William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, as William Golding implied in about the theme of "Lord of the Flies", this is not only a simple adventure story about a group of boys stuck on a remote island but also a highly symbolic tale, questioning what happens to civilization when its very core, man, loses touch with his cultured ways and resorts back to his primitive way of life. The author points out that Golding's use of symbolism in the novel is the type, which shifts in form but not in meaning; when he progressively changes Jack from "dark" to "shadow," he creates the personification of Jack as the primitive man. The paper stresses that, when man acknowledges that his primal tendencies are indeed present, he is consciously on the look out for it to appear out of nowhere; so he strives to suppress his instincts and he replaces it with a sense of morality.

From the Paper:

"The novel, first published in 1954, came at a time in England, when people were still reeling from the effects of World War II. The events of that war shook Golding. He witnessed with his own eyes after joining the Royal navy, that the men who boast of his modernity and his high civilization are the very same men who created the war, joined in the killing and rejoiced in its so-called success. He discovered that these atrocities went far beyond the war and were carried on in the totalitarian states. Atrocities done by learned men, by men who had long ago established an institution of culture, to fellow human beings."

More papers on William Golding's "Lord of the Flies":

• Book Review # 66031 : "Lord of the Flies"
• Analytical Essay # 51561 : "Lord of the Flies"
• Comparison Essay # 103901 : "Lord of the Flies" and "1984"
• Analytical Essay # 63096 : "William Golding's "The Lord of the Flies"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: