content: this book exists to support the author's opinion that man is brutish and destructive.this was written well before clinical studies of violance, child abuse, the effects of peer pressure, etc. it reflects the basic christain view that man is vile.itis obvious that golding never considers that by the time any of these boys has spent time in their families and then in the prep school, any natural impulse has been thoroughly ground out bysocial standards. these boys are as affected by all they psychological influences as adults, with fewer methods to deal with them.of course they revert to so-called savagery--it's what they experienced at their school. of course there are no intelligent responses, we aren't trained to use intelligent response.the book is a polemic of the conservative christian--man is vile and must be controlled or he will become a savage.nurture has no place.i find it a completely annoying book, presenting an unrealistic result.