Lord of the Flies – Chapter 3 Notes

Chapter 3

Summary

Carrying a stick sharpened into a makeshift spear, Jack trails a pig through the thick jungle, but it evades him. Irritated, he walks back to the beach, where he finds Ralph and Simon at work building huts for the younger boys to live in. Ralph is irritated because the huts keep falling down before they are completed and because, though the huts are vital to the boys' ability to live on the island, none of the other boys besides Simon will help him. As Ralph and Simon work, most of the other boys splash about and play in the lagoon. Ralph gripes that few of the boys are doing any work. He says that all the boys act excited and energized by the plans they make at meetings, but none of them is willing to work to make the plans successful. Ralph points out that Jack's hunters have failed to catch a single pig. Jack claims that although they have so far failed to bring down a pig, they will soon have more success. Ralph also worries about the smaller children, many of whom have nightmares and are unable to sleep. He tells Jack about his concerns, but Jack, still trying to think of ways to kill a pig, is not interested in Ralph's problems.

Ralph, annoyed that Jack, like all the other boys, is unwilling to work on the huts, implies that Jack and the hunters are using their hunting duties as an excuse to avoid the real work. Jack responds to Ralph's complaints by commenting that the boys want meat. Jack and Ralph continue to bicker and grow increasingly hostile toward each other. Hoping to regain their sense of camaraderie, they go swimming together in the lagoon, but their feelings of mutual dislike remain and fester.

In the meantime, Simon wanders through the jungle alone. He helps some of the younger boys—whom the older boys have started to call “littluns”—reach fruit hanging from a high branch. He walks deeper into the forest and eventually finds a thick jungle glade, a peaceful, beautiful open space full of flowers, birds, and butterflies. Simon looks around to make sure that he is alone, then sits down to take in the scene, marvelling at the abundance and beauty of life that surrounds him.

Analysis

The personal conflict between Ralph and Jack mirrors the overarching thematic conflict of the novel. The conflict between the two boys brews as early as the election in Chapter 1 but remains hidden beneath the surface, masked by the camaraderie the boys feel as they work together to build a community. In this chapter, however, the conflict erupts into verbal argument for the first time, making apparent the divisions undermining the boys' community and setting the stage for further, more violent developments. As Ralph and Jack argue, each boy tries to give voice to his basic conception of human purpose: Ralph advocates building huts, while Jack champions hunting. Ralph, who thinks about the overall good of the group, deems hunting frivolous. Jack, drawn to the exhilaration of hunting by his bloodlust and desire for power, has no interest in building huts and no concern for what Ralph thinks. But because Ralph and Jack are merely children, they are unable to state their feelings articulately.

At this point in the novel, the conflict between civilization and savagery is still heavily tilted in favour of civilization. Jack, who has no real interest in the welfare of the group, is forced to justify his desire to hunt rather than build huts by claiming that it is for the good of all the boys. Additionally, though most of the boys are more interested in play than in work, they continue to re-create the basic structures of civilization on the island. They even begin to develop their own language, calling the younger children “littluns” and the twins Sam and Eric “Samneric.”

Simon, meanwhile, seems to exist outside the conflict between Ralph and Jack, between civilization and savagery. We see Simon's kind and generous nature through his actions in this chapter. He helps Ralph build the huts when the other boys would rather play, indicating his helpfulness, discipline, and dedication to the common good. Simon helps the littluns reach a high branch of fruit, indicating his kindness and sympathy—a sharp contrast to many of the older boys, who would rather torment the littluns than help them. When Simon sits alone in the jungle glade marvelling at the beauty of nature, we see that he feels a basic connection with the natural world. On the whole, Simon seems to have a basic goodness and kindness that comes from within him and is tied to his connection with nature. All the other boys, meanwhile, seem to have inherited their ideas of goodness and morality from the external forces of civilization, so that the longer they are away from human society, the more their moral sense erodes. In this regard, Simon emerges as an important figure to contrast with Ralph and Jack. Where Ralph represents the orderly forces of civilization and Jack the primal, instinctual urges that react against such order, Simon represents a third quality—a kind of goodness that is natural or innate rather than taught by human society. In this way, Simon, who cannot be categorized with the other boys, complicates the symbolic structure of Lord of the Flies.

Source:  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section3.rhtml

Lord of the Flies - Themes, Motifs & Symbols

 

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Civilization vs. Savagery

The central concern of Lord of the Flies is the conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one's immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one's will. This conflict might be expressed in a number of ways: civilization vs. savagery, order vs. chaos, reason vs. impulse, law vs. anarchy, or the broader heading of good vs. evil. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil.

The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored through the dissolution of the young English boys' civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, which means that Golding conveys many of his main ideas and themes through symbolic characters and objects. He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel's two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power.

As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow's head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural, innate goodness.

Loss of Innocence

As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel, bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages in Chapter 12 who have hunted, tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the guileless children swimming in the lagoon in Chapter 3. But Golding does not portray this loss of innocence as something that is done to the children; rather, it results naturally from their increasing openness to the innate evil and savagery that has always existed within them. Golding implies that civilization can mitigate but never wipe out the innate evil that exists within all human beings. The forest glade in which Simon sits in Chapter 3 symbolizes this loss of innocence. At first, it is a place of natural beauty and peace, but when Simon returns later in the novel, he discovers the bloody sow's head impaled upon a stake in the middle of the clearing. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.

Motifs

Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text's major themes.

Biblical Parallels

Many critics have characterized Lord of the Flies as a retelling of episodes from the Bible. While that description may be an oversimplification, the novel does echo certain Christian images and themes. Golding does not make any explicit or direct connections to Christian symbolism in Lord of the Flies; instead, these biblical parallels function as a kind of subtle motif in the novel, adding thematic resonance to the main ideas of the story. The island itself, particularly Simon's glade in the forest, recalls the Garden of Eden in its status as an originally pristine place that is corrupted by the introduction of evil. Similarly, we may see the Lord of the Flies as a representation of the devil, for it works to promote evil among humankind. Furthermore, many critics have drawn strong parallels between Simon and Jesus. Among the boys, Simon is the one who arrives at the moral truth of the novel, and the other boys kill him sacrificially as a consequence of having discovered this truth. Simon's conversation with the Lord of the Flies also parallels the confrontation between Jesus and the devil during Jesus' forty days in the wilderness, as told in the Christian Gospels.

However, it is important to remember that the parallels between Simon and Christ are not complete, and that there are limits to reading Lord of the Flies purely as a Christian allegory. Save for Simon's two uncanny predictions of the future, he lacks the supernatural connection to God that Jesus has in Christian tradition. Although Simon is wise in many ways, his death does not bring salvation to the island; rather, his death plunges the island deeper into savagery and moral guilt. Moreover, Simon dies before he is able to tell the boys the truth he has discovered. Jesus, in contrast, was killed while spreading his moral philosophy. In this way, Simon—and Lord of the Flies as a whole—echoes Christian ideas and themes without developing explicit, precise parallels with them. The novel's biblical parallels enhance its moral themes but are not necessarily the primary key to interpreting the story.

