''Lord of the Flies'' is a 1954 novel by the Nobel Prize-winning British author

William Golding Sir William Gerald Golding (19 September 1911 – 19 June 1993) was a British novelist, playwright, and poet. Best known for his debut novel ''Lord of the Flies'' (1954), he published another twelve volumes of fiction in his lifetime. In 1980 ...

. The plot concerns a group of British boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. The novel, which was Golding's debut, was generally well received. It was named in the

Modern Library 100 Best Novels Modern Library's 100 Best Novels is a 1998 list of the best English-language novels published during the 20th century, as selected by Modern Library from among 400 novels published by Random House, which owns Modern Library.Jessica Woodbury"Back A ...

, reaching number 41 on the editor's list, and 25 on the reader's list. In 2003, it was listed at number 70 on the BBC's The Big Read poll, and in 2005 '' Time'' magazine named it as one of the 100 best English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005, and included it in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time. Popular reading in schools, especially in the English-speaking world, ''Lord of the Flies'' was ranked third in the nation's favourite books from school in a 2016 UK poll.

Background

Published in 1954, ''Lord of the Flies'' was Golding's first novel. The concept arose after Golding read what he deemed to be an unrealistic portrayal of stranded children in the youth novel '' The Coral Island: a Tale of the Pacific Ocean'' (1857) by

R. M. Ballantyne Robert Michael Ballantyne (24 April 1825 – 8 February 1894) was a Scottish author of juvenile fiction, who wrote more than a hundred books. He was also an accomplished artist: he exhibited some of his water-colours at the Royal Scottish Acade ...

, which includes themes of the civilising effect of Christianity and the importance of hierarchy and leadership. Golding asked his wife, Ann, if it would "be a good idea if I wrote a book about children on an island, children who behave in the way children really would behave?" As a result, the novel contains various references to ''The Coral Island'', such as the rescuing naval officer's description of the boys' initial attempts at civilised cooperation as a " lly good show. Like the Coral Island." Golding's three central characters (Ralph, Piggy, and Jack) have also been interpreted as caricatures of Ballantyne's ''Coral Island'' protagonists. The manuscript was rejected by many publishers before finally being accepted by London-based Faber & Faber; an initial rejection by the professional reader, Miss Perkins, at Faber labelled the book an "Absurd and uninteresting fantasy about the explosion of an atomic bomb on the colonies and a group of children who land in the jungle near New Guinea. Rubbish and dull. Pointless".Monteith, Charles. "Strangers from Within." ''William Golding: The Man and His Books'', edited by John Carey, Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1987. However,

Charles Monteith Charles Montgomery Monteith (9 February 1921 – 9 May 1995) was a British literary editor. He was born in Lisburn, County Antrim, and won a scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford where he earned a Double First. He fought in World War Two, se ...

decided to take on the manuscript and worked with Golding to complete several fairly major edits, including the removal of the entire first section of the novel, which had previously described an evacuation from

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear w ...

. The character of Simon was heavily redacted by Monteith, removing his interaction with a mysterious lone figure who is never identified but implied to be God. Monteith himself was concerned about these changes, completing "tentative emendations", and warning against "turning Simon into a prig". Ultimately, Golding made all of Monteith's recommended edits and wrote back in his final letter to his editor that "I've lost any kind of objectivity I ever had over this novel and can hardly bear to look at it." These manuscripts and typescripts are now available from the Special Collections Archives at the University of Exeter library for further study and research. The collection includes the original 1952 "Manuscript Notebook" (originally a

Bishop Wordsworth's School Bishop Wordsworth's School is a Church of England boys' grammar school in Salisbury, Wiltshire for boys aged 11 to 18. The school is regularly amongst the top-performing schools in England, and in 2010 was the school with the best results in the ...

notebook) containing copious edits and strikethroughs. After the changes made by Monteith, and slow sales of the three thousand copy first printing, the book went on to become a best-seller, with more than ten million copies sold as of 2015. It has been adapted to film twice in English, in 1963 by Peter Brook and 1990 by

Harry Hook Harry Hook (born 1960) is an English screenwriter, film/television director and photographer. Hook is best known for such films as '' The Last of His Tribe'' and the 1990 version of ''Lord of the Flies''. Career Harry Hook's first feature film a ...

