Because I love books so much, I always feel a little guilty admitting I haven’t read every classic that ever existed.
But of course that would be an unrealistic expectation.
So in this state of openness, I am sharing with you that I have just finished reading (for the first time) William Golding’s Lord of the Flies.
It was already a concept I was familiar with. Young boys, stranded on a remote island in the middle of the ocean - living like savages, left to their own devices without any adult influence or morals and rules to live by.
Golding’s clever novel (his first) is really a study of human behaviour and how low a person can sink when left to their own devices.
And of course. that leads to protestations from every side, that it ’would never be me’ - but then when you think about all the atrocities around the world that have ever happened, you soon realise that with the use of fear, controlling, psychopathic people are able to control vast swathes of populations by using fear and torture.
What makes Golding’s book even more fascinating, however, is the fact that the group of strangers all stranded together are children. Without adult influence, and anyone teaching them the difference between right and wrong, how would a group of young, vulnerable children behave?
If you haven’t already read the book, then watch out for the spoilers - but basically what happens in the story is a lot darker than what you first imagine.
The first two characters we meet, running dazed and confused through tangled undergrowth, are Ralph and Piggy; survivors of a devastating plane crash which killed the pilot and left a group of young boys - mostly strangers - stranded together on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean.
What I love about what Golding has done with Piggy though is make us feel sympathy for him - and then openly set him up for a fall.
When Piggy tells Ralph about himself, he says he lost his mum at a young age so went to live with an ‘aunt’ who ran a sweet shop. Describing Piggy as short and fat, the inference here is that Piggy - starved of maternal love - was fed with sweets instead. Having then made us feel an empathy for him, we then get a taste from Ralph of what is to come for Piggy - who is the focus of constant ridicule from the group of stranded strangers. Even Ralph - the closest thing to a friend that Piggy has - allows himself to mock Piggy at times.
Having confessed to Ralph that he was bullied at his previous school and called a nickname he doesn’t want to be referred to as again, the naive and trusting Piggy confesses his nickname to Ralph - only to have Ralph announce it to the group of stranded boys when they congregate for the first time later on.
In an effort to exert some kind of control over the group, Piggy suggests using a giant conch to call all of the stranded boys to a meeting point - where the group of strangers meet each other for the first time. Ralph, having gained ownership of of the conch (at Piggy’s suggestion), is proclaimed chief, but is constantly challenged by Jack, who as part of a group of male choir boys, leads the group of hunters who track and spear the wild pigs that live on the island.
But as time goes on, the group of ‘little uns’ start talking and shouting in their sleep - having nightmares about ’The Beast’ - a weird, billowing, shapeless figure they have spotted above the beach, an image that invades and torments their troubled minds during sleep.
When Jack and his band of hunters directly challenge Ralph’s leadership by breaking away from the rest of the group, Jack’s vicious and immoral take on life allows his tribe to become a band of savages who paint their faces and no longer allow any sense of right or wrong to influence what they do.
The main thrust of Ralph’s leadership is the necessity to keep a fire burning on the island at all times so that any passing ships can be alerted of their presence, allowing them to be rescued.
But without Piggy’s glasses, which are used to start each fire by holding them under the burning rays of the sun, Jack’s group is scuppered - so they organise a night-time raid on Ralph’s camp, allowing them to steal Piggy’s glasses from him and ’steal’ two members of their dwindling tribe, Sam and Eric. When Ralph and his tribe confront Jack, Piggy is pushed over the side of a cliff and killed, and the last remaining members of Ralph’s tribe - Sam and Eric - are sucked into Jack’s new savages tribe, through use of violence.
Ralph - now completely alone - becomes the focus of Jack’s hatred, and is hunted down by Jack’s new band of savages, who threaten to kill Ralph through the use of a double-ended spear. Jack’s group of savages, now completely out of control and without any remaining conscience, decide to smoke Ralph out by setting fire to the island’s vegetation. Finally, with little chance of surviving the hunt, Ralph tumbles down onto the sand, only to find the face of a British naval officer staring at him, asking what game the group has been playing.
Now finally able to let go, Ralph stands there sobbing uncontrollably as a group of ‘little uns’ show up behind him and they break out into hysterical sobbing too.
But what is equally clever here is Golding’s decision to stop the story at this point.
This may or may not have been his intention, I don’t know, but by having the officer talk about returning them home, with just the small ones and Ralph present, it made me ask the question - where are Jack and Roger? (The two main characters encouraging the violence in the savages tribe).
And if I was Ralph - vulnerable, terrified and so close to being slaughtered (and yes, slaughtered is the right word to use here) - would I tell the officer about their presence and allow them to be rescued too? Or, would I acknowledge how vile and disgusting they had been and leave them there to die?
So all in all, Golding’s story is a really clever tale about human nature and the atrocities it is capable of when left to its own devices.
Having published the book in 1954, Golding’s style can seem a little wordy and extended in places but I love the whole concept of the book, and how he challenges what we all consider to be a ‘civilised society’.
Personally, I think the story would be amazing with a modern-day adaptation - and I know there have been various versions either mooted or produced, with an all-female cast too, but I actually like the concept of all boys, because boys ARE more physical and competitive, and they do compete for their positions within a group.
I personally would love to see a modern-day remake of the film.
And by the way, if you were to ask me who I think I’d be. I would be Piggy, or Ralph.
I might be scared of Jack - in fact I know I would be - but I’d be the quiet rebel. The one with their head down, fighting injustice quietly so I didn’t have to fight ‘them’ but could work towards their downfall in a quiet and steady way.
Would I save Jack and Roger?
This is an interesting one.
Honestly, I’m not quite sure.
If I was young, like Ralph, and had been hunted down to the point of knowing I was about to die had I not have been rescued by the military officer, I might well have been tempted not to mention the presence of Jack and Roger, and leave them behind.
But as an adult?
I would definitely mention them - and make sure they were shipped back to the UK, to face the consequences of their actions in a British court.
Which is why Golding’s book is so, so clever. It throws up moral dilemma after moral dilemma.
Time for a remake anyone?
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