Revise and learn about the themes of William Golding's Lord of the Flies with BBC Bitesize GCSE English Literature for CCEA students.

What influenced Lord of the Flies?

In his first novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding examined themes which he would return to again and again throughout his writing career. His second novel The Inheritors, for instance, told the story of how a brutal version of prehistoric mankind wiped out a much gentler tribe.

Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, less than 10 years after the end of World War Two. William Golding had been in the Royal Navy during the conflict and had seen what cruelty mankind could inflict on itself. He also understood the nature of young boys as he was a schoolmaster both before and after his navy career.

The boys mostly seem to come from upper middle class backgrounds. It was common practice at this level of society for children to attend single-sex preparatory schools (prep schools) and then go on to a place at a fee-paying public school. Many children would live away from home as boarders – Ralph falls into this category. Jack and Simon attend a choir school and again seem to have the same reasonably privileged backgrounds as the other boys.

The one exception to this is Piggy, who seems to come from a different class and has had a different upbringing. This means that, despite his obvious intelligence, he is treated as an outsider. In the novel, the boys start by trying to create a civilised democratic society, organised along the lines they would be familiar with. This, however, very soon falls apart.

At the time when William Golding was writing Lord of the Flies, Britain was a very different society. Although World War Two had ended in 1945, the after-effects were still being felt. For instance, food rationing did not fully end until 1954, the year of the novel's publication. The war had ended with the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan. The world then entered a period of uncertainty as various nations began to develop their own nuclear weapons and there was a constant dread that a nuclear war would break out. In Golding's novel he imagines that this terrible event has actually taken place and the boys who are being evacuated to safety are stranded after their plane crashes.

Themes

Themes are ideas that run all the way through a literary text.

By analysing them you can discuss the writer's intentions. What choices have they made? Why? What are they trying to get the reader to think and feel?

Analysing themes allows you to write comprehensively about a literary text.

Lord of the Flies themes graphic showing symbols for evil, power and the island

In Lord of the Flies there are several themes which could be analysed.

Three main ones are:

evil
power
the island

Evil

Although the boys in the novel come from a civilised background, it is not very long before the savagery inside them begins to take hold and drive events forward. From a group of playful schoolboys they become violent hunters, destroying their environment and killing their fellow human beings.

Golding had seen first-hand the evil that was unleashed by the Nazis in World War Two. As a teacher he also understood that without rules and civilising influences, a group of schoolboys would quickly revert to a primitive state.

How is the theme of evil shown in the novel?

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding examines evil from a number of angles. Some of the key aspects are:

increasing violence
the Beast
the ‘Lord of the Flies’

	Increasing violence
How does Golding show this?	The isolation, lack of adults and a change within the boys takes over and they start to destroy their environment. The play violence becomes increasingly menacing as the boys use warpaint and sing a bloodthirsty chant. Eventually death and murder follow.
Evidence	“‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’ … At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.”
Analysis	A string of particularly strong verbs: “crunched”, “screamed”, “surged”, “poured”, “leapt”, “struck, bit, tore” is used to highlight the fierceness of the attack against Simon. There are “no words” and no reason or thought, just savage primal actions. The boys almost become a single unit more fearsome than the Beast they think they are destroying.

	The Beast
How does Golding show this?	The mythical Beast takes on a variety of forms. First as a dream, then a snake or sea monster, then the dead pilot's body. The real Beast is the evil that lives inside the boys – but only Simon fully realises this and, ironically, he is killed when the other boys mistakenly think he is the creature itself.
Evidence	“‘We've seen the beast with our own eyes… It was furry. There was something moving behind its head – wings. The beast moved too—' … ‘There were eyes – ’ ‘Teeth—' ‘Claws—’ ‘We ran as fast as we could—' ‘Bashed into things—' ‘The beast followed us—' ‘I saw it slinking behind the trees—' ‘Nearly touched me—’”
Analysis	Sam and Eric have run to tell the others that they have seen the Beast. Almost trying to outdo each other, they begin to exaggerate (“eyes”, “teeth”, “claws”) until they seem to convince themselves of their own story (“The beast followed us” / “Nearly touched me”).

	The ‘Lord of the Flies’
How does Golding show this?	Jack uses a pig's head as an offering to the Beast. Simon hallucinates that the head is talking to him. Golding calls it the ‘Lord of the Flies’ – this is a translation of the Biblical name Beelzebub, another name for the Devil.
Evidence	“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head… “You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close!”
Analysis	The voice of the ‘Lord of the Flies’ makes Simon realise that the evil the boys have been looking for actually lives inside them – even himself.

