William Golding’s Lord of the Flies

Anchor Standard

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1: Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.

Individual Grade Standards

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.2: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, first published in 1954, takes the timeless story of castaways on a deserted island and turns it on its head. In this case, the island is nearly idyllic. The castaways are preadolescent boys from an English preparatory school where some were talented members of the choir. In Golding’s scenario, these characters gradually deteriorate to savagery and nearly end in self-destruction.

The novel is so well known that even those who have never delved into the text can usually describe the basic story line. It is eminently teachable and is found in curriculums from grades 6 through 12 due to its clear-cut characters, precise symbols, and gradually evolving themes. The novel has been rendered in a number of movie adaptations, including the black-and-white version from 1963; the color motion picture from 1990; and a 2013 low-budget film created by college students. It has also been made into a stage play.

What led Golding to write this remarkable and long-lasting work? He once explained that, after reading a children’s adventure novel entitled The Coral Island to his son, he realized that its optimistic scenario was highly unlikely. In addition, from 1940 until after World War II, he was in the Royal Navy, an experience about which he later said, “Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.” Lord of the Flies certainly conveys that view.

In 1983, Golding was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “his novels which, with the perspicacity of realistic narrative art and the diversity and universality of myth, illuminate the human condition in the world of today.” At the time, he was near the end of a long career of which the most long-lasting accomplishment was his first published novel, Lord of the Flies. Many critics were highly skeptical and bitterly critical of the Nobel committee’s choice, claiming the greater merit of other writers, some of whom actually later received the prize. According to apocryphal legend, one critic went so far as to describe Lord of the Flies disparagingly as a “paint-by-numbers” book, insufficiently complex for Nobel attention.

Nevertheless, what we have in this novel works splendidly in the classroom and can facilitate students’ work with close reading and with analysis of characters, symbols, and themes. One initial drawback can be the fact that no female characters are included, but most readers quickly transcend that fact to recognize that the events are not gender-specific and enter into conjecture about ways outcomes might have been different if the castaways had been from a coed or an all-girls school.

This unit refers to one of several published editions of the novel: William Golding, Lord of the Flies (New York: Perigee, 1954).

Detailed information about Golding’s life is available through Biography.com.

Write an essay focusing on the role of one character or one symbol in events on the island. Relate that character or symbol to the novel’s central themes. Provide textual support in the essay, including carefully chosen quotations. (Worksheet 7 provides a useful rubric for student writing and revision and for teacher evaluation.)

Alternative Creative Writing Assessments

If you feel that classroom discussion and earlier assessments have thoroughly covered this topic, you may want to substitute one of the following writing assessments that involve synthesis of material covered in the unit:

• Write a short story in the style of Lord of the Flies. After completion, share the finished story with a partner and write an analysis of it by commenting on symbolism, characterization, and theme inclusion.
• Project ten or twelve years into the future after the novel’s conclusion. Write an essay or a short story where one of the characters reflects on his long-ago experiences on the island. Include references to the text.
• Write an essay discussing the how novel’s portrait of human nature relates to the world today. Include references to the text, and cite sources of information about local, national, and international current events.

• Imagine that the castaways include girls or consist entirely of girls. Write an essay or a story in which you show how that change would affect the story as a whole.
• View one of the film adaptations of Lord of the Flies and prepare a presentation in which you discuss and assess significant ways the film alters the novel.
• Create a graphic version of one section of the novel. Include artwork and passages from the text.
• Using the play version of the novel or one you have created, assemble a cast and prepare a performance, either live or recorded.
• Connect the characters, symbols and/or themes of Lord of the Flies to a novel students have read/studied earlier in the year.