Symbols

Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

The Conch Shell

Ralph and Piggy discover the conch shell on the beach at the start of the novel and use it to summon the boys together after the crash separates them. Used in this capacity, the conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. The shell effectively governs the boys' meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. In this regard, the shell is more than a symbol—it is an actual vessel of political legitimacy and democratic power. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack's camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the demise of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island.

Piggy's Glasses

Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy's glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack's hunters raid Ralph's camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph's group helpless.

The Signal Fire

The signal fire burns on the mountain, and later on the beach, to attract the notice of passing ships that might be able to rescue the boys. As a result, the signal fire becomes a barometer of the boys' connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, we realize that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery—the forest fire Jack's gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.

The Beast

The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings. The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them. As the boys grow more savage, their belief in the beast grows stronger. By the end of the novel, the boys are leaving it sacrifices and treating it as a totemic god. The boys' behavior is what brings the beast into existence, so the more savagely the boys act, the more real the beast seems to become.

The Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies is the bloody, severed sow's head that Jack impales on a stake in the forest glade as an offering to the beast. This complicated symbol becomes the most important image in the novel when Simon confronts the sow's head in the glade and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart and promising to have some “fun” with him. (This “fun” foreshadows Simon's death in the following chapter.) In this way, the Lord of the Flies becomes both a physical manifestation of the beast, a symbol of the power of evil, and a kind of Satan figure who evokes the beast within each human being. Looking at the novel in the context of biblical parallels, the Lord of the Flies recalls the devil, just as Simon recalls Jesus. In fact, the name “Lord of the Flies” is a literal translation of the name of the biblical name Beelzebub, a powerful demon in hell sometimes thought to be the devil himself.

Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel, and many of its characters signify important ideas or themes. Ralph represents order, leadership, and civilization. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Jack represents unbridled savagery and the desire for power. Simon represents natural human goodness. Roger represents brutality and bloodlust at their most extreme. To the extent that the boys' society resembles a political state, the littluns might be seen as the common people, while the older boys represent the ruling classes and political leaders. The relationships that develop between the older boys and the younger ones emphasize the older boys' connection to either the civilized or the savage instinct: civilized boys like Ralph and Simon use their power to protect the younger boys and advance the good of the group; savage boys like Jack and Roger use their power to gratify their own desires, treating the littler boys as objects for their own amusement.

 

Source:  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/themes.html

Lord of the Flies – Important Quotes

 

1. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.

This passage from Chapter 4 describes the beginnings of Roger's cruelty to the littluns, an important early step in the group's decline into savagery. At this point in the novel, the boys are still building their civilization, and the civilized instinct still dominates the savage instinct. The cracks are beginning to show, however, particularly in the willingness of some of the older boys to use physical force and violence to give themselves a sense of superiority over the smaller boys. This quotation shows us the psychological workings behind the beginnings of that willingness. Roger feels the urge to torment Henry, the littlun, by pelting him with stones, but the vestiges of socially imposed standards of behavior are still too strong for him to give in completely to his savage urges. At this point, Roger still feels constrained by “parents and school and policemen and the law”—the figures and institutions that enforce society's moral code. Before long, Roger and most of the other boys lose their respect for these forces, and violence, torture, and murder break out as the savage instinct replaces the instinct for civilization among the group.

2. His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.

This quotation, also from Chapter 4, explores Jack's mental state in the aftermath of killing his first pig, another milestone in the boys' decline into savage behavior. Jack exults in the kill and is unable to think about anything else because his mind is “crowded with memories” of the hunt. Golding explicitly connects Jack's exhilaration with the feelings of power and superiority he experienced in killing the pig. Jack's excitement stems not from pride at having found food and helped the group but from having “outwitted” another creature and “imposed” his will upon it. Earlier in the novel, Jack claims that hunting is important to provide meat for the group; now, it becomes clear that Jack's obsession with hunting is due to the satisfaction it provides his primal instincts and has nothing to do with contributing to the common good.

3. “What I mean is . . . Maybe it's only us . . .”

Simon speaks these words in Chapter 5, during the meeting in which the boys consider the question of the beast. One littlun has proposed the terrifying idea that the beast may hide in the ocean during the day and emerge only at night, and the boys argue about whether the beast might actually exist. Simon, meanwhile, proposes that perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. Although the other boys laugh off Simon's suggestion, Simon's words are central to Golding's point that innate human evil exists. Simon is the first character in the novel to see the beast not as an external force but as a component of human nature. Simon does not yet fully understand his own idea, but it becomes clearer to him in Chapter 8, when he has a vision in the glade and confronts the Lord of the Flies.

4. “There isn't anyone to help you. Only me. And I'm the Beast . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?”

The Lord of the Flies speaks these lines to Simon in Chapter 8, during Simon's vision in the glade. These words confirm Simon's speculation in Chapter 5 that perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. This idea of the evil on the island being within the boys is central to the novel's exploration of innate human savagery. The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the beast and acknowledges to Simon that it exists within all human beings: “You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you?” The creature's grotesque language and bizarre appropriation of the boys' slang (“I'm the reason why it's no go”) makes the creature appear even more hideous and devilish, for he taunts Simon with the same colloquial, familiar language the boys use themselves. Simon, startled by his discovery, tries to convey it to the rest of the boys, but the evil and savagery within them boils to the surface, as they mistake him for the beast itself, set upon him, and kill him.

5. Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy

These lines from the end of Chapter 12 occur near the close of the novel, after the boys encounter the naval officer, who appears as if out of nowhere to save them. When Ralph sees the officer, his sudden realization that he is safe and will be returned to civilization plunges him into a reflective despair. The rescue is not a moment of unequivocal joy, for Ralph realizes that, although he is saved from death on the island, he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within all human beings. Here, Golding explicitly connects the sources of Ralph's despair to two of the main themes of the novel: the end of innocence and the “darkness of man's heart,” the presence of savage instincts lurking within all human beings, even at the height of civilization.

 

Source:  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/quotes.html

Lord of the Flies – Chapter 2 Notes

 

by William Golding

Chapter 2

Summary

When the explorers return, Ralph sounds the conch shell, summoning the boys to another meeting on the beach. He tells the group that there are no adults on the island and that they need to organize a few things to look after themselves. Jack reminds Ralph of the pig they found trapped in the vines in the jungle, and Ralph agrees that they will need hunters to kill animals for meat. Ralph declares that, at meetings, the conch shell will be used to determine which boy has the right to speak. Whoever holds the conch shell will speak, and the others will listen silently until they receive the shell in their turn. Jack agrees with this idea.

