This was a great read in my opinion. I enjoyed it from the first to the last page. The story explores group polarization as the stranded youths slowly regress into a primitive state. Frictions demonstrate the social pressure as division occurs and give rise to the psychological dilemma of 'the power of the situation'. The book also explores irrational fear and imagination as it relates to the group-think concept.

For some reason I thought the most powerful parts of the story were the use of the word 'mask'. The face paint and camouflage the 'hunters' use created a face mask.

The author writes how the boys hid behind their 'masks' and became different (or even stronger) boys:

"The mask compelled them", pg. 76

"He was safe from shame or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint...", pg. 178

I enjoyed the simple delivery of the author's use of imagery, dialogue, and colorful descriptions used throughout the narrative. I would recommend this one to anyone. Thanks!

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”

Lord of the Flies is now one of those books I WISH I had studied in school, I’d have loved to have delved deeper into the symbolic meanings and themes, instead of just having my basic reader experience! There’s probably so much I’m missing... it almost makes me want to read through the spark notes for the novel!

It really provides a fascinating insight into how quickly chaos can ensue once civilisation ceases to exist. And it’s somehow even more terrifying once you consider the fact that these are young boys. In a way it made me think of Under the Dome - it’s definitely possible that this was its inspiration given how much King loves this one!

Speaking of King, I was MAJORLY geeking out at the stone formation being called Castle Rock - I quickly darted to google to confirm that yes, King named his town after the fictional mountain fort in Lord of the Flies. Somehow I didn’t know this - but it does make complete sense given the glowing introduction King has provided in this edition.

Unfortunately I found the writing a little dry at times and I also got quite frustrated as well as it wasn’t always clear who was speaking? This is one of my major pet peeves in books - GIVE ME SOME INDICATION. A few of the characters felt interchangeable which didn’t help - even now I can only really distinguish Jack, Ralph and Piggy.

But otherwise I really enjoyed this and some of the imagery will stay with me forever - particularly when it came to the beast and their “gift” for it!

Really glad I finally read it! 4 stars.

I was Piggy (well, in personality at least, though not in portliness). I hated everyone who picked on him. I still do. Should people be forgiven for what they do on a deserted island? That depends on whether you think their true nature has revealed itself, or their humanity has been corrupted by circumstance and stress. In a world where almost every human trait is now considered a product of both nature and nurture, would Golding have written his tale differently today? No, I don't believe so. He was quite ahead of his time to believe some of the boys, though certainly not the majority, still remained moral despite the situation. The question is, what would have happened to me? It was impossible not to wonder after I read this book.

Lord of the Flies is one of the most disturbing books I've ever read. It was required high school reading and since then, I've read it four more times. It is as disturbing now as it was then. Using a group of innocent schoolboys stranded on an island, the author very realistically portrays human behavior in an environment where civilization no longer has meaning.

Com certeza o mundo atual está cheio de violência principalmente entre adultos que não se entendem , que não conseguem conviver uns com os outros, não se entendem , não se suportam. Agora imagino contudo que isso é um pouco melhor do que se imaginar uma população de crianças se tornando selvagens e violentas! É isso que basicamente "O senhor das moscas" nos retrata : a possibilidade do mal nas crianças como uma coisa que já vem no sangue , independente de sua convivência com os adultos..

Perhaps one of the only people in the world who never read this book in high school, I thought that it was high time that I tested the waters. William Golding has created quite the novel, using young adolescents to develop key societal themes while being isolated from the world. After their plane crashes on a deserted island, the surviving young boys gather to determine how they will survive. Using a conch shell as both a gathering tool and one that denotes speaking power, the boys elect Ralph as their leader. From there, it is a delegation of duties to ensure everything is done, something Ralph discovers is not as easy as he would like. His greatest rival for leadership, Jack, begins to instil distrust and rallies those around him not to fall into line with Ralph. As time progresses, cracks occur in the unified group and they splinter off, with Jack taking some of the older boys into his own ‘savage’ camp. The two groups are forced to devise new ways to procure the needed skills for survival. Ralph agrees to attend a feast held by the saved group, only to discover that they are ruthless and end up killing one of the boys. As outside assistance remains bleak, tough choices will have to be made and the lives of all the boys lay in the ever-shifting balance of power. A clever novel that touches on many important issues and has stood the test of time. Not sure I would call it stellar, but surely worth my time and effort.

