Author of Lord of the Flies William Golding Author of Lord of the Flies

Biography Born on September 19, 1911 in Cornwall, England Died in 1993 in Wiltshire, England Cornwall

Went to Marlborough Grammar School Went to Brasenose College, Oxford, to study Natural Sciences.

More about Golding In 1932 he changed his major to Literature 1935 Became a teacher 1940 Joined the British Royal Navy 1944 Commanded a rocket-launching ship during the invasion of France 1954 Published Lord of the Flies. 1983 Won Nobel Prize for Worldwide Literature Became a teacher at Michael Hall, a Steiner school then in Streatham, South London, staying there two years. 1937 Golding went back to Oxford to study for a diploma in education.

Other Novels The Inheritors (1955) Pincher Martin (1956) Free Fall (1959) The Spire (1964) Darkness Visible (1979) Rites of Passage (1980)

Golding’s Philosophy “man was sick—not exceptional man, but average man.” “the condition of man was to be a morally diseased creature.” LOTF is“an attempt to trace defects of society back to the defects of human nature.”

More Beliefs During the war Golding lost trust in man’s innocence. Man is by nature evil and brutal. Not even children are innocent, though they seem to be. True nature comes out when man is put to the test (survival).

Vision of Humanity The Coral Island (1858) not reality Stripped of civilization’s social environment, human beings would return to a savage state ruled by fear and basic desire for survival— How will this play a role in LOTF?

Golding’s Themes Defects in society can be traced to the defects in human nature. Civilized society keeps human beings from reverting to a more primitive, savage state. All individuals have a natural capacity for brutality. A society can be judged by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens.