Author Profile back to top

taken from: www.novelguide.com

William Gerald Golding was born in September of 1911 in the city of Cornwall , England . Growing up in the life of luxury, Golding soon realized that he was very talented at his school studies. He attended both the prestigious colleges of Malboro and Oxford , studying both natural science and English. Despite his father's protests, Golding eventually decided to devote his career to literature, where he became one of the most famous English novelists ever. Soon World War II started, compelling Golding to enlist in the Navy. It was war where Golding lost the idea that men are inherently good. After witnessing the evil of war, both from men of the enemy and his own side, Golding lost the belief that humans have an innocent nature. Even children he learned are inherently evil, thus foreshadowing his future and most famous novel, Lord of the Flies . In later years, Golding received many noteworthy awards for his contribution to English and world literature. Finally in 1983, he was awarded the Nobel prize for his literary merits. Golding's other interests include Greek literature, music and history. Yet William G. Golding will be remembered mostly for his great contributions to modern literature.

Plot Summary back to top

taken from: www.bookrags.com/notes/lof/SUM.html

Set during World War II, the story describes the plight of a group of British schoolboys stranded on a Pacific island after their plane was shot down en route to England . Two of the boys, Ralph and Piggy, discover a conch in the lagoon near the beach and use it to call all the other survivors, setting up a mock democratic government with Ralph as leader. Piggy continues to advise and give logic and reason to Ralph's rule. A signal fire, kindled with the lens of Piggy's glasses, is established on the mountain to call passing ships to their rescue while shelters are constructed.

However, the school's choir leader, Jack, soon becomes obsessed with hunting the pigs of the island and loses sight of Ralph's democratic vision. Further discord results with an increasing fear of a supposed "beast" on the island, stemming particularly from the younger boys dubbed the "littluns." Jack eventually abandons any thought of being rescued, content instead with hunting and killing pigs with his choir boys turned into hunters. Jack later speaks out of turn during their assembly meetings and eventually leaves the group to start a "tribe." Other children gradually defect to his side except for Ralph, Piggy, Simon and the twins Samneric (Sam and Eric). One by one these children are eliminated from the opposition.

Upon discovering the beast the boys had all feared on the mountain is only the rotting corpse of a pilot whose plane had been shot down near the island, Simon runs down from the mountain to share this happy news. However the boys (including Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric) are all, following Jack's example, caught up in a primal ritual celebrating the murder of a pig they have just eaten and Simon runs into the midst of this. Mistaken to be the beast, Simon is killed by the boys' spears.

Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric remain resistant to joining Jack's tribe. They attempt to cling to the democracy they had set up, still using the conch to call an assembly and struggling to keep a signal fire burning on the beach. Then Jack and his hunters attack the four and steal Piggy's glasses to kindle the fire he needs for pig-roasting fires. Angry and blinded, Piggy decides to go to the place on the island called Castle Rock where the hunters have set up a base. Reluctantly, Ralph and Samneric agree and upon arriving Roger stops them at the gate. Jack emerges from the forest and begins to fight with Ralph while Piggy stands nearby shrieking in fear, wanting only for his sight be restored by retrieving his glasses. Samneric are seized at Jack's command by the hunters and Roger, Jack's second-in-command, drops a large boulder on the head of Piggy, killing him and shattering the conch which he holds in his hands. Ralph alone is left to flee, with no friends left to aid him. Samneric have become hunters as well and betray the secret of his hiding place in the forest to Jack. The island is set ablaze and hunters fan out to kill Ralph with their spears, the sole remaining opposition to their tribe, as even now he tries to cling to his old democratic ideas.

Running wildly and suddenly becoming savage himself, Ralph stabs with his spear at the hunters pursuing him, chased by all until he at last comes to the beach. The shelters he had built with such labour are in flames and, falling at last upon the sand with the sea before him and nowhere left to run, Ralph looks up to see a naval officer. Rescue comes at last to the boys' aid, seeing the smoke from the mighty blaze set by Jack's hunters after Ralph's signal fire had earlier failed to alert anyone of their presence. When the officer expresses disapproval for the savage state and chaos to which the boys have reverted, Ralph breaks down in tears. Soon, all the hunters begin crying at the sight of grown-ups on the beach. Ralph weeps for "the end of innocence" and "the darkness of man's heart."

Essay Questions back to top

(1) Remind yourself of the passage printed below from Chapter 4 of Lord of the Flies. Write about:

• the ways this passage connects with other parts of the novel
• what the passage shows about the writer's concerns
• the ways the writer has used details in this passage.

(2) Why do you think William Golding chose to set Lord of the Flies on an island, and how does he use the island in the novel?

�What's your name?�

�Ralph.� ( about 2 pages in)

How does this opening prepare the reader for the rest of the novel? Write about:

• the events in the rest of the novel which are suggested by what happens here
• how words and phrases are used to suggest later developments
• how the writer's concerns in the rest of the novel start to appear here.

(4) Piggy is clearly a clever boy, but he is a victim too. How does the writer use him in the novel?

• the importance of the part Simon plays in the plot
• how Simon is different from the other boys
• what Simon might represent
• the ways the writer uses Simon to convey his ideas.

(6) What do you think Golding has to say about evil in Lord of the Flies ? How does he convey his ideas to the reader?

Why did Golding choose to end the novel with such a mistaken view?

(8) Simon says: �Maybe there is a beast.'

Ralph says: �But there isn't a beast.'

Jack says: �We'll make sure when we go hunting.'

How does William Golding use the �beast' in the novel as a whole? You should write about:

• what the �beast' may symbolise
• the way the boys' ideas about the �beast' change
• what effect the �beast' has on the boys.

(9) At the end of Chapter 5, Ralph asks for �something grown up�a sign or something'. What do you think is the significance of the �world of grown ups' at this point in the story, and in the novel as a whole? You should write about:

• the different attitudes of the boys towards �grown ups'
• events that occur on the island and in the outside world
• the writer's ideas and how he conveys them to the reader.

• what he is like when he is first stranded on the island
• what he tries to do and how he responds to events and situations
• how the writer presents the character of Ralph
• your own opinions of Ralph.

(11) What do you think makes Lord of the Flies a suitable title for this novel?

(12) How does Golding present Piggy and Simon in the novel? Write about:

• how these characters are important
• how what happens to them reflects Golding's ideas in the novel as a whole.

(13) What do you think Golding suggests about different types of leaders in Lord of the Flies? Write about:

• who you think the leaders are
• what type of leader each of them is
• how Golding presents them.

Useful Links back to top

https://www.gerenser.com/lotf/

https://www.novelguide.com/lordoftheflies/