Lord of the Flies - William Golding (Beginning ~ End)

Since Mr. Paterson assigned us pleasure-reading as homework, I decided to choose a book similar to "The Plague" as these two books will result in writing a contrast essay, and I thought that setting some control variables would help clarify the differences in the reading process. This would mean that I would need to choose a classic novel with a historical background that also told the stories of society and humanity in general under dire circumstances. There was a lot of uncovering here, and I had a hard time trying to scour through my mind hoping that I could find the perfect match. Hitherto when I had watched an engaging Ted-Ed video that recommended a novel that was competent in my criteria, did I not remember that I had seen my friend reading it before,  which became the final drive to pick up the "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding, a British novelist. To summarize, this book is about the tragic survival of a group of British kids being dumped onto an island after a malfunction of their plane. 

I instantly devoured the adventurous storytelling, as sentence after sentence did the lives of the children spiral into quarreling. As each chapter progressed, I could sense a lingering subversion in the hierarchy of the stranded kids, and once that bubble burst did the story become more than a light-hearted island escape that my younger self used to read. Golding did an amazing job with the incremental build-up of tension. It was first with the nagging of Piggy, the littluns crying at the sight of the said beast, and the bickering of Jack and Ralph about their authority, but those final moments had me in chills. In such a short span did I recognize symbolistic aspects of power and greed in the conch or the reckless and inhumane activities of Jack and his team, fear and obliviousness of the kids within "The Beast" as well as the rage in themselves, and a heavy historical background, seen in the setting of the book where bombs were bursting from fighter-jets. There was also Simon, the quiet boy who symbolized the small minority that was able to recognize the malice in themselves. And I know, that there is a myriad more, but it would be hard covering them all here, so I would like to hold onto those thoughts when I get the chance to organize them into the contrast essay. As for the overall message, I would probably describe it as the sickening minds of humans when they are left uncontrollable, and the importance of acknowledging our dark-sides before it reaches the boiling point.

The striking contrast between this story and many other adventure novels had me thinking whether the author had chosen those aesthetics on purpose, but since this is a pleasure read, I wouldn't really know in-depth. Although in the previous paragraph was I able to rave my thoughts and interpretations on the book, as the ted-ed video exclaimed, there is a strong correlation with the historical events that occurred during the publishing period, so when I was reading, I felt like I was missing out on a new world perspective on Golding's work. This is also the same case for the symbolism in the book, where I could acknowledge its existence, but not understand its incentives. Therefore, I was left with a swerve of unanswered questions upon closing its covers. It was such a memorable and perplexing story but without the help of outside sources, it would be difficult to gain an objective outlook,  which I would want to note during the writing process. Nevertheless, thanks to the read, I was able to enjoy my home-ridden winter holidays and would definitely recommend it to my friends if they are looking for a suspenseful narrative.