William Golding, Lord of the Flies Review

Overall Rating

Its a modern classic and a must-read.

The traditional language may slow the story down for some people but you will acclimatise to it.

I have little doubt that you have studied or are aware of the notorious William Golding doorstop that is the Lord of the Flies. Its contents are preached in many variations from a primitive portrayal of the state of modern society to a dark, sinister and violent insight into the inner self. Despite personal interpretations, it has an undeniable shadowed energy woven amongst the post war banter. This review may aid those students who clutch the novel with a mysterious thousand meanings.

A vicious nuclear war rages, as a plane of British evacuees land in fire and thunder upon a desolate island. Without the presence of adults the boys adopt a stereotypical system of chief and followers. Ralph, level-headed and rational, becomes the authority figure, while hot-headed Jack and his choir-turned-hunters act as protection. Other strong characters assume places within the system; Piggy the intellectual, Roger, brooding and silent, and Simon, distant and innocent. But inevitable cracks soon begin to ripple as the tension between Jack and Ralph is described in sharp vocabulary and chilling description. The presence of a beast upon the mountain causes unease, steadily the hunters appeal as a safer and more exhilarating past time and the tribes divide. These packs of boys become enemies and opposites, one performing raids and daubing paint upon themselves and the other, desperate for rescue and a signal fire. One night when the rain cascades in droves and the shadows dance about the fire, an energy and adrenalin stir the boys to a savage dance and demonic chant. But without warning a pale figure with a shock of blonde hair stumbles from the forest screaming some inaudible words, the boys cross that delicate line between savagery and sanity
The story is simple yet complex. In places the childhood soul of the boys becomes apparent when life on the island is described as a game and the unknown is personified. They rush for an authority figure to be instated but mutiny and rebellion seep outwards from the core. Characters that are not drawn to the front of the plots are arcane, for example Rogers's role is minimal in the early chapters but he becomes striking and horrifically crucial to the crescendo. But, of course, any component of any mutiny, destruction, savagery and death is Beelzebub, the Devil, the Lord of the Flies. He wavers in and out of mind and soul throughout the novel. Becoming all that the boys fear, the beast, desolation and abandonment. Golding describes the embodiment of characters by this unholy spirit in the shape of Simon the innocent Messiah and Roger and Jack the dark negatives.
The Lord of the Flies, a grinning pig's skull, the heart of inner darkness, a metaphorical beast upon a mountain ridge or a manifestation of human creation.