Golding, William - Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

- born on September, 19th 1911 in Cornwall
- 1st published novel “Lord of the Flies”
- was made into film in 1963
- Nobel-prize winner in 1982
- Died in 1992

Title “Lord of the Flies”

- Goethe’s Faust: line 1334
Mephisto introduces himself as “Fliegengott”
- “Lord of the Flies”: translation from the Hebrew term “Ba’alzevuv”
- Greek: “Beelzebub” (devil)

What happened?

During an atomic war a plane carrying schoolboys (6-12 years old) who were evacuated from England crash-landed on an island in he Pacific

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Chapter 1

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Ralph:

- 12-year old boy with fair hair > traditional image of a hero (positive character); one of the goodies
- active
- his father is a commander in the Navy > hope of romantic rescue
- he thinks of adventures on the island =Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten real situation

Piggy:

- very fat, short,
- wearing glasses, having asthma > handicapped, physical deficient
- orphan (lives wit his aunt)
- afraid, no illusions
- called by his nickname PIG – GY
- symbol
- foreshadowing
- not self-confident, unsure, scared of loneliness
- intelligent, wise, rational > symbol: glasses
- clumsy, needs authority

Jack:

- tall, tin, bony, red-haired, blue eyes, blackcap
- leader of the choir
- egoist with strong personality > repetition of the pronoun “I”
- always associated with darkness
- called “Merridew” > superiority > gives the orders
- boys in the choir have lost their identity > they look absolutely alike
- sun-blind when he sees Ralph
- implies devil
- symbol: knife
- he does not kill the pig because the pressure of the civilisation is still to prominent

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