The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies was William Golding's debut novel, published in 1954, and it has become a classic and beloved by teachers everywhere. It has been adapted twice into film and there is a new four part series that will be released on Netflix in May in the US. William Golding went on to publish eleven other novels, winning the Booker Prize for the first novel in is only series, Rites of Passage, as well as winning the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature in 1983 and being knighted in 1988. He died in 1993. Lord of the Flies deals with animal cruelty and death, bullying, body shaming, child death, fatphobia, blood, violence, murder, war, and toxic relationships.

When the plane evacuating a group of boys during World War II goes down, crashing on an uninhabited island in which there are no rules, and no adults, the boys see it at first as a fun adventure. No one can tell them what to do, they can run and play and yell and get as dirty as they want. But soon, when it becomes clear that they will need to facilitate in their own rescue, factions break out between the boys. Then the thought of something on the island that could be hunting them sends the boys to their breaking point.

I can see why this book is so popular. It is a short, coming in at less than two-hundred pages, but impactful. It is not a story with a vivid setting, or dimensional characters, or witty conversation. There is very little of any of those. It's a story about how easy it is for people to succumb to their baser natures. I do think it is making a point about how quickly society can degrade if we do not have rules and structure to keep us civil. But I have also heard people say that it's an example of how a bad apple can turn a whole barrel bad. But I disagree. I believe it's a warning of what can happen when someone has unchecked amounts of power. How dangerous a person can be when they focus only on being liked, on being popular, on being the one chosen to be in charge. How fear can change a person. And how easily the public's opinion is swayed, how quick we are as a society to make excuses just to assuage our own guilt and shame. Suffice to say, there are a lot of messages to be gleaned from this book.

I'm giving Lord of the Flies by William Golding 4.25 stars out of 5. I liked it, and I appreciate it for what it's trying to do, but it is not my favorite. Although, it is one that will stick with me.

These kids are on a tropical island and eat nothing but unripe fruit, but there is one reference to cornflakes. So this pairs well with some homemade corn flakes and knowing how to start a fire without a match.

My favorite quotes:

"The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away."

"He found himself understanding the wearisome of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one's waking life was spent watching one's feet."

"'We gave then something to think about, [...]. At least you did. I got mixed up with myself in a corner.'"