This gripping cerebral thriller is routinely assigned to high school students, although it may be wasted on them, as they are still under the influence of hormonal distractions. I recently reread it and was thoroughly impressed by the acuteness of its analysis of group dynamics, pre-adolescent psychology, and mob violence. The novel's plot follows the fortunes of four main characters among a crowd of schoolboys left stranded on a tropical island in the middle of an unspecified, but atomic, war. There are Ralph, whose mantra insists on the need to keep a fire going if they want to be rescued; and Jack Merridew, choir leader and head boy; Simon, a perceptive and haunted child; and Piggy, a fat, bespectacled, asthmatic boy who talks too much because nobody listens to him. The reader never learns Piggy's real name, although he receives heartfelt praise at the end of the novel.
In the first chapter, Ralph is enchanted by his realization that the boys' stranding is accidentally a ready made vacation frm all the restraints of civilized life: the orders, directions, rules, and schedules of a school boy's life. He strips off his clothes and dives in, metaphorically speaking. Soon he is accidentally elected leader of the band of boys, and manages to keep Jack happy by making him the leader of a band of hunters. Jack's great psychological need to be in charge steadily prevails over Ralph and Piggy's attempts to organize a fire beacon, with results that seem inevitable by the end of the book. Jack needs followers more than anything else, and deliberately encourages a taste for killing pigs in his army of hunters.
All of the main characters demonstrate courage of various kinds, and I believe Golding wanted us to meditate on the differences between physical and moral courage. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has noticed "political" situations in schools, and offices, and clubs, and anywhere in the world at large. Golding offers no pat solutions to controlling the forces let loose in the novel, but he makes you value civilization.
William Golding’s unforgettable classic of boyhood adventure and the savagery of humanity comes to Penguin Classics in a stunning Graphic Deluxe Edition with a new foreword by Lois Lowry
As provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, Lord of the Flies continues to ignite passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. William Golding’s compelling story about a group of very ordinary boys marooned on a coral island has been labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, and even a vision of the apocalypse. But above all, it has earned its place as one of the indisputable classics of the twentieth century for readers of any age.
This Penguin Classics Graphic Deluxe Edition features an array of special features to supplement the novel, including a foreword by Lois Lowry, an introduction by Stephen King, an essay by E. M. Forster, an essay on teaching and reading the novel and suggestions for further exploration by scholar Jennifer Buehler, and an extended note by E. L. Epstein, the publisher of the first American paperback edition of Lord of the Flies.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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