Lord of the Flies

 

by William Golding

Background :

The book begins following a plane crash that left the pilot dead and a bunch of young boys, aged five to twelve, scattered throughout a tropical island. The boys were being evacuated from England where an atomic war was taking place. When they were escaping, the plane is attacked, and the pilot parachutes away. Ralph meets up with Piggy, and they find a small conch shell. Ralph blows into the conch shell and and the boys assemble at a central point. There are choirboys and boarding school boys. They congregate to elect a leader and decide to start a fire and begin to explore the island.

Setting:

Lord of the Flies takes place on an island, which Golding never gives an exact location. Although he does not tell us where the island is, he describes it in detail. He says that it has a jungle at one end, with a rocky mountain above it. At the opposite side is the lagoon where the boys go to bathe and where they first met after the crash. Near there, up the mountain, is a platform where it was decided a fire would stay lit in hope of rescue. This was in the ideal position, having a view of the ocean, therefore allowing any passing planes or boats to spot them and rescue them. It was on this mountain that the parachutist was also spotted by the boys, and mistaken for a beast. Inland, the jungle served many purposes. In the dense jungle, food was plentiful, and the plants served as a means of escape for Ralph during his run from Jack. Simon stayed there during his stage of insanity, and the used the plants to build shelter.

The boys plane was shot down during an atomic war. This set the stage for the problems that would arise on the island among the boys. Their behavior reflects their surroundings, as they acted just like they were participating in the war. The island is a very isolated place with absolutely no contact with the outside war. The only way that they could contact an outsider was by chance, if a plane or boat happened to spot them. These boys from boarding school were in some respect lucky to land on this island, for it did have its advantages. There was food, wildlife, and fresh water. It was not their surroundings, but themselves that led to the downfall of their civilization.

Characters:

Ralph
The protagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is 12 years old, tall, blond, and attractive. Ralph is a natural leader and after discovering the conch shell, he is elected as leader of the boys. Throughout the novel Ralph tries to establish order and focus on rescue. He decides that a boy can only speak at the meetings if he is holding the conch shell. He wants to keep the fire on the mountain going so that is a plane passes, the boys can be saved. He also encourages the boys to build huts. He is very much a true human because although he tries to maintain order, he is often tempted by the indulgences of the other boys. He occasionally makes foolish mistakes, such as joining in with the hysteria of the other boys and killing Simon. When Jack forms a separate, rival group focus in on hunting and savagery rather than rescue, Ralph fights against the superstition and the terror of the other boys. When the numbers in his party begin to diminish, Ralph is left to survive on his own in the forest being chased by the transformed savage boys.

Jack
The antagonist of Lord of the Flies. He is tall, redheaded, and emerges as the leader of the choir boys. When Ralph becomes the initial leader, Jack becomes upset, for he wanted that position but instead becomes the leader of the "hunters." Jack leads the boys from civilized young men into savages through the novel. He is malicious and animalistic. As structure breaks down, Jack forms his own separate sect seperating from Ralph and the rest of the group. Jack is a cruel bully, who is constantly violent and threatens those below him. Jack is always ready to fight. Jack constantly attempts to weaken others. He breaks Piggy's glasses and leads the others towards Piggy's murder. He brings the boys into mass hysteria and eventually hunts Ralph down like an animal.

Piggy
Fat, asthmatic boy with glasses, a typical "sissy," he is scientific and skeptical. He quickly befriends Ralph and recognizes that he can express his views through Ralph. Piggy is an orphan who was brought up by his aunt. He constantly refers to the old way of life. Piggy builds the sundial. He doesn't believe in the beastie. Because Piggy is an intellectual who lacks social skills, he is an outsider. The boys ridicule him over and over again. He can not do anything for himself and constantly tries to get out of work while relying on Ralph. He is the voices of reason and the link to the adult world. The taunting by the boys, escalates to beatings and having his glasses stolen. Eventually, piggy is killed by Roger.

