taylor-mayed's Full Review: William Golding - Lord of the Flies: Kit
Almost all authors of serious adult literature have some kind of a vision, some set of ideas or values or beliefs, a kind of message or warning that they want to use their book to explain to the readers. Some do this quite explicitly by use of characters or events or the narration, some cleverly weave their ideas in through use of subtexts, as George Orwell was always so adept at doing. And some authors such as William Golding get so wrapped up in themselves that they make a complete mess of the whole thing, as he did with “Lord of the Flies”.
I tried hard to like this book when I first read it, I really did. I’m no iconoclast, eager to gun a famous book down just because everyone else loves it. I adore “Nineteen Eighty-Four” for example. But I simply could not find any trace of a redeeming feature in “Lord of the Flies”. There were no characters that I became attached to, although I did have a little sympathy for Piggy. I was confused as to what Golding was trying to say, chiefly because it seemed to me that he was trying to say so much and getting all of it so very wrong. I found the style of writing flat and dull and the plot did not grab me at all.
Of course I realise that I am in a minority here, as there are many thousands of people who have read the book, enjoyed it and taken something positive from it. Which is of course fine, I’m not trying to dictate what anyone else should think of the book, merely expressing my own personal viewpoint. Right from the first page though, the book bored me. I found the prose flat and unimaginative, and the dialogue between the characters was little better.
Things seemed to happen to and amongst the characters for little or no apparent reason, and although I will admit that some of the behavioural patterns of Jack and Piggy were quite well observed, the character of Ralph was just plain bizarre. And as for Simon, well, what’s he supposed to be all about then – is he Jesus? Does he represent some other form of spirituality? What the hell is his imagined conversation with the decapitated pig’s head supposed to be all about? As why is said pig’s head, the eponymous Lord of the Flies, regarded significant enough by Golding to be made the title of the novel? Just because it’s a catchy title? Well, fair enough, but it does annoy me when the titles of books sometimes seem to have little or no connection to the plots of those books.
Piggy was my favourite character, although this was somewhat by default as he was the only one I could really get to grips with in any way, shape or form. He represents the advantages of a good mind over physical prowess, and his death at the hands of the savage children near the end of the novel does provide one of the few moments in the book where I felt something close to emotion for one of the characters. Certainly either him or the initial portrayal of Ralph are the two characterisations most of the readers of the book will identify with, but as the book went on I became less enamoured of Ralph than I had been to begin with because he became to annoying.
The sudden return of the savage boys to some kind of normality at the end of the novel just because of the appearance of a single authority figure does seem to jar a little, but then Jack’s descent into savagery, while providing the most coherent symbolism of the book, does seem a little clumsily-handled. Especially given the fact that the way he develops into this bizarre tribe chief figure makes it seem as if he has aged a few years during the course of his few weeks or months on the island. You could say that being in such surroundings would always do that to a child, but I remain to be convinced about this.
So what sort of message was Golding trying to impart to his readership when he sat down and wrote “Lord of the Flies”? Was he trying to say that savagery exists just beneath the surface of us all? Was he trying to say that no matter how fair and just a system dictators will always emerge to use and abuse it? Was he saying that physicality will always triumph over intelligence? Who can say? Of course, many books invite you to draw your own conclusions, and there is nothing wrong with this, in fact it can often be a strength. However, in Golding’s hands it is only a weakness, he manages to cloud our judgements of his message, whatever it might be, with a writing style that bores rather than involves.
Golding wrote this book partially as a parody of the Victorian adventure story “Coral Island”, which featured young boys trapped on an island and had characters called Jack, Ralph and Simon. However, in his eyes that book had committed the heinous crime of being purely for the purposes of entertainment and not being realistic enough. I would be prepared to bet, however, that “Coral Island” has brought a lot more actual enjoyment to the lives of its readers than “Lord of the Flies” ever will do in a million years.
Of course this book isn’t supposed to be about enjoyment or having a good time, which would be fair enough if it was actually well written. As it is the whole thing is something of an unappealing mess that I would not recommend to anybody – if you must know the story, watch one of the film versions instead to save yourself from having to suffer Golding’s writing style.
And they wonder why so many GCSE students grow to despise English Literature…
Originally published in 1954, William Golding's Lord of the Flies is one of the most disturbing and celebrated novels of modern times.A plane crashes ...More at HotBookSale
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