William Golding Context Research

I.) William Golding was born on the 19th September 1911. He died on the 19th June 1993.

II.) After William Golding left Oxford university, he went on to work as an actor, teacher and a writer. He also served in WWII and participated in the D-Day landings.

III.) William Golding was inspired to write his book, Lord of the Flies from his experience from working as a teacher at an all boy’s school. A book by Robert Ballantyne called The Coral Island also influenced the book.

IV.) Some of the key events may include when the boy with the birthmark went missing. Another would be when Jack and Ralph started to go at each other with their disagreements. A brief summary of the book: a plane crashes on an uninhabited island and they form a society; a tribe, unified under a chief. However, quite soon, a divide starts occurring between the most powerful people: Ralph and Jack.

V.) WWII influenced William Golding in a way which made him see what humans were able of doing, in a negative way. He says that humans produce evil like bee produces honey: “I began to see what people were capable of doing. Anyone who moved through those years without understanding that man produces evil as a bee produces honey, must have been blind or wrong in the head.”

VI.) Lord of the Flies was published in 1954. One main influence during this time was the Cold War, and in the fire chapter, an atomic bomb is mentioned, and during the Cold War, nuclear annihilation was very real.

VII.)