William Golding, Lord of the Flies Review

Overall Rating

Goldings Nightmare

Ryan Harris - reinstates the dark novel

Golding has spiritually retrieved his title for the novel from the Hebrew word Ba'al ze bub meaning Lord of the Flies, later corrupted to Beelzebub. The novel is an examination of the nature of evil.

The novel starts off when a plane-load of upper crust British school boys, evacuated during the blitz, crash on a edenic, uninhabited tropical island. Without a living adult in sight the boys start out with forms of civilization they have grown up with; democracy, rational discussion, planning for the future and such. But very soon that form of civilization blurs as revealed is Golding's profusion of raw human nature. Evil inhabits the British school boys; ignorance, fear, the lust for power and the lust for blood. These combined destroy the school boys, to violent twisted savagery.

Golding purveys the barbarity of the boys through several main characters. Jack is tall, redheaded and emerges as the unlikely leader of the Choir boys. When Ralph becomes the leader of all the boys on the island, Jack becomes upset, for he wanted that authority but instead becomes the leader of the "hunters." Jack takes the boys from civilized young men into savages through the novel. He is sinister and malicious. As the structure breaks down, Jack forms his own separate tribe, separating from Ralph and the rest of the group. Jack is a cruel bully. He breaks Piggy's glasses and leads the others towards Piggy's murder. He brings the boys into a climax of hysteria and eventually hunts Ralph down like a beast.
Another disturbing character is Roger. Roger is an individual who brutally enjoys hurting others. He is described in Chapter 1 as a boy "who kept to himself with avoidance and secrecy." His secret is that he is, in some ways, more evil than even Jack. All his life, Roger has been conditioned to contain his impulses. But with the "irresponsible authority" of Jack's leadership, this offers the chance to exhibit his cruelty. Once he joins Jack's tribe, he has lost that conditioning and eventually kills Piggy with a boulder. Roger becomes the torturer of the tribe and plays a key role in all dictatorships. He relishes the role of a killer.
On the other side of the fence is Ralph. Ralph represents leadership, the properly socialized and civilized young man. He is charismatic and intelligent. He depicts common sense. Ralph is the one who asserts the meeting place, the fire, and the huts. He applies Piggy's intellectualism during the meetings. He is a diplomat and a natural leader.

Along with Ralph there is Piggy. Piggy is very intellectual but has poor eyesight, a weight problem and asthma. He is by far the most physically vulnerable of all the boys, despite his greater intelligence. Piggy's intellect benefits the group only through Ralph; he acts as Ralph's advisor. He cannot be the leader himself because he lacks leadership qualities and has no trust with the other boys. Piggy also relies too heavily on the power of talking. He believes that holding the conch gives him the right to be heard. He believes that upholding meetings and discussing get results.

Not only do these characters hold their own colours but each one engages with the evil of Beelzebub. This is what Golding tries to purvey throughout the novel. Golding embraces the fact that no matter how holy or un-sinned you are there is always that inch of evil inside of all our hearts. When showed, that evil can destroy lives.

Golding has managed to create a great book and I would recommend it to all.