After a devastating plane crash, a collection of young boys are stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere. There are no adult survivors, no girls either. Lord of the Flies by William Golding sees the boys having to meet up, create a civilization, survive, and devise a way to get rescued. One boy stands out from the rest, his name is Ralph. He stands out because he’s the oldest of all of them at 12, and he summons them, in the beginning, using a shell they found on the beach. This kickstarts the rest of the book because Ralph tries to keep the peace, but other kids just want to have fun.

Out of the few themes contained within this novel, none are more prominent than the idea of savagery. This idea is heavily pushed and nearly impossible to ignore. Almost all of the plot points revolve around an incredibly savage act, splitting everyone apart further, and generally devolving into madness. There are hints to a few others, such as the fact that no adults around, which seems to be the root cause of the chaos, showing how much adult authority matters.

This story is a bit difficult to decipher when it comes to the reasons for its creation. The theme and message are quite clear, but the author doesn’t seem to really make the purpose of it known. I think the author was making a simple, albeit meaningful statement about how violent people are in the world. This is supported by the story taking place in the middle of a war, supposedly a nuclear one at that. I’m not at all certain what the author wanted to change in the world but it’s a hard-hitting story nonetheless.

Personally, I find this book incredibly interesting and somewhat fun because I was always waiting for the next surprising thing to happen. This story is the type that has you guessing exactly what happens but it still manages to surprise you by putting a spin on that expected result.

I highly recommend you check out this book if you like books with a slightly disturbing nature and like the idea of survival. When someone summarized the beginning of the story for me, I knew I would love it because the beginning is very intriguing by nature. Give it a try, even if it’s not your favorite, it should be interesting regardless.