Mood of Lord of the flies

Compared with other dystopian novels I have read, Lord of the Flies is not excessively gloomy. Most of time, I felt rather relaxed, while reading the novel. Unlike to our usual expectation after a plane crash, majority of the boys find things to eat by themselves and have fun not being stressed that they are caught in an island. They are rather enjoying living in the island because there aren’t any adults. This attitude of many boys makes the situation doesn’t look serious.

As time progresses, along with the fear about beasts, they start to worry if they end up staying in the island for the rest of their life. From that point the mood changes to hopelessness. As the boys’ cruelness starts to appear, I am shocked because I couldn’t expect those terrible things to happen. I am surprised not only by what the boys have done, but also by the progressing, and sometimes rhythmical, change of the mood. The mood becomes extremely horror at the end of the novel. I feel that the relaxed atmosphere at the beginning makes the boys appear more ruthless.

I like this change of mood better then the end-to-end gloomy mood such as in 1984 written by George Orwell. I remember that 1984 made me feel oppressive and mentally weary while reading 1984. I was more relaxed while reading Lord of the Flies. Furthermore, the intense and horror mood that lasts just for a short time at the end appears to be more effective.

I found the mood, setting and plot of the classic film (1979), 'Apocalypse Now' is a lot similar to those of Lord of the Flies.