Analysis and interpretation of Lord of the Flies by William Golding

William Golding, biography:

He is born in 1911 in Cornwall, England and died in 1993. The house where he
lived was next to a graveyard. His father was a teacher and he himself taught after
graduation at a primary school. He joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and took part in
military action mainly the D-Day, the Normandy invasion in June 1944.
Golding won the Nobel Prize for his ‘parables of the human condition’ especially
Lord of the Flies.

Lord of the Flies is a dystopian novel by William Golding published in 1954. It is

also a moral parable in the form of a boys’ adventure story.
Definitions:
 Dystopian novel: It is a form of fiction that began as a response to utopian
literature. Showing a society that is dehumanizing and frightening, it is the
antonym of a Utopia which shows a perfect society.
 A parable: is a simple allegorical story used to illustrate or teach some truth,
religious principle or moral lesson. It differs from a fable in that a fable
(such as Animal Farm or Kalila wa Dimna), employs animals, plants,
inanimate objects or forces of nature as characters, whereas parables have
human characters.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding relies mainly on symbolism to convey his message.
Robert Brooke said that Lord of the Flies ‘is haunted by Golding’s service in the
Royal Navy during WWII’.
Golding is influenced by his career as a teacher at a Salisbury’s school. His
characters in Lord of the Flies are British private school boys. They have been
educated with strict discipline but they have narrow, restrictive views of human
nature.
Textual Analysis of Ch.1:
Lord of the Flies contains 12 chapters, and each chapter is given a title. These titles
give us first impressions, ideas about the content of the chapter.
Question to answer while analyzing the first page:
-What are the elements that we can identify as the focus of this chapter?
Answer:
 1 Setting: The reader learns about the place through words and descriptions.
page 1: rock, lagoon, jungle
So this is a very special setting, because we discover that characters are
schoolboys and their presence in that special setting is strange and curious.
In the opening scene, the two boys are struggling to disentangle themselves
from the jungle, painfully trying to move through broken branches of trees,
creepers and thick grass. One of the boys must clean his knees from thorns.
Later on we discover that the boys are on an island.
Interpretation: The opening description of place reinforces the idea of
adventure story.
 2 Characters: The second focus in this chapter is on characters.
Characters are presented first through their physical description.
1 A young boy with fair hair and a school sweater. This is a typically British
schoolboy.
2 the second boy is physically different. He is fat, short and wears
spectacles. For a long time, we don’t know the names of each boy, but only
the fair boy and the fat boy which emphasizes the difference first in physical
terms.
Characters are presented secondly through their acts and speeches. We start
to see the personality and the nature of each boy: the fair boy sows he is
more self-confident, determined and doesn’t seem to be much worried or
disturbed by this strange situation. On the opposite he often shows
excitement and keeps asking questions trying to understand what happened
and seems ready to act.
‘… the delight of realized ambition overcame him …’

We start to see in the nature of each of the boys as we see the way each one
behaves and speaks. The fair boy appears to have the characteristics of a
lover of action and adventure. He also seems to have a strong personality
compared to the second boy. He is curious to know things for himself. He is
quick to develop thoughts and find answers. He is quick to take decisions
and act. He is the first to free himself from the trap where they are and to
come out of the jungle and join the beach.
Page 15: ‘because of heat, he kicked his shoes off fiercely, and
ripped off each stocking … in a single movement…
… becomes naked’
The second boy seems very different not only physically but also in his
character and personality. He keeps asking questions. He is worried and
deeply shaken.