What would you do if you and your friends were stranded on an island for days expecting to be rescued but received no help? Would you try to survive or establish yourself as a dominant force? Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel by William Golding that revolves around a group of boys who are stranded on a Pacific island after a wartime evacuation attempt fails due to a plane crash. The boys, who are between the ages of nine and thirteen, must adapt swiftly to survive because there are no adult survivors.
We are introduced to three main characters in the novel Ralph, Jack, and Piggy. Piggy is the most sensible and mature among all the boys. However, he lacks leadership qualities. He is an obese and severely near-sighted boy. Ralph and Jack are the group’s two dominant males, but they have very different instincts about priorities.
The boys initially try to be like adults. They join together to keep a fire going to ensure that any passing ships can see the smoke coming from the island. In the beginning, Ralph leads the boys’ efforts to organise. Their rescue and continued survival and safety till then are his top priorities. Jack, who has concerns about the restrictions and punishments Ralph wants to impose, confronts him with objections. He places a high value on having fun and killing animals for meat. The younger boys’ morale suffers as the days and weeks go by and many of them are visibly afraid.
Without any adults there to watch over them, boys start to act violently, cruelly and brutally to survive. The reader is left wondering whether civilised people may be savage once the tiny community they have tried to establish on this isolated island collapses into chaos.
The plot gets even darker as it proceeds. Although Lord of the Flies is a simple story, Golding’s writing is deep and the symbolism is brilliant. The story shows how barbaric people may become when left to their own devices and in the absence of law or morality. Even though it is a dark and unsettling book, I loved it. It is one of those stories that gently leads you into a realm of immorality you would never want to go in.