I never do well when a book is called a ‘classic’, feeling the pressure is always too high that I should like it. I rarely turn to the classics, finding my enjoyment of reading halted when I am supposed to find themes and symbolism. Then again, I love to learn when I read, something Golding does somewhat subtlety with this piece as he speaks about the roles and differences that adolescent boys have within society. The story is both well-paced and overly detailed in places, as Golding seeks to lay the groundwork for a great deal in short order. Some say the downed airplane was part of a nuclear situation that saw the world on the cusp of World War Three, while others surmised it was just a freak accident that left all the adults dead. By thrusting the boys into the role of leaders, Golding posits that their leadership and follower roles would become more apparent over time, though there is a fine line between leading and dictating. As can be seen throughout the piece, the give and take between Ralph and those under him comes to fruition, causing strife and anxiety, which Jack uses to his advantage. The need to survive also pushes the boys to take drastic measures, something they might not normally do, as has been seen in other books and stories of groups stranded and away from help. The use of longer chapters seems needed for Golding to lay some necessary groundwork on different topics. Rather than a constantly evolving flow to the narrative, he chose to tackle these major issues in a single chapter, forcing the reader to push on to understand the concepts being discussed. I suppose it works, but not the approach I might have taken. There were times I also felt the dialogue was slightly jilted, though I am not sure if that is due to the time it was written or a stylistic choice by Golding. I know the way in which young boys speak has devolved of late, but I kept asking myself if I could properly picture boys bantering and ordering one another around in this way. Golding speaks in the introduction about how boys were the only option, that girls could not have played a role in this piece. While I can see what he means, to a degree, wearing my 2020 glasses and not those from 1954, I think much has changed and would love someone to take a stab at the story from the girl-centric approach. I’m sure it would be a refreshing look at this tale that everyone seems to know.

Kudos, Mr. Golding, for a decent read that kept me thinking throughout.

I never do this, but I recently read a novel that takes some influences from Golding’s piece. Do check it out once it is published: The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

_The lord of the flies_

*It is a 4,5*
The writing is excellent, the pacing is excellent, the characters are kids and they certainly do feel like children. Completely and utterly foolish children.
This book shows that Μr Golding deeply believed that the human race is evil. I, also myself, do believe that too.
Only 4 people managed to remain human, and yes, they were all hurt by the island and yes their whole existance got shattered into pieces, but only 4 people had their soul intact, had their pride intact. Only 4 survived the madness.
Even if the book is about how we can turn savage, how our nature and our ancient and eternal insticts can overrule our minds, Mr Golding decided to end the story with hope. Did these kids deserve it? No, i don't think they did, but with Ralph, i felt. I felt so much and i loved his character.
And when anger settles, my anger, all that i see are kids, all that i see are lost souls, mistakes and sins and how little humans were thrown somewhere in hell to survive, cz for them, it was like hell, and then they turned everything into hell, real, pure, alive and forbidden and forgotten by God.
This book was good and real and i can talk about it forever so i will just stop here.
Please read it, it is worth your time.

Mix a desert island and a bunch of young kids/teens, add a dash of fear and a twist of rebellion, and you have His Majesty of the Flies.
It's a dark book that sometimes shocked me but brilliantly reflected adults and society's world.
Two camps formed between efficiency and reasoning, wanting everything immediately, and hindsight, madness, and survival; only the strongest will survive.

n  n    “We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?”n  n

For me, this quote sums up the entire book. It’s a powerful exploration of humanity and the wrongness of our society and it also demonstrates the hypocrisy of war. Adults judge the behaviour of children, but are they really any better? I think not.

