social & historical context of lord of the flies

social & historical context of lord of the flies

1. cold war

   • different political views
   • america - democracy
   • russia - communist / dictatorship
   • russia & america fought in the war

2. social class

   • believed good education = decent human being
   • in this novel, Golding questions this

3. British empire

   • 33.7 million KM2
   • administered by UK
   • late 16th early 17th
   • Golden era - biggest empire in history
   • 1922 - governed 458 million people
   • 1922 - colonised 13,000,000 sqaure miles
   • british ruling groups across nations
   • colonising pattern of take over was common at this time
   • "British-ness" synonymous with "standards and values" of civilised society
   • british empire begins to break in 1905

4. WW 2

   • Nazi party
     • anti-jewish party who rose to power in 1930s
     • rejected democracy
       • Hitler was a dictator
   • terrible acts of violence/slaughter during holocaust
   • golding - pessimistic about human nature
     • foul acts committed by educated 'civilised' people
   • fear ruled in nazi germany