Table of Contents

• Introduction
• A summary of the plot
• What is Lord of the Flies about?
• How does Golding show that small children are by nature cruel?
• Are there signs in the novel that Golding did not really believe in original sin?
• Why are Ralph and Jack enemies?
• Is Lord of the Flies a religious novel?
• What remains in the published version of the religious novel Golding originally wrote?
• How religious is the published version of the novel?
• Why is the novel called Lord of the Flies?
• Is Lord of the Flies realistic about human behaviour?
• Is Lord of the Flies about social class?
• Did Golding have a real-life model in mind for Piggy?
• Is Lord of the Flies a political novel?
• What is the point of Roger?
• Why is there no sex in Lord of the Flies?
• What is special about Golding's style in Lord of the Flies?
• What does the arrival of the naval officer add to the novel's meaning?

About the Author

John Carey is a British literary critic and Emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at Oxford University. His books include The Intellectuals and the Masses, What Good Are the Arts?, and William Golding: The Man Who Wrote Lord of the Flies. His memoir, The Unexpected Professor: An Oxford Life in Books was published in 2014.