This book, first published in 1954, was William Golding's first and probably most well known novel. It was one of the first dystopian novel oriented around children, that seem to be very popular nowadays, such as Hunger Games or Divergent. The journey of a group of boys as they try to remain civilised while stranded on an unsupervised island is both adventurous and tragic. With a twist in the middle that adds a whole new dimension to the plot, this book will completely captivate you. Golding takes this seemingly, a children's adventure tale and explores the darker side of humanity in everyone.
The novel takes place on an unnamed island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in the the middle of an unspecified nuclear war. A British plane crashes on the uninhibited island and the only survivors are boys all under the age of 13. The boys are united by the sound of a conch blown by Ralph. Without any adult supervision on the island, they decide that the only to survive they will have to build shelters, gather food, and keep a fire going to signal any nearby ship for rescue. The boys are split into the "biguns", the older boys around the age of 10-12 and the "littluns" which are around the age of six. While the "bigguns'' try to build shelters and keep the fire going while the "littluns" are suppose to collect any edible foods, they mainly go off to play. A group of hunters are created from a boys choir while led by their leader, Jack Merridew, they explore the island and hunt for meat. While Ralph was elected as chief with the support of everyone except the choir, it is clear that Jack wants to be leader. Jack wants to hunt for meat while Ralph's main priority is to keep the fire going. This causes a lot of disputes between them and in the end results in Jack luring other boys from their jobs, sacrificing the task of keeping the fire going and even missing a chance at rescue to go on a pig hunt. While Jack starts to turn more and more boys against Ralph, the rest of them become more and more restless tension and fear is among everyone. The littluns dream of this "beast" that not even the bigguns can reassure them. However the more they talk of the beast, the more they are eager to kill it.
Golding manages to show the transition as the boys turn from civilised British school boys to almost primitive beings with great skill. The development of each character is well planned out and that just makes their lost of inoccence even more intriguing. The fact that all of the boys were under 12 is what makes them so inoccent because they have not fully grown and they are not adults, but they have minds of their own. While the story at times can be confusing, the symbols and hidden meanings in this novel only makes it more fascinating. This book isn't some light read for the beach but its a riveting book with a truly unique plot that will interest many teens and adults.
This is a good review. There is a good plot outline that entices the reader to choose this book.
ReplyDelete