Sometimes there are such books, the meaning of which their brief content cannot reveal. The "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding refers precisely to such works. It should be read in full, thoughtfully and not in a hurry. This is one of the most significant novels of the twentieth century. Things of this order are usually called "cult." This is not an exact definition, but it distinguishes a work of art from a number of similar ones.
William Golding "Lord of the Flies." Summary
The action of this strange story takes place in an indefinite place of the Pacific Ocean at an indefinite time. At the center of the story is the fate of the platoon of cadets who are being evacuated from the combat zone. The plane with them on board crashes, the protagonists of the book are those who managed to reach the uninhabited island alive or wounded. Generally speaking, the history of the relationship of children in extreme situations makes up the main plot outline of the work, its summary. Lord of the flies is the head of a pig, mounted on a wooden pole, all that remains of the animal killed in the hunt. Around this idol is always a cloud of insects. The interpretation of this symbol is far from unambiguous and multidimensional. One of the main ideas of the "parabola novel" (according to the ironic definition of the genre of his work by the author himself) is the subtlety of the line that separates a person from an animal. About how quickly this line crosses when it comes to the struggle for existence.
The struggle for life is the main driving force of everything that happens in the book, its summary. "Lord of the Flies" gives a very pessimistic answer to the question of what will win in the conflict of Good and Evil. The young inhabitants of the island would probably gradually kill each other. But the final triumph of Evil is hindered only by the sudden appearance in the finale of the narrative of an adult officer trying to find those who survived the plane crash. This alone saves from the seemingly inevitable death of one of the main characters, who was almost overtaken by a crowd of his former comrades in the cadet corps, furious with the hunting excitement. Here is such a strange symbolic story, more precisely, its brief content. "Lord of the Flies" was published in 1954 and was far from immediately understood and accepted by contemporaries. But gradually gained popularity and even included in the compulsory school curriculum in many states. The novel became a classic of the twentieth century, in particular, Stephen King repeatedly called him his favorite work of American literature. And this is not at all surprising.
To the cinema
Naturally, Hollywood could not pass by such a masterpiece as "Lord of the Flies." The summary of this multidimensional book has been retold several times in the language of cinema. The most successful should be recognized as the adaptation of the novel by William Gold of 1990. Despite the fact that much closer to the literary basis lies the version of the British director Peter Brooke, undertaken by him in 1963.