Lords of the flies
About Author William Gerald Golding (1911–1993) deals with man’s instinct to destroy what is good. He puts his viewpoint very clearly—evil is apparent everywhere and is with difficulty held at bay, while good is almost impossible to achieve. His novels are highly symbolic, yet convincingly realistic, with characters who, though placed in unnatural situations, remain believable. His best-known work is Lord of the Flies (1954) , in which civilization is shown to be only a thin veneer that cracks easily under pressure. In The Inheritors (1955), he illustrates his view that innocence, goodness, and happiness were instinctive before Homo sapiens evolved, bringing with them a destructive urge to evil. Other significant works include Pincher Martin (1956), Free Fall (1959), The Spire (1964), The Scorpion God (1971), and later novels, all of which explore man’s moral weakness ...