Summary Of William Golding's 'Lord Of The Flies'

Lord of the Flies essay
Wordcount- 979

Give your opinion on why Lord of the Flies is considered an important novel in the canon of world literature, and why it was seminal in the nomination of Golding as a Nobel Prize winner.

Lord of the Flies is arguably one of the best known books in the world. This is because its main theme, civilisation versus savagery is still relevant today. It is also because the religious undertones throughout the text leave it open to discussion from all religious arguers. The Lord of the Flies was also the reason that Golding won the Nobel Prize, by opening interest into his other works.

A reason that “Lord of the Flies” is notable is the theme of civilisation versus savagery.
This is one of the main themes of the book, and is explored in the conflict the between the two main characters of the book, Jack and Ralph. Jack, the head of the choir boys represents savagery and is the antagonist of the book, while Ralph represents civilisation. At the

start of the book all of the boys on the island are still civilised, however as time passes more and more of the boys lose the hold that civilisation has on them. This is best shown by one of the choir boys, Rogers development throughout the book “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, and threw it at Henry - threw to miss...there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong was the taboo of his old life.” (Golding, p 66, 1999), At this point Rroger is still within the boundaries of civilisation. However, later in the book Roger is the boy who instigates pushing a rock onto Piggy (a still civilised boy who is mocked by the others) and kills him. This change is evidence of Golding’s idea of innate human evil, that without the construct of civilisation humans would go savage. The theme of civilisation versus savagery is still seen today. Perhaps the most recent and ongoing example is the war between the Islamic state rebels and the governments of the attacked (aided by the United States of America). However, the media and perhaps the US government portrays it as the US government, the paragon of civilisation against the lawless ISIS and its jihadists. With this parallels can be drawn with Lord of the Flies, with the US resembling Ralph, trying to keep the world civilised, and the ISIS mirroring the actions of Jack as they draw more and people into fighting on the side of ISIS. Lord of the Flies is notable, because its main theme of civilisation versus savagery is still relevant today.

The theme of religion in Lord of the Flies is also notable in our world today. Lord of the Flies can be seen as a religious allegory (particularly in regards to Christianity). The island itself can be viewed as a replica of the Garden of Eden, and the little ones report of a “snake thing” (P48) a reference to the snake in the Garden of Eden. This is furthered by the parallels between the appearance of Satan as the snake in the Garden of Eden which brings about the fall of Adam and Eeve, and the corruption of fear that begins when the idea of the “snake thing” is mentioned on the island. Throughout the story the character of Simon is that of a prophet, or even a partial retelling of Jesus Christ, who communicates with the beast; “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? “ (Golding, P161, 1999). This can be seen as saying that the beast is sin, as according to Christianity and many other religions we are born with sin (Bible, Psalm 51:5). These correlations between the Lord of the Flies and the religions of the world make it (so popular). This is because the book does not specifically state whether Golding is criticising religion or applauding it, leaving it open to interpretation. There are many Christian schools which study Lord of the Flies, as it reinforces the idea of sin, while at the same time many people have also published essays arguing that the Lord of the Flies only ironically critiques religion. The combination of religious references, and lack of definition means that Lord of the Flies can continuously be argued over for so long as there are religions in the world.

The Lord of the Flies was seminal in Golding’s Nobel prize.

However, it was not because of the quality of the book, or its themes. It was seminal because it got Golding noticed. That is not to say that Lord of the Flies is a bad book - it is not. The fact is that much of Golding’s work is as good as it. The popularity of Lord of the Flies allowed for public interest in his other work, for example “The Pyramid” (1967) or “Rites of Passage” (1980). Both of these books have been acclaimed by both the public and critics. The unusualness of Lord of the Flies’s themes is not singular to it either, they are a recurring pattern throughout his books. The religious parallels continue throughout “Darkness Visible” (1979) and most of his other works can be said to have allusions to, if not outright be about, civilisation versus savagery. Lord of the Flies was seminal in Golding’s nominalisation, not because of the high quality of the work, but because it allowed for Golding’s other works to become

known.

Lord of the Flies is one of the most important novels in world literature because of how we see its themes reflected in our current lives, and its religious subtext allows for debate by all religious believers. It was the reason for Golding’s Nobel prize, as it allowed his other work to be shown. Lord of the Flies is a book that will be forever eminent, and one that allowed a great author to be shown to the world.

Lord of the Flies is arguably one of the best known books in the world. This is because its main theme, civilisation versus savagery is still relevant today. It is also because the religious undertones throughout the text leave it open to discussion from all religious arguers. The Lord of the Flies was also the reason that Golding won the Nobel Prize, by opening interest into his other works.