Lord of the Flies

Taking you to another (maybe not so nice) world is Lord of the Flies. Once again, I read this when I was in school and Wow! did it scare me. I was so involved in the intricate lives of these boys, left without any adults to supervise them, and this strange, almost primeval society they construct from the very jungle itself. I could put myself in their shoes, imagining this classmate being Ralph, Jack, Piggy, or Simon. I saw myself in their struggle to maintain their last ties to humanity, and realized we are all just a hair’s breadth away… show more.

Some of the most deep and memorable conversations I've had with my friends entailed "how do you recreate civilization after civilization collapses?" I found that Lord of the Flies humbled my utopian ideas as it presents some logical steps of social disintegration. What's great about this story is that it's not even set in a remnant of civilization, but drops us straight onto an island. The cast of characters is so perfectly written as we see children trying to not only survive but to create their own civilization on this island. I found these images to be vivid and perfectly… show more.

An island with no adults and no rules. A teenager’s dream come true! William Golding masterfully brings this scenario to life and offers a wide range of characters to identify with. For me, it was the island itself that was most vividly portrayed. From the sound of the surf hitting the beach to the stench of rot, no detail is overlooked in this world of isolated boys. The social commentary and character analysis are all there for the more advanced reader, but any of us can enjoy a great survival story.

The most vicious of the five books, but also the most honest. At its heart, Lord of the Flies is about the thinness of civilization’s veneer; how quickly a community disintegrates down to its barest savagery. It doesn’t take much to smash society – the strong preying on the weak - when kids with runny noses whoop through a jungle impaling each other with spears because they can’t think of anything else to do.

Another big influence, but not the sea this time. Instead, we get survival and essential character questions in an island setting.

I love how this book uses the island, and the society the lost boys create, both as a microcosm of civilised society, and – paradoxically – as a study of what can happen when the order, rules that govern and protect basic human decency are removed. 

I like that LOTF does not tell us what to think. It does open up a lot of soul-searching questions.

In this classic novel of survival by William Golding, a group of schoolboys endures a plane crash only to find themselves marooned on a deserted island with little hope of rescue. With no adults to guide them and no rules to follow, the boys’ fragile society begins to rapidly break down and soon devolves into fear, chaos, and even murder. This book speaks to me as a cautionary tale of what can happen when the rule of law no longer holds sway, and our most primal and savage instincts are allowed to run rampant. Not only that, but this book… show more.

I recently reread this 1954 book about a group of boys stranded on an island, trying to govern themselves, for the first time since middle school. It was chilling in the context of the times we live in. Left unchecked, human behavior tends toward self-interest, greed, and power, often with fatal ramifications. It all resonates in today’s world with those in positions of authority who spread falsehoods to divide others in order to gain more power, to say nothing of Covid-19 deniers, anti-vaxxers, and others who see self-sacrifice for the greater good as weakness…and bullying as strength.