Lord of the Flies as a Religious Allegory.

1487 Words6 Pages
Carolina SanJuan Mrs. Katie Noboa ELA 11B November 12 / 2015 LOTF Religious Allegory "To have doubted one's own first principles is the mark of a civilized man."-Oliver Wendell Holmes. While the writing of William Golding’s Lord of the flies the world was submerged in a terrifying war, which had not only consumed countries, but men and their ideals. The questioning of the whole point of humanity came to the surface of a generation of artists devoured by existentialism. Since the war it became common to find humanity as a point evaluation in art, evil in it’s essence considered being part of the human race. After all such atrocious war got to the mind of those involved in any way on it. A world in war got even the most fervent believers doubting their faith in their God(s) and respective religions. Consequently, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a religious allegory in which he used his characters and setting as a representation of biblical passages. Initially, Lord of the flies setting was described in such a way that mainly suggested it to be the Garden of Eden. In the book, the island becomes the source of everything for the boys. The island is described as: "A great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through the forest and terrace and sand and lagoon [...] The palms that [...] stood made a green roof, covered on the underside with a quivering tangle of reflections from the lagoon." (Golding 11). They were put there to survive by their own means, in a situation where the island played a role not only in their survival but in the representation of good and evil as said in the bible, "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were
Open Document