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Give me the conch! Now that I'm holding the conch, it's my turn to describe the book...
Lord of the Flies is a 1954 novel written by William Golding. It is a Deconstruction of the Kids Wilderness Epic. A plane full of British schoolboys crashes on a Deserted Island, and the darkness of humanity spills forth as they turn against each other.
It had two cinematic adaptations and was referenced and parodied in various media. It's very popular for English Literature assignments in High School on both sides of The Pond.
This work provides examples of:
- Adaptation Decay: The second movie. Ten minutes in, and several curse words and sexual references afterwards, you can tell it's going to be a bumpy ride.
- An Aesop: The book was written just to say Humans Are Bastards,Hobbes Was Right, a Take That to all the Rousseau Was Right works of the time.
- One which rather undermines itself, because the author didn't include female characters on the logic that the situations that render the aesop about humanity in general wouldn't come about with girls around.
- And the extreme squickiness when rape time comes around (this is, after all, about a bunch of boys high on testosterone) would likely preclude the book's use in school.
- Anachronism Stew:
- Since nuclear bombs exist and have been used, this places the novel after World War 2. However, since there's still a war, that can't be possible.
- Also, the British still think they're the greatest country on Earth. That wouldn't be true if the novel took place after the British Empire's post-WW 2 collapse.But either the kids are too young to remember the Battle of Britain, or the novel takes place after the UK began to rebuild itself.
- Lord of the Flies is actually set in the near future (of 1956), after a nuclear war between the USSR and Britain. This is mentioned by some of the boys in the book, although usually in passing.
- Animal Motifs: A sow's head on a pike, slowly decaying, serves as the metaphor for the decay of children's morals, thus making them closer to hoglike greed.
- Anyone Can Die: And it's far from pretty.
- Blind Without Em: Piggy.
- Break the Cutie: All the kids to some extent. In the case of Piggy and Simon, Slaughter the Cutie. Grab the tissues...
- Children Are Innocent: So freaking averted.
- Complete Monster: Roger. Early on he was tormenting Littleuns for fun. He killed Piggy. And he also threatened to have Sam N Eric impaled - that's what the "stick sharpened at both ends" was.
- No, pretty sure it was for Ralph's head.
- Did Not Do The Research: This book is full of it. Rotting wood does not make smoke. Said wood can be lit in seconds with glasses. A small isolated island is capable of sustaining about fifteen boys for a few months.
- It is also hinted in chapter nine that Simon's seizures are caused by pressure in his brain, though this could have been the common belief at the time.
- Critical Research Failure: Piggy's nearsightedness means his glasses couldn't make fire, thus negating his special usefulness *and* at least some of his victim status; if he'd had the opposite condition his glasses would be valuable but he wouldn't be nearly as crippled by their absence.
- Deserted Island
- Enemy Within: "Maybe there is no monster on the island. Maybe... it's just us..."
- Evil Redhead: Jack
- Expository Hairstyle Change: As the months pass, all the boys' hair becomes long and shaggy (except for the wise Piggy's), and, especially for our hero, Ralph, starts obscuring their vision.
- High Octane Nightmare Fuel: Aren't the children so precious, especially the chior
- Humans Are Bastards: The book is the epitome of this trope.
- Kids Are Cruel
- Lampshade Hanging: The officer who rescues them just as Ralph is about to be killed remarks, "Just like Coral Island, eh?", with said book being one of the cheerier Rousseau Was Right novels.
- The Messiah: Simon, who understands a lot more than the other boys.
- This troper was taught that Simon was symbolic of Christ, what with him being close to nature and having a sacrificial death, etc. It made "Simon is Jesus!" a good inside joke for a few weeks in our English class.
- Naming Conventions: At that time and place, the pupils should be on a Last Name Basis and Jack insists on "Merridew", but everyone quickly accepts First Name Basis except for Piggy, whose nickname started out as an insult.
- Narm: Piggy's death in the 1960s film.
- In the 90s film as well. Especially the way Ralph screams "NOOO!" before it happens. When we watched it in class, everyone laughed and the teacher even rewinded it for us.
- Lucky. At least two classes have been yelled at by their teacher for laughing at it.
- Ominous Latin Chanting: In the '63 movie
 .
- Only Known By Their Nickname: Piggy.
- Psychic Nosebleed: Simon and his feverish confrontation/hallucination with the pig's head.
- Psycho For Hire: Roger, the sadistic "punisher" of the group. It's even implied he's going to cannibalize Ralph at the end. He starts out as the most quiet and intelligent in Jack's group, then he started developing sadistic tendencies.
- Robbing The Crusoe
- Satan: "Lord of the Flies" is a literal translation of the Hebrew "Baalzevuv", root of the modern "Beelzebub".
- The ancient Philistines worshiped the lightning god Ba'al, referring to him as "Ba'al Zebûb", or "Lord of Zebûb". "Ba'al Zebûb" sounds very close to "Lord of the Flies" in Hebrew. The ancient Israelites used this fact to mock their enemies.
- Shirtless Scene: Most of the boys (except maybe Piggy) strip upon arrival.
- Spell My Name With A The: Averted, it's 'Lord of the Flies,' not 'The Lord Of The Flies.'
- What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Most of the book was meant to be this. It's impossible to list every example, but that doesn't stop English teachers from trying.
- Here's a quick couple: at first, Jack insists on being called "Merridew" and leads a choir. Eventually, after he discovers how to kill, his group degenerates into savagery. Sound similar to the story of anyone we know? Oh, and the spectral corpse on the mountain that terrifies everyone is the Shadow of War, harmless in fact (the pilot is dead), but terrifying to look at.
- This troper particularly enjoyed them, ahem, 'spearing' a mother pig.
- The Woobie: Simon. Oh god, Simon.
- Please don't forget Piggy. He actually hates that nickname, but even Ralph insists on calling him that. We never learn his actual name.
And whatever you do, we mustn't let the fire go out.
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