"Lord of the Flies" by William Golding: Born on September 19, 1911, in Cornwall England, William Golding studied English Literature at Oxford and worked as a schoolteacher before joining the British Royal Navy at the onset of World War II. Golding's military career included being involved in the sinking of the Bismarck and commanding a ship during the D-Day invasion of Normandy. But Golding's wartime experience forced him to confront the evils of mankind firsthand, forever altering his view of human nature and profoundly impacting his future writings. Golding's new perspective on life was put on display with "Lord of the Flies" (1954).
When the book opens, the world is once again at war. A group of English schoolboys is being evacuated to safety when their plane is shot down, crash-landing on a remote island. There are no adult survivors. United in the common goal of being rescued, the boys work together, mirroring a right proper democratic society, electing a leader, building a signal fire, gathering food, and constructing shelters. And then reality comes calling.
Ralph, one of the older kids, is elected to be chief, due mainly to his finding a conch shell and using it to call the first general assembly. While still owning the immaturity of youth, Ralph is physically strong, practical, and morally upright. He never loses sight of their collective situation, putting enormous importance on creating and maintaining a fire to signal any passing ships. Ralph also initiates rules, such as allowing only the person with the conch shell to talk during meetings, providing a basis for law and order.
Piggy is the smartest boy on the island. Overweight, asthmatic, and spectacled, Piggy can't physically compete with the other boys and lacks innate courage, but his ideas are often innovative and integral to survival, and his glasses become the instrument to make fire. He's the first to meet Ralph and serves as a de facto lieutenant to the new chief.
The other dominant personality on the island is Jack Merridew. The leader of a choir group, Jack has his own followers and is the only true threat to Ralph's authority. He volunteers to lead a pack of hunters, vowing to bring the tribe meat. A short-tempered, brash egoist, Jack is perfectly suited for his chosen role.
Other notable members of the tribe are Simon, a sensitive, philosophical lad with a noble heart; Sam and Eric, impressionable twin brothers known collectively as Samneric; and Roger, Jack's sadistic right-hand man.
At first, everything is puppet shows and candy canes, as the boys enjoy their freedom on the island, completely removed from the domineering oppression of adults. But survival ain't no boat ride. While Ralph, Simon, and Piggy do their best to follow through with the tribe's grand visions, the other boys would rather play than work, shirking their responsibilities at every turn. When Ralph voices his displeasure, seeds of revolt are planted.
Meanwhile, Jack and his hunters continue to fail in their repeated bids to snag a pig. So caught up in their fevered pursuit of pork, they neglect their other duties, allowing the signal fire to go out just as a ship is seen passing in the distance. The missed rescue opportunity infuriates Ralph, only furthering the dissension within the ranks.
Fear has also descended upon the tribe, with the littlest members petrified of a mysterious beast thought to roam the island at night. The older boys write it off as nonsense, but soon all fall prey to the same fears. The beast becomes a very real aspect of everyday life. Kind of like sobriety.
A major turning point occurs when Jack and his crew catch their first pig. They sneak up on a sow feeding her piglets and ravage the poor animal, Jack slicing its throat and Roger thrusting a spear where no spear should ever go unless, you know, it's a loving moment shared between two consenting adults. The rush of the kill empowers Jack, and his delivering on the promise to provide meat elevates him in the eyes of the other boys, placing him on equal footing with Ralph for leadership.
The taste of blood thrusts the boys into savagery. The tribe splits, with Jack leading his own rogue band of violent, lawless savages, while Ralph, Piggy, and Simon cling to morality and civilized behavior. Guess which side wins.
Mr. Golding wrote the story as an allegory for human nature, warning against the darker impulses within every man. Just as humankind has ruined the virtual paradise of Earth, the boys turn their idyllic island into chaos. Even innocent children are corrupted when presented with a choice between good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral. The boys devolve into wild animals, becoming the primitive versions of the supposed civilized adult world around them, which now wages wars with atomic bombs instead of sticks and stones.
Without question, my favorite character is Simon. He's quite the little philosopher, becoming the first boy to realize the inherent dangers of their predicament. Simon knows there's a beast on the island, but it isn't some giant snake or wolf or sea monster. The beast is the dark side of human nature lurking within each and every boy. Simon's knowledge, and his inability to make his friends understand, drives him to insanity.
During one of Simon's fits of fevered anxiety, he encounters the physical incarnation of the enemy. Jack had planted the sow's head on a stick, offering it as an appeasement to the island's imagined beast. The lifeless skull, drained of blood and surrounded by ravenous insects, is the Lord of the Flies. It taunts Simon, mocking the boys' struggles and claiming responsibility for the tribe's disintegration. The devil incarnate, it tells Simon there's no escaping its influence. There's nothing the boys, or mankind, can do.
I also liked reading the story as an exercise in existentialism. Despite almost no hope for rescue, the boys continually struggle to maintain the signal fire, much as man repeatedly tackles each new day in the unforgiving shadow of death.
The book is simply brilliant. On the surface, Mr. Golding's style is very simple and straightforward, forsaking poetic indulgence for terse, succinct storytelling. Yet everything he does is deceptively powerful, delivering an esoteric dream in an easily accessible tale of childish adventure.
RATING: 