Lord of the Flies: How do you influence others?

As Lord of the Flies lands on BBC iPlayer, Dan Bate reflects on conformity and influence.

When I first watched the trailer for BBC One’s new adaptation of Lord of the Flies, I was instantly transported back to 2006 in Mrs Knights’ classroom. Like many British teenagers, my first exposure to William Golding’s dystopian adventure-horror came in Year 8 English class and left a lasting impression on me. Twenty years later, it led me to unearth my dusty, well-thumbed copy and begin a long-overdue reread.

The story follows a group of schoolboys stranded on an uncharted island, negotiating democracy, politics and, ultimately, survival without adult supervision. If you’ve had the pleasure of attempting to lead an unruly singing company practice, or perhaps – like me – suffered the misfortune of teaching Year 5 maths on a Friday afternoon, you may be able to take an educated guess at how events transpire…

Joking aside, Golding’s novel grapples with difficult themes of morality, sin, power and evil influence through the eyes of young children. The story quickly becomes rather dark, gruesome and often even stomach-churning. The young characters flip-flop from one ‘leader’ to the next, they argue, they get distracted from what is important, they adopt a mob mentality and it doesn’t take long before they resort to violence.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this is wholly inappropriate for young people today. But, unfortunately, the themes are as painfully familiar to young people now as they were to readers in post-war 1954, when Lord of the Flies was first published.

On top of the age-old challenges of negotiating the social pressures of adolescence, our younger generations are also natives to a world of social media, content creation and influencers. They face a constant daily bombardment of celebrities, friends and internet strangers battling for their attention, as complex algorithms track and tailor content designed specifically to gain influence over them. If you thought Piggy, Jack, Ralph and Simon had it hard, imagine if they also had Instagram to contend with!

In our ever-interconnected world, our young people still can feel lost on an island. Perhaps as a result, today’s generation of children – Generation Alpha – and young people – Generation Z – value and crave authenticity and real human connection above all else.

Paul writes in his letter to the Romans: ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind’ (Romans 12:2). We are called as followers of Christ to put aside our earthly desires, our worldly concerns and our trivial differences and to stand up for what is right among the shouts of human influence.

Fortunately for us, Golding’s island is a warning, but not the reality. We are ‘surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses’ (Hebrews 12:1) who support us and walk alongside us. We are God’s people, set apart and made holy. Jesus said: ‘Everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another’ (John 13:35). How will you be an influence to the young people around you?

Reflect and respond

• How do you disciple and walk alongside children and young people where you are?
• Consider the ‘pattern of the world’ (Romans 12:2) today. What does conforming look like for you?
• Who are your cloud of witnesses who have influence or have influenced you?