First published September 17, 1954, the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding has been read almost everywhere. Simply the hard-copy of the book itself-not including audiobooks and e-books-has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. The novel is famous for its perception of the savagery of man without civilization and its horrid truths of man's nature, but what many do not know is that the book can be looked at from a different kind of allegorical point of view. Some notice that there are many references to the stories of the Bible, especially in the characters of Jack, the group of boys, and particularly with Simon. The novel Lord of the Flies is a religious allegory because Jack represents the devil; Simon conveys the figure of Christ, and Ralph mirrors everyman.
As the novel begins, and the reader learns that a group of boys have crash-landed on a deserted island during World War II, the first character, Ralph, calls everyone together and he is elected chief. As days pass and all is going well, Jack begins to become envious of the authority that Ralph has. Jack even mentions that "Ralph oughtn't to be chief." He says how, "[He's] not going to play any longer. [That he's] going off by [himself and] anyone who wants to hunt could come" (Golding 127). This relates very closely to the biblical story of The Fall of Lucifer. In which Lucifer-also known as the devil-falls from heaven because he is jealous of Christ's power. The same thing happened here in Lord of the Flies. Because Jack was jealous of the immense power that Ralph held over all of the other boys, he decided to gain power by splitting their group into two, to form one that is under his control-one that characterizes evil. This new group Jack forms is described as, "demoniac figures of white and red and green" (140). As seen in the expression used, Jack's group is literally described as demons.
