From the Bookshelf of The Insecure Writer's Support Group Book Club…

Lord of the Flies

William Golding

Start date: February 1, 2018

Finish date: March 31, 2018

Why we're reading this: This book was voted on by our members under the SYMBOLISM category. The discussion will be on March 21st.
[close] This book was voted on by our members under the SYMBOLISM category. The discussion will be on March 21st.

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Jul 26, 2011 Larysa Radlowski rated it it was amazing

This is my personal reason for liking the book, rather than a detailed review.

I've read Lord of the Flies back in the 10th grade, when I was at the peak of my fascination of Milton, Revelations, etc, before college began. So many people in my class hated this book, or didn't really get anything out of it. Perhaps my aforementioned interests made me biased, but they shaped me to reading this a certain way and at the time I thought it one of the most powerful readings I have ever had of a book.

Th This is my personal reason for liking the book, rather than a detailed review.

I've read Lord of the Flies back in the 10th grade, when I was at the peak of my fascination of Milton, Revelations, etc, before college began. So many people in my class hated this book, or didn't really get anything out of it. Perhaps my aforementioned interests made me biased, but they shaped me to reading this a certain way and at the time I thought it one of the most powerful readings I have ever had of a book.

The religious allusions we touched on in class were pretty simple: Simon was the Christ figure; the Lord of the Flies was a translation of 'Beelzebub', believed to be a demon/devil or Satan himself. That's really all the time we spent on it. I think everything else we talked about was a watered down view of symbolism: the conch was authority, fire was civilization, Piggy's glasses were whatever they were. Not really surprised no one took anything out of it.

(view spoiler)[
What I found interesting about the book wasn't the conflict between good and evil, Christ and Satan. I didn't really feel like the book was about that. In much of the book, the boys mention a 'Beast' that lives on the island, and they're afraid of it, naturally. The Beast, in Revelations, at least, was synonymous for Satan. At the end of the story, though, there isn't a Beast; it's figment of imagination. At best we have a pig's head on a stick, which is gruesome, but it's a harmless thing because it's dead. Simon supposedly 'hears' the Beast, as the dead pig, talking. It tells him '“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?'. Earlier, Simon had said 'Maybe it's only us', in reference to the Beast not existing.

I found this interesting because what I thought this book was suggesting is that there isn't a Satan. All of this time, the evils committed on the island by the boys were their own doing; there was no external force controlling them. Perhaps that doesn't sound like a startling claim, because I'm sure maybe other books have said the same thing, but the way the fear and constant reference to the Beast subtly led to this conclusion made it significant to me. So quick are people to find a scapegoat for their evil, but at the end, it's your own accountability. This supposedly-powerful demon, the Lord of the Flies, is no stronger than a pig's head on a stick. Unless, of course, people give it strength through superstition. But it remains a pig's head on a stick either way.

Anyway, that's what I read out of Golding's writing, and what's why I personally thought it raised interesting questions. It felt deeper to me than most of the things I had read up to this time.

Also, since I personally know people who would do this, if you read this review I don't care to know about whether Satan actually does exist or not. This is a review of what I found interesting on this book's analysis, not a theological discussion. Fyi.

(hide spoiler)] ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Aug 25, 2011 Angela Brown rated it really liked it

If a person ever wants to know the true nature of man, not just some basic theory, Lord of the Flies shows this in a way that is both disturbing, heartbreaking and slightly redeeming to the human race.

Like · see review