“ Lord of the Flies” is a novel written by William Golding. It is set during World War 2. It is about a group of schoolboys who are stranded on an island when their plane crashes. The boys have a meeting and elect a leader called Ralph. Ralph is important because he was the one who found the conch – a shell which calls all the boys on the island together. The shell becomes an important object later on in the book. There are no adults on the island so the boys have to fend for themselves. After a while the boys turn savage and become obsessed with killing. Two of the boys are killed and Ralph is hunted down.
The island in “Lord of the Flies” is described using phrases such as
“Blue of all shades, and shadowy green and purple.” p 4
This use of colour suggests that the island is a happy, safe place. The rest of the island is described in such a way that makes the island sound calm and isolated:
“…peacock water, rocks and weed showing as in an aquarium…” p 26
This quotation describes the coral around the island and gives the reader a sense of tranquillity.
The setting in “The Cone” however, is described at the beginning of the story:
“…hot and overcast…the sky red rimmed…the trees stood stiff and dark…” p 1
The quotation above comes from the very first few lines of the story, and already the reader gets a sense of foreboding. The setting helps to add to the atmosphere by using words that sound menacing, such as
“…a sulphurous vapour streaked with pungent bitterness…” p 4
The setting in “Lord of the Flies” makes the atmosphere sound peaceful and calm – at least at the beginning of the book. By the end the island is on fire, and the language used makes the atmosphere seem oppressing and frightening:
“…fire racing forward like a tide…” p 222
By this point in the book, the island is no longer being described as peaceful and calm, but dangerous and wild.
The dark setting of the ironworks in “The Cone” could be associated with Hell – the colours used, such as red and black, make the ironworks seem frightening. The noise and smoke and steam all adds to the effect of the ironworks being Hellish. The fact that Horrocks owns the place makes him seem devilish. The heat from the furnaces symbolises anger and hate, two emotions that Horrocks is feeling towards Raut.
The way the island is described in “lord of the Flies” makes the story seem more fantastical. This reflects the way that it is unusual as people didn’t travel abroad during the war. The magical feeling is obtained by using phases such as
“…a blue flower…hung down the vent and spilled lavishly among the canopy of the forest.” p 25
This quotation sounds magical and fantastical as it is from the start of the book. Quotations from later in the book make the story seem more frightening:
“…in the undergrowth on the left was the hot, bright thunder of the fire.”
Now the reader feels that the story is horrific and threatening.
The setting in “The Cone” would have been familiar to people in the 19th century because ironworks were a central form of employment. . Where the ironworks are set used to be countryside until the industrial revolution when all the factories were built. This makes the story seem more dark as the picture the reader builds in their head is not of nature (as in “Lord of the Flies”) but of a heavily urbanised area.
Although different, the setting in each story is just as important. Settings in all stories are important because they help the reader get a picture in their mind of where the story is set. Without settings being described in detail the story would be boring.
