Lord of the Flies

Title: Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

Pages: 208

Genre: Fiction

Letter Grade: A

Synopsis: The Lord of the Flies is a novel about a groups of young boys who are stranded on a deserted tropical island after a plane wreck. There are three kinds of boys in this novel. The first group are those who follow Ralph. He was the first leader elected no the island and represents democracy and order. The main character of the book, Piggy, is a part of Ralph's group. Piggy is the clearest thinking and most adult-like character in the book. This group shrinks as the book progresses. The second group of boys were the choir-boys. They originally went along with Ralph as the leader but found it more exciting to be with Jack and to go hunting with him. Eventually Jack takes over this group of boys and they begin to turn into evil savages. Roger, one of the boys in the group is expecially devilish and delights in harming other living creatures. The third group of boys on the island are the 'littluns', about whom the book talks little. The novel focuses on how the two groups develop and how Ralph's group is focused on being rescued while the boys in Jack's group live without planning for the future. The book follows the boys as many of them transition from being civilized to utterly barbaric.

My Review: This book can be a hard one to stomach. It is a fascinating, thought-provoking social commentary on how quickly we humans can change for the worse. The book is chock-full of symbolism and allegory. One of the main themes of the book is when Simon (who is good, clean and possibly symbolic of a Christ figure) has spent time in nature thinking when he comes upon the pig's head on a stick. The head is covered in flies and seem to almost be moving. SImon imagines the head talking to him. The head confirms to him that the beast on the island (that everybody is afraid of) really comes from within. He knew this all along and when he staggers out of the forest to tell the other boys about what he has learned, he finds them in the midst of their hunting dance celebrating a recent kill. The boys, thinking him to be the beast, attack and kill him. The book leaves an impression and gets you thinking about how you would act under similar circumstances. Most of us probably don't see us as a part of Jack's group, but do we really know?