Piggy yells about the fact that no one knows they have crashed on the island and that they could be stuck there for a long time. The prospect of being stranded for a long period is too harrowing for many of the boys, and the entire group becomes silent and scared. One of the younger children, a small boy with a mulberry-colored mark on his face, claims that he saw a snakelike “beastie” or monster the night before. A wave of fear ripples through the group at the idea that a monster might be prowling the island. Though they are frightened, the older boys try to reassure the group that there is no monster. The older boys say that the little boy's vision was only a nightmare.

Thinking about the possibility of rescue, Ralph proposes that the group build a large signal fire on top of the island's central mountain, so that any passing ships might see the fire and know that someone is trapped on the island. Excited by the thought, the boys rush off to the mountain, while Ralph and Piggy lag behind. Piggy continues to whine about the childishness and stupidity of the group.

The boys collect a mound of dead wood and use the lenses from Piggy's glasses to focus the sunlight and set the wood on fire. They manage to get a large fire going, but it quickly dies down. Piggy angrily declares that the boys need to act more proficiently if they want to get off the island, but his words carry little weight. Jack volunteers his group of hunters to be responsible for keeping the signal fire going. In their frenzied, disorganized efforts to rekindle the fire, the boys set a swath of trees ablaze. Enraged at the group's reckless disorganization, Piggy tells them furiously that one of the littlest boys—the same boy who told them about the snake-beast—was playing over by the fire and now is missing. The boys are crestfallen and shocked, and Ralph is struck with shame. They pretend that nothing has happened.

Analysis

The conflict between the instincts of civilization and savagery emerges quickly within the group: the boys, especially Piggy, know that they must act with order and forethought if they wish to be rescued, but the longer they remain apart from the society of adults, the more difficult it becomes for them to adhere to the disciplined behavior of civilization. In Chapter 1, the boys seem determined to re-create the society they have lost, but as early as Chapter 2, their instinctive drive to play and gratify their immediate desires undermines their ability to act collectively. As a result, the signal fire nearly fails, and a young boy apparently burns to death when the forest catches fire. The constraints of society still linger around the boys, who are confused and ashamed when they learn the young boy is missing—a sign that a sense of morality still guides their behavior at this point.

Golding's portrayals of the main characters among the group of boys contributes to the allegorical quality of Lord of the Flies, as several of the boys stand for larger concepts. Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, stands for civilization, morality, and leadership, while Jack, the antagonist, stands for the desire for power, selfishness, and amorality. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization, as his glasses—a symbol of rationality and intellect—enable the boys to light fires. Already the boys' savage instincts lead them to value strength and charisma above intelligence: although Piggy has a great deal to offer the boys' fledgling civilization, they see him as a whiny weakling and therefore despise him and refuse to listen to him, even when his ideas are good. For instance, when Piggy suggests that the boys find a way to improve their chances of being rescued, they ignore him; only when the stronger and more charismatic Ralph suggests the same thing do they agree to make the signal fire.

Apart from the boys themselves, the signal fire and the “beastie” also carry symbolic significance. The signal fire serves as a barometer for the boys' interest in maintaining ties to civilization: as long as it burns, they retain some hope that they will be rescued and returned to society, but as they become increasingly obsessed with power and killing, they lose interest in the fire. When the fire ultimately burns out, the boys' disconnection from the structures of society is complete. Meanwhile, the beast the young boy claims to have seen also emerges as an important symbol in the novel. At this point, the beast is merely an idea that frightens some of the boys. But as the novel progresses, all the boys tacitly accept the beast's existence. The beast comes to represent the instincts of power, violence, and savagery that lurk within each human being.

Source:  http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section2.rhtml

Lord of the Flies – Chapter 1 Notes

 

by William Golding

Chapter 1

Summary

A fair-haired boy lowers himself down some rocks toward a lagoon on a beach. At the lagoon, he encounters another boy, who is chubby, intellectual, and wears thick glasses. The fair-haired boy introduces himself as Ralph and the chubby one introduces himself as Piggy. Through their conversation, we learn that in the midst of a war, a transport plane carrying a group of English boys was shot down over the ocean. It crashed in thick jungle on a deserted island. Scattered by the wreck, the surviving boys lost each other and cannot find the pilot.

Ralph and Piggy look around the beach, wondering what has become of the other boys from the plane. They discover a large pink- and cream-colored conch shell, which Piggy realizes could be used as a kind of makeshift trumpet. He convinces Ralph to blow through the shell to find the other boys. Summoned by the blast of sound from the shell, boys start to straggle onto the beach. The oldest among them are around twelve; the youngest are around six. Among the group is a boys' choir, dressed in black gowns and led by an older boy named Jack. They march to the beach in two parallel lines, and Jack snaps at them to stand at attention. The boys taunt Piggy and mock his appearance and nickname.

The boys decide to elect a leader. The choirboys vote for Jack, but all the other boys vote for Ralph. Ralph wins the vote, although Jack clearly wants the position. To placate Jack, Ralph asks the choir to serve as the hunters for the band of boys and asks Jack to lead them. Mindful of the need to explore their new environment, the Ralph chooses Jack and a choir member named Simon to explore the island, ignoring Piggy's whining requests to be picked. The three explorers leave the meeting place and set off across the island.

The prospect of exploring the island exhilarates the boys, who feel a bond forming among them as they play together in the jungle. Eventually, they reach the end of the jungle, where high, sharp rocks jut toward steep mountains. The boys climb up the side of one of the steep hill. From the peak, they can see that they are on an island with no signs of civilization. The view is stunning, and Ralph feels as though they have discovered their own land. As they travel back toward the beach, they find a wild pig caught in a tangle of vines. Jack, the newly appointed hunter, draws his knife and steps in to kill it, but hesitates, unable to bring himself to act. The pig frees itself and runs away, and Jack vows that the next time he will not flinch from the act of killing. The three boys make a long trek through dense jungle and eventually emerge near the group of boys waiting for them on the beach.

Analysis

Lord of the Flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilizing instinct and the barbarizing instinct that exist in all human beings. The artistic choices Golding makes in the novel are designed to emphasize the struggle between the ordering elements of society, which include morality, law, and culture, and the chaotic elements of humanity's savage animal instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for power, amorality, selfishness, and violence. Over the course of the novel, Golding portrays the rise and swift fall of an isolated, makeshift civilization, which is torn to pieces by the savage instincts of those who comprise it.

In this first chapter, Golding establishes the parameters within which this civilization functions. To begin with, it is populated solely with boys—the group of young English schoolboys shot down over the tropical island where the novel takes place. The fact that the characters are only boys is significant: the young boys are only half formed, perched between civilization and savagery and thus embodying the novel's central conflict. Throughout the novel, Golding's foundation is the idea that moral and societal constraints are learned rather than innate—that the human tendency to obey rules, behave peacefully, and follow orders is imposed by a system that is not in itself a fundamental part of human nature. Young boys are a fitting illustration of this premise, for they live in a constant state of tension with regard to the rules and regulations they are expected to follow. Left to their own devices, they often behave with instinctive cruelty and violence. In this regard, the civilization established in Lord of the Flies—a product of preadolescent boys' social instincts—seems endangered from the beginning.

