A review by thefoxyreader
Lord of the Flies by William Golding

adventurous dark reflective sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

 
Lord of the Flies is a book that readers seem to either love and embrace the darkness or absolutely despise and think it’s an inaccurate portrayal of humanity. I’m part of the first group, and my love for this book may stem from having an awesome sophomore English teacher who created wild but interesting discussion around the book and the characters.

After a plane crash leaves a group of adolescent boys stranded on an island, they must figure out how to survive while waiting for rescue. Ralph is elected as the leader of their group since he’s older and the more attractive out of the bunch. Jack Merridew, however, is jealous of Ralph’s position and has extremely different ideas on what they should be doing on the island. He just wants to hunt pigs and have fun while Ralph tries in vain to organize the boys to keep a fire going, build shelter, etc.

The central conflict of the book is between Ralph and Jack, but the overall theme is mainly about man’s conflict with the darkness within himself. All of the characters (except maybe Simon who I love and is a perfect cinnamon roll) have the struggle within them to do what society has taught them is right and acceptable or to do the dark things that they deep down really want to do.

One thing that I love about this book that most people seem to hate is that it does have really strong archetypes. The characters aren’t super deep. We don’t get a ton of backstory on them, but they all have a strong archetypal presence that moves the story and themes along. Ralph is the Leader, Jack is the Aggressor, Piggy is the Smart Guy, Roger is the Sadist, Simon is the Christ-like figure, SamnEric are the Followers, etc. Within this really short book, those archetypes worked for me.

I also like that along with clear archetypes, Golding gives the reader very strong symbolism. The conch symbolizes order. The fire symbolizes their connection to organized society and hope for rescue. Piggy’s glasses symbolize technology and intelligence. Even Ralph’s unruly hair symbolizes his creeping toward embracing the savage darkness within himself.

This book also has one of my favorite endings of all time. I remember when I first read it, I felt like my heart stopped. Golding could not have ended the conflict and his central themes in a better spot.

Lord of the Flies is short, dark, and wow, does it leave an impression. 
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