Island Savages
A review of Lord of the Flies by William Golding
By Julia A. Keirns
The first time I read Lord of the Flies was in school, maybe Junior High, I don’t really remember the year. I knew I wanted to read it again and see if I could understand it better as an adult. I was right and I am glad I did.
The story begins with a group of schoolboys stranded on an island from a plane crash – shot down during the war. We can immediately see that without adult supervision, boys can be mean and cruel, and will revert immediately to human savagery. Right off the bat, the boys take sides. Ralph and Piggy just want to get rescued and save everybody. Jack on the other hand takes charge of his own group. I thought it was quite amazing that most all of the boys became savages. The strongest and most intelligent will rise to the top, and the weak will always fall to the bottom. It is human nature at its rawest form. Put a group of young boys on a stranded island with no supervision and watch how their society forms. Which also tells us that morality is inbred and comes from instinct. There will always be moral and immoral people with or without society. The strongest and the meanest will rise to power and everyone else who wants to live will follow in submission.
“He had even glimpsed one of them, striped down, black and red, and had judged that it was Bill. But really, thought Ralph, this was not Bill. This was a savage whose image refused to blend with that ancient picture of a boy in shorts and shirt.”
Morality was not completely dead without supervision. Ralph, Piggy and Simon fought for it to the end. Piggy was teased from the beginning on, and the end of his life symbolizes the end of anything remotely good on the island.
As Mr. Golding served in World War II, I wonder if his brain worked out the story of “what would happen if a group of young boys were on a plane and were shot down in the middle of the war and stranded on an uninhabited island?” At least maybe it gave him something to think about.
This whole book reminded me of a psychological experiment, such as the Stanford Prison experiment. And those were college kids. Thankfully Lord of the Flies, and the boys in this story were not real people but fictional characters. Had it been a real experiment I wonder what would have been different?
Written in 1954, Lord of the Flies is a very well written book that deserves to be read. It is intriguing and exciting, page turning to say the least. Stephen King stated it was the book that changed his life. I can’t say that it changed my life, but it is definitely a good book. A classic that everyone should put on their list.