Lord of the Flies
William Golding
The Author
William Golding was born on September 19, 1911, in Cornwall, England. After
graduating from Oxford, he worked briefly as an actor, and then became a
schoolteacher. When England entered World War II, Golding joined the Royal
Navy. After the war, he resumed teaching and also began writing novels. His first
and greatest success came with 1954's Lord of the Flies, after which he was able
to retire from teaching and devote himself fully to writing. Although he never
again attained the kind of popular and artistic success he enjoyed with Lord of
the Flies, on the basis of that book he remained a respected and distinguished
author for the rest of his life, publishing several novels and a play, The Brass
Butterfly (1958). He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983. William
Golding died in 1993, one of the most acclaimed writers in England.
Lord of the Flies, which tells the story of a group of English boys marooned on a
tropical island after their plane is shot down during a war, is fiction. But the
novel's exploration of the idea of human evil is to some extent based on
Golding's experience with the violence and savagery of human beings during
World War II.
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel – what does this mean? It means that
the characters and objects directly represent the themes in the novel.
William Golding was influenced by several other authors while writing the novel.
His references to Coral Island and the use of the names Jack and Ralph are both
derived from Robert Ballantyne's Coral Island. He has also had influence from
the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs and Jules Verne. The novel is reminiscent of
Robinson Crusoe where a man is stranded and manages to colonize the area
and make the natives his slaves. Golding, however, held a much more negative
outlook on human nature, which he expressed in his works, beginning with Lord
of the Flies.
Prethink
Answer the following:
If you were stranded on a deserted island what ONE item (inanimate) would you
take with you?
What THREE CD’s would you take?
What ONE movie would you?
What ONE novel would you take?
What ONE clothing item would you take?
Personality Analysis
Go to http://www.advisorteam.com/temperament_sorter/register.asp?partid=1
Take the test but do not order the results. Once you know what type you are, go
back to the home page and read about the personality type. How accurately does
it describe you?
What are the four personality types (temperaments) listed?
Give a brief description of each personality type with examples.
Where do you think Jack, Simon, Ralph, Piggy and Roger fit? Explain why.
Character & Symbolism
Ralph – Anglo-Saxon means counsel
Piggy – Wild Pigs hunted on the Island
Jack – Hebrew means one who supplants
Simon – Hebrew means listener
Roger – Germanic means spear
Notice the Germanic name having the negative connotation while the AngloSaxon is positive.
Symbolism plays an important part in the development of the plot in the novel.
This narrative technique is used to give significance to certain people or objects,
which represent some other figure.
Person and Object
Piggy and his glasses
Ralph and the Conch
Simon
Roger
Jack
The Island
The Scar
The Lord of the Flies
The Beast
Represents
Themes
William Golding presented numerous themes and basic ideas that give the
reader something to think about. In his own words
The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of
human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the
ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however
apparently logical or respectable. The whole book is symbolic in nature except
the rescue in the end where adult life appears, dignified and capable, but in
reality enmeshed in the same evil as the symbolic life of the children on the
island. The officer, having interrupted a manhunt, prepares to take the children
off the island in a cruiser which will presently be hunting its enemy in the same
implacable way. And who will rescue the adult and his cruiser?
Simplified the themes are:
 There is a fine line between civilization and chaos.
 Morals come directly from our surroundings, and if there is no civilization
around us, we will lose these values.
Other secondary themes include the following:
 People will abuse power when it's not earned.
 When given a chance, people often single out another to degrade to
improve their own security.
 You can only cover up inner savagery so long before it breaks out, given
the right situation.
 Loss of innocence
 Fear of the unknown
 Power and Control
Discussion Questions
 Defend and/or criticize Ralph’s actions as leader. What were his
motivations? Did he contribute to the tragedy in any way? Could he have
acted to prevent any of the deaths? What would you have done differently
in his situation?
 Do you think that taking a group of kids from a country whose government
is not modeled on a democracy would be able to form a democratic form
of government (knowing about a democratic form of government) or would
they model the same type of government they live under?
 Why do you think democracy fails on the island? Do you think in this type
of situation that dictatorship makes more sense and has a better success
rate? Why?
 Reality shows like Survivor and Kid Nation attempt to recreate the
“stranded on a deserted island” situation. Why do you think this is so
appealing to the modern audience?