Simon
Simon is the Christ like figure of the novel. He was skinny and had black hair. Simon was a loner who often experienced fainting spells. He would wander into the jungle to think by himself. Simon sees beyond the surface of things. The other boys were indifferent towards Simon for he was not extremely social. He helped others with necessary chores, such as building the huts and taking care of the littleuns. As the novel goes on Simon is gradually alienated. Simon becomes brave in the face of danger. He is the only character to confront the beastie and find out the truth. He believes that the beastie is only controlled in their minds. With Simon's new found knowledge of the truth he goes to explain his findings to the others. When he does, he is sacrificially killed by the boys. Simon, the selfless and harmless boy was beaten and stabbed to death by the horde of boys.

Roger
Initially a shy, quiet boy, but his taciturn nature swings in the opposite direction into a malicious murderer. He takes a liking to throwing rocks and boulders and spears at the fellow boys. Roger has no regret or sympathy after he commits his violent acts. Roger was the most savage of the boys. He engages in sadistic torture of the pig, of Piggy and the littleuns. He supports Jacks leadership in the same way Piggy backs up Ralph.

Plot:

In the beginning of the novel, a plane was shot down in an atomic war carrying boys from a boarding school, on their way home. Ralph and Piggy are introduced to the reader as they meet in the lagoon. Piggy finds a conch shell and shows Ralph how to make a noise with it. Ralph uses this to call the other boys and have a meeting, setting down rules that they would live by for the remainder of their stay on the island. Ralph was declared as the ruler and Jack and the other choir boys went hunting for something to eat. This reflected their priorities, Jack hunting, while Ralph thought more rationally, and ruled the boys on the island, trying to maintain some remnants of civilization.

Some of the younger children believed that they saw a "beastie" on the island. This beast scares all of the younger children and most of the older children as well. They had many fears on this island, but needed to remember that they could not let them get in the way of what was important to them. They all decided that they needed a fire to survive on the island and came to the conclusion to use Piggy's glasses as a means of starting it. They get the fire going, but their carelessness in containing this fire burnt half of the island. This reflected their inexperience and immaturity when dealing with this serious situation that they were put into. Even though they meant well, their actions ultimately had a bad outcome.

Jack had focused on the hunting aspect of survival, while Ralph concentrated on building shelter so that they could be safe from nature. So later on, Jack went to hunt a pig while Simon and Ralph were busy building huts. Ralph and Jack argue over the importance and priorities of what had to be done. This issue began the feud that would follow throughout the novel between Ralph and Jack. While Simon is picking fruit for the younger children, he comes across a place in the jungle that he finds very tranquil. This place would later provide the place where Simon's character would develop.

A ship passed by the island one day when the signal fire was out. This carelessness was due to Jack's irresponsibility. He argues with Ralph, not taking blame for the mishap. He says that hunting is more important, and that it was not his fault that the fire had gone out. In doing this, he demonstrates his immaturity and lack of responsibility, arguing with Ralph, because of the jealousy he had for his authority. A fight breaks out and Piggy's glasses are accidentally broken by Jack. The hunters had killed a pig, and so the boys roast it and feast on it.

The next day, a meeting was held where many important issues were discussed. One of these was the validity of the beastie's existence. The point was brought up that the beastie was in fact only themselves. At this meeting, Ralph emphasized the importance of the signal fire. After this, Jack becomes even more troublesome, declaring Ralph a bad leader. Later, he would do something regarding these feelings.
A dead pilot parachutes down to the island one day. The parachutist landed on the rocks and was his parachute got caught. He is spotted and labeled the "beast from the air" by the little children. In response to this, Jack, Ralph and the others set out to hunt this "beast." While traveling, Jack finds a place that he thinks would be a good place for a fort, so they begin preparation by clearing off the ledge. Eventually, Ralph gets them back on their mission, and they continue on, in search of the "beast."

After the excitement of the pig hunt, the boys gather and perform a strange tribal dance. Meanwhile, Simon and Ralph discuss the prospects of being rescued. Simon assures Ralph that he will leave the island alive. Later, the hunters decide to go on another hunt. On this occasion though, the pig wounds Jack and is able to get away. Despite the loss, all remain happy and are caught up in mass hysteria as they reenact their savage rituals. In doing so, they almost kill Robert, who was playing the part of the pig. The leaders decide to go up the mountain to start another fire but they see the "beastie" and run back down.

