"Lord of the Flies" - more than a novel

A casual observer, reading through the first few pages of Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” would expect a kind of Robinson Crusoe tale of adventure on an island. But as the story draws you in, you realize with sickening horror the reality of fallen humanity. Sobered, you awaken with a deepened appreciation for a just government.

Let’s look at a few themes from Lord of the Flies key to this year’s resolution.

1: Man is fallen

At first there was order on the island. The boys stood under the rule of their leader, Ralph. But dissension and disorder crept into their ranks. Fear manifested itself in the form of a nightmarish “beast” that terrified the “littluns”. One boy began to grasp what haunted them, and, petrified, said, “Maybe there is a beast. … Maybe it’s only us.”

Then bloodthirstiness and savagery overtook the boys. By the end of the book, “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart,”

A nauseating symbol for Satan, the Lord of the Flies, hisses to the appalled Simon, “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? … I’m the reason why it’s not go? Why things are as they are?”

They learned that the heart of man is desperately wicked, all because of the Lord of the Flies who once hissed temptation to a woman in a garden.

Falleness taints all of our actions, even as it twisted the antagonist’s mind, and silenced the consciences of his followers.

2: Order and Justice are necessary for survival

The hero, Ralph, tried to establish rules and order. But no one followed them. During one particular meeting, Ralph attempted once more to keep order. “shouted Ralph, ‘You’re breaking the rules!’ ‘Who cares?’ ‘Because rules are the only thing we’ve got!’”

Ralph knew that when order was shattered, survival was put at risk. Because they neglected order, the signal fire went out, and they missed an opportunity of a ship rescuing them. Their carelessness allowed a fire to ravage the forest and kill a boy. Order was lost; survival was endangered.

Worse, the antagonist, Jack, set himself up as a tyrant. He violated justice – two boys were killed, and more would have died if it hadn’t been for their sudden rescue by grownups. This was too late for the three boys whose deaths had proven that without order and justice, survival is at jeopardy.

3: Popular Sovereignty is unreliable

The boys on the island initially voted for Ralph as leader. Before long, though, they began to listen to the call of the dark side. Within a few days they surrendered to barbarism and deserted order and Justice in order to embrace disorder and injustice.

It was the boys’ choice that directed the government. But the consequences of their wrong choices far outweighed the good choice that they first made. Popular Sovereignty is unreliable because it relies on the fickle nature of man.