Lord of the Flies

This classic looks into the dark sides of human nature. The story unfolds as a group of British schoolboys, ranging from children to adolescents, find themselves tranded on a deserted island after a plane crash. The two major characters are Ralph, the natural leader who strives for rules and order, and Jack, the charismatic hunter who embraces chaos. Their ideas stand for the tension between civilisation and savagery. Initially, the boys attempt to establish order and civilisation by setting rules and choosing a leader. After a while, however, the fear of a ‘beast’ leads to the thin layer of civilisation crumbling and to power struggles, with the boys giving in to primal instincts of hunting and violence. Their descent into anarchy is further increased by the boys’ searching for something to hold onto. As the situation worsens, moral boundaries blur and the boys find themselves in a struggle for survival. The novel, written shortly after the Second World War, examines themes of human nature, the vulnerability of civilisation, and the thin line between order and chaos. Today, too, Lord of the Flies provides food for thought, making it a timeless and compelling book.