Why do you think William Golding chose to set LOTF on an island and how does he use the island in the novel? Lord of the Flies begins with the boys plane crash landing on a deserted island after trying to escape some sort of futuristic nuclear war, possibly Golding’s insight into the outbreak of the ‘Cold’ War. Golding gives the island an important role throughout the novel. It is used to change setting, mood or character speech. It sets the atmosphere of the novel. The boy, when they arrive at the island, initially are thrilled about being in a perfect, idyllic paradise away from adults, a sort of Utopia for children yet gradually find that the island has a dangerous, hostile side, just like life without rules and civilisation has no order and is full of risks and danger. The isolation of the island is almost a curse for the young boys as well as being their dream.
Before being introduced to the characters, ‘a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards like witch cry’ this simile foreshadows jeopardy and is supernatural. The ground that the boys are walking on is scattered with decaying and skull-like coconuts. From the first chapter itself we get a hint of an unwelcoming and threatening gesture from the island. The island foreshadows upcoming ominous signs using malicious imagery and words such as ‘laughter from the choir who perched like blackbird on crisscross trunks.’ The island is a microcosm of a society with no rules or regulations. The boys find the island inhabited and subsequently there is no central government. The boys quickly begin to tamper with the island’s natural peace, the boys try to change something that is already good. As the book goes on, Golding subtly uses darker and less appealing imagery to describe the island’s key features, which along with the de-colouring of the conch, represents the boys descent to savagery.
