Lord of the Flies Tone

Pessimistic, Examining, Unflinching

If you like things sugar-coated, this is not the book for you. Golding takes a look at the worst, darkest side of human nature and reports back, with exaggeration and poetical bits thrown in for style (see the style section). The narration oscillates between a matter-of-fact statement of the way things are and a heart-wrenching rendering of how they could be. In Simon’s death, for example, the tone is at first that of a silent observer, but by the end of the chapter has shifted to musing speculation (about the “dark curve of the world” and “steadfast constellations”).