In Chapter 1, the boys, still unsure of how to behave with no adult presence overseeing them, largely stick to the learned behaviors of civilization and order. They attempt to re-create the structures of society on their deserted island: they elect a leader, establish a division of labor, and set about systematically exploring the island. But even at this early stage, we see the danger that the boys' innate instincts pose to their civilization: the boys cruelly taunt Piggy, and Jack displays a ferocious desire to be elected the group's leader.

Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding makes heavy use of symbols to present the themes and dramatic conflicts of the novel. In this chapter, for instance, Golding introduces the bespectacled Piggy as a representative of the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization. Piggy thinks critically about the conch shell and determines a productive use for it—summoning the other boys to the beach. The conch shell itself is one of the most important symbols in the novel. The conch shell represents law, order, and political legitimacy, as it summons the boys from their scattered positions on the island and grants its holder the right to speak in front of the group. Later in the novel, Golding sharply contrasts the conch shell with another natural object—the sinister pig's head known as the Lord of the Flies, which comes to symbolize primordial chaos and terror.

 

Source: http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/section1.html

Why Lord of the Flies?

Why ‘Lord of the Flies’/why do you think this is a good title for the novel?
This was a particularly fiendish question that appeared on the paper in 2005. Here are a collection of possible ideas that you could select from and then illustrate.
Don’t forget, it’s not just the power of your thinking that gets you marks, but your ability to support them with evidence, quotation and analysis of language and structure that determines your final grade.
What is the significance of Golding’s use of the word ‘Flies’:
Word ‘flies’ refers to human evil/savagery.
Decaying pig’s head attracts flies like the boys are attracted by savagery.
Jack – flies like the boys attracted to Jack – represents most savage.
Flies are the boys themselves – they follow unquestioningly, and swarm around decay, like the boys/all humans are attracted to evil.
Flies associated with dirt and decay, as are the boys – refer to thc changes in their appearance to support this.
Flies swarm round head like boys drawn to Jack
Represents how human evil is like flies. You can’t brush it off – it will keep returning.
As things decay, flies gather more and more, like evil grows on the island and in the boys.
Flies are ‘prole-like’ – i.c. they represent the masses, unthinking followers – maybe even insignificant figures, but ruled by the ‘beast’ inside them, that is their ‘Lord’.
Why use the word ‘Lord’?
Suggests how evil can rule over us.
Why does the ‘beast’ becomes ‘lord’? Jack calls the Pig a ‘beast’ – to scare them into following him, as he will hunt. So why does Golding start calling the ‘beast’ a ‘Lord’?
Savagery inside the boys controls them, it is their ‘Lord’.
Does the title suggest the novel is Christian* in perspective? * = one where good triumphs over evil, one where there is hope for saving mankind through spirituality?
Simon withstanding the temptation of the L of F alludes to Christ’s temptation by the devil.
Lord of the Flies is a translation of the Hebrew word ‘Beelzebub’, which means devil.
OR: does Golding use this word ironically – to emphasise the fact that there is no hope, no redemption?
Why both words in title?
Lord – civilisation – class system – maybe reference to God but flies too = decay.
Maybe suggests civilisation is breaking down. Title is ironic then?
The title is a metaphor for mankind destroying itself and causing decay.
Flies associated with dirt and so are boys. Led by ‘Lord’ = savagery. Title ironic.
‘Lord’ = sign of a Christian, civilised society. Flies = decay. Title uses words in this order because we begin with a civilised society and move to one that is decayed.
Order of words in title mirrors the structure of the novel and what it has to say about a civilised society that is breaking down.
Schoolboys swarm around female pig which slowly decays, but they are brought back to civilised behaviour at the end of the novel. But the title reminds us this decay is always there – it’s just disguised by civilised behaviour.
Why ‘Lord of the Flies’/why do you think this is a good title for the novel?
‘Lord’ refers to Jack – himself a symbol of evil, and ‘flies’ represents the boys – who swarm and follow him without question – it’s like they are drawn to him, like human beings are drawn to savage behaviour.
The word ‘flies’ suggests that the evil side of some people are overwhelming, and almost feeding on our good sides, like parasites.
We as human beings are the Lords of our own evil, and it’s our own state of mind which destroys us.
Comments on structure of novel you could make:
‘L of F’ not referred to until Ch8, so keeps the reader in suspense as to why novel is called this.
Turning point in novel – when Simon meets L of F. Spirituality meets Evil, good meets evil, and evil wins.
Until Ch8, boys think they are in control of the killing. After this chapter, it is clear that the Lord (i.e. savagery itself) is in control of everyone.
The decaying of the pig’s head is directly related to the boys’ increasing savagery.
Other thoughts and ideas:
Title suggests the horror at the heart of the novel, and of human behaviour.
Lord of the Flies is at once ‘sick and heroic’ – what does this mean? ‘sick’ because it’s a reminder of the savagery of the boys, and ‘heroic’ because it’s what they worship, what they are driven by.
At first, there are pigs that are hunted, and there are the beasts. Jack uses the boys’ fear of the beast to encourage them to follow him. Then, a pig’s head on a stick becomes referred to by Golding as ‘the Lord of the flies’, and it speaks in the voice of ‘a schoolmaster’. So… the symbol of savagery is almost a god, something to be worshipped.
Lord of the Flies is a translation of Hebrew for ‘Beelzebub’ = Devil. Fall of Lucifer matches the boys’ fall from grace, and Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden of Eden.
Island even begins like a version of Paradise, which is destroyed. Title alludes to the notion of original sin – and suggests we are all evil.
The title puts together words representing good and evil, because the novel concerns the conflict between the two – and suggests that evil wins.
Since this novel is a fable, the title acts as a warning.
The only thing we worship, that is our Lord, is the Devil, or evil.
Pigs head on a stick is a physical representation of the savagery in human nature.
Two rituals in novel – hunting, and worship of L of F. Two different ways of controlling behaviour.
Remember: select a few good points, and put them in order – more obvious to most clever would be best. Then, you need evidence and quotations to back up your claims and show your detailed knowledge of the novel.