Power

When the boys become stranded on a deserted island there are no systems of control or power in place. Very soon, though, they feel the need to organise their society and distinct forms of power soon come into being. These are represented by very different ways of doing things and led by the entirely different personalities of Ralph and Jack.

Golding's experiences in World War Two, which can be seen as a struggle between two very different forms of power, contributed very much to way the novel was written and explain why this theme was so important.

How is the theme of power shown in the novel?

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding examines the way that political power is a driving force for some humans. The two key aspects he examines are:

	Democracy
How does Golding show this?	The island starts out as a democracy with an elected leader, Ralph. Ralph holds meetings, sets rules and establishes law and order. The weaker members of society (Piggy and the Littluns) are mostly protected from harm. The democracy, however, quickly breaks down as fear and violence take hold.
Evidence	“‘There aren't any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.’ The meeting hummed and was silent. ‘And another thing. We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school.’ He held the conch before his face and glanced round the mouth.”
Analysis	The conch is a powerful symbol of democratic power and is supposed to ensure equal opportunity for all the boys to put a point of view. However, Ralph makes it clear that as leader he will decide who actually gets to speak. Golding links democracy to a state of calm and peacefulness (“the meeting … was silent”) but it is a state that is easily destroyed.

	Dictatorship
How does Golding show this?	Right from the start, Jack is convinced that he should be leader. He uses verbal and physical violence to get what he wants and eventually forms a breakaway tribe electing himself as the chief. He rules this group with fear and terror.
Evidence	“The chief was sitting there, naked to the waist, his face blocked out in white and red. ‘Tomorrow,’ went on the chief, ‘we shall hunt again.’ He pointed at this savage and that with his spear.”
Analysis	By the later stages of the novel, Jack has lost his name and simply become ‘the Chief’. He issues orders without any discussion or alternatives. His war paint and the spear are his symbols of power and he uses them to keep his tribe in order.

The island

The island is an place to be. At some points in the novel, the environment the boys are living in seems to be like paradise and its inhabitants are able to be happy and carefree. At others it becomes a forbidding and threatening place. Even the food is confusing – at the start the fruit is tasty and wonderful but eventually it makes the boys sick and ill.

Golding makes a point about not judging something by how it at first looks – appearances can be deceptive.

How is the theme of the island shown in the novel?

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding examines the environment the boys are forced to live in and their interaction with it. Some of the key aspects are:

the sea
the forest
the weather

	The sea
How does Golding show this?	The sea is first shown as calm and inviting. It is a place in which to play and have fun. As the novel progresses, the sea becomes more threatening, mysterious and associated with death. The bodies of Simon, Piggy and the parachutist are all washed away by the tide.
Evidence	“Now he saw the landsman's view of the swell and it seemed like the breathing of some stupendous creature. Slowly the waters sank among the rocks, revealing pink tables of granite, strange growths of coral, polyp, and weed.”
Analysis	Here the sea becomes sinister with the movement of the water compared to the breathing of some stupendous creature – the reader is reminded of the Beast.

	The forest
How does Golding show this?	While the forest is the source of food, it is also a forbidding place which hides dark secrets. The only character that seems to be at his ease there is Simon who has a close relationship with nature. Twice in the novel parts of the forest are destroyed by fire.
Evidence	“He jerked his head off the ground and listened. There was another noise to attend to now, a deep grumbling noise, as though the forest itself were angry with him…”
Analysis	In the final stages of the novel the forest hinders Ralph's progress as he tries to escape the hunters who are after him. Here the forest seems almost to be alive as it makes a deep menacing sound.

	The weather
How does Golding show this?	Although the sun and heat can be pleasant it is also the cause of bad tempers and sunburn. Storms can be sudden and violent. The biggest storm comes at the point where Simon is killed – the weather mirrors the chaotic emotions among the boys. This is a writer's technique called pathetic fallacy.
Evidence	“He knelt down and the arrow of the sun fell on him. That other time the air had seemed to vibrate with heat; but now it threatened.”
Analysis	The sun is described as though it is a weapon which is attacking Simon and from which he cannot get away. The effects of the heat are unpleasant and negative, causing him to sweat and long for water.

Watch: Things breaking down

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.

This video can not be played

One of the overarching themes in Lord of the Flies is things breaking down - the plane, the boys' civilisation on the island and their relationships with each other. Katy Brand directs you through the deterioration in this short video.