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Human pyschology textbook disguised as an adventure novel

Customer Rating:

This book begins a little fuzzy, but by the end of the first few pages the explanation for the boys' current situation is revealed: A plane carrying many British schoolboys crashed on a tropical island, and only some amount of them survive. There are no adults. Sounds like your typical survival-on-a-desert-island beginning, right? In a way, it is. For the most part, this book details the boys' struggle to survive under the leadership of Ralph and his intelligent friend Piggy. Ralph attempts to lead the boys under a sort of democratic establishment, and it works, for a while. But the "model boy" of the school, Jack Merridrew, gains a crazed obsession with hunting. Soon his target becomes a "Beast" of the island and, aided by his fellow hunters, begins committing criminal acts such as beatings, robbery, and murder in an attempt to "kill the beast". The boys desert Ralph and Piggy and join Jack's society of madness, believing in the misguided leadership of Jack. However, all that's well ends well, as all the boys are eventually rescued. That's the end of the story, right? Wrong. The true meaning of the book is much, much deeper than that. What you thought was an island adventure is revealed to be an insightful look into the reasons why men do what they do, why certain societies fail, how fear and darkness penetrates man, and what humans do when they are desperate. It also explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. This book will appeal to adventure-seekers and philosophers alike. It is gripping enough to hold your attention and fascinating enough that you will still recall it months later.

Children without Adults

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"Lord of the Flies" is Golding's fascinating novelistic expression of the theory that human beings are born violent savages, requiring adult supervision and training to moderate and tame. I find "Lord of the Flies" excellent both artistically and conceptually because, in part, because I am in agreement with Golding. In the story, children marooned on an island, without adults, quickly revert to the savagery from which they sprang. One group even develops a crude religion to explain things they cannot see and to justify their use of brutal power. Some of the children are more 'civilized' and it is through their eyes that we regard the reversion of others with an equal measure of alarm and distaste. The young savages hunt, stage wild parties and make offerings of pig's heads to their newfound God. They finally murder. It is only with the arrival of adults that total chaos is prevented. Ron Braithwaite--author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Grrrr-8 Book!	Customer Rating:
This is a great book to read! Very interesting and intense. Great reading material.

I have the conch...let me speak!

Customer Rating:

OK now that I have the conch I have a few things I'd like to say about this book. First if you don't know what the conch is all about then you'd better pick up this book and read it. Secondly if you think you know who the Lord of Flies might be without reading this book your wrong. Third and lastly do yourself a favor anyway and pick up this book, it's a fun, quick read. I liked this story of young boys stranded on a island having to fend for themselves and at the same time trying to keep some sort of organization among themselves as they wait for a possible rescue. But therein lies the problem as their little world begins to turn up-side down as different personalities begin to clash. I felt as though I too was on the island with these kids as I read along. I've said enough now, who wants the conch now?

Do Humans Make Civilization, or vice versa?

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What an incredible first novel, a story of civilization, how humans create it and how easily it can be destroyed. It deals with fear, and the atrocities it can make people commit. Golding wrote often about the connection between humanity and civilization. Does civilization make us human? This story can mean many things to many people, making it wonderful fodder for literature classes and idle pondering.