Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
by William Golding
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Book Summary Information
Author: William GoldingEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-10-01
ISBN: 0140283331
Number of pages: 192
Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
Book Reviews of Lord of the Flies (Penguin Great Books of the 20th Century)
Book Review: "Incomplete," In My Opinion
Summary: 1 Stars
Lord of the Flies is another classic that relies on a bad outcome in the story to get attention from readers. In a lot of schools it is required reading. I suppose that teachers think that stories with bad outcomes serve as warnings to other people, and the author probably had similar motives. However, there are two important questions to answer. First, does Lord of the Flies meet the criteria to be considered a "warning" to society? Second, does the content of the novel itself contradict its purpose?
Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys who are stranded on an island with no adults present. The boys attempt to form a simple "government" among themselves. However, their weak sense of order starts out with childish, verbal conflict and eventually turns into violence. Given the novel's summary, one may deduce that the message of the novel is a warning to society of the dangers of anarchy.
I dislike the fact that almost all off the characters are boys within seven years of each other's age. Real world societies have a much wider variety of people. When writing a book designed as a warning to society, it is important to make sure that the whole society can relate to the book. In my opinion, the real art of writing a plot in a novel is to create a scenario in which people o many different ages and backgrounds get involved and contribute to the outcome. In Lord of the Flies, the consequence of the lack of diversity among the characterizations is that there are too many pages that rehash childish arguing. Therefore, the novel could have (and probably should have) been reduced to a novelette length.
As stated earlier in this review, many literature interpreters believe that the purpose of Lord of the Flies is to demonstrate the dangers of anarchy. A lot of interpreters of literary symbolism consider the "Lord of the Flies" to be an allegory for the devil. Therefore, the fact that the book is essentially titled "the devil" seems to indicate that the book focuses on evil acts and events. In my opinion, one major flaw in the novel is that the characters with good intentions fail to have a positive impact on the outcome of the plot or the development of other characters. With that in mind, the problem is that the author condemns anarchy, but fails to tell us what we should do about it, which seems to cause the book to lose its purpose.
Due to its monotony and "incomplete" philosophies, I do not recommend Lord of the Flies.
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