During late 2007 I read the novel "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding. William Golding was honoured with the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.

The characters and plot are covered on the wikipedia site so I will not discuss them here and will instead focus on a few points that I found very interesting.

• I found the novel a little slow to get going, however the novel quickly gained pace and the last 1/3 was very exciting and a pleasure to read.
• The final scene is almost identical to Mel Gibson's recent Apocalypto movie.
• The theme of the children fighting against each other was also very similar to the Japanese movie Battle Royal.
• A subtle theme of "now vs the future" is expressed through the rivalry of the two groups.
• Hunting vs shelter vs playing
• If they don't have smoke they could stay on the island forever.    
• Why they kill a sow with piglets rather than catch and farm the pigs.
• When they burn the island and Ralph thinks of the fruit trees and what will they will eat tomorrow?
• As an analogy with business, the importance of demographics when considering marketing is explored. Evidenced by the savages growing in stages by different people and/or groups and each for different reasons:-
• First choir boys.
• Then a hunting group is formed due to combined hunger for meat.
• Group grows in number to offer protection from the beast.
• The group then becomes large enough that group dynamics take over and members stay within the savages group out of fear, fear that if they question the leader they will be picked out and mistreated.

Some of the passages that I enjoyed and my comments:-

“A little boy wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and who carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist, started forward, then changed his mind and stood still”

• Why did Jack not step forward? I think because his un-civilised behaviour (savage) suddenly seemed ridiculous in front of civilisation (the soldier).

“Fun and games” said the officer to the children

• Spoken because they were children, the assumption is that children would not kill each other or act like savages and if they had been adults this would not have been the opening statement by the solider to the island inhabitants.

Chapter 5 - Beast From Water

“Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness.”  The beast within us.

Chapter 8 - Gift for the darkness

The lord of the flies is the pigs head sitting on a stake covered in a blob of flies.

Chapter 9 - A view to a death

“Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms; authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape”. Describing Jack as the new leader, the chattered in his ear like an ape is brilliant. 

“Somewhere over the darkened curve of the world the sun and moon were pulling; and the film of water on the earth planet was held, bulging slightly on one side while the solid core turned. The great wave of the tide moved further along the island and the water lifted. Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s body moved out towards the open sea”. A very elegant passage that combines the tides and the stars with the disposing of the body. All the bodies in the novel disappear, this creates freedom for the characters to kill again.

In conclusion I truly enjoyed the novel Lord of the Flies and would certainly recommend it to others, especially those who enjoy reading classics.