I think the thing that makes Lord of the Flies so successful is the way William Golding manages to drop subtle hints in the story, straight from the beginning, and they become more apparent as the book progresses, and actions turn from worse, to what could only be described as barbaric and bloody. Every chapter leaves you hungry for more. Innocence is lost and life for the boys will never be the same again.Īlthough the book spans a few months, fortunately it does not feel rushed. All the time, the reader is questioning Ralph, Piggy, Jack and the other schoolboys' decisions and actions, until it comes to a point when the reader is unable to take in what has happened. It holds a deeper, more subtle meaning to it, making the reader question what it really means to be immoral and the true meaning of evil. Now when I talk about protagonists and antagonists, it's really hard to truly define who they are, for you see, Lord of the Flies isn't just a book about boys becoming independent. Soon, what was initially thought of as a blissful escape from the Adult World quickly develops into something more sinister and unsettling. Both boys grow to loathe each other as the days pass, with Jack getting hungrier for power. Ralph befriends a choirboy called Jack, who turns out to be the antagonist in this story. Ralph ends up being elected due to his leadership skills and popularity with the rest of the boys.

Without any adults, the boys realise that a leader must be elected in order to make sure that everyone has fun and doesn't act unkindly (except to Piggy of course, teasing Piggy is perfectly okay). After all, the young boys' dreams have come true: who wouldn't want a whole island to play on all day without any nagging from the Adults? The unlikely protagonists are the fair haired Ralph and his side-kick, appropriately named Piggy. Set in an unspecified war period, a plane crashes, leaving a group of schoolboys stranded on a desert. Allow me to briefly explain the tantalising plot.

Lord of the flies william golding book