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In 1857, a Scottish writer named R. M. Ballantyne published "The Coral Island," a children's adventure about three boys shipwrecked on an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. Two of its heroes were called Ralph and Jack. Nearly a century later, an English schoolmaster who had commanded a landing craft on D-Day, read that kind of story and found it unrealistic. So he wrote his own.
That schoolmaster was William Golding, and his answer to Ballantyne was "Lord of the Flies." Many readers first meet it as a school text, and some assume that one encounter is enough. Picking it up again, on your own time, is a different experience.
The man behind the book
Golding was born on 19 September 1911 in Newquay, Cornwall. At Brasenose College, Oxford, he spent two years on natural sciences before switching to English. From 1940 to 1961 he taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School in Salisbury, with one long interruption: the Second World War. He joined the Royal Navy in 1940, and on D-Day he commanded a landing craft that fired rockets onto the Normandy beaches.
"Lord of the Flies" was his first novel, and it nearly did not appear. Many publishers rejected it; one early reader's report waved it away as absurd and dull. The manuscript then carried a different title, "Strangers from Within." At Faber and Faber, the editor Charles Monteith worked with Golding on substantial revisions, including cutting an opening section about the evacuation. The book came out on 17 September 1954.
Golding went on to write many more novels. "The Inheritors" followed in 1955 and "The Spire" in 1964. He won the Booker Prize in 1980 for "Rites of Passage," received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983, and was knighted in 1988. He died on 19 June 1993.
The setup
Picture a group of children with no adults anywhere, and a single seashell as the only tool they have for calling a meeting. That is the situation Golding builds in his first pages.
The children are British schoolboys, roughly at the age just before adolescence, evacuated by air during a war. Their plane has come down on an isolated, uninhabited island. Two of them, fair-haired Ralph and a pudgy boy with glasses called Piggy, find a conch, and Ralph uses it as a horn to summon the other survivors.
Then the boys set about organising themselves:
- A vote. They choose a chief, and Ralph wins. Jack, a red-haired boy who led his school choir, is among those who gather.
- A plan. Ralph proposes three aims: have fun, survive, and keep a smoke signal going for any passing ship.
- A fire. Ralph, Jack, and a boy named Simon light the signal fire using the lenses of Piggy's glasses.
That is where the story begins. What becomes of this small society is something you should find out on the page.
Why it is worth your time
It turns a thought experiment into a story. What happens when people have to invent rules, leaders, and meetings from nothing? Golding gives that question an island, a shell, and a handful of children, and lets it play out in concrete scenes rather than arguments.
The boys feel like children you once sat beside. The elected chief, the boy in glasses, the choir leader: anyone who remembers a school playground will recognise the mix. Which of them you find yourself watching most closely may depend on your own age when you read it.
The objects carry meaning. The conch that summons everyone, the glasses that make fire, the smoke that might bring help: each simple thing takes on weight. That is why the novel rewards a slow read and works so well in discussion.
It reads differently at forty than at fourteen. Many people met this book in a classroom. In a 2016 UK poll it came third among readers' favourite books from school, behind "Animal Farm" and "Great Expectations." It has appeared on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels, the BBC's Big Read in 2003, and Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923. At the same time, the American Library Association counted it among the most frequently challenged books of the 1990s. A book that so many people remember from school, and that some have objected to, is usually worth a second look.
Choosing an edition
Faber and Faber published the novel first, and a Faber edition is a natural place to start if you want the book from its original British home. If you are reading with a class or a book group, agree on one edition so that everyone is on the same page, literally. If you would rather watch first, there are two well-known film versions: Peter Brook's British film from 1963 and Harry Hook's American film from 1990. Reading the novel first, though, lets you picture the island and the boys for yourself.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who liked "Animal Farm" or other novels about how societies form will feel at home here. It suits anyone who enjoys survival stories, anyone interested in leadership and group behaviour, and anyone who was assigned it at school and only half paid attention. Teachers and book clubs will find it full of openings for discussion.
Start with the sound of the conch. The rest is up to the boys, and to you.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Lord of the Flies" (published 17 September 1954 by Faber and Faber; Golding's first novel; rejected by many publishers, including one reader's report dismissing it as absurd and dull; draft title "Strangers from Within"; major edits with editor Charles Monteith, including the removal of an opening section about an evacuation; setting during a wartime evacuation in which a British plane crashes on an uninhabited island; boys in middle childhood or preadolescence; opening setup: fair-haired Ralph and pudgy Piggy, the conch they find, which Ralph uses as a horn to gather the survivors, Ralph elected chief with three goals of having fun, surviving, and keeping a smoke signal going, Jack as the red-haired leader of a school choir, Ralph, Jack, and Simon lighting the signal fire with Piggy's glasses; idea taken from "The Coral Island," which Golding found unrealistic; described as a novel concerned with morality, leadership, and the individual within a group; Modern Library 100 Best Novels; BBC The Big Read 2003; Time 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923 and its 100 Best Young-Adult Books; 2016 UK poll placing it third among favourite books from school, behind "Animal Farm" and "Great Expectations"; ALA list of most frequently challenged books of the 1990s; a 1963 British film directed by Peter Brook and a 1990 American film directed by Harry Hook) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies
- Wikipedia, "William Golding" (birth on 19 September 1911 in Newquay, Cornwall, and death on 19 June 1993; study at Brasenose College, Oxford, switching from natural sciences to English; teaching at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury, from 1940 to 1961 with a break for naval service; Royal Navy service from 1940, including command of a rocket-firing landing craft on D-Day; 1980 Booker Prize for "Rites of Passage"; 1983 Nobel Prize in Literature; 1988 knighthood; later novels including "The Inheritors" (1955) and "The Spire" (1964)) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Golding
- Wikipedia, "The Coral Island" (Scottish writer R. M. Ballantyne; published in 1857; three boys shipwrecked on an uninhabited South Pacific island; heroes named Ralph Rover and Jack Martin) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Coral_Island