During an unspecified war, an aircraft evacuating British schoolboys comes down on a remote tropical island with no adult survivors. The boys at first treat it as an adventure. Ralph, fair and likeable, is elected leader after he blows a conch shell to call an assembly, and the conch becomes the symbol of orderly debate. Piggy, clever and bespectacled, becomes his anxious adviser.
Jack, head of a choir that becomes a band of hunters, resents Ralph's authority and is drawn to the thrill of hunting pigs. As the signal fire is neglected and rumours of a beast in the jungle spread among the younger children, the group splits between Ralph's insistence on rules and rescue and Jack's offer of meat, ritual and freedom from responsibility.
Golding wrote the novel partly as a rebuttal to cheerful Victorian island adventures, using the boys to ask how thin the layer of civilisation really is. Its symbols, from the conch to Piggy's glasses, are among the most discussed in school curricula. The book remains a touchstone in debates about human nature, group psychology and the sources of cruelty.
Book details
| Author | William Golding |
|---|---|
| First published | 1954 |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Classic |
| Type | Fiction |
| Pages (approx.) | 224 |
| Setting | An uninhabited tropical island during a future war |
Themes
- Human nature
- Civilisation versus savagery
- Power
- Fear
- Loss of innocence
Who should read it
Readers interested in allegory and in how groups behave when rules and adults disappear.