Lord of the Flies

By: William Golding

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book about a group of adolescent aged choir boys who were shipwrecked on an island amidst a nuclear war. The boys were highly educated and got along well when they first arrived to the island, with the exception of piggy who all the boys pick on. As the book progresses, everyone dives deeper and deeper into savagery in attempt to survive on the abandoned island. The book explores the good and evil of human nature; conveying that theme through symbolism. 

Yes, this was a book assigned to me in my sophomore English class. However, this was my favorite book I’ve ever read for several reasons. William Golding poses a rhetorical question to the reader: are humans naturally good or evil by nature? I found this question very interesting because I could compare it to real life situations that involved people acting inhumane and savage when they absolutely need something, such as aggressive driving or stealing/shoplifting. I thought the book put everything into perspective by putting an extremely literal spin on such a broad concept. I also found the symbolism in the book quite intriguing. There were several religious innuendos such as the character Simon representing Jesus and how he was sacrificially killed, and how the pig on the stick (the Lord of the Flies), represented Satan. This book was overall very interesting to me and I still remember a lot of small details two years after reading it.