William Golding – Lord of the Flies

How does the novel reflect the concerns of the author and the time it was written? William Golding was an English author, actor and school teacher. He was born in 1911 and lived until he was 82 years old. During his life, Golding experienced 2 world wars. These world wars shaped the way he viewed the world, especially WWII as he was part of the destruction of German ships on D-Day. These experiences were a big reason why Golding chose to become an author.
Golding wrote many books but one book really showcased his thoughts and feelings about humans and how cruel they truly can be. This book is of course is Lord of the Flies, which was published in 1954 at a time where the world feared of a nuclear war. For those of you who don’t know the book, Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of young schoolboys, who are stuck on an island and in a time of chaos and fear, turn to savagery, resulting in horrific actions and behaviours. These behaviours and actions are written with such detail that it makes the action even more horrific.
For example in chapter 11 one of the boys, Roger, pushes a boulder off the edge which results in the death of one of the boys, Piggy, it reads, “His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. ” Golding says in an article, ‘What turns children into savages’ that he includes descriptions like these to get the reader thinking about how cruel humans can really act towards one another and how it can hurt innocent people.

I mentioned before that the book showcases the cruelty of humans; however it also has links to the horrific actions that occurred in WWII. For example in the book the boys use a chant when they are hunting, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! ” This quote relates to WWII as there were a lot of unnecessary actions done to people, especially Jews. For example in the concentration camps, Jews were tortured even though they were going to be killed anyway.
In Lord of the Flies the pigs are the Jews as they are being killed and then tortured or this case bashed in. Another example is one of the boys, Jack. He constantly singles out and bullies Piggy because of his appearance, as he is fat, has asthma and wears glasses. These features make Piggy different compared to the other boys. For example in chapter 4 it reads, “Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks”. From these actions we can see that Jack shows some resemblance to Hitler as he killed Jews because they were different.
In conclusion William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies reflects his concerns of human cruelty as well as his own experiences and views on WWII. Thank you! William Golding was an English author, actor and school teacher. He was born in 1911 and lived until he was 82 years old. During his life, Golding experienced 2 world wars. These world wars shaped the way he viewed the world, especially WWII as he was part of the destruction of German ships on D-Day. | These experiences were a big reason why Golding chose to become an author.
Golding wrote many books but one book really showcased his thoughts and feelings about humans and how cruel they truly can be. This book is of course is Lord of the Flies, which was published in 1954 at a time where the world feared of a nuclear war. | For those of you who don’t know the book, Lord of the Flies is a book about a group of young schoolboys, who are stuck on an island and in a time of chaos and fear, turn to savagery, resulting in horrific actions and behaviours. These behaviours and actions are written with such detail that it makes the action even more horrific. For example in chapter 11 one of the boys, Roger, pushes a boulder off the edge which results in the death of one of the boys, Piggy, it reads, “His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. ”| Golding says in an article, ‘What turns children into savages’ that he includes descriptions like these to get the reader thinking about how cruel humans can really act towards one another and how it can hurt innocent people.
I mentioned before that the book showcases the cruelty of humans; however it also has links to the horrific actions that occurred in WWII| . For example in the book the boys use a chant when they are hunting, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! ” This quote relates to WWII as there were a lot of unnecessary actions done to people, especially Jews. For example in the concentration camps, Jews were tortured even though they were going to be killed anyway. | In Lord of the Flies the pigs are the Jews as they are being killed and then tortured or this case bashed in.
Another example is one of the boys, Jack. He constantly singles out and bullies Piggy because of his appearance, as he is fat, has asthma and wears glasses. These features make Piggy different compared to the other boys. | For example in chapter 4 it reads, “Jack smacked Piggy’s head. Piggy’s glasses flew off and tinkled on the rocks”. From these actions we can see that Jack shows some resemblance to Hitler as he killed Jews because they were different. In conclusion William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies reflects his concerns of human cruelty as well as his own experiences and views on WWII. Thank you! |