Lord of the Flies by William Golding Introduction

Lord of the Flies is a fictional piece that explores the idea of human evil. The boys on the island have no rules or structures from society and therefore descend into savagery. Some boys work together to maintain order and achieve their goals. Other boys rebel and seek out anarchy and violence.

William Golding builds a comparison between civilization and savagery: CivilizationSavagery The impulse to obey rules Seeking power over others Behaving morallyActing selfishly Acting lawfullyScorn moral rules and indulge in violence

The writing style of the novel is straightforward. It is however, written as an allegorical tale. Allegory means: characters, events, objects, and ideas have secondary or symbolic meanings.

All human beings have a dark side that can cause the breakdown of individual or community moral standards if this dark side gains sway over reason and right thinking.

Lord of the Flies contains many symbols used by the author to develop and support his theme. These symbols include the following: Plane Crash: Failure or breakdown of society in the world outside; spread of corrupting ideas. Eyeglasses of Piggy and Piggy Himself: Insight, wisdom, knowledge There are many more which we will be investigating during class.

There are two main types of conflict in literature: external and internal. External conflict pits a person against another human or against an animal, an object, the forces of nature, or any other aspect or situations outside of him. Internal conflict involves a struggle between a person and his emotions or negative attributes.

Lord of the Flies is a Dystopian Novel. Dystopian means: an imaginary place where people lead dehumanized and often fearful lives