Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
Table of Contents
William Golding
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954) takes a portion of its inspiration from R. M. Ballantyne’s 19th-century novel The Coral Island. Ballantyne’s Island, in fact, is directly mentioned in Golding’s Flies, first by the boys themselves who have obviously read it and later by the naval officer who realizes the grim reality of the situation into which he has stepped. Nor is it a coincidence that the names of the main characters of the two novels are nearly identical: Ralph, Jack, and Peterkin are the central heroes of Coral Island, while three of central characters of Golding’s novel are named Ralph, Jack, and Simon. If one looks to the New Testament, one finds that Simon is the original name of Peter before Christ appointed the Apostle to his new rock-like role. That Golding’s Simon should be associated with such a figure is no coincidence: Golding himself insists that there is a priestly aspect to his Simon.
