paired with his intellectual capacities and ability to stay rational justifies this. Much would be different in the book without him and his mind. 

As it seems every character and item is symbolic, there is much to take away from this masterful craft. The Pig Head represents the humans being the beast. The conch, I believe, represents order and something to go around or follow. Something sacred and divine, but fragile at the same time. Ralph represents order, and civility, while Jack represents savagery and primal instincts. This balance, or fight, between order and savagery is a main theme to take away, and how people's desire for power can bring out these primeval surges.

I think I, and many others can relate to this book and learn from this book. While I've never been stranded on a deserted island having to govern myself, I feel I can relate to Ralph. I have had many experiences where I have tried to keep everyone orderly but their "primal urges", or craze, was difficult to. Like Ralph, I got very frustrated by that, because when everyone is going nuts while your trying to keep things orderly, it's annoying.

I also feel that if some of my friends were in this position, they would be succumbed to the beckoning of the urges of savagery and human darkness, but in society, they're not. We never see what these boys were like before landing on the island, but we can get a pretty good idea from how they develop, evolve, and change when going through this.

Overall, I feel this craft of literature is stellar writing. From the deep symbolism, heart-racing conflict, and picture-painting detail, I loved the book despite the grossness of it, and despite the lunacy and bloodshed that took place.

The rich symbolism is a strong strength. So much can be learned and taken away from this story, from each character and item, and this quality is a distinct strength.

However, while I thoroughly enjoyed it and was thoroughly impressed, there were a few easy to spot weaknesses I would have changed. Golding uses the same words over and over, and it was slightly infuriating to read. There was too much word repetition, such as "savage" and "hunt" being way overused. In the same way, every time he said "Ralph's fair hair" was aggravating, like the word repitition. Also, I feel he included things that didn't matter or affect the plot. like four pages about a littlun crying.

Despite all this, I thought this was a phenomenal book. It's quick moving pace, deep symbolism, and powerful themes made it a keeper in my eyes. If you can get past the gore, the savagery, the killing, and the insanity, I would recommend this book because of all this. There is much that can be learned and interpreted from this book, and if you dare look past the present topics that make us nauseous, it will challenge your analytical capacity and leave an impact.

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Book Review: The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

By: Author Laura

Posted on Published: 27th April 2022  - Last updated: 12th April 2024

Categories Book Reviews , Books

Wondering whether Lord of the Flies by William Golding is worth your time? This Lord of the Flies book review explains why you should read this short classic!

Lord of the Flies Summary

William Golding’s  Lord of the Flies  is a dystopian classic. When a group of schoolboys are stranded on a desert island, what could go wrong?

A plane crashes on a desert island. The only survivors are a group of schoolboys. By day, they discover fantastic wildlife and dazzling beaches, learning to survive; at night, they are haunted by nightmares of a primitive beast.

Orphaned by society, it isn’t long before their innocent childhood games devolve into a savage, murderous hunt …

Lord of the Flies Book Review

Lord of the Flies is a book that had been on my TBR (to-be-read pile) forever. I first read this in my mid-twenties and wish I had studied this at school, which is where most readers encounter this.

It’s all about a group of schoolboys who become stranded on a desert island. But don’t let the young ensemble lead you into thinking this is a children’s book. Lord of the Flies is a lot darker than I imagined and I was horrified at some of the events and scenes that took place.

At first, the young boys attempt to mimic an orderly adult society on the island. They group together to keep a fire lit so that any passing ships will see the smoke from the island.

But without any adults to supervise them, the boys begin to become violent, cruel and brutal in their bid to survive.

The small society they have attempted to build on this remote island eventually descends into chaos, prompting the reader to question the capacity for supposedly civilised humans to be savage.

And trust me when I say the ending really is just that – savage.

Although Lord of the Flies is a relatively simple tale, Golding’s writing is rich and the symbolism is clever. This story aims to show how savage humans can be when left to their own devices and there’s no order or morals.

Although Golding uses the island setting to demonstrate this point, this book leaves you feeling uncomfortable as you start to realise that man in a “civilised” society may not be any better. 

Golding reminds us that we all have the capacity for darkness and cruelty. This story stays with readers long after they have turned the last page because it is so haunting. And it’s haunting because it’s clear that this could so easily happen in the society we live in today.

It also poses the interesting political question of democracy vs authoritarianism. Should we be forced to follow someone who is deemed to be a “rational” or “moral” leader, or be allowed to follow whoever presents a view that most aligns with our desires, whatever they may be.

Lord of the Flies is a classic for a reason. It’s well worth a read and really quite readable as classics go. If you’re looking for an short classic book to get yourself into reading classics then Lord of the Flies is a great book to start with.

Reading this book is also important so that you understand some Lord of the Flies references that get bandied about in conversation on occasion. Who are Ralph and Piggy? And what is a conch?

If you haven’t read this classic book yet then add this to your book wishlist ASAP. It’s chilling, but well-written and a good read.

Lord of the Flies Quotes

“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us.”

“The thing is – fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”

“We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”

“The greatest ideas are the simplest.”

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”

“We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything.”

Buy Lord of the Flies now: Amazon | Waterstones | Blackwells

If you liked this post, check out these: Books Like The Hunger Games Books Like The Handmaid’s Tale Young Adult Dystopian Books for Teens 15 Gothic Books to Read

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FAVBOOKSHELF

Tuesday 30th of August 2022

absolutely adored the review! got convinced to pick it up by the end of the review and the quotes were definitely a cherry on top.

matthew atkinson

Tuesday 3rd of May 2022

What a great review...exactly what i was thinking but was unable to put that into writing! I didn't study this book at school either, i was i had, quite a strange and brutal read and setting.

