From Goodreads,
"At the dawn of the next world war, a plane crashes on an uncharted island, stranding a group of schoolboys. At first, with no adult supervision, their freedom is something to celebrate; this far from civilization the boys can do anything they want. Anything. They attempt to forge their own society, failing, however, in the face of terror, sin and evil. And as order collapses, as strange howls echo in the night, as terror begins its reign, the hope of adventure seems as far from reality as the hope of being rescued. Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies is perhaps our most memorable tale about “the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart.”"
A few years back I made an attempt to read this book. I didn't get very far because I felt like my feeble brain just could not process this book. This time I went in with a clear head, determination to get the book off my shelf, and took it one chapter at a time.
A plane crash leaves a group of boys stranded on a deserted island. No adults survive and schoolboys must decide what to do. At first, they relish in the idea of having the freedom to do whatever they want. Ralph decides to take action and make a plan to help them get rescued. Everyone goes along with Ralph's ideas and elect him as chief. But soon it all starts to crumble as the boys start turning into savages and start following a new "chief" named Jack. Everything is fine until one night the savages take it too far and murder one of their own.
I have set a goal for this new year to try to read 50 pages every night. Obviously this isn't always possible due to life or not wanting to read or the book is just too much to consume that many pages at once. This book was one that I had to take chapter by chapter. There were only a few chapters that I read back to back. I really had to take the time to think through what I was reading and to let it all sink in. Honestly, I think this book would be a huge hit if it were rewritten with today's vernacular. There is so much in this book and it is a solid story with a lot of symbolism and meaning. Unfortunately, I felt like the author elaborated way too much on the scenery and the minute details, but not in a way that pulled me into the story. Golding would go on for paragraphs talking about the beach or the jungle. Painting that picture at the beginning is great, but honestly, when we are in the final chapter I don't need it. We've been living on the island for some time now and we are all well aware of what it is like. And with the scenery came a lot of vocabulary that doesn't hold the same meaning today or just isn't used. I think that was another huge piece for me. The old-style writing was a big no-go for me.
I think the plot of this was amazing. You have a bunch of schoolboys who are stranded on an island and because they are children they do what they want and they participate in petty schoolyard drama that turns into a full-blown war. Honestly with the way things are in today's world this book is a pretty solid fit. Just a few weeks ago we had people who went to a peaceful protest at the Capitol and ended up rioting and breaking into the Capitol building cause all kinds of destruction. Those "adults" were acting just like the juvenile children in this book. When there is no leadership or organization or rules everything turns to chaos. The entire time I was reading I felt like the beast in the book was to represent the fear that the children had. But after researching I learned that the beast was supposed to represent the primal instinct and savagery that exists in all of us. I think that right now we are all, unfortunately, living in a very large version of this book. We have the people following Jack. We have the people following Ralph. We have the people who are like Piggy and we have people who are like the littluns. Jack and Ralph both represent political parties. The Piggy's would be the people who are educated and insightful. They can see the whole picture and what needs to happen for the greater good. And of course, we have the littluns who are oblivious to everything and don't really care that there is a full-fledged war going on. And I think that our country will continue to spiral just like in this book until someone swoops in just like at the end of the book. I love that this book written in the 50s can still be compared with a situation going on today.
I'm actually quite surprised I never read this classic in school. I'm actually glad because I don't think I would have had the same respect for this book if I had had classwork and assignments that went with it. This book is easily relatable today and will be relatable 20 years from now. I give this 3 stars. It was good, but the language and writing style quickly dropped my rating.
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