What is the point of view in Lord of the Flies?

Lord of the Flies uses a third person omniscient point of view.  This serves to distance the reader from the characters, as the characters are distanced from society.

Third person omniscient point of view is an objective point of view that does not sit inside the head of any one character.  In an omniscient point of view, the narration may jump from character to character but never gets too connected to any one of them.

The fair boy shook his head.

“This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. That’s a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere.”

The fat boy looked startled. (ch 1, p. 7)

One way you can tell that this novel uses a third person point of view is that when you first open the book you get as much information as you would watching a movie.  Characters are described, but we don’t know how they feel. 

The first character you are introduced to is a “boy with fair hair” (ch 1, p. 6).  We do not even know his name at first.  The characters are referred to as the “fat boy” and the “fair boy” until they tell one another their names.

The only time we know what the characters are thinking is when they tell us or their facial expressions tell us.

The fair boy said this solemnly; but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him. In the middle of the scar he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy. (ch 1, p. 7)

When a story is told from the first person, we feel like we are there.  We are inside the head of a character, and the information we get is colored from that character’s perspective.  Third person omniscient, on the other hand, distances the reader from the characters.  It increases the suspense, and reinforces the theme of the boys’ distance from society.

In Lord of the Flies, what is the author's point of view and purpose?

Like the other posts state, the point of view from which the novel is written is third-person omniscient.

Meaning “all-knowing,” an omniscient narrator has several advantages. These include knowing both what the characters think, feel, and know and what the characters do not know.

Besides giving deep insight into the characters thoughts and emotions, the narrator also allows the reader to learn what is happening around the boys. When the dead pilot drops from the sky in his parachute, none of the boys witness this. Instead, the narrator imparts this information to the reader only. This creates dramatic irony as the boys believe the dead pilot is the Beast. The reader knows from the moment Sam’n’Eric see the figure of the Beast while tending the signal fire that they are afraid for no good reason.

This creates tension between the truth and the way the boys perceive the truth, which is a central conflict that allows the savagery and destabilization of the boys’ fragile order to occur.

This is just one example of how the third-person omniscient narrator is used for a particular effect in this novel.

Golding's point of view in Lord of the Flies is that of an omniscient narrator.  By that, I mean, that Golding allows the readers to enter the minds of more than one character.  Golding portrays Ralph's thoughts the most frequently.  For instance, we know what Ralph is thinking when he calls the meeting that begins Chapter 5.  We know that he is thinking over what and how is going to say to the group.  And we know that his appreciation of Piggy has grown.  But we also privy to Simon's thoughts.  His thoughts are depicted when he has his confrontation with the Lord of the Flies, or the pig's head on the stick.  And, we even know what Jack is thinking as he is desperately to hunt and kill his first pig.

This point of view is effective in showing the various perspectives of the boys.  From these different viewpoints we can see Ralph grow in his leadership abilities and his maturity; Jack becoming more and more obsessed with hunting and "play," and Simon's steadfast goodness and inability to devolve into savagery.  We have with these the three responses to life on the island--the civilized and compassionate, the savage and living for the moment, and the decision-maker--caught between the two.

How does the point of view affect the tone in Lord of the Flies?

In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses a third person omniscient narrator to tell his story. The distance this narrator has from the events of the story helps to create a tone of both unflinching directness and of haunting beauty.

For example, when the hunters kill Simon, mistaking him for the beast, the narrator uses simple, straight-forward language:

"the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore" (pg 153)

Later, when Ralph is being hunted, the same language comes out:

"Break the line.
A tree.
Hide, and let them pass.
[...]
Hide was better than a tree because you had a chance of breaking the line if you were discovered.
Hide, then" (pg 217) 

In these examples, the narrator's direct look at the evils the boys are unleashing creates a tone of unflinching observation.

At other moments in the novel, the narrator uses beautiful imagery to evoke the sense of evil and foreboding that haunts the boys and the island itself. Lines like the following, describing the pig's head and the forest (respectively) demonstrate this:

"The head remained there, dim-eyed, grinning faintly, blood blackened between the teeth" (pg 137)

and

"for a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoed with the parody of laughter" (pg 143).

These quotes show that the distance the third person narrator has to the action of the story allows him/her to poetically contemplate the evil that the boys themselves are in direct struggle with.