Philosophy topic

At Golding's time, some writers believed that man is by nature good, but society corrupts him. Golding poses just the opposite in this book: man is by nature bad, and society keeps the bad impulses in check.

All the boys have The Beast within them. Parents and teachers and laws help them (us) keep their Beast in check. On the island, without adult influence, all the boys fall victim to their Beast. They become progressively less civilized as the Beast governs each one of them.

I hope this helps to give you a start.

I think his book is a response to The Coral Island, a novel about stranded boys who have a high old time. Golding was a middle school teacher and knew how boys would really behave in such a situation. They would behave exactly as adults have taught them--with power struggles and violence. When they are rescued, the boys are taken to a war ship. The adults' war is just bigger and "more civilized" than the boys' war. So, the boys are just mimicking what adults do.

I'm doing a paper too. I can pick my own topic though. I was wondering if you have any opinion on why it's adolescents that are trapped on the Island. I figure it's that the boys are being played by fear. And the boy's imagination is fueling the fear. Any Insight?

Morgan, The Coral Island is about boys, and Golding was a schoolteacher himself. He knew how adolescent boys would really behave in such a situation. When he told his wife that The Coral Island was unrealistic, she suggested that he write a book himself, showing what would more likely happen on such an island peopled only by young boys.