By Mary Eby
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a seemingly dry tale that has an extremely intriguing, and compelling, in depth story.
Lord of the Flies is a classic and well known tale written by author, William Golding. It tells the story of a group of schoolboys who, during a time of war, are in a plane that happens to crash on a deserted island. The boys are left without any authority figures or adults on the island, which is seen as an opportunity for the boys. But, as time goes on the boys fight for authority of each other which then leads to physical conflict between them. They turn to malicious means to gain what they each want, which only leads to catastrophic results.
William Golding, a British man, was originally a teacher of english and philosophy. As time went on, Golding spent time in the British Royal Navy. After that, Golding wrote his most acclaimed and famous novel, Lord of the Flies, which was then published in 1954. Later in his life, William Golding was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for literature. The award was for the intense realism of his books and also for the philosophical ideas that his books suggested.
Golding’s tale, Lord of the Flies, is one that is read by millions; many high school students read the novel in their english classrooms. But, the novel often does not seem to appeal to a younger audience. Many younger audiences take William Golding’s Lord of the Flies to be a bland and boring tale. The truth of the matter is that what makes Lord of the Flies a classic and famous tale is its underlying story and not what is seen on the surface of the words.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives an in depth look at human nature. He uses the stranded schoolboys in his novel as a vessel to show the possible outcome of a society without order and authoritative figures. The island that is without a hierarchy of rules and order shows the massacres that would occur if society was without such things. Golding’s novel provides a comprehensive psychological study of innate human instincts and the need for order and structure in society. This aspect of Golding’s novel is what everyone should focus on when reading the book. The most likely reason why most people could find Lord of the Flies to be boring and bland is that they are reading to read, not to comprehend and think. The key to Lord of the Flies is to think about the occurences of the novel in a manner that you normally would not.
There is no doubt that William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is an acquired taste. Every single person has their own opinion of what genre and types of books are interesting and worth their time. But, Lord of the Flies is still, undoubtedly, a brilliant piece of literature that takes its reader on a trip through the human mind.
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