Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Genre: Classic Fiction
Blurb (on back of book):
At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is
perhaps our most memorable novel about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.” MY OPINION: ****
Despite the fact that I was supposed to read this book for school a few years ago, my English teacher never decided to assign the book by the end of the year. However, as someone who is taking AP Literature this year, I decided that I should probably familiarize myself with more classics other than the ones that I have read, and I know a lot of people ended up actually enjoying this one. I myself actually liked it way more than I thought I would and I finished it fairly fast; I am aware that it is super short but as someone who usually takes a long time to finish classics, I read this one way faster than expected.
I feel like there are so many things I could say about this book but I don't want to sound like an English teacher, analyzing the many themes, characters, or symbols. I will say that I did recognize a lot of important overarching themes without the help of Sparksnotes or an English teacher, which I am happy about, as I sometimes am unable to really pinpoint various themes of thick, verbose classics without some sort of aid.
I loved the characters within this book, even the ones who were "bad" or who played the "villain." I think that everyone had a clear role within the story that added to the plot and changed how we view each boy and their dynamics with each other and with the situation at hand.
I loved Ralph and his will to lead, and I liked seeing how that ambition started to change throughout the book as the rest of the boys gradually decreased their loyalty to him and joined the less practical boy. I do think that Ralph is a highly complex character that you may not think of at first. I saw him as someone who firstly has a sharp mind and wants to lead but also is sometimes unable to use common sense, which is why he often leans on Piggy. I also think that he has a need to fit in but also doesn't want to admit that to himself, making himself more aloof than I think he wanted to be.
Piggy was a sweetheart and my heart ached for that poor boy. He was bullied by just about all the boys, even Ralph, though they were friends. His role was very integral to the survivability of the clan but nobody paid him much attention simply because of superficial, shallow reasons. I loved his character and the integrity, intellect, and loyalty that he brought to the group, despite being cut down by everyone else repeatedly.
Jack plays the role of someone who I believe really did have common sense but didn't want to use it in favor of having fun and keeping up appearances of being "cool" or popular. I do think that Jack was truly flawed in many ways and his actions were always uncalled for, but overall, I didn't hate him like I thought I would. You have to remember that these boys are young and naive and have no idea what they're doing, so I give him credit for who he was, even if who he was wasn't necessarily a good person.
The Lord of the Flies itself was a beautifully-written aspect of the book that I at first had a hard time understanding but gradually understood. I loved how this book touched on human immorality and the tendency to lean towards savagery, cruelty, and brutality, especially when in an unrestrained situation with no limits, no rules, no boundaries, and no punishments. I think about my own school and can't help but marvel at what it would be like to be stranded on an island with my grade. You can easily see how this book would very easily parallel real life should a group of young, naive people were left to their own devices, alone and unconstrained. It would be a chaos, and that is exactly what this book represents.
Overall, I'm sad that we never got to read this particular book for school. As most of you know, I am usually never a fan of the books we read for school but I think I would have really enjoyed this one. A lot of good discussions can come from reading this book and so I urge all my readers to pick this up if they haven't already (or pick it up again if it's been a couple decades!).
Main Character: Ralph, Piggy, Jack, etc
Sidekick(s): Steven, Sam, Eric, etc
Villain(s): The Lord of the Flies, immorality, vice, violence, etc
Fiction Elements: This book tells a fictional situation.
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