Soon after, a major confrontation between Jack and Ralph occurs on the beach. Ralph is accused of cowardice by Jack and Jack moves to remove Ralph from leader of the group of boys. He is humiliated though, as none of the boys voted for his takeover. He begins to cry and runs away into the forest. He is followed by Roger and the rest of his hunters. Realizing that they can't go up the mountain because of the "beastie", Piggy suggests that the remaining boys make a fire on the beach.

The story picks up with Jack and his tribe at their new hideout at Castle Rock. They decide to have yet another hunt and kill a large sow. They cut off the pig's head as a sacrifice for the beast and paint themselves in the pig's blood. Simon, alone in the woods hallucinates and thinks the head is the Lord of the Flies, who proceeds to insult his bravery in regard to the "beastie".

Back on the beach, Jack invites the twins, Sam and Eric, Ralph, Piggy, and the littluns to feast with them. After eating, all succumb to the mass hysteria of the tribal dance and kill Simon, thinking he is the beast. Simon was actually coming to bring news that the "beastie" was a dead parachutist. Now Ralph, Piggy, Samneric, and the littluns remain alone with their huts on the beach.

Jack turns his tribe against Ralph and tells the hunters that the beast was only using Simon as a disguise. During that night, Roger and Jack invade Ralph's hut and steals Piggy's glasses to create a fire. The ensuing fight does hurt both Jack and Roger, and they fail to take the conch. Piggy, much angered by this incident desires to go to Castle Rock and make Jack give him his glasses back. As they approach the neck, Ralph calls and assembly of all the children and tries to reason with Jack. Despite this, Jack insults Ralph again and a fight is the result. In his haste, Roger tries to hit Ralph with a large boulder and instead knocks Piggy off the cliff. In the confusion that results, Ralph is able to escape into the woods.

The entire tribe then searches to eliminate their last opposition. Ralph is forced to hide in the bushes for a long time. He is found by the others and is then closely pursued on throughout the island. He is wounded by a spear in the process. As Ralph runs onto the beach, a rescue ship is sighted and the boys seemingly revert to their former behavior.

Major Conflicts:

Ralph vs. Jack
Ralph represents order and composure in society. Eventually Jack grew tired of Ralph being in charge. He let the barbarism inside of him transform him into a savage-like creature and he went on a rampage, destroying the makeshift civilization the boys worked so hard to create.

Boys vs. Beastie
The Beastie symbolizes the Devil, and is a manifestation of all the evil inside the boys. As the boys grew further and further away from civilization, their desire to kill the Beastie grew. They went from being scared at first, to wanting to hang his head on a pole.

Boys vs. Nature
The boys went hunting many times to try to keep themselves alive. At first, Ralph was afraid to kill the sow. Towards the end, Jack's warrior identity brutally murdered the sow and hung his head on a stick.

Boys vs. Piggy
Piggy represents the weak who are often victimized. The boys tortured him because he was fat and needed such thick glasses. His torture can also be considered a lack of understanding, because the boys had likely never met anyone with problems like his. This can be seen in the boys lack of understanding of asthma, or "ass-mar".

Jack vs. Society
The barbaric quality that arises in Jack throughout the book is really a rebellion against society. He grew tired of taking orders from Ralph and participating in the democratic system that they had. This sense of anarchy must have existed inside of him before the encounter on the island began, but his experiences served to bring it out of him.

Key Issues:

The Need for Civilization and Order
Laws and rules are definitely necessary to keep the darker side of human nature in line. When all elements of civilization disappear on the island, the boys revert to a more primitive part of their nature, and they turn into savages and anarchy replaces democracy. Society holds everyone together, and with out civilization and rules, the boy's ideals, values, and basic ideas of what is right and wrong are forgotten, and the evils of human nature emerge.

The Loss of Identity
The boys lose their individual identity when the older children just become known as the biguns, and the younger become known as the littluns. They are not known by their names anymore, but just as a group term. When the hunters paint their faces and kill pigs, they are losing their individualism, and becoming part of a group mentality of savagery. Two twins, named Sam and Eric, "combine" personalities as "samneric." They no longer are known as two separate individuals, but as one person who can no longer separate Sam and Eric.

