The Message of The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Message of The Lord of the Flies by William Golding

William Golding has successfully conveyed the message of Lord of the

Flies to the reader. The novel portrays the malicious nature of

mankind, through the use of symbolism, where the author makes use of

details with second meanings. Throughout the novel, symbolism, which

is of both characters and other significant objects, is used, in order

to stress the novels message.

Lord of the Flies is a story that begins in the aftermath of a plane

crash in the Pacific Ocean during a war, in which a group of English

schoolboys are isolated on an island. They are under no adult

supervision and are left to fend for themselves, create their own

friendships and fight their own battles. As the story unfolds the boys

develop a miniature society in which they try to include rules and

order, but each with their own ideas of right and wrong, and sometimes

totally different priorities, difficulties arise, and their little

community collapses. Changes occur as the boys gradually adapt to the

isolated freedom from society.

The boys' lives on the island represents a worldwide society, with the

purpose of conveying the message better if the characters were

isolated, where laws could not reach them. We are told in the story

that "no boy could reach even the reef over the stretch of water".

This shows the reader that the reef is like a boundary that cannot be

crossed by any inhabitant on the island. Golding's use of the setting

and circumstances help to illustrate the story's main message, the

malevolent ways of man. It is possible the author used children in the

novel as ignorance, evolving the c...

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...ns. The Lord of the Flies represents the beast's danger and

power. In the story the panic and decay that takes place is symbolised

by the pig's head.

The novel's message is effectively created to make the book a fable,

by using a wide range of symbolism and hidden meanings throughout the

book. We are shown in the book that not everyone has so much evil

hidden inside them as to become complete savages when released from

the boundaries of our society. The isolation of the island allowed for

changes and for their true selves to be revealed. From all three

characters we can see that under the same circumstances, different

individuals can develop in different ways depending on factors within

themselves. However, above all, the novel's message is successfully

stressed to the reader as being the malicious nature of mankind.