Novel Topics

Presentation Choices

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Introduction

What kid did not fantasize, at one time or another, about being left alone, completely unsupervised, for a long period of time? Imagine your delight at being able to say or do whatever you wanted, whenever you pleased? You could eat what you liked, go to bed when you decided, miss school, and behave as you please without reproach. You could be your own master. Such a scenario is presented in the novel Lord of the Flies but the events that unfold may not be as you had imagined.

William Golding's dark, sobering allegory, set during the second world war, tells the story of British schoolboys who are marooned on an uninhabited island. As the boys struggle to adapt to their crude but strangely exotic existence, two distinct approaches to leadership begin to emerge. One group led by Ralph attempts to adhere to the rules and practices of a civilized, and responsible society. Jack emerges as the leader of a second group that becomes increasingly attracted to hedonism and barbarism.

Golding's depiction of human nature paints a rather bleak picture and holds out little hope for the future of mankind. Golding seems to suggest that civilized behavior is an acquired state rather than a quality that exists within all human beings. He goes further to suggest that when the restraints imposed by civilization are removed and we are allowed to dictate our own social and moral behaviors, we will invariably revert back to what comes naturally. The novel serves to illustrate Golding's point that evil is stronger, easier, and much more seductive than goodness and is therefore man's natural state.

As violence, terrorism and conflict escalate throughout the modern world what story could be more topical than Lord of the Flies?