Philosophy
Golding, W. (1954). Lord of the Flies. New York, NY: Penguin. (Pp. 1-297)
Summary
William Golding wrote the Lord of the Flies in 1957 about the English boys who were stranded in an island after their plane has crashed over the pacific. Ralph is the eldest among the surviving group of young boys who also assumed leadership in the group. On the other hand, Ralph’s leadership was found to be unpopular among the choir group particularly for its charismatic leader Jack Merridew. Ralph and his group maintain a laid-back perspective over their situation by having fun and at the same time to maintain a smoke signal and building a shelter. Over time, Ralph’s group grew tired of the tasks that the former asks them to do, instead of working for survival Ralph, Jack, and Simon along with the rest of the group spent time playing around and hunting for pigs. When Jack expressed disagreement with Ralph by defying his orders, the group has regressed into a savage group under Jack’s leadership. As a result, the drastic acts of the group had Piggy and Simon killed in the process. After the two boys were killed, Jack’s tribe began hunting Ralph and even set the island to force the latter out of hiding. After which, a British warship came to the rescue of the boys as they caught sight of the smoke coming from the burning island (Golding, 1954).
Why the Book should be used as a Required Reading
The novel have received both a positive and negative reception from critiques, but the story itself encompasses a political and philosophical allegory that conforms with the need for understanding the context of political science. As a reading material, The Lord of the Flies offers an assimilated political environment where leadership and its varying characteristics are also apparent in the real world settings. Leadership including its underlying principles and style was effectively depicted in the novel including the consequences of holding too much power over a particular group in the society. In political science, leadership, governance, and political ideologies are being explored to understand how its dynamics reflect on the society. In the novel, politics and philosophy plays an important role in the development of the group’s dynamics particularly the implications of shifting from one leadership ideology to another.
Evaluation of the Book’s Limitations
Although the book presents a significant allegory of the real world political and social realities, it also encompasses certain limitations as a relevant reading for political philosophy. For one, the story involves children, which is a problematic factor in terms of extracting mature political viewpoint. The characters are all children that possess less capacity to undertake adult responsibility such as leadership and being a decision-maker for the group. In addition, the plot suggests a more socially depressing issue than political at first glance, which makes it seems irrelevant to the larger context of political and philosophical studies. The novel can be perceived more as a literature of a moralistic premise, unless further analysis from a political standpoint was deciphered through the text. Nonetheless, the book is still a useful addition to the reading resources for the political and philosophical discourse because of the underlying context of leadership and the implications of its failure in a societal group. This is because leadership and its dynamics is instrumental in politics in terms of achieving progress and order in a dystopian environment similar to what the novel has depicted.
Conclusion
The book Lord of the Flies is an example of fictional reference that can be recommended for reading in political science and philosophy because it contains underlying context of political and leadership fundamentals.
References
Golding, W. (2003). Lord of the Flies. New York, NY: Penguin.
