Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Lord of the Flies (Faber and Faber, 1954)

Lord of the Flies is a modern classic and one that many literature students have studied the world over. It has become a favourite of mine even though I hated it when I first saw the film as a kid. I was terrified then. The dead airman with his billowing parachute filled my nightmares for years. PSSC students have this book as an option when studying a novel. It is certainly worth considering because the book isn't too long and most editions have plenty of study notes at the end to help you with meaning and finding quotes.

   I find the story itself deeply disturbing. How easy it was for a group of boys to kill their peers when forced to fend for themselves on an uninhabited island. 

  The book begins with the boys coming together after their plane has been shot down during a war. They are on a small island and no one knows where they are. They decide to organise themselves in order to be rescued by getting a bonfire ready. But their other aim while they wait on the island is 'to have fun'. Rival leaders Jack and Ralph form the basis of the main conflict in the story but the conflict in Ralph's heart is what makes this book such a brilliant character study. His strained relationship with Piggy is perfectly drawn, with every pause, every nuance of meaning so well written, that the reader feels as if they were inside the characters' heads.

   Lord of the Flies is more than a story of survival on a tropical island. It is a story of how close humans are to anarchy and how the threads of civilisation that bind us all can easily be broken if enough pressure is applied. This book really makes you think and that's why it's such a classic. But it's other strength is its masterful prose. Even if you aren't forced to study this book at some stage through high school, it's worth picking up anyway just for the experience.