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Lord of the Flies

William golding.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

Welcome to the LitCharts study guide on William Golding's Lord of the Flies . Created by the original team behind SparkNotes, LitCharts are the world's best literature guides.

Lord of the Flies: Introduction

Lord of the flies: plot summary, lord of the flies: detailed summary & analysis, lord of the flies: themes, lord of the flies: quotes, lord of the flies: characters, lord of the flies: symbols, lord of the flies: literary devices, lord of the flies: theme wheel, brief biography of william golding.

Historical Context of Lord of the Flies

Other books related to lord of the flies.

• Full Title: Lord of the Flies
• Where Written: England
• When Published: 1954
• Literary Period: Post-war fiction
• Genre: Allegorical novel / Adventure novel
• Setting: A deserted tropical island in the middle of a nuclear world war
• Climax: Piggy's death
• Point of View: Third person omniscient

Extra Credit for Lord of the Flies

Beelzebub. The phrase "lord of the flies" is a translation of the Greek "Beelzebub," a devil mentioned in the New Testament. In the Bible, Beelzebub sometimes seems to be Satan himself, and at other times seems to be Satan's most powerful lieutenant.

Coral Island. William Golding based several of the main ideas in Lord of the Flies on Coral Island (1858), a somewhat obscure novel by Robert Ballantyne, a 19th-century British novelist. In Coral Island , three English boys create an idyllic society after being shipwrecked on a deserted island. They battle wild hogs, typhoons, hostile island visitors, and eventually Pirates on the South Seas.

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Lord of the Flies

By william golding.

'Lord of the Flies' is a hard novel to categorize and falls into several genres. It is allegorical and full of symbolism.

About the Book

Article written by Lee-James Bovey

P.G.C.E degree.

Written in the wake of Golding’s own experiences as a soldier, the novel uses a group of boys left stranded on an island as a metaphor for the effect that humankind has on the natural world. It is also a social commentary on the innate evil that resides inside man when free from the constraints of society.

Key Facts about  Lord of the Flies

• Title:   Lord of the Flies 
• When written : the early 1950’s.
• Published:  1954
• Genre:  Novel / Dystopian / Bildungsroman / allegory / Adventure
• Point-of-View:  Third-person omniscient.
• Setting:  An unknown pacific island.
• Climax:  Ralph attempting to escape Jack’s hunters.
• Antagonist:  Jack and his hunters.

William Golding and Lord of the Flies

William Golding worked primarily as a teacher before joining the navy during World War II to help in the war effort. It was an action that was to influence the author for the rest of his life. During his experiences, his views on humankind were shaped. He was forced to see how inherently evil humans could be. Allegedly, the idea of humankind’s evil was deep-rooted even before the war. Golding suggested he struggled with his own demons. He reported that he was a bit of a bully at school and had to work hard to control his own inner savage. With that in mind, it starts to become clear how the story of  ‘ Lord of the Flies’ came to be.

The fact that he worked as a teacher and served in the War act as signposts of the creative inspiration behind ‘ Lord of the Flies’ . Themes in his books seem to be inspired heavily by his own life experiences .

Golding achieved great success in the literary world, claiming a Booker Prize and then later a Nobel Prize for Literature, thus cementing himself among an elite group of writers to have won the award.

Golding passed away in 1993 in Cornwall, where he had lived a peaceful existence with his family: his wife and two children.

Books Related to Lord of the Flies

As previously mentioned, ‘ Lord of the Flies’  is a difficult book to categorize. The obvious comparisons are great adventure tales such as ‘ The Coral Island’ or ‘ Robinson Crusoe’ . However, Golding’s work is far bleaker and has a lot more depth than these works. So while it could be categorized as an adventure book or a coming-of-age tale, often it isn’t.

It is more often associated with dystopian fiction. Given its allegorical nature, it could be likened (although not in terms of plot) to something like Orwell’s ‘ Animal Farm’ .

Legacy of Lord of the Flies

This book has remained popular since its publication. There are numerous reasons why this is the case. Firstly, it is often contained in school curricula. Due to its many themes, it lends itself well to studying.

Then, there is the thought-provoking nature of the piece. Most readers find themselves contemplating what they would do without the constraints of society. One only needs to look to contemporary films like “The Purge” to see that humankind still has a fascination with the notion of how human beings would live if there were no rules and no laws to keep them in check. The book is so popular it has spawned three movie versions plus influenced everything from books to music. It has been cited as a source of inspiration for Stephen King and rock groups like U2 and Iron Maiden.

Lord of the Flies Themes and Analysis 🏝️

Lord of the flies historical context 🏝️, lord of the flies characters 🏝️, lord of the flies quotes 💬, lord of the flies review ⭐, lord of the flies summary 🏝️.

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Lord of the Flies

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• Literary Devices - Lord of the Flies
• Internet Archive - "Lord of the Flies"

Lord of the Flies , novel by William Golding , published in 1954. The book explores the dark side of human nature and stresses the importance of reason and intelligence as tools for dealing with the chaos of existence.

In the novel, children are evacuated from Britain because of a nuclear war. One airplane, with adults and prep-school boys as passengers, crashes on an uninhabited island, and all the adults are killed. As the boys fashion their own society, their attempts at establishing a social order gradually devolve into savagery. Finally abandoning all moral constraints, the boys commit murder before they are rescued and returned to civilization.