Human Nature
The shortcomings in human nature will lead to an equally flawed society. Without the restraints of civilization, the behavior of people will regress to their savage beginnings. Survival is of utmost importance. The base form of human nature will lead to anarchy, violence and death.

Lessons, Morals and Applications:

William Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies with the intent to include certain elements of moral behavior for readers to absorb. he utilized specific symbols found scattered in the novel to portray his intended message to all those who read his work of Literature. The author builds his message into the novel in the form of adventure. The actions done by characters in the novel eventually create Golding's message to the reader.

It can be said that Golding describes the moral of the book in relation to the scientific mechanics of society. This is found as a major theme in the book, which is actually fear. The boys on the island view this ideal in the form of the "beastie". The "beastie" is an unseen figure on the island, which is symbolized of the dead parachutist. This fear, however, represents the potential evil found in humans. Yet, this evil is only brought about amongst specific environmental conditions, which Golding synthesized in the book.

The most interesting aspect and probably the most influential characteristic of the story is found to be the age of the characters. The author successfully attempts to show how capable the aspect of evil is among human beings. However, Golding perfects this idea as he used children, who represent purity and innocence in a normal society. Through the use of children, the reader finds that barbarity and savagery can exist amongst even the smallest and most innocuous form of human beings.

One can interpret that Golding is trying to represent human nature in its entirety. It is obvious that Golding is showing all levels of human capability in terms of psychology and science. The reader sees that humans exist in higher levels, such as present day activity, as well as the lowest form, which is represented by Lord of the Flies . The author creates a situation, which includes factors that are capable of forcing humans to fall into lower forms of mentality.

A very important concept of the story is the fact that in the society which was created on the island, order is a needed tool for existence. The concept of order is found to be a key issue as the society which Golding created contained no order. This book accurately shows how the absence of order results in an alteration of moral behavior. In Lord of the Flies , morals can be seen in the form of aggressive behavioral actions. Such actions include the murder of Piggy. Obviously children would never come to such decisions or actions against one another under normal societal conditions. However, Golding creates a barbaric civilization in which children do such actions.

Lord of the Flies can be considered a classical novel. A classic in the respect that the author creates special circumstances under which abnormal actions and functions mutate into everyday activity. All of these concepts and ideals are generated by Golding to finally produce a novel of both perplexity and perfection.

Themes:

William Golding says that "the theme (of the book) is an attempt to trace back the defects of society to the defects of human nature...The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system."

Power
Different types of power, some used and abused. Democratic power is shown when choices and decisions are shared among many people on the island. Jack shows authoritarian power by threatening and terrifying others. Some of the boys utilize brute force, when hunting for pigs, and later hunting for Ralph.

Fear of the Unknown
The boy's fear of the unknown on the island leads to their fear of the beast. The boys cannot accept the notion of a beast existing on the island, nor can they let go of it. The recognition that no real beast exists, and that the only beast on the island is fear itself is one of the deepest meanings of the story.

Blindness and Sight
Piggy is blind to his immediate surroundings but really understands what is going on on the island. Unfortunately, the boys do not realize that Piggy sees more, and he is treated poorly and is eventually killed.

Interpretive Level

Piggy and the glasses.. ...Clear sightedness, intelligence.. Piggy's glasses bring "fire" to the island, which is really the fire of knowledge.

breaking of Piggy's glasses... ...the progressive decay of rational influence on the island

The conch... Democracy and Order

Simon's behavior represents... Christ-like Figure, pure goodness

The island... a microcosm representing the world

The beast... the capacity for evil within everyone

Roger's behavior represents... evilness and sadism

Jack's behavior represents... savagery and anarchy

Ralph's behavior represents... democracy and civilization; the capacity for evil within everyone
Lord of the Flies... the devil, great danger

*Jack represents the leader of the forces of anarchy
*Roger represents the "official" torturer and executioner of the tribe

Works Cited

Thayer, Marion P. Cliff's Notes on Lord of the Flies . Cliffs Notes, Incorporated, Lincoln, Nebraska.       1964.

Credits

Ted Stein, Erica Sztabnik, Ben Carthew, Nelson Brolly, Jeremy Ortman, Brandon Sulikowski
November 12, 1998