The Lord of the Flies

William Golding

• 1911-1993

• Golding writes in reaction to WWII and that evil is within everyone in some aspect.– Navy 1940-1945

• D-day

– “man produces evil, as a bee produces honey.”

• Humanity as inherently evil

William Golding

• Writes during Cold War – Environment of fear and rapid advances in

technology– Sacrifice of morals for a dictatorship

• Great violence and death taking place • Atomic Bomb, Nazi Germany & Great Depression• Golding feels that the violent brutality can be

present in other groups

William Golding

• Golding thought human nature was equal parts good and evil

– Against the rationalists thought of humanity being perfected

– Instead of social reform to cure humanity of its cruelty, a breakdown in social order would lead to moral meltdown of the individual

William Golding • Also comment on post-war confidence in

technology – Also relates to Rationalists thought of humanity

being perfected • Included in advances was the field of psychiatry

– Explained emotional disturbances in a logical way » Piggy

The Lord of the Flies 3 key aspects• (1) The desire for social and political order through

parliaments, governments, and legislatures – platform and the conch

• (2) The natural inclination toward evil and violence, manifested in every country's need for a military– choir-boys-turned-hunters-turned-murderers and in the war

going on in the world beyond the island

• (3) The belief in supernatural or divine intervention in human destiny – ceremonial dances and sacrifices intended to appease the

"beast"

William Golding

• Published 1954

• Noble Prize for Literature in 1983– Group of British schoolboys marooned on a

tropical island after plane is shot down (war)– Evil nature vs. proper civility of British culture

• Boys will separate into different factions– Placed in life experiences and their reactions – Peaceful, order– Anarchy, evil

The Lord of the Flies

• Title is literal translation for “Beelzebub”

• Themes– When removed from civilization, humans

return to primitive beings– Evil within humans– The beast is human

• Contrast between evil nature of boys and culture of civilization they left