Lord Of The Flies

So. Lord Of The Flies.

A highly cherished book among teachers, parents, adults, even teens who had to read it. Truth be told. I don’t think it deserves its praise.

Now. Before I begin, I’d like to preface this with I’m not judging you if this is your favorite book from high school. (Or in general) But, feel free to argue your own opinions if you’d like. I’m open for discussion.

Alright. Lord Of The Flies, written by William Golding, in 1954, is a shorter novel, following a group of school aged British boys, after becoming stranded on a deserted island, without the guidance of any adults whatsoever.

It follows them through as they slowly devolve into insanity, and feed into their own mass hysteria, until they break. (Fun, right?)

Although this storyline is indeed interesting, and could be done right, I truly feel Lord Of The Flies (LOTF) didn’t.

Lack Of Depth or Nuance

A big reason for this, is that the story meant to serve as a cautionary tale, of why society needs authority and laws. (Society = Kids, Authority = Adults).

However, this just felt poorly expressed. The book followed a gaggle of 12 and under boys. Now not to get too far into any sexism debate. But, it’s not outlandish to argue that if the book would have followed any other group, there could have been more nuance and depth into their behavior.

At the time of this novels creation, boys were raised much differently than girls. Being made to believe in themselves to a point of entitlement, and gaining a thought process of “my way or the highway”.

Now, although this is not to say the age old sentiment of “Girls are nicer than boys” or anything of the sort. But it stands to reason that any other group of people, or even a mixed group, would have handled the situation differently, or possibly that, just another group of boys.

The bland following of a bunch of tweenaged boys really just brings the story to feel like a “Kids. Listen to your parents because without them you’d do bad stuff!” (Turn crazy and kill two boys)

Now, this could be forgiven, sometimes books are cherished for their beautiful metaphors and symbolism! But alas, LOTF, fails in that regard as well.

Analogies, Metaphors, and Symbolism / The Lack Thereof

Throughout the book, there are attempts to make analogies, metaphors, and symbolic gestures.

However, these all end up feeling rushed, out of place, or possibly even added as an afterthought after being asked what they were supposed to mean.

The biggest point that can be made towards this is the most known piece of imagery in the book. The boar’s head. (The lord of the flies himself)

This boar’s head, spiked on a stake, and covered in flies, is meant to symbolize the “beast” of the island being internal, and the boys themselves. Symbolizing the true evil, and sin within humanity as a whole.

Although the argument can be made that the pig does help to display this. It’s an arbitrary point again, based on the decisions of immature boys. These children are in the nicest way possible, dumb and lost. They displayed the pig in a sense of pride and accomplishment that they had managed to survive.

If anything, this shows how unequipped the boys were to survive, not that they were, in any sense of the word, insane or “savage”. They were children that were happy that they had managed to secure the slightest bit of food for themselves.

On top of all of this, the addition of the flies are meant to be a call to the demon Beelzebub. The demonic “lord of flies and rot”, to further perpetuate the evil within humanity.

Is this not ridiculous? Who in their right mind would ever make this connection? Definitely not the main demographic of the novel that’s for sure. It feels tacked on, like in an attempt to make the book feel more educated or sophisticated. (Oh uh, sure it’s also a demon because it makes me sound smart)

The book really feels just, excessive, and overly renowned.

Final Thoughts

LOTF feels less like a cautionary tale of the evil and possible savagery within all of humanity, and more like a book meant to tell children that adults should make all the rules.

Lord of the flies is not an inherently “bad” book. As most literature does have a place somewhere in someone’s heart. And it is an okay read.

However, it is hailed as this amazing novel, read in schools around the US at least, and it really doesn’t deserve this praise.

Again, this is not an insult towards anyone who believes this book is in their top reads or anything of the sort. And, I am always open to discussion and different perspectives.

With this being said, read what you enjoy, and enjoy what you read. And if it happens to be LOTF, that’s great, just stay on your side of the island. (All jokes)