Lord of The Flies Essay Examples and Topics

by William Golding

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Best topics on Lord of The Flies

Lord of the Flies is a prize by the Nobel Prize-winning author from England, William Golding. It was published back in 1954 and it still enjoys the same popularity after ... so many years. This novel concerns a group of boys stranded on an uninhabited island. It tells the story of the boys who are trying to govern themselves and escape the situation they are in. The novel vividly describes the tension between individual and group thinking, as well as the internal struggle of each of the characters in it. Because of the thorough view of the human thoughts, Lord of the Flies is one of the most explored essay topics at schools around the world. Lord of the Flies is set in the midst of an evacuation due to a war. At the time, a British airplane crashes on an isolated island in the Pacific, and the boys are the only survivors. One is almost immediately elected the chief and sets three primary policies – to survive, to have fun, and to maintain a smoke signal constantly so that others can find and save them. The plot soon unravels when some of the boys develop paranoia and start seeing an imaginary monster on the island. Jack, one of the boys, calls everyone away from sending out a smoke signal to hunt the animal, which results in a failure to attract a ship that could save them. A lot of the time, students get assigned an argumentative essay based on this novel. This is because the novel explores the relation and differences between morality and immorality, and many of the situations in it are controversial and open up different points of view. Golding’s Lord of the Flies was his debut and was popular even back when it was first published. It reached number 41 on the editor’s list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels, and was 25th on the reader’s list. As years passed, the novel gained more and more popularity. In 2005, Time magazine ranked it as one of the top 100 English-language novels published between 1923 and 2005. In a poll of 2016 of students, Lord of the Flies was ranked third in terms of popularity. This goes to show why there are so many Lord of the Flies essays today – students love the novel and the many points of views it opens. Still, this doesn’t make it any easier to write. To write about this book, you need to delve deep into the inner thoughts and analyze the behavior of people that found themselves in a difficult situation. When assigned this book to review, most students will tackle the topic of morality. However, this is not the only way to approach the topic. There are many different points to capture in Lord of the Flies essays. On this website, we’ve created some amazing examples of quality essays about this particular novel. You’ll find Lord of the Flies essay examples about different characters in the novel, more general analyses of its content, and essays about the symbolism found in the book. You can also write on thought-provoking themes described in Lord of the Flies such as good of evil or the human nature. Keep in mind that all the essays here are free to use. You cannot copy them if you want a high grade and want to avoid troubles, but hopefully these free resources will help you make your choice about a topic, learn more about the novel, and get some writing ideas.

Date

1984

Author

William Golding

Type

Novel

Genre

Allegory

Major Characters

Ralph, Jack, Simon

Based On

William Goldwin read The Coral Island: a Tale of the Pacific Ocean by Ballantyne, and got the idea to write a book about children on an island, but make them behave in the way children would realistically behave.

Symbols/Motives

Allegory, social organization, civilization, laws, power, moral, individuality

Influence

The book has received three film adaptations so far. It has also been adapted for stage and radio dramatization.

Plot

A few boys are the only survivors of a plane crash on an isolated island. They all have different characters, which lead to their responsibilities on the island. Ralph becomes the authority and sets three main rules: to survive, to have fun, and to maintain the smoke that could signal a passing ship. The order is quickly disturbed; the boys start acting like real boys and neglect their responsibilities while having fun all the time. A group of boys rebels and plots against the leader. They hunt for Ralph, and the entire island is consumed in flames during the process. A British officer comes on the island to investigate the fire and finds the boys.

Why Is This Topic Important?

Lord of the Flies is an excellent commentary on government and society. The ideas may be good, but people’s behavior leads to disappointment. The novel’s symbolism leads to the notion that modern society is deeply flawed.

Main Ideas

Social organization and civilization tend to tame human impulses, but they often find a way to erupt.

Key Quotes

“The thing is - fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream.”
“I believe man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature. I produce my own view in the belief that it may be something like the truth.”
“We did what adults would do. What went wrong?”

Interesting Facts

The novel has been listed among the 100 best young-adult books of all time by Time. It’s one of the most popular reads in schools.

Why Should This Topic Be Used?

By reading this book and writing about its themes, students get inspired to think about the duality of morality and immorality.

Arguments For

When left without societal structures and rules, the true nature of humanity emerges. The symbolism in this book explores humanity in its raw form, and it makes us think about the unnatural social system.

Arguments Against

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