Lord of the Flies by 
Lord of the Flies
This series explores the ways in which Golding uses his story of boy castaways to anatomise human nature and society. It’s suitable for both middle and senior secondary students, and provides a wide-ranging and detailed analysis of the novel.
Context and Background
What do World War II, the Holocaust and the development of nuclear weapons have to do with a story about boys stranded on a deserted island? This programme shows how mid-20th century social conditions and political upheaval are reflected in Golding’s fiction. It also explains how his personal experiences affected his writing and how the story was influenced by popular fiction of the era.
Golding's Writing Style
This programme provides detailed analyses and examples of Golding’s methods, and the key elements of his writing style. It explains the concepts of fable and allegory, and explores Golding’s complex use of symbolism with particular reference to the conch, the fire, clothing, and Piggy’s glasses. The programme also investigates Golding’s use of realistic dialogue, and detailed description, to portray characters and convey ideas.
Ralph and Jack
These characters like and admire each other at first, but by the end of the novel Jack is hunting Ralph to the death. This programme explores the nature and significance of these two main characters, and how Golding uses the struggle between them to expose opposing values and priorities. It demonstrates how the characters represent completely different notions of leadership and government: democratic versus fascist.
Theme: Evil
This programme analyses how Golding uses the novel to explore the nature of evil. Making detailed reference to the text, it examines the escalation of evil, how characters embrace or reject evil to different degrees, how evil comes to be symbolised by the beast, and how Simon recognises its source and is destroyed by it.
