Lord of the Flies
By: William Golding
Presentation By: Mrs. Woit
William Golding
British novelist
Born in 1911
Died 1993
Studied the Sciences
and English
Fought in Royal Navy
during WWII
Participant in D-Day
Nobel Prize in Literature
What was Life Like for
Golding?
WWII 1939- 1945
The fall of France to
Germany
British were fearing
invasion and began
evacuating children to
other countries
1940 A British ship carry
children was destroyed
killing the boys
His thoughts on LOTF
“It was simply what seemed sensible for
me to write after the war when everyone
was thanking God they weren’t Nazis. I’d
seen enough to realize that every single
one of us could be Nazis.” ~Golding
What inspired Golding to
write LOTF?
Experiences in the war
His questions about human nature
His own students behavior when given the
opportunity to debate
Novel FACTS
Rejected 21 times
before it was
published
His first novel 1954
Not really successful
until 1960
One of the most
challenged books in
schools
THEMES
Survival
Power/Leadership
Civilization vs.
Savagery
Loss of Innocence
Human Nature
Good vs. Evil
Literary devices
SYMBOLISM
IRONY
IMAGERY
FIGURATIVE
LANGUAGE
simile
metaphor
personification
ADAPTATIONS
Hook with Robin
Williams (lost boys are
like savages)
The Simpsons a parody
of LOTF
TV shows such as
Survivor and Lost
Stephen King’s novels
use “Castle Rock”
Degrassi, Danny
Phantom, and the Daily
Show
“Ralph wept for the
end of innocence,
the darkness of a
man’s heart, and the
fall through the air of
a true, wise friend
called Piggy.”
~Golding