What “Lord of the Flies” tells us about terrorists

Last October (2014) I started reading William Golding’s Lord of the Flies for perhaps the second time since studying it when I was at school. One thing became clear straight away: it shows how adolescents and terrorists have several things in common, one being a simplistic moral code.

In the first chapter, the protagonist, twelve-year-old Ralph, displays an exuberance unbounded by the tragedy he and the other boys have experienced. They have just survived a plane crash, yet he does a handstand and grins at the thought of “No grown-ups!” This ability to remain untouched by traumatic events is essential for terrorists, which made me wonder whether arrested – or regressed – mental and emotional development plays a part in turning someone to terrorism. In fact, I pondered, exactly what creates a terrorist?

First, an inferiority complex. Most of the terrorists I have read about were poorly educated (exception: some of the 9/11 hijackers had degrees). They feel they are a “nobody”, like some adolescents, and taking part in terrorist attacks gives them a chance to be somebody.

Secondly, I think there is often an element, sometimes quite substantial, of resentment against one or both parents. For instance, I’ve read that Osama bin Laden’s father didn’t bother with him and paid far more attention to his other children. This would make the young Osama resentful and it is quite possible this made him think – subconsciously – that if he couldn’t make the world like him, he could at least make it afraid of him. Or that he could control it in some way.

Finally there is what I mentioned at the beginning: terrorists have the mental and emotional development of an adolescent. As Golding shows in Lord of the Flies, there is an innate savagery lurking below the surface in most adolescents (obviously it doesn’t rise to the surface in most cases or we would all be in much more trouble than we are now!). However, there are some things we can never fully explain, no matter how hard we try or how much expert knowledge we have; this is one of them. As it says in Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet: “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, /Than are dreamt of ...”