Golding, William. Lord of the flies, New York : Coward-McCann 1955, c1954.A plane transporting a group of British children to asylum during wartime crashes onto a tropical island, leaving the troupe of minors to fend for themselves. The exigencies of survival and escape are quickly disrupted as cliques emerge and civil order breaks down. While Ralph, the group's nominal leader, strives to maintain unity and actively pursues rescue from passing vessels, his rival alpha-male protagonist, Jack, coheres a tribal gathering of boys who hunt for food, and violently assert their dominance over anyone they perceive as weak or unusual.
Golding's book provides an allegorical warning of the drift towards tyranny and savagery that otherwise 'civilised' people may encounter when freed from social constraints and hierarchies. It fits well into the dystopian genre.
