Lord of the Flies Analysis Essay: Crafting a Brilliant Project to Impress Your Professors

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies raises a lot of controversial themes, such as the role of religion in society or the distinction between civilization and savagery, without giving firm answers.

There is still no agreement between literary critics on what exactly the author’s point of view on many social issues was. A sure way to impress your professors is to take your own stance and support it with a well-balanced argument, dwelling on examples from the novel’s text. Look below for examples of controversial themes you can explore in this essay.

Themes

• Religion.

  The novel is full of religious allusions, such as the boys’ ritual of pig hunts or their sacrifices to the beast. Determine whether it is Golding’s critique of Pagan beliefs as being dark and superstitious, or of any organized religion in general.

• Wisdom and knowledge.

  One of the central conflicts is between Simon, who is determined to find out the beast’s true identity, and the other boys who stick to their superstitious fears. The result is Simon discovering the truth but being killed by the other boys who do not want to listen to him. Analyze the text to determine whether the author wanted to say that knowledge is destructive or that ignorance is.

• Civilization.

  Search the text for evidence that Golding portrayed civilization as a generally good thing, the only thing that keeps people from killing each other, or as a thing that is useless and doomed to fail because human nature is still beastly.

Writing Tips

• Compose a thesis statement that implies controversy, e. g. “Although Simon is commonly viewed as a Christ-like figure, this analogy is not quite right because Simon’s death was not an intentional self-sacrifice, but a consequence of his overestimation of the power of intellect and logic over fear and superstition.”
• Look for specific evidence in support of your point in the text, e. g. Simon’s thoughts before he comes out to the feasting boys.
• Keep your focus – if you chose to explore Simon as a Christ-like figure, do not go astray to compare Jack’s and Ralph’s leadership styles.
• Analyze each example in a separate paragraph: first summarize the meaning of this episode in your own words, present a quotation from the text, then explain the relevance of this example to your thesis.
• Pay special attention to crafting your last sentence – it should summarize the very essence of your literary analysis and produce a strong impression your readers would walk away with.