Lord of the Flies Review

             Lord of the Flies is a 1954 Nobel-Prize winning novel by William Golding that focuses on a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island with no connection with the outside world in the middle of a war. At the beginning of the book, the boys try to govern themselves. However, as fear takes over the island and the quest for power rises, the boys are divided and the chances of being rescued slim. I will talk about the message of the book, my thoughts on the book, and the symbolic ending. This will not contain spoilers, but if you do want to see the analysis of the ending of Lord of the Flies, then highlight the white text after the bolded sentence.

One of the main driving forces of the plot is fear. This unpleasant feeling of uneasiness, panic, agitation, and doubt ultimately leads the group of boys to split into two groups. One centered around civilization and the instinct to act and live peacefully with the goal of being reduced, and the other centered around savagery and the instinct to act and live violently and uncontrollably. 

I would rate this book 9.5/10, because the idea of savagery vs. civilization really got me attached to the book. The themes of civilization and knowledge conveyed by Golding were executed brilliantly with the help of the symbolic objects throughout the story such as the conch and Piggy’s spectacles. It was pretty entertaining to read and I think that Golding did an excellent job of making the symbolic characters of the book as well, such as Piggy representing knowledge and Jack representing unbridled savagery. However, I think the most powerful part of the book was probably reading the last few pages of the book. If you do want to know what happens at the end, then highlight the following white text to see the spoilers:

At the end of the book when the whole island is on fire and Ralph frantically rushes through the undergrowth to escape Jack and his group, Ralph ends up on the beach and looks up to see a naval officer. Jack and his group with painted faces and wooden spears with the vicious fire raging in the forest all pause at the beach at the sight of the naval officer. The naval officer is at first bewildered and disappointed by the savagery of the boys, and in fact questions their actions by saying that he is unable to understand how the boys could revert to such savagery. However, as Ralph, Jack, and all the other survivors weep in grief rather than joy after the realization of all the berserk things done on the island, the naval officer looks away to give them time and sets his eyes on the trim cruiser. Golding uses this moment to symbolize the fact that the naval officer is also fighting in his own violent nuclear war with lives being lost in the war as well.

 I took half a point off because it was perplexing and hard to follow during some points of the book. There were large blocks of text that made it hard to follow along with the plot. However, I’m still very glad that I read this book and it probably is in my top 5. I highly suggest that you read this book and check it out. 

                                                                                                                                    - Harsh