![]() ![]() As they explore the island, they push a large rock off a cliff which smashes a ‘deep hole in the canopy of the forest’. In the published version this has been excised, but Piggy says to Ralph early on: ‘“Didn’t you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They’re all dead”.’ Thus, the threat of nuclear annihilation haunts the story from the very beginning, and we see a subtle link to it later on in the boys’ own behaviour. The Cold War was characterised by the threat of nuclear weapons and in the original manuscript, the opening pages described atomic warfare which the boys were being evacuated from. Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1952 (it was eventually published in 1954) after the end of the Second World War, and during the early years of the Cold War. In 2019 one of the book’s lesser-explored themes seems to be particularly relevant – the environment. ![]() Lord of the Flies has often appeared in popular culture, from television shows, to films and in music. I’ve written before about its relevance in contemporary politics, with Lord of the Flies frequently mentioned in the reporting of the US Presidential election in 2016, and the EU referendum vote in the UK same year. This astonishing novel is still read by millions of people every year, and its themes of the breakdown of civilisation, democratic failure, war and violence, feel as relevant now as they did then. William Golding would have been 108 years old today, and this week also marks the 65 th anniversary of the publication of Lord of the Flies. ![]() We are offering support for students and teachers. ![]()
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