Lord of the flies - Influenza!

"Lord of the flies" Another good book shared by my colleague. I read books of different genre (Shakespeare, Dostoevsky, R.K. Narayan, P.G.Wodehouse, Ayn Rand, Agatha Christie, J.R.R.Tolkien to name few and yes that's how I differentiate) but I wouldn't have read "1984" or "I am a legend" or "Lord of the flies" if not for him. He introduced me to the side of human world which is grotesque, selfish and in the darkness of heart is nothing but a ...

I caution people who want to read the book "Lord of the flies" should stop here, as there is spoiler below :). Let me give my opinion of the book beforehand, Its very good, I would say must read. By the way, this book was William Golding's response for "The Coral Island" by R.M.Ballantyne.

"Lord of the flies" is about a group of British schoolboys stuck on a deserted Island who try to govern themselves, with disastrous results (courtesy Wiki). All the kids are of age 12 or below. The book opens with kids crash landed, wandering on an Island and pages later Ralph (one of the Chief characters) first as a matter-of-fact and later as exhilarating discovery shouts excitingly "There are no grown ups!". I thought here starts the disaster but they acted more like grown ups and astonished me with their meetings and conch and the order :). Later you would see how they really grew up. As you move forward you forget the fact that they are kids. Sometimes I stop and hate them for their behavior and then suddenly realize they are only kids, which made me feel sad. Those kids behaved like grown up men representing the worst side of, humans that they are or are they?

I liked author for his characterization of Ralph and Simon despite the fact that through Jack  he dared show the dark side of human nature. Simon was wise, Ralph was human and Jack was a savage. Ralph was the connection, a link between the extremities of human nature. Only Simon knew who was Lord of the flies actually is. Piggy was intelligent I suppose but his death didn't make me feel sympathetic. Its Simon and Ralph who moved me. Simon's death stares at the face of humanity mirroring the true you. And Ralph justifying his absence from the horse-shoe ring, defies his knowledge and guilt of murdering Simon, acting like an average normal person. Though at the end, Ralph is saved by timely (yes timely) arrival of rescue officers, you would know its an accident made by the author to save it from becoming monstrous. May be deep down the author knew people cannot comprehend such an ugly side of human nature on so innocent a face no matter how masked they are.