Lord of the Flies: An Introduction

I am treated as a theologian, philosopher, psychologist but what I

really am at the bottom is a story-teller. If you
can say, once upon a time, convincingly enough to anybody youve
have got them. (Interviewed in India, 1897)

Certain critics have tried to read Lord of the Flies as a moral fable and
others as an allegory. But the general opinion is in the favor of calling it a
fable. A fable is a simple story having a moral lesson. And an allegory is a
story which has layers of meaning and is interpreted on more than one level.
But, as a matter of fact, the novel is not exactly fit for either. This means
Golding is neither a fabulist nor an allegory writer. Lord of the Flies is a
simple, straightforward narrative story. It has all the characteristics that a
story should have. It has continuous narration of well-knit plot with dramatic
elements, proper beginning, middle and an end. It also have element of
suspense and horror, a good characterization, development of character,
universal of situation contrast between appearance and reality, use of
natural scenery and symbolism and the story also carries a moral lesson.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding tries to show that the order and discipline
is unnatural to man. It is just enforced upon the man. And the instinct of
dominance is the root cause of the entire disturbance. Golding seems
to believe that good has been replaced by the sinister forces of evil. Devil
has taken the place of God. And the new god of modern world is
power.

Golding does not see man as rational being but an instinctive being. To
him, instinct is more powerful then rationality. He believe Darwins view of,
The survival of the fittest and in Lord of the Flies, only the fittest
survives as Jack proves himself more powerful and fittest than Ralph and in
the end of the novel a naval officer loaded with guns and arms proves
himself better than Jack. Golding believes that man cant get rid of his basic
instinct of savagery. We see the boys turning from human being to
animal and then from animal to cannibals.

Actually, Golding is telling the story of civilization. He is conservative and

looks backward. He is not a progressive writer but a regressive one.
He discusses his hypothesis how civilization developed. It is an inverted
Utopia that is called distopia. This is Goldings idealism that a man is at
heart a savage and the heart is full of darkness.

We see the paradise-like island into a hell. Death of Simon is the death of
virtuousness, death of Piggy and the breakage of his glasses is the
death of intellect, the breakage of conch is the end of civilization and
on the other hand painted faces and mock hunting is the symbol of evil
and grief.