THE BOOK FAIR

William Golding

LORD OF THE FLIES

Author:      William Golding

Published: 1954

Genre:        Classic

Cover:         Paperback

Pages:         187

William Golding was born in Cornwell, England in 1911.  A Fellow of the Royal Society of British Literature, Golding holds a place among the top fifty British authors since the 1940’s. Other works by the author include, “Rites of Passage” and “To the Ends of the Earth”.  In 1980, William Golding won the Booker Prize and in 1983, William Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  The author was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II is 1988.  William Golding died in Cornwall, England, in 1993.

 

During wartime, a British aircraft, carrying British, adolescent, school boys, crashes on an island in the Pacific Ocean.  The main characters are Ralph, Jack and Piggy.  Ralph takes over as leader, Piggy, the intellect, becomes the arbitrator. 

Under Ralph’s leadership, the boys form a governing body, use a conch to call meetings and maintain a continual fire for rescue.  There is no lack of food on the island and no natural enemies.  Jack defies Ralph’s command of leadership, turns against Ralph, and engages in hunting.  As time passes, Ralph loses control of Jack’s group who abandon all civility.

 

Note:

“Coral Island” a novel written by R.M. Ballantyne, a Scottish author, in 1858 portrays three boys marooned on a South Pacific Island.  The themes of the book expressed leadership, civilization with Christianity, and British Imperialism.  In “Coral Island”, the children encounter evil, whereas in “The Lord of the Flies”, the children act on the evil within them.