THE LORD OF

THE FLIES

By William Golding

•Born September 19, 1911 in Cornwall, England (during WWI)

•Mother, Mildred, was an advocate for women’s rights

•Father, Alec, was a schoolteacher

•His father had a tremendous influence upon him

Our Author: William Golding

•Marlborough Grammar School

•Brasenose College, Oxford where he studied English Literature and Philosophy

•Aside from writing he worked as a actor, writer, producer, and school teacher.

Education & Employment

•Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and served for six years during World War II•Participated in invasion of Normandy on D-Day•At war’s end, returned to teaching and writing until the 1960’s

War Time

•Golding’s first and most successful novel, Lord of the Flies, was published in England in 1954 but its popularity was not established until five years later when it appeared in paperback.

•Won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983

•In 1988, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

His Greatest Successes

END OF CAREER & LIFE

• At the time of his death, he was working on The Double Tongue, which was published posthumously in 1995.

•Golding died on June 19, 1993 in England.

HIS INFLUENCES

• As a child, Golding had witnessed WWI, “the war to end all wars”.

• In the decade before Lord of the Flies was published, Britain had been involved in two more wars: World War II (which Golding served) and the Korean War.

•His experiences in WWII gave him the idea to write a book about human nature and evil.

THE LORD OF THE FLIES• Published in 1954

• Rejected 21 times before being published!

• On the American Library Association’s list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.

•Written partially in response to The Coral Island, a story of how people supposedly ascend in their goodness on an island.

• Human nature

• Duality of man

• Nature Vs. Nurture

• Good Vs. Evil

BEHIND THE TITLE

• The phrase “lord of the flies” is a translation of the Greek word “Beelzebub,” a devil mentioned in the New Testament.

• In the Bible, Beelzebub sometimes seems to be Satan himself, and at other times seems to be Satan’s most powerful lieutenant.

THE MESSAGE OF LORD OF THE FLIES

•Through LOTF, Golding is making the statement that we cannot escape our savage, violent tendencies and without social order, we devolve into a state of chaos.

PHILOSOPHY BEHIND IT

•Humans are inherently evil; society establishes government to curb evil instincts•Humans are inherently good; humans are born good and are corrupted by society•Humans are inherently neutral; our experiences determine the balance between good and evil

SO WHAT’S THIS NOVEL ABOUT?

• The novel is set in 1940’s Europe in the midst of a fictional nuclear war.

• A plane carrying a group of British school boys being evacuated from England is mistaken for a military craft and shot down.

• The plane crash lands on an uninhabited island with only the boys (no adults) as sole survivors.

• The novel is the story of the boys’ attempts to form a society and govern themselves; a descent into chaos, disorder, and evil.

LOTF INFLUENCE ON POP CULTURE

• In Hook, Robin Williams compares Lost Boys to savages in LOTF

• The Simpsons episode “Das Bus” is a parody

• Spongebob Squarepants episode “Club Spongebob” is a parody

• Inspiration for the anime series Infinite Ryvius

• Mel Gibson’s 2006 movie Apocalypto has a similar ending.

• T.V. shows Survivor and Lost were inspired from LOTF

• 2006 movie Unaccompanied Minors makes reference to LOTF

LOTF INFLUENCE ON POP CULTURE• Stephen King uses the name “Castle Rock”

(from the novel) as the name of a town in his books. He also makes reference to LOTF in the novels The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Cujo and Hearts in Atlantis• Orson Scott Card makes reference in his

novel, Ender’s Shadow.• Degrassi: The Next Generation, Danny

Phantom, The Daily Show all mention the novel

LOTF INFLUENCE ON POP CULTURE

• Musicians U2, Pink Floyd, Iron Maiden, Gatsby’s American Dream, Nine Inch Nails, Tori Amos, A.F.I., Taking Back Sunday, and Danielle Dax have all recorded songs about the novel.

Titles such as:

“Where the Flies Are”

“Touch Piggy’s Eyes”

“Lord of the Flies”

“Piggy Fable”

“Boy”

“Shadows and Tall Trees”