, and once in Filipino by Lupita A. Concio (1975). The book begins with the boys' arrival on the island after their plane has been shot down during what seems to be part of a nuclear World War III. Some of the marooned characters are ordinary students, while others arrive as a musical choir under an established leader. With the exception of Sam, Eric, and the choirboys, they appear never to have encountered each other before. The book portrays their descent into savagery; left to themselves on a paradisiacal island, far from modern civilisation, the well-educated boys regress to a primitive state.

Plot

In the midst of a wartime evacuation, a British aeroplane crashes on or near an isolated island in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The only survivors are boys in their middle childhood or preadolescence. A fair-haired boy named Ralph and a fat boy named Piggy find a

conch Conch () is a common name of a number of different medium-to-large-sized sea snails. Conch shells typically have a high spire and a noticeable siphonal canal (in other words, the shell comes to a noticeable point at both ends). In North Am ...

, which Ralph uses as a horn to convene the survivors to one area. Ralph immediately commands authority over the other boys using the conch, and is elected their "chief". He establishes three primary policies: to have fun, to survive, and to constantly maintain a

smoke signal The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of long-distance communication. It is a form of visual communication used over a long distance. In general smoke signals are used to transmit news, signal danger, or to gather people to a common area ...

that could alert passing ships of their presence. Ralph joins a red-haired boy named Jack and a quiet boy named Simon in using Piggy's glasses to create a signal fire. The semblance of order deteriorates as the majority of the boys turn idle, and ignore Ralph's efforts towards improving life on the island. They develop paranoia around an imaginary monster they call the "beast", which they all gradually believe exists on the island. Ralph fails to convince the boys that no beast exists, while Jack gains popularity by declaring that he will personally hunt and kill the monster. At one point, Jack summons many of the boys to hunt down a wild pig, drawing away those assigned to maintain the signal fire. The smoke signal goes out, failing to attract a ship that was passing by the island. Ralph angrily confronts Jack about his failure to maintain the signal, but he is rebuffed by the other boys. Disillusioned with his role as leader, Ralph considers relinquishing his job, but is persuaded not to do so by Piggy. One night, an aerial battle occurs near the island while the boys sleep, during which a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

ejects from his plane and dies in the descent. His body drifts down to the island in his parachute and gets tangled in a tree. Twin boys Sam and Eric see the corpse of the pilot and mistake it for the beast. When Ralph, Jack, and a gloomy boy named Roger later investigate the corpse, they flee, incorrectly believing the beast is real. Jack calls an assembly and tries to turn the others against Ralph, but initially receives no support; he storms off alone to form his own tribe, with most of the other boys gradually joining him. Simon often ventures out into the island's forest to be alone. One day while he is there, Jack and his followers erect an offering to the beast nearby: a pig's head, mounted on a sharpened stick and swarming with flies. Simon conducts an imaginary dialogue with the head, which he dubs the " Lord of the Flies". The head tells Simon that there is no beast on the island, and predicts that the other boys will turn on him. That night, Ralph and Piggy visit Jack's tribe, learning that they have begun painting their faces and engaging in primitive ritual dances. Simon discovers that the "beast" is the dead pilot, and rushes down to tell Jack's tribe. The frenzied boys, including Ralph and Piggy, mistake Simon for the beast and beat him to death. Jack and his rebel band decide to steal Piggy’s glasses, the only means the boys have of starting a fire. They raid Ralph's camp, take the glasses, and return to their abode on an outcropping called Castle Rock. Deserted by most of his supporters, Ralph journeys to Castle Rock with Piggy, Sam, and Eric in order to confront Jack and retrieve the glasses. The boys reject Ralph, with Roger triggering a trap that kills Piggy and shatters the conch. Ralph manages to escape, but Sam and Eric are tortured by Roger until they agree to join Jack's tribe. That night, Ralph secretly confronts Sam and Eric, who warn him that Jack plans to hunt him like a pig and

decapitate Decapitation or beheading is the total separation of the head from the body. Such an injury is invariably fatal to humans and most other animals, since it deprives the brain of oxygenated blood, while all other organs are deprived of the i ...

him. The following morning, Jack's tribe sets fire to the forest, with Ralph narrowly escaping the hunters. Following a long chase, Ralph trips and falls in front of a uniformed adult – a British naval officer whose party has arrived to investigate the fire. Ralph, Jack, and the other boys erupt into sobs over the "end of innocence". The officer expresses his disappointment at seeing British boys exhibiting such feral, warlike behaviour before turning to stare at his warship.

