Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies

Analytical Essay

The novel, The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is quite a renowned text, since it can be read on two main levels, a literal reading, and a symbolic reading. What makes the novel unique is that there are an innumerable number interpretations of the many representations and symbols found in the text. Thus these symbols that he incorporates into the novel, along with the narrative elements that he integrates into the literal level of reading, work in conjunction with each other to establish a moral or an underlying truth in the story that Golding may have been trying to convey to his readers.

There could have been a number of messages that Golding may have been trying to communicate to his readers, but his main point is believed to encompass a number of different issues that can be found in any society. He tries to establish the fact that no form of government, let it be democratic or autocratic, is truly ideal to govern humanity. That is, there will always be an opposition to any form of authority and thus it is seen as a defect of our society.

Through these defects, they lead to the eventual collapse of the civilization unless there is a code of law, or rules that mankind abides to. He conveys that every civilization will require rules and regulations for the people to adhere to and if this system of rules is abolished, then mankind will revert to his true nature, savagery and barbarism.