Lord of the Flies by William Golding Reading Log

Lord of the Flies By William Golding Reading Log:

‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding is a classic novel, one of the greatest pieces of literature. This is because of its portrayal of human nature. The themes of Good verse Evil, Civilization verse Savagery, Power and Survival resonate with the reader and make them question societies roles and rules and what would they do if they were in the boy’s position.  The book is relevant because the ideas and messages throughout the novel still mirror what’s going on in society both in the 50’s and now. The audience is able to imagine themselves as the one of the boys, due to Golding’s ability to capture the essence of the characters.

‘Lord of the Flies’ describes the story of a group of English school boys aged 5-12 all from different backgrounds. They find themselves stranded on an uninhabited tropical island after their plane, taking them away from war, crashes. The boys initially relish the idea of freedom and feel quite comfortable on the island there is plenty of food and adventure. To keep a sense of civilisation the boys nominate Ralph as leader or ‘chief’ of the group. The boys under Ralph’s leadership manage to adapt to the island, learning how to make a fire (to attract passing ships), build shelters, hunt and maintain some civilisation by having meetings and using the conch shell.

The initial glamour of being independent and self-sufficient disappears when Golding begins to introduce the idea of the ‘beast’. The beast signals the end of the game the boys were living under Ralph’s control and the start of a brutal reality led by Jack, where the boys believe that survival must occur in any form possible leading to the brutal killing of two of the boys (Piggy and Simon). By the end of the novel there are two distinct groups within their island ‘society’ – the conch group led by Ralph and the savages led by Jack.  The boys who left the island were unrecognisable from the boys who originally landed. The novel made me feel uncomfortable with human nature and question what I would do if put into this situation, and whether I would be the same after the experiences. This reminds me of the society which we live in where we make choices without thinking of the impact that these choices may have on others. This is an issue that connects to the me as within my life often I act without thinking of the impact that it might have on others, this is especially evident through the acts of bullying.

 ‘Lord of the Flies’ was written in 1954 after the end of World War Two. This was a period of hope and optimism. However, the horrific events during World War Two that Golding experienced did not allow him to see things as simplistically as others. It was not the actual battles during World War Two that appalled him; it was the human capacity for brutality that during war was seen as an everyday occurrence. During the war there was no respect for human life, men were treated like animals. Golding tried to emulate this within the novel.