William Golding was born in Cornwall in 1911 and was educated at Marlborough Grammar School. Lord of the Flies is just one of the many novels he has written. All of these books have incredible story lines with non-stop adventure. They also all seem to address some of the controversial subjects facing our society today.
The novel begins of a plane crash in the Pacific Ocean during a war. A group of English schoolboys are isolated on what they assume to be an island under no adult supervision. Ralph, Jack, Simon, Piggy, Roger, Bill, Robert, Harold, Henry, Sam, and Eric are a few of the boys who were trapped on the island. Their goals were to find food and shelter. They found wild pigs to hunt and kill for food, and were able to build shelters out of wood and plants. They worked together and helped each other, however in the end the unexpected happened. .
The main character in Lord of the Flies is Ralph. At the beginning of the story he is described as being a playful child, but towards the end he matures significantly. He is one of the few boys who realises that the only way to survive is through peace and order. Most of the boys look upon him as the most responsible and elect him chief over the humiliated Jack. Jack Merridew, Ralph's main opponent, is older than most of the other boys. He is the leader of a group of hostile boys and is chief of the hunters. He and his hunters become detached from the world of peace Ralph creates. Jack is the main reason why the island becomes full of chaos and corruption. In the end there is a struggle between good and evil. The ending of the novel concludes in a showdown between the two.
The basic theme of Lord of the Flies is that rules and cooperation make the world what it is today. It dealt with the many flaws and desires of human nature, and how devastating these factors can be to a culture with no directions or order to follow. I enjoyed how the story showed that even the youngest and most innocent of humans strive for power over everything and will stop at nothing until he achieves that power.