What is Lord of the Flies really about? Golding thought he was writing an incredibly bleak story about man devolving into animals in the absence of "civilization", but I've come to the conclusion that it's an uplifting story about man's ability to survive and adapt to new environments, rather than cling to the obsolete institutions of the past.
Ralph, the charismatic conservative leader-type, Piggy, the genetic defective, and Simon, the overcivilized religious-revelation wimp, are the only ones who refuse to or cannot adapt, and they are justifiably killed by the tribe.
Why would anyone empathize with Ralph, or Piggy, or Simon? They're morons. Cattle. Jack and the savages are the ones who ditch the old rules and find a new way to live, wild and free, that suits their environment. They're the true humans of the story.
The Navy coming to "rescue" them is just another adaptation for the tribe to have to make--they and the species will be stronger for having gone through that situation and weeded out the most unadaptable.
Did Golding intend this reading? Consciously, almost certainly not. But subconsciously, why are Piggy and Simon such total wastes of sperm? And why is Ralph such a pompous git? And why do the tribe become such efficient and perfect savages so quickly? Well, the likely answer is that Golding's subsconscious was siding with the tribe, because it knew they were better adapted to that situation, regardless of his original intent.
Last modified: 1998Nov27
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