William Golding's Lord of the Flies

by Harold Bloom (Editor)

Each title
- Critical essays reflecting a variety of schools of criticism
- Notes on the contributing critics, a chronology of the author's life, and an index
- An introductory essay by Harold Bloom.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, School, Literary Criticism, Horror

176 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.

Reviews

[Aj · Rating 4 out of 5]

lord of the flies was a very interesting book. i believe the book had a very smart hidden meaning behind it all which explains why it was an allegory. it started off definitely grabbing my attention with the boys in the book crash landing on the island. and after that showing how they needed to do things to survive but being kids without supervision not and not being mature enough turned the kids against each other and half of them went savage. as well as multiple kids did not survive. it was very interesting as well how things like the conch shell and piggy's glasses and deeper meanings lying inside the book. "I know there isn’t no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn’t no fear, either...Unless we get frightened of people." . "What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What's grownups going to think? ". these quotes stood out to me because the author showed how the kids fear started to take over and set in as something started going crazy and believing in a best or going savage. the audience of this book would be readers who like fiction and adventurous books as well as people who like allegory or allusion books with hidden meanings.

[Sol]

A lot of slightly different collections are being subsumed by goodreads here.

2010 edition- "Bloom's Guides: Lord of the Flies - New Edition": Very short essays, ranging from terrible to great. Seems aimed at middle/high school students.

2008 edition - "Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: Lord of the Flies - New Edition": TBW

1999 edition - "Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: Lord of the Flies": TBW

[Austin Goertzen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short but good book that tugged at my emotions and made me sad to see how the inevitable divide happened in the group. It made me sad but it had bars at the end of the book.

"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy."

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I literally think of this story often when I go to work, whenever you work with kids and the ratio is one adult to 20 kids, a thought always passes over my head, and that is when will I be the pig roast.

[William Rigby · Rating 5 out of 5]

A re-read of a classic.

I read this book at GCSE which would be about 11 or so years ago now I would say. I have fond memories of this text. Not only the words on the page, but the excitement of learning how to analyse, how to decipher and contributing towards literary discussion. Obviously, at the age of 15 you aren't skilled or knowledgable enough to recognise everything, but the few nuggets you do discover feeling like finding gold.

I enjoyed the book then and I enjoyed it now. I have not read a book in a long while that has such expertly crafted symbolism and analogous writing. Golding's ability to draw parallels with the realites of his time and the actions and thoughts of these young British boys seems effortless. Even now, years later I can still read between the lines with ease and uncover fascinating allusions to the various themes that make up the fabric of this text. It was as much fun reading as it was analysing. I am defintley going to go away and see what I missed.

I'm glad I gave this book a second read, the first time I have done so in some time if I am honest. I would highly reccomend everyone give this book a chance.

[Samuel Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Lord of the Flies few days ago and felt the need for further discussions written about it. I found this book, a compilation of essays by notable authors. I must say that was a good decision on my part. I could never have appreciated Lord of the Flies , the Novel, it’s literally interpretations and deeper meanings in Goulding’s intent, the way I do now. I think anyone going through this text will see the necessity for critical analysis of literary stories for deepening the understanding of interested readers. Highly recommended.

[Andra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Captivating and interesting.Hursh,but real,a lesson.

[K D · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horrible story — well-told, I guess,but wish I hadn’t read it.

[Stick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everyone in my generation has read this. Golding holds up well.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

The layers in this book are incredible. Everything is more then what it seems.
And that's crazy.

[AboveAverageReader(Nadia Reed-Schall) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jk actually liked this book

[Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was very slow and boring, There wasn’t much of a plot.

[Carlee Resline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book I am very glad this was taught in school

[Allie Winborn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lord of the Flies was written back in the early 1950's in Salisbury England. The author William Golding, first published the book in 1954. I choose to read this book in particular because that name "Lord of the Flies" caught my attention, also the fact of boys being stuck on a deserted island trying to survive interested me.

This time period was in the middle of the nuclear war, when a group of young school boys got shot down over a deserted island, with no adult supervision. The boy's divide up into "groups." The boy's around the age of six and younger were called the "littluns" and the boys around the age of ten and twelve were the "biguns." The boy's elect a group leader, Ralph. Ralph try's to keep the boy's clean and find them shelter. While being on the island for quite a while, Ralph try's to get the boy's rescued by making a fire and hoping that the ship that passes them by will see the smoke. While this plan did not work, Jack another boy makes his own pack which almost all the boy's join except for a few. While all this nonsense is taking place the boys believe that their is a "beast" that lives on the island. Simon being the brave one try's to find the beast, doing so he looses consciousness when actually all it was a the pilot, dead. When coming back to share the news the boys mistake him as the beast and beat him to death.

My favorite part of the book was when the chief of one side of the island (Ralph) is being hunted like a pig by the other tribe. He tries to run and find a place to hide, when he finally finds a good bush to hide when they light the forrest on fire and he is forced to run out in the open. You think that he is doomed but a ship sees the smoke and comes to the kids rescue!

This book is full of surprises while the mood was sort of dark and depressing. I enjoyed reading it because, I love how William was not afraid to write about dark and gruesome things such as death and violence. I would recommend this book for young adults who are into books about death and depressing things. This is by all means not a "happy" book, For example the author, William explains a baby pig getting chased down and stabbed with several spears then having his throat slit by several hunters. At points I wanted to stop reading it because of those reasons. I give this book two stars.

