Dare I say that I am ready to move on? I am glad that I read the book so I can no longer say that I haven’t read this classic. I will say that I did enjoy the book on a topical/story level. But, I think that my analysis period was a little long and drawn out. I have thought about it a number of times, I am not sure what makes sense other than a chapter by chapter breakdown unless I just did arbitrary chapter blocks.

I did something that I told myself I wouldn’t do. I read the afterward and analysis before completely forming my own opinion. I think that it colored my opinion a little bit. More on that in a minute.

I guess the first place to go is, does this is book fit into the AltF4.co genre and does it fit with ending your programming? I have to answer that the programming is really what everyone else is saying the book is supposed to mean and not making your own analysis. Ostensibly in traditional analysis, this story is a metaphor for how humans are savage by nature and that civilization is the only restraint containing our natural state.

As a Christian, I have to fundamentally reject that humans are born savage. If if I didn’t, it would not be congruent with my beliefs. I do believe that humans are born Anarchist and Lord Of the Flies heavily supports that concept. This is probably where the internal conflict begins. You see, Anarchy is a form of existence without rulers and not necessarily without rules.

We see this all the time in our world that people just want to be left alone to do what they want to do. That being said, we have other people that do not permit them to live as they wish in peace. So, we have one neighbor that thinks another neighbor aught not have cars in the driveway. So, they call the Home Owners Association to enforce a collective agreement to fine them (or whatever punishment is contractually allowed).

Someone actually called the police and complained that a bush of mine was too far into the sidewalk. The police came and said that I needed to handle it today (or what…?). I did, but again I am going to use the power of the state to get my will. We claim to want freedom, but generally we cannot handle the implications of it.

In the afterward, the author starts by talking about sympathy towards certain characters and disdain for others. She continues that reading the book multiple times over the years has dulled the emotions for the characters. She ends with one true villain, while not named is described as the Navy officer that recues the kids from the island.

Isn’t that interesting. The villain in the book is not Jack or the hunters but the state. Why do you suppose that is? Is it not the state that caused the war that put them in this position in the first place? Do they not create artificial boundaries and drum up animosity between different parts of it’s own citizenry? It’s no wonder when anarchy reins people act savagely.

Is this book as impactful as 1984 or Atlas Shrugged? I actually don’t think so. If we take the stance of government being the true enemy, the story is very obtuse. It takes a stretch to get there whereas the lessons in the other books are in your face. I also think the others are more creatively predictive when we are in the state that we are whereas Lord of the Flies speculates on the results of being a controlled population. Said another way, the former books are what happens and the latter is the results. That is a harder leap to make.

Truth be told, it is a short book. It is one that could easily be read multiple times in one’s lifetime without too much effort. I am not sure that I will, but I could. Of course, I didn’t think I was going to re-read Animal Farm or 1984 either. I like thought stimulation but not necessarily darkness. I found the book to be dark and that seems to be a dangerous place to stay. It is kind of like the advice, if you want to be successful try to hang out with successful people. I assume the same advice would apply to darkness.

End Your Programming Routine: From that analysis, Lord of the Flies is a perfect Altf4.co book. You have to keep sifting through the dirt, rocks and sand to find the gold. Every time someone says ‘There’s no gold in that river. Everybody knows that’. Meanwhile they keep mining for fools gold and discard everything else. That is the definition of programming.