LORD OF THE FLIES

WILLIAM GOLDING

Lord Of The Flies was published in 1954. It has had an impact on many generations and still today many children read this award-winning book.

The novel is set on an isolated island somewhere in the Pacific.

25 boys were stranded there. Their plane abruptly crashed and somehow they all survived.

It begins with two boys staring at their dilapidated aircraft smoking in the distance. They introduced themselves and became friends. Promptly, they began fooling around and screaming because there were no adults to supervise them. One jumped into the steaming sea and swam for hours but Piggy didn’t. Piggy was the plumper of the two. This was his nickname, he wasn’t so popular amongst his friends. He also had asthma so he couldn’t run or swim. Ralph had fair-hair and a slim body. He was over-confident, arrogant, cocky and was also rude to Piggy.

The two boys spotted a band of children walking down the coast, in the same situation as they were in (confused and foolish). When they united, they immediately thought “who shall be the leader of the group?”

Instantly Ralph volunteered and he won democratically. So he decided that he should go on a quest to find out whether it was an island or not. Ralph ventured through a jungle with Piggy straggling behind him. Finally, when he clambered up the mountain he saw a different world. A wild world.

• Proffer- a proposal offered for acceptance or rejection- The fat boy waited to be asked his name in turn but this proffer of acquaintance was not made.
• Upheavals- a violent disturbance- The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees.
• Prominent- having a quality that thrusts itself into attention- He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood