The Lord of the Flies: Summary
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, an adventure and suspense story, is written in 1857. The story sets on an deserted Pacific coral island. A group of school boys are marooned on this island after a plane crash on a trip to Australia.
The story begins with a large number of school boys on an uninhabited tropical island and two of the elder boys who have leadership qualities compete to achieve a semblance of order so as to survive. Ralph, who has found a conch and blows it to summon all the boys to a meeting, is concerned about the well being of everyone, while Jack is more concerned with making rules and punishing offenders. However, only one firm rule is established by Ralph and that is only the person holding the conch will be permitted to speak at meetings. The two leaders soon discover that they do not like each other because of their difference priorities and the conflict begins between them. It causes the group to split into two, with Jack=s followers being in the majority.
Ralph is concerned with building shelters, arranging work and on being rescued but Jack only wants to roam the jungle and hunt. The failure to establish rules soon creates confusion and inappropriate behavior encouraged by
Jack. Ralph=s only supporter is Piggy, a fat asthmatic boys who nobody likes because he is always lecturing and criticizing everyone=s behavior. Jack bullies him constantly and the other boys make fun of him. Jack and his followers spend most of their time hunting for wild pigs so Ralph=s efforts to organize the group fail. By now, most of the older boys are beginning to act like savages, hunting wild pigs, going into a frenzy when they succeed and celebrate their kill with wild dancing around a fire.
One night during an air-battle, a body of a parachutist lands on the island and has become tangled on some rocks on the mountain. A rumor of a
Abeast@ on their island discovers that the beast the parachutist but unfortunately never has the opportunity to tell the others. He is mistaken for the beast and is accidentally killed during a wild celebration feast that takes place after a successful hunt by Jack and his followers. Later on, Ralph=s last follower is also killed but not by accident.
Ralph has lost all his followers and is pursued by the others who want to kill him. Will he survive? And who is the Lord of the Flies?
The story, full of suspense and horror, captures my imagination and my
The boys work together even though their opinions differ throughout the chapter. They work together to progress on ideas and ways to try and get off of the
eventually turns the boys into frenzied savages, undaunted by the barbaric orders he decrees. The boys focus more and more on hunting and exploring, neglecting their primary objective: returning home to their families and civilization. The island boys experience manipulation, intimidation, and brutality while under Jack’s authority, revealing that the impact on those under reckless control can prove to be extremely harsh and
1. After Simon is killed, the next paragraph begins, "The clouds open and let the rain down like a waterfall…" When the boys kill Simon they not only kill him and spirituality, but what they perceive to be the beast. Because the beast was created by them and embodied all of their evils, one of its interpretations can be as mankind's sin. Simon is very similar to Jesus in this book.
meetings are held, and the cliffs at the edge of the island are pink in the sunlight. Besides their
His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (Golding, 290).
In Lord of the flies, chapter one, the boys are trapped on an island,that has a lagoon. A lagoon is an extended salt water section that is separated from the actual ocean. The fair boy now known as Ralph points out: “This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. That’s a reef out in the sea” (Golding 7-8). The fair boy mentions the reef, which means a ridge of rocks that lie above or below the sea. There were also many trees, but since their plane crashed, that caused most of the trees to fall. While the boys start to go forward into the island they discover other things on the island: “The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air
Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos. Jack fails to realize that the boys need security, stability, and order on the island. Jack was a leader of the choir before the boys landed on the island. These boys, who were in the choir, still want to follow Jack; however, they have no discipline at all. The only thing that is on Jack’s mind is hunting.
The idea of a ‘beast’ roaming on the island causes a deep fear in all the boys, a fear many boys pretend to be non-existent. At first the fear is caused by the idea of not being rescued, but in little time that fear transcends into something the boys have a better understanding of how to deal with, a tangible beast to fear. We first see that fear arise when the the little children begin to mention a snake like thing that one boy claims to have seen, the others littles respond by saying things like “‘He saw a the beastie, the snake-thing, and will it come back tonight?’”(36) or “‘He says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches…’”(36). The fear consumes the
The boys have fruit like coconut for a food resource, and even found wild hogs living in the island. The island is covered in sand, and course grass with fallen trees all over the island. When the boys found the end of the island they saw mirages settling, and a lagoon. The main focal point of the island is the mountain that is jagged, and closest to the beach. This mountain is where the boys will start their fire to try getting
We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat. His behavior brings up the question of why he wants this control. It’s possible that he wants power over the other boys and wants to feel like he is superior in comparison. From the beginning Jack shows attributes of defiance and desire for personal gain, especially when he wanted to be a spearhead.
island is to strip himself of his clothing and go swimming. During this opening sequence,
When the children become stranded on the island, the rules of society no longer apply to them. Without the supervision of their parents or of the law, the primitive nature of the boys surfaces, and their lives begin to fall apart. The downfall starts with their refusal to gather things for survival. The initial reaction of the boys is to swim, run, jump, and play. They do not wish to build shelters, gather food, or keep a signal fire going. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom and life as they knew it deteriorates.
Within my fifteen and a half years of living, I have experienced many heart wrenching moments that have changed who I am, so many that I stopped trying to keep count long ago. Like most teenagers, the past couple of years have been some of the most confusing, hectic years of my life. I'm at that age I'm trying to figure out who I am, as well as who I want to become. As indecisive as I am, I will more than likely change my mind a time or two, but right now at this very moment, I've finally come to terms with who I really am, and what I would like to do for the rest of my life.
The times we spent at each class, discussing about what success meant to us has allowed me to take a closer look at who I really was, and has made a great impact on myself. Personally, I have never thought about who I really was, nor what I was good or weak at. I always thought it didn’t matter if I was good or bad, but that I can always get better. However, lately, I have been reminded, from the passionate classes Mr. M has spent, talking to us, of our strengths and weaknesses I had, in which made me think of who I was at school, and who I was at home. Was I different? When Mr. M discussed this in class, I knew instantly that I was a different person at home and at school. At home, I am much more lively and outgoing than I am at school. To
Well, who really am I? Am I rude, strict or obnoxious? Or am I loving and caring? Think and know me better.