Lord of the Flies – Historical Content

Golding and World War II

"When I was young, before the war, I did have some airy-fairy views about man. But I went through the war and that changed me. The war taught me different and a lot of others like me," Golding told Douglas A. Davis in the New Republic. Golding was referring to his experiences as captain of a British rocket-launching craft in the North Atlantic, where he was present at the sinking of the Bismarck, crown ship of the German navy, and participated in the D-Day invasion of German-occupied France. He was also directly affected by the devastation of England by the German air force, which severely damaged the nation's infrastructure and marked the beginning of a serious decline in the British economy. Wartime rationing continued well into the postwar period. Items like meat, bread, sugar, gasoline, and tobacco were all in short supply and considered luxuries. To turn their country around, the government experimented with nationalization of key industries like coal, electric power, and gas companies as well as the transportation industry. Socialized medicine and government-sponsored insurance were also introduced. Such changes, and the difficult conditions that produced them, suggest the climate of the postwar years in which Golding wrote Lord of the Flies.

The Geography of a Tropical Island

Although highly romanticized in both Western fiction and nonfiction, life on a typical tropical island is not all that easy. The weather is usually very hot and humid, and there is no breeze once one enters the jungle. While fish abound in the surrounding waters and the scent of tropical flowers wafts through the air, one must still watch out for sharks, and one cannot live on a diet of fruit and flowers. James Fahey, a naval seaman who served in the Pacific islands during the war, concluded: "We do not care too much for this place, the climate takes the life right out of you."

The Political Climate of the 1950s

The rise of the Cold War between the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) and the western powers after the end of World War II signaled a new phase in world geopolitics. Actual wars during the 1950s were confined to relatively small-scale conflicts, as in Korea (involving the United States) and Vietnam (involving the French). The nonviolent yet still threatening sabre-rattling between the USSR and the United States, however, reached a peak with the first successful hydrogen bomb test by the United States on November 1, 1952, at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific. A second device, hundreds of times more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped over Japan, was successfully detonated on March 1, 1954, at Bikini Atoll. In the United States, public fallout shelters were designated for large cities, allegedly to protect citizens from the rain of radioactive materials produced by such nuclear explosions. Schoolchildren practiced taking cover under their desks during regular air raid drills. Also in 1954, Canada and the United States agreed to build a "DEW" line (Distant Early Warning Line) of radar stations across the Arctic to warn of approaching aircraft or missiles over the Arctic. In short, the atmosphere of the first half of the 1950s was one of suspicion, distrust, and threats among the big powers. An atomic war on the scale that Lord of Flies suggested did not seem out of the realm of possibility during the early 1950s.

Compare & Contrast

• 1950s: Economically, Great Britain was devastated by World War II. Homes, factories, rail-roads, docks, and other facilities had been destroyed by the German air force. Rationing of bread, meat, sugar, and gasoline continued well into the postwar period. Formerly a creditor, or lending nation, Great Britain for the first time in its history became a debtor nation.

  Today: Great Britain has regained economic stability, though not the economic power it had enjoyed before World War II. The discovery of oil in the North Sea and membership in the European Union (despite occasional disagreements) have enhanced Great Britain's economic strength.

• 1950s: Politically, Great Britain was ruled in the immediate post-World War II period by the Labor Party, under which basic industries like coal, electric power, gas, and transportation were nationalized, social security was expanded, and universal health care was made available. With the coming of the Cold War, Great Britain sided with its World War II ally the United States against Russian expansionism, although a strong strain of antinuclear activism arose, centered around the placement of American nuclear missiles on British bases.

  Today: Great Britain remains politically strong, though a separatist movement in Northern Ireland continues to cause unrest. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War, Great Britain has been able to focus its energies more on domestic problems and regional cooperation.

• 1950s: Biologically oriented psychologists like Arnold Gesell believe that a child's intellectual development is only marginally affected by environment, while other scientists argue that it plays a dominant role.

  Today: Scientific studies using brain scans have shown physical differences between the brains of healthy children and abused children, suggesting experiences can actually change the circuity of the brain.

Lord of the Flies – Style Notes

Point of View

All novels use at least one perspective, or point of view, from which to tell the story. This may consist of a point of view of no single character (the omniscient, or "all-knowing" point of view), a single character, multiple characters in turn, and combinations or variations on these. Golding uses the omniscient point of view, which enables him to stand outside and above the story itself, making no reference to the inner life of any of the individual characters. From this lofty point he comments on the action from the point of view of a removed, but observant, bystander. Golding has commented in interviews that the strongest emotion he personally feels about the story is grief. Nevertheless, as the narrator he makes a conscious decision, like the British captain at the end of the story, to "turn away" from the shaking and sobbing boys and remain detached. The narrator lets the actions, as translated through the artist's techniques of symbolism, structure, and so on, speak for themselves. Even so dramatic and emotional an event as Piggy's death is described almost clinically: "Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across that square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red."

Symbolism

A symbol can be defined as a person, place, or thing that represents something more than its literal meaning. The conch shell, to take an obvious example in the story, stands for a society of laws in which, for example, people take their turn in speaking. The pig's head is a more complex example of a symbol. To Simon, and to many readers, it can have more than one meaning. On a rational level, Simon knows the pig's head is just that: a "pig's head on a stick." But on a more emotional level, Simon realizes that the pig's head represents an evil so strong that it has the power to make him faint. When he thinks of the head as "The Lord of the Flies," the symbol becomes even more powerful, as this title is a translation of "Beelzebub," another name for the Devil. Similarly, the fire set by using Piggy's glasses, when controlled, could be said to represent science and technology at their best, serving humans with light and heat. When uncontrolled, however, fire represents science and technology run amok, killing living things and destroying the island. Simon himself can be said to symbolize Christ, the selfless servant who is always helping others but who dies because his message — that the scary beast on the hill is only a dead parachutist — is misunderstood. Throughout the story, the noises of the surf, the crackling fire, the boulders rolling down hills, and trees exploding from the fire's heat are often compared to the boom of cannons and drum rolls. In this way, Golding reminds us that the whole story is intended to repeat and symbolize the atomic war which preceded it.

Setting

In the setting for Lord of the Flies, Golding has created his own "Coral Island" — an allusion, or literary reference, to a book of that name by R. M. Ballantyne. Using the same scenario of boys being abandoned on a tropical island, The Coral Island (1857) is a classic boys' romantic adventure story, like Johann Wyss's The Swiss Family Robinson, in which everyone has a great time and nobody dies or ends up unhappy. Golding, however, has quite different ideas, and he has used the setting in his story to reinforce those concepts. Yes, the island can be a wonderful place, as the littluns discover by day when they are bathing in the lagoon pool or eating fruit from the trees. But at night the same beach can be the setting for nightmares, as some boys fancy that they see "snake-things" in the trees.

Golding builds a similar contrast between the generally rocky side of the island that faces the sea, and the softer side that faces the lagoon. On the ocean side of the island, "the filmy enchantments of mirage could not endure the cold ocean water. On the other side of the island, swathed at midday with mirage, defended by the shield of the quiet lagoon, one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the ocean one was helpless." Thus the setting reinforces Golding's view of human nature as a struggle of good intentions and positive concepts like love and faith against the harshness of nature and human failings like anger.

