Lord of the Flies

by William Golding

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In a word: corrupted

In a sentence: A group of young boys battle with which is the stronger: nature or nurture.

Synopsis: A group of young schoolboys are stranded on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. None of the adults survived. The boys form their own communities which are illustrative of their truer natures.

Reactions: This was my second go-around with this novel, the first of which occurred in my very early youth to the point where almost all the details were forgotten and only the themes remained.

Lord of the Flies is a novel about human nature, group-think, and conscience, and clearly William Golding doesn’t think too much of our species. As a story about children from the perspective of a child, what struck me on this second reading was the astonishing power of social pressure upon youth, both from adults and peers. From Percival’s recitations of his name and address to Ralph’s chase of the beast, it appears that no child however young or powerful is immune to these pressures.

The other thing that struck me about this book during my second reading was that although both myself and most people I speak to about Lord of the Flies first recall Piggy’s death, Simon’s is actually the far more gruesome of the two murders in this novel. I question why that is. Is it because Piggy is a more prominent and likeable character than Simon (which is debatable in its own right)? Or is it because Piggy’s murder was the act of a ‘savage’ individual whereas Simon’s was a product of mob mentality? I have no answers, only questions.

Read If: you can stomach it.