The scary thing about this book is how real it is. The Lord of the Flies bespeaks the brilliance of realistic dystopian fiction, it gives you a possible world scenario, a bunch of very human characters and then it shows you want might happen when they are thrown into a terrible situation: they act like monsters (or humans?) What Golding shows us is that we are not so far from our primal nature, from our so called killer instincts, and all it takes is a little push out of the standard world we live in for us to embrace our darker side.

The boys act in accordance with what they have seen in the world (though they don’t understand limits.) Power creates authority and violence is a way to achieve the peace you want. Sort of ironic isn’t it? They go to war amongst themselves and in doing so lose all sense of childhood innocence. They grow up. They learn what humans are capable of doing when pushed. They become ‘savages’ and reject civilisation and create their own sense of community, though in another display of irony this in itself becomes a mini-civilisation- just a one of their own accord without any rules and a nasty child tyrant enthroned as chief.

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”

The novel is rich in allegory to the point where it has been interpreted in so many different ways over the years. Like all great literature, it could mean lots of things and nothing at all. It’s a very clever piece of writing and it got me thinking a great deal about children and how we protect them from the realities of the world. It sort of says something to me, a quiet acknowledgement about how messed up things can be given the right circumstances and these children are so very quick to embrace it with unflinching enthusiasm (at least, when one of them leads the way.)

It’s a good book with a lot of ideas though at times I found the prose a little hard to follow. The dialogue is confusing at times and many of the children fade into the background with only a small few developing distinct personalities. I found the first part of the story particularly difficult to read, so in terms of the actual execution I think it could have been done a little better. I found myself wanting to edit sections of the text, which is not a place a reader should ever be in especially with a novel this revered by so many enthusiastic readers, critics and students. Maybe I’m just a little picky with word placement.

Overall though, I’m glad I spent the time to revisit it. There are so many pop-culture references to this that a reminder was needed.

"We did everything adults would do. What went wrong?"

You did everything adults would do. That's what went wrong.

There is much to be said against this novel, and it has been said, eloquently, poignantly, many times. Let me make a case for keeping it on the curriculum despite the dated language, the graphic violence, the author's personality...

There are two myths about adolescents, and this novel does away with them in a - admittedly - drastic way. First of all, there is no general innocence in adolescents. They do what grown-ups do, but in a less mature and experienced way. That means they cheat, lie and steal, and use violence to achieve their goals, and they are vain and interested in dominating and manipulating others. But they are also caring, loving and resourceful, and willing to serve the community in which they participate.

The second myth regards the helplessness and general dependence of adolescents, which is also only true as long as they have grown-ups around. Leave adolescents alone, and they will organise themselves. The best example of what happens to a group of teenagers left alone is shown if a teacher in a (civilised) school in a (civilised) country leaves for just a couple of minutes.

If you have never experienced the amount of destructive power that is possible in that short time-span, you might think Golding exaggerates. Unfortunately, I can see any group of students turning into the characters in The Lord Of The Flies if they are put in the situation. I even know who would be the leaders, who would fight, who would bully, who would play along, and who would go under. Add teenage girls to the mixture and hell breaks loose.

Reading this novel with teenagers - if it is done with a big heart for their developmental stages and their hormonal glitches - gives them an opportunity to discuss a topic they already know everything about from their own lives but often keep hidden from naive, romantic grown-ups: the heart of an adolescent has dark corners, and it is important to shed light on the pain young people are able to cause each other if they are under the impression that they are not seen by the higher authority of the grown-up world.

Teenagers are grown-ups in training, and they make all the beginner mistakes without having the perspective to see the end of the tunnel.

Reading offers perspective!

Rating: 1* of five for clanking, clunking prose

It's a question of taste. I'm not fond of OverBlownAllegorical stories. There is no escaping this book's didacticism. Its parti pris is on display from page one. I was full up on that when I finished reading Orwell, who did it with more wit and humor than Golding does. Just not my kind of story is all.

I don't believe boys/men are like this; I don't believe people are like this. I never did. It was well written, but I wanted to take a hot shower afterwards.