 

Source:  http://www.answers.com/topic/lord-of-the-flies-novel-4

Lord of the Flies – the Big Allegory!

The Big Massive Allegory

Before we get down to the details, we should address the fact that Lord of the Flies is one big allegory. Symbols aside, the boys as a whole can represent humanity as a whole. You can see where the pieces fall from there; the island is then the entire world, the boys’ rules become the world’s varying governments, two tribes are two countries, and so on. The boys’ fighting is then equivalent to a war. The only time we pull out of the allegory is at the very end of the novel, when the other “real” world breaks through the imaginary barrier around the island. Yet this is also the moment when the real message of the allegory hits home, when we can ask ourselves that chilling question, “But who will rescue the grown-ups?”

The Conch

The conch is used in many scenes in Lord of the Flies to call the boys to order. No boy may speak unless he is holding the conch and once he is holding it, he cannot be interrupted. They boys have imposed this “rule of the conch” on themselves, and thus the conch represents society’s rules, politics, and speech. The conch is a big part of the boys choosing to vote for a chief, and it also allows anyone to speak when they hold it. Notice that, after the conch is broken in to a thousand pieces, Jack runs forward screaming that now he can be chief? The reason he couldn’t be chief before, at least not his kind of chief, is that the conch still allowed Piggy to quiet all the others boys down and demand they listen. With no conch, power is once again up for grabs, and Jack is feeling grabby.

The Fire

Fire is used in several ways in Lord of the Flies. From the very beginning of the novel, Ralph is determined to keep a signal fire going, in case a ship passes near to the island. That’s fine until the first signal fire the boys light begins burning out of control, and at least one boy is missing (read: burned up). The fire thus becomes a symbol, paradoxically, of both hope of rescue and of destruction. Ironically, it is because of a fire that Jack lights at the end of the novel – in his attempt to hunt and kill Ralph – that the boys are rescued. What could that possibly mean, the fact that rescue equals destruction? It brings us back, as all these symbols do, to The Big Massive Allegory of the novel. If the boys’ world is just an allegory for the real world, then they’re not being rescued at all; they’re just going on to a larger scale of violence and, yes, that’s right, destruction. Hence, rescue equals destruction.

The Glasses

While the boys on the island revert to primitive ways with their hunting, nakedness, and face painting, there is still one symbol of advancement, of innovation and discovery. Yes, that’s right, we’re talking about Piggy’s glasses. The boys find themselves at an utter loss for a way to start the fire. Jack mumbles something about rubbing two sticks together, but the fact is the boys just aren’t wilderness-savvy enough to do this. Because they aren’t equipped for roughin’ it for real, they have to rely on some remaining relics of their old world. So, of course, the glasses breaking mean they are in danger of losing touch with the civilized world they’ve left behind. With one lens broken, they’ve got one foot over the line.
But let’s also remember that the glasses are, in fact, a pair of glasses, primarily intended for looking through. Looking = vision, and vision = sight, and sight = a metaphor for knowledge. Piggy knows things the other boys don’t, like how to use the conch, and the necessity for laws and order. Part of the reason he gets so upset when they take his glasses is that, without them, he can’t see anything. “Seeing” is Piggy’s greatest attribute; it’s the one reason the boys don’t ostracize him completely; it’s the one way he’s useful. Without his glasses, then, he’s useless, something that no one wants to be.

The Pighunts

The pighunts are used throughout Lord of the Flies to symbolize not only man’s capacity for destruction and violence, but the basic idea of bloodlust, mass hysteria, and ritual. In the most important pighunt scene, we are given a vivid description of the slaughter of a mother pig, and we see that the boys have taken on a new viciousness in their desire to hunt. This is no longer about just having meat to eat – the boys are obviously enjoying the power that they feel over the helpless animals and are excited by the blood spilling over their hands. Many critics describe this as a rape scene, with the excitement coming partly from the blood and partly from their newly emerging feelings of sexuality. As the story continues, we see the boys acting out this pighunt over and over, in a sort of ritual, using various boys to act as the pigs, and this “play-acting,” takes a horrifying turn when, in a frenzy of violence, Simon is beaten to death by the mob of excited boys.

The Beast and the Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies, the beast begins as a product of the boys’ imaginations. The smaller boys are afraid of things they see at night; rather than be blindly afraid of The Great Unknown, they give their fear a name and a shape in their minds. You can’t defeat a "nothing," but you can hunt and kill a "something."
The next evolution in the myth of the beast is the dead parachuting man. It’s no coincidence that the boys catch a glimpse of a dark, UNKNOWN object and immediately call it the beast; we wouldn’t be surprised if they were relieved to finally have seen the thing. It’s kind of like how the masters of horror films don’t actually show you the horror, because what you can imagine is worse than anything you could see. Of course, it’s interesting that Golding chooses to make this manifestation of the boys' fear a man -- and not just a man, but a solider coming in from the war. Not only that, but the parachuting man flies in, in response to Piggy’s request for a “sign” from the adult world. It’s ironic that the best the adults can come up with is a man dead of their own violence, and it hints at the allegory and the end of the novel.
This is the point where we start getting some real insight into the beast, via Piggy, who says the beast is just fear, and via Simon, who insists that the beast is “only us.” This is an interesting comment, since the beast is literally “only us:” it’s a person that fell from the sky. In fact, when the twins list off the horrible attributes of the creature they saw, they reveal that it has both “teeth” and “eyes.” Yes, that’s right, most people have teeth and eyes. So Simon is correct in more ways than just one. Even more interesting yet is the moment when Ralph and Jack discover the dead man and think of it as a “giant ape.” What have the boys started to prove except that man is nothing more than a giant ape himself?
But while the beast is in fact literally a man, that’s not what Simon means when he says that it is “only us.” He’s talking about the beast being the darkness that is inside each and every one of us. If this is true, then, as the Lord of the Flies later suggests, it is absurd to think that the beast is something “you could hunt and kill.” If it’s inside all of us, not only can’t we hunt it, but we can never see it, never give it form, and never defeat it.
When Simon has his meditation-scene with the pig’s head, the Lord of the Flies says to him, “I’m the beast.” This makes his other words literally true; you can’t hunt and kill the beast, because they’ve already hunted and killed the pig and it’s still talking to you. Even later, when Ralph smashes the skull, he only widens its smile, “now six feet across” as it lies “grinning at the sky.” This thing just won’t die, and it torments Ralph so much because it “knows all the answers and won’t tell.”
Now to Ralph, that’s a rather silent devilish pig’s head, given that four chapters earlier it was talking with Simon. It seems that the Lord of the Flies gave over its knowledge to Simon, but only to Simon. In his death, then, Simon took that wisdom with him. What wisdom are we talking about? Simon already knew, it seems, that the beast was simply the darkness of man’s heart, but the talking pig’s head actually confirms it, telling him “I’m part of you […] close, close close.”

