Lord of the Flies actually starts out promisingly as a fun book for young readers. Granted, it does begin with all of the adults on an airplane dying after being shot down by an enemy cruiser in the midst of World War II, but all of that carnage is off-page, and we open on 12-year old Ralph and a band of young boys realising that they are free to do whatever they like on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Great to be Ralph! Great that is, until Jack - of an age similar to Ralph - devolves into the basic instincts of man, embracing violence and dominance and even going so far as to abandon the measures that will get them rescued. When a "Beast" manifests itself on the island, Jack's escalating savagery wins the loyalty of most of the frightened boys. The final portion of the book follows Ralph in a desperate flight from Jack and the others as they set the island on fire to smoke him out. Fortunately, he is rescued at the last minute by the sailors of a British battle cruiser who saw the fire and landed to investigate. It's basically the least possible happy ending to the book. Yes, Ralph avoided having his head chopped off and mounted on a pike, but only at the loss of innocent Simon and the intelligent Piggy. Also, the rescue came in the form of military men whose purpose was not so different from Jack's. By the final paragraph, we realise that the message of the book was actually something terrifying: people are fundamentally awful, and basic human nature is inherently violent and self-serving.
Fiction buff and writer. If it's on Netflix, it's probably in my queue. I've bought DVDs for the special features and usually claim that the book is better than the movie or show (and can provide examples). I've never met a TV show that I won't marathon. Follow on Twitter @lah9891 .
