The disappointment with the Lord of the flies

The Lord of the flies is a rather weak story in comparison to other dystopian stories like 1984, brave new world, coin locker babies, Hunger Games, and animal farm.

It's weaknesses lie in the underlying orientalism in its reversal of the Nietzschean ideal of from beast to superman. Much of the book depict "savages" with beast-like tendencies, while presenting the British as some form of a weakened, but still potent superman.

This leads to an obsession with mountains that is reminiscent of the nazi films in the pre war period.

For this reason, the symbol of democracy is piggy, a fat myopic male, whose entire authority lies in the will of Ralph despite being the only voice of reason in the polity. Ralph in turn acted as a powerful, but benevolent bully in order to exert a will of power from piggy's words.

In contrast, the villian jack, is a red haired, painted face, tribal despot whose sole purpose was the destruction of Ralph at all costs.

This is a rather disappointing modernist allegory for the downfall of civilisation. It is almost as if the Orient has never been civilised nor can they ever hope to be.