Ralph’s Hair

All right, we told you we could blame Ralph’s moments of savagery on his hair. Well, we were lying. What we meant to say was that Ralph’s hair was a symbol for his growing savagery. That shaggy mop eventually has a life of its own. The narrative always makes a point of telling us that it’s in Ralph’s face, that he wishes he could cut it, that it makes him feel dirty and uncivilized. We know the hair has to be a big deal because the very first words of the novel are, “The boy with fair hair lowered himself down…” Getting your hair cut is one of the perks of civilization, many of which Ralph and the others have had to give up. It also reminds us that the boys have been on the island for quite a while now; this is no mere weekend getaway. Lastly, there’s something horribly disturbing about his hair just growing, growing, with no way to stop it and the assumption that it will simply go on forever, much like the boys’ growing violence and the increasingly savage occurrences on the island.

Clothing

Clothing is another relic of the old world that falls by the wayside in this new one. Clothes can be ominous, as when Jack and his choir boys appear to be one long, dark creature as they travel in a pack wearing their black choir robes at the beginning. At first, the boys need to wear their clothing to avoid getting sunburned (meaning they’re not yet ready for the full island lifestyle), but they’re soon running around in loin-cloths or less, their skin and their minds having adapted to the surroundings. We even see Ralph go from “the fair boy” to being downright “swarthy.” Change is in the wind, as is a dead parachuting man from the skies above.

Imagery of Wounds

From the moment the boys land on the island, we begin to see signs of destruction. Over and over we are told of the “scar” in the scenery left by the plane. The water they bathe in is “warmer than blood.” The boys leave “gashes” in the trees when they travel. The lightning is a “blue-white scar” and the thunder “the blow of a gigantic whip,” later a “sulphurous explosion.” Now, if you’re trying to answer the big question of whether the boys are violent by nature or were made violent by their surroundings (the island), you could argue that 1) because the island is already so steeped in violence (think the thunder and lightning), the boys couldn’t help but become part of its savagery when they arrived; or that 2) the boys put scars and gashes in the land from the get-go, suggesting they are inherent bringers of destruction and the island is the Eden they destroy.

 

Source:  http://www.shmoop.com/literary-device/literature/william-golding/lord-of-the-flies/symbols-imagery-allegory.html

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

Continuation of this Blog

Time has passed since our last postings. I am now on the other side of the world as director of an international school and it seems a lifetime ago since we used this blog. I hope to have it revitalized and reenergized within the next month and look forward to your continued interest and communications.

I hope that we can become more interactive and perhaps also focus on the International Baccalaureate Diploma which we have not done so far. Thanks again for all the information and emails.

You can also follow us on Twitter if you click the button in the left sidebar.

Thank you.

'Real English' utilizing AUTHENTIC and NATURAL ESL videos!

Today I received a letter from Mike at 'Real English' a wonderful resources especially for the summer and those long days when you could be practicing your English skills.

The site describes its self as "Welcome to Real English, the Web's only online ESL site that utilizes authentic and natural ESL videos of people speaking real English on streets across the globe. Designed for individuals learning English, as well as for teachers and institutions, Real English offers unique ESL educational services, including a free subscription to for beginners, and unlimited chat with our teachers, for subscribers."

I ran through many of the pages and discovered a real TREASURE TROVE of materials for students,  teachers, parents, business people and ANYONE who needs to know how to speak REAL English not with a fake accent or using phrases that went out of date during the 'Flower Power' days - sorry - most reading this will just know of that as a chapter in the history book. But this site develops YOUR English so that YOU will be understood.

Give it a try, see what you think. I honestly recommend it to you for this summer and once started you will be hooked!

"This site combines ESL grammar and functions with the spontaneity provided by the people we meet casually during our filming campaigns. You will not find any actors here. All of our clips are based on people being themselves, speaking naturally and spontaneously, just like in the situations which learners will deal with when their training is finished, when they travel to English-speaking countries, or when they welcome English speakers into their homes and offices.

Most of our videos are based on targeted grammar structures, providing an anchor and a counterpoint to the spontaneity of street video. This unique approach is greatly appreciated by teachers who have been using traditional materials and videos, which present us with actors speaking slowly and distinctly, as if the real world were slow and distinct. The traditional shock of migrating from "classroom English" to real English is built into the method itself, providing our students with a head start, enabling them to learn in a reality-based environment."

Let us know how you get on!

We need a new home

Dr Rod's English Blog has become a huge success, but we are totally frustrated by our limitations of being a Blog. The Blog acted really great in the beginning but as we have grown and our readership increased from 50 to over 19000 in 4 months we realize we need a different format and to offer many other things that we just cannot do.

We have identified areas where students from across the world need to work together - to collaborate, so see other kids work. We have seen teachers crying out for varied resources as well as original ideas. We never thought of our self as UNIQUE, yet we have become so. Every day I get letters asking for help on essays, exams, Shakespeare and hundreds of other things and yet many have to go unanswered.


So we need HELP! We cannot do this by a Blog any longer. I know Front Page and can work well with that. I would love to develop this site into an open resource linking together students of all ages from Year 5 through University. But they cannot search through Blog entries after Blog entries. So please, if there is anyone out there who can help us with a dedicated site - sorry we have NO money! And can help us get going for three months before the new school year begins PLEASE contact us here!


Write today! The possibilities are endless and the audience as you can see in UNIVERSAL not just USA, Europe but from Mongolia to Lesotho, Columbia to Yemen, Russia, Hong Kong, the lists is over 120 different countries. If your company today can help us PLEASE let me know.


Thanks Dr. Rod

Write to me here!

CREATIVE WRITING - Stranded – By: Enis Bardhi

Stranded – By: Enis Bardhi

That day was off to a good start. I was going on a trip with my friend Cagri to the Caribbean. We were eagerly awaiting our private plane to take us there. It was a plane that held 5 people. We had spent a fortune on it but we managed to get a good deal. As when entered the plane, we saw three other people seated in the front rows. They were called Leonardo DaVinci, Benjamin Franklin, and Jack Gates, although we didn’t know it at the time. We quickly sat down and waited for the plane to take off. After about 5 minutes, the plane took. We knew it was going to be a long flight so we got comfortable and did all we could to occupy our time. About half way into the flight, the plane started shaking. We didn’t think too much of it then, but it was really a big deal. The plane quickly started to drop about 100 meters at a time. I could feel the vibrations in my feet as it fell. Then, after about 10 seconds, the plane rushed down at full speed. Cagri started screaming like a snivelling girl. I was scared out of my skin but, I though this wasn’t the time to scream because it wouldn’t do us any good.

