LORD OF THE FLIES

by William Golding

Postmodernism is a post war cultural movement, started artendencies in modernismound

1950, that reacted against tendencies in modernism, and was typically marked by revival of
historical elements and techniques. Postmodernist society is characterized by changes.
England had a diminished role as a world power. It had become a high-powered consumer
society, increased salaries and more free time. It has a better quality of life and there was a
rise in the level of education. There was a more tolerant attitude to social, religious and ethnic
diversity. The emergence of a distinctive youth culture could be noticed. Young people
started to reject the strict moral and social codes by which older generations lived. The
economy had a good development.
Postmodern literature is, to a great extent, a play on words which reflects the
meaninglessness of the late modern world, which is seen as fragmented, disoriented, chaotic,
but this leads neither to despair not to any wish to re-establish order. The binary contrasts of
good-evil, true-false, real-unreal and order-chaos have been abolished. The world is pure
surface, it is what it appears to be. Hence each individual creates his or her own world and
identity through the pictures which he or she sees in literature and other art forms or in so-
called world. The Great Narratives, which began to be questioned in Modernism, are rejected
in Postmodernism. There is no acknowledgment of a universal truth.
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical story set in the near future during the wartime. The
action of the novel takes place in the context of a large-scale world-war.
Lord of the Flies tells the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a
tropical island after their plane is shot down during a war. Though the novel is fictional, its
exploration of the idea of human evil is at least partly based on Golding’s experience with the
real-life violence and brutality of World War II. Free from the rules and structures of
civilization and society, the boys on the island inLord of the Flies descend into savagery. As
the boys splinter into factions, some behave peacefully and work together to maintain order
and achieve common goals, while others rebel and seek only anarchy and violence. In his
portrayal of the small world of the island, Golding paints a broader portrait of the
fundamental human struggle between the civilizing instinct—the impulse to obey rules,
behave morally, and act lawfully—and the savage instinct—the impulse to seek brute power
over others, act selfishly, scorn moral rules, and indulge in violence.
Golding employs a relatively straightforward writing style in Lord of the Flies, one
that avoids highly poetic language, lengthy description, and philosophical interludes. Much of
the novel is allegorical, meaning that the characters and objects in the novel are infused with
symbolic significance that conveys the novel’s central themes and ideas.
The tension between realistic novel and allegorical fable is established in the setting
for the action in Lord of the Flies: the isolated island provides an appropriate stage for the
survival story of the deserted boys, but also suggests a universal, timeless backdrop for a
symbolic action. Golding`s view is pessimistic: human nature is inherently corruptible and
wicked. Thus, the 19th century ideals of progress and education are based on false premises.
Although the protagonists of the novel have been taught social skills, their desire to kill is
unleashed when there are no strict rules of the English public-school system to control their
behaviour. This is the world of freedom, that is ruled by savages and the ultimate evil, the
Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub, Prince of Devils, whom the boys a worship in the form of a
decapitated boar`s head.
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, and many of its characters signify important
ideas or themes. Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy represents the
scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Jack represents unbridled savagery and the
desire for power. Simon represents natural human goodness. Roger represents brutality and
bloodlust at their most extreme. To the extent that the boys’ society resembles a political
state, the littluns might be seen as the common people, while the older boys represent the
ruling classes and political leaders.
The main themes of the novel are civilization vs. savagery and loss of innocence, and
the motif is the biblical parallels. The entire Golding`s work is full of symbols and Lord of
the Flies is not an exception. Thus, the main symbol is the Lord of the Flies that is the bloody,
severed sow’s head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast.
This complicated symbol becomes the most important image in the novel and both a physical
manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who
evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical
parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name
“Lord of the Flies” is a literal translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a
powerful demon in hell sometimes thought to be the devil himself. We also can mention as
symbols the conch shell, Piggy`s glasses, the signal fire or the beast.