He attended Marlboro and Oxford University of England, studying physics and English literature. War had always been a part of his life, even from birth. At the age of twenty-nine, he took part in the Second World War, joining the British Navy. After the war, William Golding no longer believed in man’s innocence, and he also found that children are not even innocent. His belief concerning innocence was that no one was innocent, and that innocence was the self-inflicted thought influenced by society and the way you live your life. Also, he believed that the guilty nature of man is shown when he is faced with a life threatening decision, or a survival situation. Most of the views of William Golding were influenced by one of three things; the main influences in his life being his parents, his education, and the war that he was involved in. These views and perceptions of aspects of mankind are consistently shown in any one of his books. Aside from writing his books, being in the war, and going to school, William Golding was also a teacher. He taught in Greece, due to his love for Greek literature, also a side of him which is portrayed in many of his books.
Lord of the Flies is William Golding’s first novel, selling millions of copies, not only in English but in other major languages as well as some minority languages. This novel displays a group of boys who were evacuated from their homeland in a time of war. They crash-landed on an island and the pilot was the only grown-up that would have been with them, but he died in the plane crash. The boys were the only ones that survived and later turned into savage beasts, doing whatever it took to survive, including killing each other. This book was published in 1954, and less than ten years later was made into a film. It is clearly an amazing novel that is enjoyed worldwide.