I woke up and found myself inside the plane. I looked around briefly and there was no one in there. I took my seatbelt off and went outside. There Cagri and the other three were sitting next to each other discussing something. I went to them and we had a brief introduction. We talked about what happened and what we were going to do about it. Leonardo proposed that we built shelters. So that’s what we did. Cagri and I looked for wood to build the shelters. Jack was a framer so he an expert at agriculture. He went around the island inspecting the wildlife and looking for seeds to bury. At that time, in the afternoon, Cagri and I would go fishing so we could eat for the first few days. We were also in charge of getting water. Luckily, there was a small pond in the middle of the island but it was quite a walk there. Cagri and I had a lot of work to do and we were generally very tired at the end of the day. Benjamin was the only one who didn’t do anything. In a manner of days, we had got the shelters made, a fair amount of fish, and the agriculture was coming along. The next day there was a storm. We all went inside and ate our dinner while Benjamin was still outside flying his kite. We tried to convince him to come inside but he just wouldn’t. The next day, we couldn’t find him. After we had done our chores, we managed to organize a search party to find him. We had no luck but he showed up later during the day. He told us he had found a way in order to get electricity. Now, we had electricity in our shelters. The next couple of days were quiet. We worked hard every day and managed to get by.

It had been 14 days on the island and we were still alive and well. We did our daily chores and by this time we had fresh veggies to eat. But we knew this wouldn’t last long. The winter was coming soon and we had to prepare food for then. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to survive. Leonardo made a list of all the things that were needed in order to survive the winter. So off we went to gather those materials. The next couple of days were harsh. We did a lot of work and unexpectedly, we all got sick, Cagri being the worst. He couldn’t do his chores so I got twice the load. It was like torture. I worked 16 hours a day, squeezing in meal times. Sleep was the highlight of my day and I thought about it whenever I could. It was getting to a point where I thought it was meaningless to live like this. But I couldn’t abandon my friends. I knew we needed each other so I worked my hardest and did everything humanly possible for their well-being.

Cagri was getting worse and worse. DaVinci propsed that it was a new type of disease and went right away into finding a cure. Luckily, we had the first aid kit in the plane but it wasn’t much. Leonardo was the smartest of us all by far. The way he interpreted every situation in a win-win made him the leader of decisions. If it hadn’t been for him, we would have all been dead. The rest of us continued our work, hoping to get resuced. We tried to make the best out of all the situations we dealt with, good or bad. In a couple of weeks, we had gathered all the food necessary to live through the winter. We now took our daily chores as lightly as possible, still getting work done. Leonardo still worked on a cure and seemed very devoted to his work. We just did our chores and took breaks in the afternoon.

Unfortunately, in the days to come Cagri got very sick. We didn’t think he would make it and our assumption was right. Later, about 110 on the island, Cagri passed away. It was a very dramatic change for everyone. We buried him close to the shore because he always liked staying there. We said what we had to say and continued our lives in the island. It was especially difficult to continue our daily working with the lose of one of our colleagues. Nobody really noticed how beautiful the island was. They were so focused on their work, that they didn’t have time. The palm trees were tall and gleamed with the light of the sunset. You could the seagulls flying by singing their songs as if they were cheerful. The sky was a misty orange with thin clouds every so often. It almost made me not want to leave the island. I started to get doubts on whether life in the real world would be as good as this. Sure, this life was hard, but they go home knowing they had done an honest day’s work. Plus, they didn’t have to deal with the stress of everyday people in the real world. They had to worry about finance, their future, and a lot of other things while life on a deserted island was amazingly calm.

I opened my eyes suddenly. A noise was coming from the outside. I didn’t know what it was but it was very loud. I quickly put my clothes on and reached for the door. As soon as I opened it, a wind rushed me back two steps. I couldn’t see very clearly since the wind was in my eyes. Soon I realized that it was a helicopter. I saw some very familiar faces outside the copter. It was all my relatives! They had all come. I couldn’t help but scream in joy and ran to them. We got acquainted for quite a while and then they told me it was time to leave this island. I called the rest of my friends. I was very surprised by their answer. They actually wanted to stay on the island. I respected their wishes and departed soon after from the island. I looked back as we were leaving the island. My worst nightmare, yet something I missed was slowly fading away. I wasn’t sure how life in the real world would be like for me now.

As I left the plane, I looked around me. I wasn’t used to all these things around me, even though I had seen them before. When we left the airport, I felt weird with all the people around me. Then it hit me. I had lost my people skills. On the island, we didn’t have that much time to talk so I wasn’t used to it. Life moved so fast here and I didn’t think I could keep up with it. Life continued just as I left it. I continued school, met up with old friends, but it didn’t seem the same. When my friends were talking about movies, actors, and stuff all I had to talk about was the island. I felt like a fish out of see. I knew I couldn’t go back there and wondered if I would ever see my friends again.


Now if I had the chance, I would make a movie about this. I have the picture to show how exactly the island was so we could make an exact representation of it. I would get Shia LaBeouf to play me. The rest of the actors would be somewhat famous. The set will take place somewhere in the Caribbean and all the non-island scene will be at New York airport.
Now that I’m back to the real world, I’ll just have to continue my life here. I know I cannot go back to the island. It isn’t and never will be an option for me. I only hope that I get used to the real world again, like I used to be. I want to be able to interact with people but find it difficult since we didn’t have much time to chat on the island. I try my hardest to fit in and I think I’m starting to get used to it. Of course, I miss the island but at least I’m starting to get used to my old life and it seems like a good thing. I will continue on my life and try to get a job in this stressful world.

Cudos

I received this email from a wonderful reader in Lesotho, Africa. I know many people have accessed our site and what started as a 'class' resource site has ended up being used by over 19000 people world wide! Not bad.


I will be trying to keep the site going next year and indeed refining and expanding it. Unfortunately the school I work in has not renewed our foreign teachers contracts, therefore the students will indeed lose some very valuable resources from a group of experienced, valuable International teachers. But for all those of you who have enjoyed looking at student work, discovered new things then I say thanks and it is the job or a teacher to share, share their experiences and their knowledge. One day uninformed administrations will realize this and realize that a school is most definitely not 'a business' as our director so often points out. Business and money first, 'education' second or third. One day the fringe 'International Schools' will realize that to 'teach' English the teachers must be able to speak and understand English/ Until then thousands of parents the world over will receive third rate, top dollar 'lack of service' because ... after all ... 'School is a business.'

"BW Fath to me show

I have just come across your blog.
What a comprehensive teaching and student resource!

I am just finishing my first year of teaching the IGCSE English program in Lesotho, Africa. I wish I'd found your site earlier. Thanks,
Wendy"

We receive on average 15 letters a week from students and teachers asking for advice contact information. We receive visits from student parents excited to see and compare their child's work with those of others. Our site is a window into a real classroom, a real microcosm of students. What you see here IS the real thing.

The map above shows where our visitors have come from in the last 90 days! We have helped people from ALL over the world! Please keep watching and help us develop this into the TOP English site for parents, students and teachers.