How did the historical events of the early 20th century help shape Golding's modern fable, "Lord of the Flies".

How did the historical events of the early 20th century help shape Golding’s modern fable,

“Lord of the Flies”.

What gave Golding the inspiration to write the great novel, Lord of the Flies? He wrote the ‘Lord of the flies’ novel soon after the war, which was later published in 1954. So it was soon after the war when he wrote it. So was this where his inspiration came from for the novel. Did seeing children suffering give him ideas? Did the Hitler give him inspiration for jack and Churchill for Ralph? Did the war lead him to write the book at all? We don’t know now, and probably never will do! But we can guess. We can try and work out what made him write this incredible tale of the children gone savages who fight for survival on the island.

The children where being evacuated from the war when they crashed. Ralph was the first character to be introduced. He came out the story to be the strong one. The leader who only wanted the best to come of things and to end it all and get home, just like Winston Churchill wanted to win the war. Jack on the other side, turned out to be more evil, more sadistic and much more savage then Ralph. He was being compared to Hitler or Mussolini. The main evil powers in the Second World War.

The conch represents the democracy in the play. It could well be related to the democracy between countries, the vote, the councils and the League of Nations. Golding could well of thought of a symbol that was needed to represent this on the island. The only thing stopping them from tearing each other imp from limp. Just like the rest of the world in the war. The conch was there for peace on the island, and the councils were there to stop the world from destroying one another completely.

The fire could ...

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The fire could well represent a piece of the war of mass destruction. The blitz, for example. It destroyed half of London, like the fire destroyed half the island. Londoner’s were getting scared the war would never end, after something so bad happened. Golding incorporated this by using it like the boys on the island, seeing this destruction made them realise, this may never end, and they may all die soon.

Once they had been there a little while. They began to turn into savages. Ralph knew this wasn’t going to end soon. They knew things were going to happen, friends and enemies would be made and it would be along time till it ends. This was the case of the war. Hitler and Churchill knew it was a long-term war and they could be there for years.

Golding probably noticed during the war, that people tried to be brave. But beneath the skin, they are truly scared. The people who went off to war, had to be brave, to show those they are confident, that they want to win, to set an example for the people at home and the children. Golding sees this, and puts this into his characters. Everyone on the island was scared, Especially the littluns. Ralph and Jack have to be strong. They are scared, but need to put on a brave face for the sake of everyone. People will breakdown without stronger people to support them like Ralph and jack and the bigguns. Golding has again, related his characters to the human beings that took part in the war. He has compared them, and they basically have the same feelings, just shown in different ways and surroundings.

Golding also relates the ending to the war. How d-day is the same as the last bit of the Book. However, Ralph was now related to Hitler and Jack, Churchill. This is because, Jack is winning, and he almost has Ralph, almost has him stuck and almost has the end of Ralph. He has him cornered, when it ends. Just before Ralph is about to be killed it all over. The ordeal they have gone through has ended in 5 minutes. Just like, the last day of the war, When Germany is close to loosing, they surrender, and it’s all over.

I think the early 20th century was a good source for Golding’s book, ‘Lord of the Flies’. The war was the main thing to happen in the years of Golding writing the book. He saw things first hand and wrote down this in a story, which he changed to make a story, but used the same roots as the war stories. Golding book was a fabulous story of boys, who are stranded, but he hides the fact hat it’s related to the war well. You don’t really notice it, but looking beneath the skin of the book, you actually realise the strong resemblance it has with the war.

SIMON HEARN