Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Chapter Book)

Challenged Book

This book is set on an isolated island where a plane crashes and the only survivors are boys of 13 years of age and younger.  Throughout the book the boys struggle to stay alive and to keep a fire going to alert ships passing by that they are on the island and need help.  While on the island there is a lot of bullying that goes on especially from Jack who is the main leader of his group.  Ralph is the leader of the other group.  There is a beast on the island that the boys are scared of so Jack commands some of the boys to go kill a pig so that the other boys will think that the beast is dead.  However, a man with a parachute lands on the island and dies.  This is who the boys saw and thought was the real beast.  Throughout the book there is a lot of violence and bullying that goes on, especially from Jack.  Jack’s group kills Simon because it is dark and they mistake him for the beast.  Also, Piggy dies at the end of the book because Roger pushes a boulder at him and he falls off the cliff.   

Throughout the book I was sympathetic for “Piggy” because he was made fun of by the other boys.  Many times this happens at school and I always feel bad for the student that it is happening to.  This book also reminded me of the movie ‘Castaway’ with Tom Hanks and all the things he had to do to survive.  I liked that the boys worked together to find a solution to getting off the island.  However, I did not like the violence that was in this book.  Overall, I probably would not read this book again because of the violence in it.