[onion2k]

You're implying Golding based it on experience on how unsupervised children really behave, but in fact he made it all up.

William Golding was my father's English teacher at school (prior to publication of Lord of the Flies). According to my father, when people talked to Golding at the time, it wasn't based on real children but it definitely was based on what he believed children would be capable of.

[DoctorOetker]

> [...] but it definitely was based on what he believed children would be capable of.

Also Known As "[...] but in fact he made it all up."

[Andrex]

I take it as a morality tale that applies to all of humans generally and less an indictment of a specific age range. But I may be in the minority it seems.

[marcellus23]

I think that's clearly the way to interpret the novel. The idea that you could even debunk a piece of allegorical fiction is silly. It would be like trying to make a point by claiming that the tale of the scorpion and the frog was made up, or The Metamorphosis.

[bondarchuk]

Wow, it's almost as if we were dealing with a piece of fiction.