Lord of the Flies - Book Review
The classic novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exciting adventure deep into the nether regions of the mind; the part of the brain that is suppressed by the mundane tasks of modern society. It is a struggle between Ralph and Jack, the boys and the Beast, good and evil. The book was published in 1954 by New York publishing company, Aeonian Press. Much of Golding's novels were written during the era of the Second World War. Despite being heavily involved in the war efforts, Golding managed to not become a war novelist. This does however, somewhat explain why most of the conflicts in his books are basic struggles between people. He entered the Royal Navy at the age of twenty-nine in December 1940, and after a period of service on mine sweepers, destroyers, and cruisers, he became a lieutenant in command of his own rocketship (Baker xiii). So many of the authors of his time used the war as the back ground or main conflict in their books, but not Golding. He is able to use the war as his inspiration and write about the most primitive and basic struggles that man has with himself and society.The story takes a look at what would happen if a group of British school boys were to become stranded on an island. At first the boy
Golding's basic philosophy can be summed up in a few words - society is evil. All of his books deal with this idea in some way or another. It is very easy to see how this idea is presented in Lord of the Flies where "the good intentions of the few are overborne by the innate evil of the many (Burgess 121)." According to Burgess, one of many critics "what Golding senses is that institutions and order imposed from with out are temporary, but that man's irrationality and urge for destruction are enduring." According to Golding, the aim of his works is "to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature (Baker 5)." The novel is packed full of symbolism and irony. Golding also communicates his message quite well. "The title refers to Beelzebub, most stinking and depraved of all the devils: it is he, and not the God of Christians, who is worshipped (Burgess 121)." This is just one of the many examples of symbolism. Another would be that as the story progressed characters names slowly begin to change. A pair of twin boys, Sam and Eric, became known as Samneric, a single unit. Another boy completely forgot his name because he was just lumped into the group know as the little'uns. This is symbolic of the break down of the basic structure of society, identity. If a person does not know who he is then he can never function properly in society. The other tool that Golding uses very well is iron
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Approximate Word count = 950
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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