[Stockton Edmonds]

Stockton Edmonds
Mrs. Allen
English 8


Imagine waking up on an island inhabited by only you and your friends. This is what the people of the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding woke up to. Everyday they would struggle to for their lives. From being normal people one day to being survivors the next, all because of their plane getting shot down over an ocean. As you can imagine their lives were very interesting.
In the plot of this story, they wake up on an island and have to survive. It is a lot harder for some to survive than others to. Such as Piggy, nobody liked Piggy except Ralph. People would pick on him, which makes surviving a lot harder. After landing on the island they had to pick a leader for some form of order, they all chose Ralph. But later on in the book he won’t be able to control the rest of the tribe.
I think that the book could have used a little bit more action. There was a lot of good fighting action but it needed to be longer. What makes this book good is that the people on the island are crazy savages. It’s very interesting to hear them tear a pig apart. The writer wants the reader to know that people are crazy.
The most important thing that the author wants the reader to know is that with out order people will go insane. Strong order is required to keep order. In the book it only takes a few day for the boys to realize there is absolutely no laws. And they all go crazy and kill each other. The author wants the reader to know that with out order people will do whatever is necessary to survive.
I would recommend this book to people who like a lot of swearing and graphic description. It was a very good book and I liked it. I highly encourage people to read this great book.

[John Tardino · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading lord of the flies i have given i a rate of 4 stars. The reason for 4 stars is because i love adventure and action books. there were many things i loved about the book especially when they imagined a gigantic beast chasing after them it created an allusion throughout the children minds. This book was very interesting in many ways such as they always had something new to overcome such as the beast the imagined. I feel people who love adventures and scary books would love this book. One of my favorite quotes from lord of the flies is it states "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of mans heart, and the fall through the air of the true wise friend called piggy". This quote stood out to me because i love how it shows friend ship and cooperation and loyalty through these small group of friends who have created a bond that could never be broken. Another quote that stands out to me is it states that " we got to have rules and obey them. After all, were not savages. were English, and the English are best at everything." This quote stands out because i love the authority in how the kids take charge and be confident in there rule.

[Pierce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book called Lord Of the flies was a good book because it shows what kids would do without adults to lead them. This book starts of as a boy on a plane flying to get somewhere and he gets in a plane crash and land in the middle of the ocean not knowing where he is. Later he wakes up resting on sand hearing the splashes of the ocean waves. He wakes up and then does not know what to do and where to go. after a few hours he finds a conch shell horn and then blows into it. He remembers he has asthma so he cant blow into it hard. He finds a kid on the island looking for other people. He then runs to this kid and becomes friends with him. He tries to form a group to help make friends with everyone and some kids reject that idea and make their own group. Overall this book was a good book! It took a while but it was great.

[Michael O. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lord of the Flies. A book that has sculpted the way we read literature today. Unfortunately I did not enjoy it. I felt it was overly wordy, and took a long time to get to the point. I'm extremely into action which this book has little of. If your into a book with deep soul, and is centered around culture, then this book is for you. it has deep description that can bring life to almost anything. It feels as though it takes forever to get to the actual story. Although it is considered a classic, i feel the movie is easier to handle. The book is about a group of kids trapped on an island forced to cope with each other. Eventually the kids break off into tribes and the kids start going power hungry. A couple of the kids try to start a backlash against the tribes, this gets messy. The ending will surprise you.

[Conan]

I thought think was an interesting book because it makes me wonder what i would do if i were to wake up one day on an isolated island waiting to be saved. It also makes me wonder whether i would become a savage like Jack of it i would keep my humanity and try to stay alive. Other than that, i think that it would be sad to wake up everyday just trying to stay alive wondering whether any ship out there would come close and see a smoke signal.

[Viliami Hemaloto]

For anyone who loves to read about man and what is going to happen to if they were in this situation, they'd love it. The story is based on human nature and a rivalry between human greed and chivalry.

Situation: a group of young English boys have crash landed on an island.
Question: without any superiors around, how will these young men survive on the island?

The story line is a bit depressing but quite fascinating as you think about how you would react if you too were in the story.

[CaminanteEntreLetras · Rating 5 out of 5]

¡Clásico más que necesario para cualquier buen lector! Lo tuve que leer para la universidad y hacer un ensayo sobre él y su simbolismo y no podría agradecerle más al profesor que me lo mandó por hacerlo. Tenía ganas de leerlo pero no esperaba que fuera a impactarme y gustarme tanto. Cada símbolo, cada detalle que tiene un significado...todo tiene sentido en esta lucha por salvar lo que queda de la humanidad dentro de nosotros.

[Joell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Revisiting books seems to be my 2010 pattern. Each one so far has been a wonderful surprise and this one is no exception. The forward by the author is not to be missed. I don't remember (from highschool) the character Simon at all - and this time, he really popped out at me. I found myself physically tense in the chase scenes - it's just a great read.

[Sucharita · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a text during our school days. Interesting book about young boys thrown on an island having to fend for themselves till the time rescuers find them. Instincts and honour -- the eternal tussle

[Hailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was overall amazing. I must admit i saw the movie first but it pulled me to read the book, and it was one of the best decision i've ever made. This book is full of action, suspense, drama, and everything pretty much. Thats all i have to say about it, words cant explain how epic it was.

[Riley Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was so boring. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but that didn’t happen until the very end. Most of the book is just describing the environment and having the boys get to know each other until the big conflict happens… towards the end.

[Jojo · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my students told her mom that the only reason she read this book was because I liked it so much. That made me feel kind of weird but happy at the same time.

[Akhil Bogabathina · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an excellent book?!. This book truly shows you human nature and how they behave without proper rules.
I recommend everyone to read it!

[Ashley Howey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent commentary on one view of the nature of man.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

very thought-provoking...

[Kathryn · Rating 1 out of 5]

To weird for words. I did not enjoy this book at all. It is a clever concept and well written for its time but not my cup of tea.