Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about a group of boys stranded on an island all by themselves. The novel explores the human mind and how everyone has the capacity to commit atrocities, and all that they need is a push in the right direction.
The story mainly follows Ralph and his friend Piggy, with a bunch of other characters. The boys are stranded on an island after surviving a plane crash, with no adults or signs or civilization. Ralph is designated as the leader of the group, and orders a fire to be continuously burning in order to be rescued. However, this peace doesn’t last long. One of the boys, named Jack, refuses to acknowledge Ralph’s power, and thus begins a power struggle between Jack and Ralph.
I would only give this book a 3 out of 5, just because of the way that the author tries to send a message of how civilized people are capable of murder without remorse. While this might be true for the boys in the group, I don’t believe that this applies to all people. Young people are especially susceptible to outside forces, no matter how terrible they maybe, but killing someone is crossing the line. None of the boys in the novel seem to voice any concerns about their actions, making the novel especially dark and depressing. I wouldn’t recommend it to casual readers, but for readers looking for books with darker plots and deeper meanings, this is your book.