Lord of the Flies by William Golding

So John Green, according to his Crash Course series on Youtube, does not like this book. John Green and I disagree. I set this as the setwork book for my Grade 10s this year, and they loved it.

In case you are not aware, Lord of the Flies is a thought experiment of what would happen should a bunch of school boys crash on a deserted island. Now, before you think of some gorgeously romantic island getaway, sit down and remember your school days. What happened when the teacher left the classroom? Did everyone sit down, nose to the books, pen in hand and do some work? I bet you are raising your eyebrows at the silly question - unless you went to an all girls' school, in which case, I wouldn't know.

“We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.”

― William Golding, Lord of the Flies

This novel was both written and set after World War 2 (the novel set during a nuclear war shortly after World War 2.). Golding was in the navy during the war, and I think that had a huge effect on him and his understanding of human nature. This was the war that saw the first nuclear attack. This was the war that saw genocide and the horrors of concentration camps. Can anyone really blame Golding for thinking man was capable of immense evil? He had just seen it! This leads me to the main premise of this novel: the evil is within us.

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”

― William Golding, Lord of the Flies

The language in this is spectacular. The imagery is fantastically dark. It does not let the reader have a moment to relax as it fills one's head with murder and danger. The vocab is a bit advanced for school going kids, but that is why dictionaries were invented, right!

The characters were not stagnant. They developed throughout the story, and watching their growth or degeneration was gripping. The three main characters are Ralph, Jack and Piggy with Simon coming in closely behind them. All the characters are flawed - even those that we were rooting for. Ralph was initially a bit of a bully, Jack was on a power trip, Piggy was lazy. Simon was physically weak and was unable to express himself - which was really unfortunate.

I do agree with John Green, however, that Golding's references to tribal life being savage were unfounded. While I think he was aiming at a generalised opinion, it was not a fact, and therefore the argument does flounder. But the reason it is not a fact is because tribal societies are societies with rules and expectations which means that they are civilised.

If you enjoyed Lord of the Flies, I would suggest reading Beauty Queens by Libba Bray. It is a very similar setting, but with girls. Her novel is completely satirical, so read it for the message, not necessarily the plot.

I have bumped my rating up to 5 stars for this book. The more often I read it, the more I appreciate it. Or maybe it was that this particular class got so involved and invested in the story that