Themes

At an allegorical level, the central theme is the conflicting human impulses toward civilisation and social organisation – living by rules, peacefully and in harmony – and toward the will to power. Themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. How these play out and how different people feel their influence form a major subtext of ''Lord of the Flies'', with the central themes addressed in an essay by American literary critic Harold Bloom. The name "Lord of the Flies" is a literal translation of Beelzebub, from .

Reception

The book, originally entitled ''Strangers from Within'', was initially rejected by an in-house reader, Miss Perkins, at London based publishers

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

as "Rubbish & dull. Pointless". The title was considered "too abstract and too explicit". Following a further review, the book was eventually published as ''Lord of the Flies''. A turning point occurred when E. M. Forster chose ''Lord of the Flies'' as his "outstanding novel of the year." Other reviews described it as "not only a first-rate adventure but a parable of our times". In February 1960, Floyd C. Gale of '' Galaxy Science Fiction'' rated ''Lord of the Flies'' five stars out of five, stating that "Golding paints a truly terrifying picture of the decay of a minuscule society ... Well on its way to becoming a modern classic". In his book '' Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong'', Marc D. Hauser says the following about Golding's ''Lord of the Flies'': "This riveting fiction, standard reading in most intro courses to English literature, should be standard reading in biology, economics, psychology, and philosophy." Its stances on the already controversial subjects of human nature and individual welfare versus the common good earned it position 68 on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1990–1999. The book has been criticized as "cynical" and portraying humanity exclusively as "selfish creatures". It has been linked with "Tragedy of the commons" by Garrett Hardin and books by

Ayn Rand Alice O'Connor (born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum;, . Most sources transliterate her given name as either ''Alisa'' or ''Alissa''. , 1905 – March 6, 1982), better known by her pen name Ayn Rand (), was a Russian-born American writer and p ...

, and countered by "Management of the Commons" by Elinor Ostrom. Parallels have been drawn between the "Lord of the Flies" and an actual incident from 1965 when a group of schoolboys who sailed a fishing boat from Tonga were hit by a storm and marooned on the uninhabited island of

ʻAta Ata is a depopulated island in the far southern end of the Tonga archipelago, situated approximately south-southwest of Tongatapu. It is distinct from Atā, an uninhabited, low coral island in the string of small atolls along the Piha passag ...

, considered dead by their relatives in Nuku‘alofa. The group not only managed to survive for over 15 months but "had set up a small commune with food garden, hollowed-out tree trunks to store rainwater, a gymnasium with curious weights, a badminton court, chicken pens and a permanent fire, all from handiwork, an old knife blade and much determination". As a result, when ship captain Peter Warner found them, they were in good health and spirits. Dutch historian Rutger Bregman, writing about this situation said that Golding's portrayal was unrealistic. * It was awarded a place on both lists of

, reaching number 41 on the editor's list, and 25 on the reader's list. * In 2003, the novel was listed at number 70 on the BBC's survey The Big Read. * In 2005, the novel was chosen by '' Time'' magazine as one of the 100 best

English-language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

novels from 1923 to 2005. ''Time'' also included the novel in its list of the 100 Best Young-Adult Books of All Time. Popular in schools, especially in the English-speaking world, a 2016 UK poll saw ''Lord of the Flies'' ranked third in the nation's favourite books from school, behind

George Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...

’s ''

Animal Farm ''Animal Farm'' is a beast fable, in the form of satirical allegorical novella, by George Orwell, first published in England on 17 August 1945. It tells the story of a group of farm animals who rebel against their human farmer, hoping to crea ...

'' and Charles Dickens’ ''

Great Expectations ''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...

''. On 5 November 2019, BBC News listed ''Lord of the Flies'' on its list of the 100 most inspiring novels.

In other media

Film

There have been three film adaptations based on the book: * '' Lord of the Flies'' (1963), directed by Peter Brook * ''

Alkitrang Dugo ''Alkitrang Dugo'' is a 1975 Filipino survival drama film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communica ...

'' (1975), a Filipino film, directed by Lupita A. Concio * '' Lord of the Flies'' (1990), directed by

A fourth adaptation, to feature an all-female cast, was announced by Warner Bros. in August 2017, but was subsequently abandoned. In July 2019, director Luca Guadagnino was said to be in negotiations for a conventionally cast version. '' Ladyworld'', an all-female adaptation, was released in 2018.

