Rules are meant to be broken...aren't they? That's what happens when a plane carrying a group of English school boys crashes on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. The rest of the world may be at war, but on the island there are no girls, no grownups, and no government to tell these boys what to do or how to live. Excited about their new freedom, the boys elect a "chief" (Ralph), who tries to establish some resemblance of order. Ralph's main concern is keeping the fire on the mountain lit so that a passing ship can rescue them ("We've got to make smoke up there - or die."). But Ralph and his rules are soon forgotten as part of the group, led by Jack Merridew and his choirboys-turned-hunters, focus on finding and killing wild pigs. Raw emotions rage out of control as these well-mannered British boys turn on each other; slowly descending into savage madness.
"Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us." - Simon, from Lord of the Flies, Ch. 5
Long before Suzanne Collins wrote about kids killing kids in order to survive in The Hunger Games, William Golding decided to write a novel showing how kids would really behave in order to survive on a deserted island. You won't find many sweet, innocent children living in harmony here: Lord of the Flies is a brutually honest look at human nature. The boys bully (Roger throws rocks at the littleluns, at first just for fun, then for real). The boys tease (Piggy gets picked on because he's fat, wears glasses, and has asthma). The boys hunt (first wild pigs, then each other). Whether you're reading Lord of the Flies as a required reading assignment or reading it just for fun, I guarantee you won't want to put the book down! 285 pages.