Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding. It is a fictional work. The story was written in third person. It shows the perspective of many of the characters, but the book mostly focuses on Ralph, the protagonist. The book was published in 1954 and has been popular ever since. It is about a group of boys that are trapped on an island after their plane was attacked.
The story takes place on an unnamed island. The story takes place in the past, probably around the same time era as when it was published. Some things mentioned in the book hints that a war may have been taking place. The boys’ plane was attacked, so it crashed onto this island with no other people. The island had a coral reef nearby, and it had many pigs.
The protagonist of the story is Ralph. Ralph, like the others, was one of the survivors on the plane that crashed into the island. Ralph was elected leader because of his good looks, calm demeanor, and because he had blown the conch shell when they first arrived. He was the last alive boy to not have joined the savages. Throughout the book, he kept his first priority as being rescued and maintaining the fire. He was the first one to be discovered by the naval officer. Luckily he had, or else he would have been killed by the savages.
The antagonist of the story is Jack. Jack was jealous of Ralph because he was chosen as leader instead of him. At first, his jealousy was not that bad, but it soon turned into hatred. One could also say that the antagonist of the story was human nature itself. These boys had grown up to be perfect little British boys, but once push came to shove, many of them turned into savages. All was going well when Ralph was leader, but Jack wanted power, so he turned against him. Many people crave power, as Jack did, and that's why wars happen.
Piggy was Ralph's smart and chubby friend. Many of the boys did not like him, and they continuously disrespected him. Piggy was eventually killed. Simon was the one to go with Jack and Ralph whenever they left the group to do something risky. He was killed by the savages, as well. Roger was the silent, most withdrawn member of the group. He became the watchman for the savages.
The story was about a big group of British boys that get stuck on an island with no adults. The boys are mostly different ages, and it seemed like some of them were of high status. These boys had to survive on the island by themselves. The younger kids were afraid of an alleged beast that had become a recurring nightmare. The other boys ignored their claims at first, but after a few sightings, they soon realized that the beast actually existed. Soon after that, the boys split up. Jack created a new group that he could be the leader of. His group had the hunters, so he attracted people to his group by promising meat. Unfortunately, his group soon turned into one filled with savages and threatened the other boys’ safety.
If I had written the story, instead of having Piggy killed, I would have had a ship show up before his glasses had been stolen. Once they went back home, the savages would have all gotten mental help to be set back on the right path. Their story would be all over the newspapers. Piggy’s name would have finally been revealed, with him saying that he had written the story to show everyone what they had gone through on the island. He would talk about how successful he had been and tell us how all of the other boys’ lives had ended up.
“They knew very well why he hadn’t: because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.” This sentence was talking about Jack when he couldn't find it in himself to kill the pig. This was how Jack was in the beginning of the book, a far cry from the savage that we see at the end. Jack took this moment as one of weakness, and this is what led him to want to prove himself as a hunter. By the end of the book, Jack was completely fine with killing pigs. He was even alright with the boys being killed because of his leadership.
To be honest, I disliked this book. I do not like old-fashioned books, and I also do not like books where main or side characters are just killed. These types of books always make me feel negative after reading them. I think that some parts of the book were unclear, and different wording could have been used at some points. The scenes with Simon and the Lord of the Flies was unclear to me, but maybe that was just my lack of understanding. Of course, this is all just my opinion. Lord of the Flies is a very popular book for a reason. It just is not the type of book that I enjoy.
In conclusion, Lord of the Flies is a classic that has remained popular after all of these years. It does not present its points in a direct, straightforward manner. It takes a more subtle approach that could easily be looked over at first. Although it may not be the most entertaining of books to me, I recognize that it is a great book. William Golding did a good job in making this book that will help kids think differently in generations to come.