Context

The book ‘The Lord of The Flies’ is a story about a group of young boys who crash land onto a mysterious island. The boys appear to be from Britain and they are in a time of an unknown nuclear war. Their knowledge of right and wrong and their morals had no longer been apparent.

Quotes

• ‘Didn't you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They're all dead.’ pg 20

This quote proves that the Lord of the Flies is set in an unknown nuclear war but presumably World War II because it was the only war that the atomic bomb was actually used. In the World War II, when children from Britain were evacuated from large towns in Britain because it was thought that there would be German bombings in Britain.

• ‘The Fair Boy stopped and jerked his stockings with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the mother countries.’ Pg 11

This quote proves that the boys are from Britain and strengthens the fact that these boys were on the downed plane because they had to be evacuated. The stockings are signs that these boys are British.

• ‘Beyond the platform there was more enchantment. Some act of god – a typhoon perhaps, or the storm that accompanied his own arrival.’ Pg 18

From this quote, readers would infer that the story is set on an tropical island because the author wrote ‘typhoon’ which is a tropical storm. The author chose to use the word typhoon not just another simpler loose term.

William Golding who himself served in the war, may have written the ‘Lord Of the Flies’ because he wanted to subtly teach people that war is not pretty and that man is not always good.

During the 1950’s (when the book was written) there was a nuclear arms race between Russia and America. War seemed imminent. Golding would probably write this book because of the fact that he wanted to use his book to influence people's view on mankind and how war, violence and the loss of moral integrity could ultimately destroy mankind.