William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies', captures the essence of the moralily in the world in a clever story that leaves a few children on an island without any authority figures.
The children develop their own norms in the absense of controlling parent figures.Unfortunately in an imitation of the real world, it is not the voice of reason and intellect that works in that world but the authoritarian immoral, usurper of power who invents rules of the game of power to suit himself that triumphs and the group invariably moves towards atavism.
This transition of a group of children representative of the civilised class into atavistic savages is an allegory of man shorn of the accumulated civilisational norms and authority and control figures. It reminds us of the precariousness of the moral world. As in the real world glimpses of greatness and moral courage are but glimpses and man in this world is inevitably in a predicalment of slipping into evil even if he wishes otherwise.
While that sums up man's predicament the story is also an exhortation to uphold our civilisation that has so painstakingly reached some semblance of order, justice and hope of further emancipation in a world rife with evil at every corner.
I am especially fond of Golding because I happened to listen to Golding in person at the British Council in Madras in 1987 or 88 in which I still remember his words 'good and evil are the two sides of the same coin' that our world without one is unimaginable and an implicit goading of humankind to preserve the good against all odds.
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