Lord of the flies

• The novel Lord of the Flies was written

  1954
• Golding's experiences in World War Two


  • Participated in the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France
  • Present at the sinking of the Bismarck
• Golding's experiences of World War Two profoundly affected his view of humanity and the evils of which man was capable
• Golding was interested in evil, not just as an aspect of human nature, but also in the causes, effects, and expression of evil
• Golding: '"The theme of Lord of the Flies is grief, sheer grief, grief, grief."'
• Without the controlling hand of civilisation


  The former schoolboys sought unthinking domination over others who were not of their group
• When confronted with a choice between reason's civilizing influence and the savagery of animals

  The human instinct is to turn its back the values of the civilization that Ralph represents
• The island


  Could symbolize Europe in the twentieth century: Peace and democracy are threatened by the rise of fascist dictators such as Hitler, Mussolini, Franco who abuse their power over others
• In the final stages of World War 2, American detonated atom bombs on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagosaki
• Fear of an atomic war was very real during the time in which Golding wrote 'Lord of the Flies'
• The novel demonstrates the power that fear has over human beings through the boys' creation of the 'beast' in their own imagination
• In the 1950s the Cold War between American and the Soviet Union and their allies intensified people's fears
• Coral Island


  A famous Victorian novel by RM Ballantyne, published in 1857, about three young British boys shipwrecked on a desert island
• Golding knew that the idyllic life of Coral Island could never exist in real life, so he set out to write a novel that showed his ideas about the darker side of human nature
• Golding disliked the snobbery of the British class system
• Piggy is ridiculed in 'Lord of the Flies' by some of the middle class boys because of his accent and working class origins
• Piggy can be seen as a powerful symbol of the intelligent working class whose opportunities are restricted by snobbery
• The island


  Can be interpreted as an allegory of the Garden of Eden, a paradise which is threatened by the sin of mankind
• Simon


  Is associated with peace, kindness and an almost visionary power, and is a victim of the mindless cruelty of others in the way Christ was
• Golding was a Christian who wrote the novel as fable with a moral and religious message-he felt that Christian ideals of compassion and love were lost within a modern Europe dominated by dictatorship, war and destruction
• Cold War


  Long period of tension between the democracies of the Western World and the communist countries of Eastern Europe
• Superpowers

  • United States
  • Soviet Union
• The two superpowers never officially declared war on each other, but fought indirectly in proxy wars, the arms race, and the space race
• The Cold War time period

  1945-1991
• The Cold War began not too long after World War II ended in 1945
• The Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991
• Arms Race


  Each side tried to have the best weapons and the most nuclear bombs to deter the other side from attacking
• Space Race


  Each side tried to show it had the better scientists and technology by accomplishing certain space missions first
• The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union didn't get better as time went on
• The CIA reported to the president that the USSR had missiles in Cuba


  October 17 1962
• The Lockheed U-2 was an American single-jet engine, ultra-high altitude aircraft used by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency
• U2 photographs showed the missile bases would be fully operational in a few days


  October 25 1962
• The Russians sent to Cuba 42 medium range missiles and 24 intermediate range missiles which had a capability of 3500 miles, and 22,000 Russian troops and technicians accompanied the missiles
• Khruschev replied that the USSR would remove the missiles


  October 28 1962
• Within 2 months the missiles were gone and the Cuban Missile Crisis was over, but it had taken the world to the brink of nuclear war
• Lord of the Flies

  Published in 1954
• Lord of the Flies


  • Theme of going evil, darker vision of paradise, parable
  • Inspired by the Bible, devil (an idea of evil)
  • Microcosm - a miniature representation of something much larger
  • Allegory - a story with a hidden meaning, usually a political message
  • Characters are personifications of abstract ideas such as savagery, civilisation, religion, greed, warfare and intellect
• William Golding was born in 1911, his mother was a suffragette and his father was a socialist
• Golding studied English Literature at Oxford University and became a school teacher in a boy's public school
• Golding witnessed the horrors of war as a naval officer during WW2, including the bombing of civilians and Nazi concentration camps