“Lord of the Flies” by William Golding – The Evil in the Hearts of Men

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is perhaps one of the best-known works of literature on an international scale; so many spin-offs, recountings and even parodies of it occurred that it would be hard to live life without encountering it in one form or another.

The infinitely famous book has a rather simple premise: a group of English schoolboys are washed up on a deserted island following a plane wreck, leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere with none but themselves to rely on.

The lack of adult supervision certainly is an important factor, and the way I see it, the novel is more of an imaginary experiment thought out on paper, one that delves deep into the human soul and the evil that lurks within.

From a technical point of view, the book is written in a rather simple language, even being a widely-used reading material in countless school systems. Of course, you shouldn't let that fool you in terms of how significant and thought-provoking the book is.

You are going to breeze through the entire book and swallow page after page, relishing in the delightful tropical setting, basking in the loneliness that haunts the boys, and the impenetrable evil waiting for them in the jungle.

Though at first the book feels rather tame and perhaps even a bit slow-paced, detailing how the children form their society and decide on the most basic of matters, things do end up taking a turn for the worse and gritty as human nature reveals its true face, hungering for power, that which has led us to war one against another since the dawn of time.

There are countless heavy themes explored throughout the whole book, including segregation, the idea of evil being a self-perpetuating entity originating within us, social equality, the balance between survival and morality, and more.

Of course, we don't really get any definite answers out of all these questions, and once the conclusion comes to pass the whole thing feels that much more like an experiment, one that sought to demonstrate the destructive, chaotic and unpredictable (or tragically predictable, depending on your personal perspective) nature of our minds.

Lord of the Flies is certainly one of those books that stays with you for years upon years after reading it; the numerous subjects it touches on are all relatable to a certain extent for virtually every person out there.

In the end, this harrowing study of the soul will perhaps leave you with a somewhat bitter taste in your mouth, though you will have the sense of having experienced something grandiose, something that has meaning in this fleeting world.

All things considered, Lord of the Flies is, in my opinion, one of those classics that every single person out there should take the time to read. It's a book that goes beyond catering to specific audiences or belonging to a genre; it is a work that allows us to dive deep within ourselves, and virtually anyone who puts their mind to it will draw something out of it.

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William Golding (September 19, 1911 – June 19, 1993) Personal site William Golding was an English writer, poet, and playwright who was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature. Unquestionably his most well-known novel is Lord of the Flies, though his other works have garnered respect on their own, with Rites of Passage most notably earning him the Booker Prize for literature in 1980. In 1988 he was even knighted by Elizabeth II.