The Lord of the Flies, a 1954 novel by William Golding, can at first appear to the student as a story simply about young boys stranded during the Second World War. This story is merely what is at the surface of this complex and illustrious book. The story begins in World War II, a group of boys had been sent from their various boarding schools to find safety, only to be shot down and crash land on an island with no surviving adults.
The first character introduced is the protagonist, Ralph, a boy of twelve whom at first comes across as arrogant, but is a tough character that often displays sensibility, leadership, and drive when the others lack such. The group of boys on the island is representative of humanity as a whole, with Ralph at the epicenter, affected by them all. Ralph becomes the leader of the boys and must use his better judgment as the more prominent attempt to give him council.
Ralph keeps the boys in order for a time, with the aid of his friend Piggy, who was symbolic for logic and reason in its presence among humanity. Piggy is the sole voice of reason on the island and the other children often reject him for his differences. It is Piggy who helps Ralph throughout the majority of the novel; just as intellect would help man in his efforts at leadership. Things run smoothly until rumors of a “Beast” cause unease throughout the boys. They begin turning on each other and live constantly in fear of this supposed Beast. They refuse to listen to their peer, Simon, representative of goodness and purity, tells them that the beast may very well be them. He, like Piggy is ostracized for his different views. The twins, SamnEric, are at first accepted into the society without complaint, but when reason and logic disappear, the group turns on them to destroy true brotherhood and anything different at all.
The book follows the course of an anarchical society and the regression from civilization to savagery. It deals with the inevitable human condition and the evil that lives within all of us and how that evil will eliminate opposition at all cost, first destroying goodness, reason, and true brotherhood. The young boys go down a path as they lose these qualities, the reader watches as society degrades without true leadership. The killer and savage in everyone, represented by Jack and Roger, are out to completely eliminate purity, reason, and fraternity from lives, and it is illustrated that escape from this is futile without outside help. The Lord of the Flies is definitely an eye opening book that helps one truly understand the human condition. A must-read.