Stage

Nigel Williams adapted the text for the stage. It was debuted by the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and produces around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, St ...

in July 1996. The Pilot Theatre Company has toured it extensively in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In October 2014 it was announced that the 2011 production of ''Lord of the Flies'' would return to conclude the 2015 season at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre ahead of a major UK tour. The production was to be directed by the Artistic Director

Timothy Sheader Timothy Sheader (born 23 November 1971 in Scarborough, North Yorkshire) is a British theatre director. Sheader read Law with French at the University of Birmingham before moving into a career in theatre. Since 2007, he has been Artistic Director ...

who won the 2014

Whatsonstage.com Awards The WhatsOnStage Awards (WOS Awards), formerly known as the Theatregoers' Choice Awards, are organised by the theatre website WhatsOnStage.com. The awards recognise performers and productions of British theatre with an emphasis on London's West ...

Best Play Revival for '' To Kill a Mockingbird''. Kansas-based Orange Mouse Theatricals and

Mathew Klickstein Mathew Klickstein is an American screenwriter, journalist, author, arts therapist and playwright. Career Klickstein was the writer of the 2009 American horror film ''Against the Dark'', starring Steven Seagal and served as a casting producer o ...

produced a topical, gender-bending adaptation called ''Ladies of the Fly'' that was co-written by a group of young girls (ages 8–16) based on both the original text and their own lives. The production was performed by the girls themselves as an immersive live-action show in August 2018.

Radio

In June 2013,

BBC Radio 4 Extra BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7) is a British digital radio station from the BBC, broadcasting archived repeats of comedy, drama and documentary programmes nationally, 24 hours a day. It is the sister station of BBC Radio 4 and the p ...

broadcast a dramatisation by Judith Adams in four 30-minute episodes directed by Sasha Yevtushenko. The cast included Ruth Wilson as "The Narrator", Finn Bennett as "Ralph", Richard Linnel as "Jack", Caspar Hilton-Hilley as "Piggy" and Jack Caine as "Simon". # ''Fire on the Mountain'' # ''Painted Faces'' # ''Beast from the Air'' # ''Gift for Darkness''

Influence

Many writers have borrowed plot elements from ''Lord of the Flies''. By the early 1960s, it was required reading in many schools and colleges.

Literature

Author

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

uses the name

Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to: Geography Islands * Castle Rock (Alaskan Island), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska * Castle Rock, Hong Kong (螺洲白排), an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands * Castle Rock (Massachusett ...

, from the mountain fort in ''Lord of the Flies'', as a fictional town that has appeared in a number of his novels. The book itself appears prominently in his novels '' Hearts in Atlantis'' (1999), '' Misery'' (1987), and '' Cujo'' (1981). King wrote an introduction for a new edition of ''Lord of the Flies'' (2011) to mark the centenary of William Golding's birth in 1911. King's fictional town of Castle Rock inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment, which produced the film '' Lord of the Flies'' (1990).

Music

Iron Maiden wrote a song inspired by the book, included in their 1995 album ''The X Factor''. The Filipino indie pop/alternative rock outfit

The Camerawalls The Camerawalls is a pop rock band based in Manila, Philippines formed in 2007 by singer and guitarist Clementine, the main songwriter of the band and formerly of Orange and Lemons. History With a cult following back in 2003 to mainstream succe ...

include a song entitled "Lord of the Flies" on their 2008 album ''Pocket Guide to the Otherworld''.

Editions

References

External links

Chapter 1: "The Sound of the Shell"
of the novel ''Lord of the Flies'' by William Golding on eNotes
''Lord of the Flies''
student guide and teacher resources; themes, quotes, characters, study questions
Reading and teaching guide
from

, the book's UK publisher
An interview with Judy Golding
the author's daughter, in which she discusses the inspiration for the book, and the reasons for its enduring legacy * run and administered by the William Golding Estate
The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months
About a real life incident in 1965; reality had a much more positive outcome than Golding's book. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lord Of The Flies 1954 British novels Allegory British adventure novels British novels adapted into films British philosophical novels British young adult novels Castaways in fiction Dystopian novels English philosophical novels Existentialist novels Faber and Faber books Novels about survival skills Novels by William Golding Novels set in Oceania Novels set on uninhabited islands Philosophical novels Pigs in literature 1954 debut novels Novels set on fictional islands