Lord of the Flies

One of my classes is reading this classic novel by William Golding, who uses it to express the dangers of lawlessness. Set on a lush and isolated island, several boys have flown from Great Britain, in the throes of World War II, only to crash and be left alone. Golding's theme-- that civil behavior between people will dissolve without the structure of rules-- revolves around and is informed by a growing conflict between two boys who represent discipline, on the one hand, and leisure on the other. There is an irony in the characters who represent these two sides, for the one who begins carefree-- the protagonist and "chief," named Ralph-- becomes increasingly preoccupied with maintaining discipline for the sake of rescue; while the other, Jack, is introduced as an exacting and efficient leader of a boys' choir, but whose interest turns almost exclusively to the fun of hunting pig. Ralph's interest in maintaining a smoke signal becomes obsessive, as does Jack's need to hunt pig. These two objects-- smoke and meat-- become symbols of civilization and savagery, respectively, and it is because most of the boys choose the latter that civil behavior breaks down and two of the boys are killed.

One of these two, whose real name is never mentioned but whose weight has led him to be nicknamed "Piggy," is himself a symbol. Derided by most of the others throughout the story for openly expressing his cowardice and for his vocal disapproval of others' behavior, it is Piggy's plainspoken wisdom that keeps Ralph grounded and whose encouragement acts as a buffer against Ralph's own desire to become like the others, the "savages." Piggy thereby represents all that is good in the human heart, and his death later on symbolizes the death of the boys' innocence. Golding says as much on his final page: "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Piggy's death-- he was knocked off a cliff by a tumbling boulder-- was orchestrated by these selfsame savages. Along with Ralph, Piggy acted as the group's conscience. It is telling that the object Piggy so revered as a sign of orderliness and right authority-- a shell, or conch, that Ralph uses to call the others to assembly-- shattered in his hands as the boulder struck and killed him.

Mixed into this plot is a ghost character that acts as yet another symbol. This is "the beast," a fictitious monster that the boys increasingly believe to be present on the island. Their worries are apparently realized when two of the boys discover by night the body of a dead pilot, whose tangled parachute animates him by capturing the wind and lifting him up. It is this certainty that there is now a threat on the island that turns them toward defending themselves with spears, the very weapons they turn in time on each other.

All in all, Lord of the Flies is a warning against unchecked freedom, and seems therefore to be the antithesis to George Orwell's 1984, which is a warning against unchecked authoritarianism. The novel was useful for its message, and Golding characterized the main boys in such a way that you were enthralled by a climax in which they were finally pitted against one another. It is useful to remember, however, that when the two boys are fighting, so are the notions of order and an indifference to order, of humanity and savagery, of light and dark. It is this larger battle-- between the classic but realistic good versus evil, the timeless inward struggle between two natures-- that draws in Golding's reader and compels us to root for Ralph. Lord of the Flies, so named for a pig head that the savages piked on a spear and left as obeisance to "the beast," thus offers a clear warning against choosing to become the savage in all of us.