Several Golding novels with similar circumstances and Themes may be of interest to readers. Golding’s second published novel, The Inheritors, tells of an innocent group of prehistoric men and women killed by the ancestors of modern man. Neanderthal man is destroyed by Homo sapiens, a species noted in the novel for its malevolent cleverness, its casual annihilation of another species, and its cruelty and arrogance. The Inheritors features a theme that Golding would turn to frequently in his later novels: the benevolent aspects of faith and poetry as compared to the evil effects of technological societies.
Other novels also examine the origin of evil in human lives and its unrelenting power to corrupt individuals and society. In Pincher Martin the struggle between life and death is revealed to be a battle for the survival of the soul. The Spire is the tale of a clergyman who pursues a personal vision of success no matter what the cost to himself or others. Golding explores the corruption of an individual by society in his novel The Pyramid. The Reverend Colley, of Golding’s critically acclaimed Close Quarters (1984), is a classic example of the seemingly innocent man who is ultimately destroyed by negative qualities that have existed, unrecognized, within himself for some time.
In 1963 Continental produced a film version of Lord of the Flies. Directed by Peter Brook, the film stars James Aubrey, Tom Chapin, and Hugh Edwards. A filmstrip version of the novel (1978), complete with an audio cassette, a discussion guide, and a copy of the text, is also available.
Leave a Reply