The demon in us all | Book Shelf

'Lord of the flies' is one of the many names of Satan. Going by William Golding's allegorical masterpiece, though, it's easy to see how each of us has the ability turn very nasty indeed.

Since its publication 1953 Lord of the Flies has been on virtually every 100 Best English novels list you can think of. Greatly influenced by Golding's experiences in World War II, the book was his effort to "trace the problems of society back to the sinful nature of man". The message of Lord of the Flies sounds deathly moralistic, but the book is a gripping read, filled with adventure, brilliant characters, and sharp socio-political commentary.

'Lord' is set on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere, its only inhabitants a group of boys whose airplane has crash-landed there. The characters are metaphors that fit many aspects of modern society: the athletic, popular, morally unsure Ralph, the obese, bespectacled, intelligent Piggy; the charismatic and eventually tyrannical Jack. The group is mostly choir boys, who used to be lead by Jack. They form their own society, rules and all, and elect Ralph as their leader.

What starts out in the spirit of adventure and optimism, slowly descends ever-darkening chaos, fuelled for the most part by the boys' fear of a 'beastie', a supposedly enormous wild beast roaming inside the island. The rift between Jack and Ralph grows until Jack splits off and forms his own 'tribe'.

Through seemingly innocuous compromises and the exertion of brute force by Jack's increasingly barbaric tribe, the 'society' becomes anarchic, culminating in an explosion of violence and murder.

Lord of the Flies draws a frighteningly believable portrait of how any society can spiral into chaos due to power struggles, manipulative leaders, individual greed, and moral cowardice. Even a group of choir boys, supposedly 'the voice of angels', can in a society with rules made by the strong, slowly become sadistic, near-demonic figures.

Golding's classic novel works excellently both as a tale of adventure and survival and as a commentary on the flaws of human nature and social structures.

The next WAVE book club meeting will take place on 18 November, 2PM at the British Council to discuss Kuhiro ra Kshitij by Salyani Maila.