Why do you think William Golding chose to set 'Lord of the Flies" on and island in the novel and how does he use it?

Authors Avatar by lala41 (student)

Why do you think William Golding chose to set “Lord of the Flies” on an island in the novel and how does he use it?

William Golding chose to set “Lord of the Flies” on an island because it creates a theme of isolation, and makes any hope of rescue almost void. He uses the idea of an island as a blank canvas backdrop in several ways that enhance the effectiveness of the story.

One of the first descriptions of the place where the boys are is that of a scar, “The undergrowth at the side of the scar was shaken”. This introduces the idea that mankind has been responsible for damaging a seemingly idyllic landscape. It is mankind who brings the negative changes to the scenery such as “the long scar smashed into the jungle”, “all them tree trunks falling” and “coarse grass, torn everywhere”. The use of onomatopoeia in “smashed” gives the reader a very early precursor of violence. Golding needed to be able to show the progression of evil against a background of something pure.  The island is therefore a religious allegory of the “Garden of Eden” that is present within the bible,  “Even the smallest boys, unless fruit claimed them”. The beast is described as a “snake-thing” by some of the boys, a reference to Satan within the “Garden of Eden” and he uses the pigs as “forbidden fruit,” which once the hunters have discovered, they will hold in a “snake-like clasp”. This simile is again a reference to the serpent within the bible. The story of Eden also represents temptation, and Golding uses this theme by expressing the temptation of being savage, “the desire to squeeze and hurt was over mastering”.  William Golding chose to set “Lord of the Flies” on an island because it provided a way for him to show the savageness that is inherent to human nature in a neutral environment, without external influences.

Join now!

Golding uses the island to mirror the progression of events in the novel. He cleverly uses natural phenomena to portend any major calamities within the plot. For example the fire on the mountain starts off as playful, the simile “one patch touched a tree trunk and scrambled up like a bright squirrel” almost evokes a smile from the reader. However as it gets more dangerous the metaphor “The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly” shows the decreasing control the boys have on the fire, Golding uses personification ...

This is a preview of the whole essay