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Lord of the Flies
Setting: Tropical island
 It’s boat-shaped  it’s a journey, a coming of age story
 The boys constantly say: the island is ours
*reflects adult civilization and ideas of ownership
*imperialistic language: domination, triumph  it brings them together
 There are 2 sides to the island: One = chance of escape
One = they are condemned
Situation: A plane was shot down and crashed. They were evacuated by a man with a megaphone.
There was a storm that night that washed the plane out to sea.
*The “scar” is where the plane smashed
-it’s defacing nature
-nature was neutral, innocent, untouched before the boys got there
Mood:
 Tensions from the start
 Images of blood and skulls foreshadow future events
Patterns and Structure
 Pig hunt
1) Pig Hunt #1:
-Ralph, Simon, and Jack see a piglet but it escapes because Jack hesitates
-Jack couldn’t bring himself to kill something alive and makes excuses
-But now, Jack wants to prove himself as a tough guy: “Next time!”
2) Pig Hunt #2:
-pick the most vulnerable pig: a large sleeping sow
-relentlessly chase the pig for hours
-not just killing it for meat  they mutilate it – enjoy destroying it
-gratuitous murder: for pleasure, not food
-They’re killing their food source – not thinking of future
**In an attempt to satisfy their thirst for savagery they’re destroying themselves
-but the high of killing is short-lived – they will probably do it again
 Assembly = civilization, order, structure
1) Assembly #1:
-together, planned, organized, order, reason
-they’re very fickle: sway from Jack to Ralph
-ends in chaos and disarray caused by fear
2) Assembly #2:
-starts in order
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-Ralph has matured and wants the boys to take him seriously: starts talking about the
water, then shelters, then toilets, then the most important thing, the fire
-But he’s interrupted by fear of the beast
-ends in severance of ALL cooperation
 Fire = panic, fear
1) Fire #1
-turmoil, chaos, disarray caused by fear
-unleashing of no control and laws  becoming savage
-unleashing of emotions, of fear and panic
-at this point it just suggests the possibility of savage being unleashed
2) Fire #2
-IRONY: The fire of pure destruction is what gets them rescued
-It reveals how savage they truly are
-They’re destroying fruit trees, their food source: destroying themselves
 Dances
1) Dance #1:
-Chanting together
-Right after Ralph saw a ship
-At this point they’re acting out what happened in the hunt
-Animals can’t go thru the rituals of reenactment – so at this point they are distinct from
animals still, but later the line gets blurred
2) Dance #2
-After Ralph hit the boar on the nose, they pretend like Robert is the boar
-“Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.
The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering”
-The line between hunting and reality is blurred
-Ralph succumbs to savagery and he realizes that killing and harm is temptingly fun
-He tries to minimize it by calling it a game
3) Dance #3
-At Jack’s feast
-Jack uses it to distract the boys
-It’s demented and alive
-like a monster or a beast
-This is when they kill Simon
Motifs/Images and Symbols
1) Glasses
-They help Piggy see facts and danger
-When Jack and Ralph use his glasses to light the fire, they strip him of his ability to see
-Jack breaks one lens  he loses depth perception
2) Dreams = escape and connection to home
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-Ralph dreams when he doesn’t want to deal with situations
**Suggests the idea that England and men are civil is all a fantasy- it’s only in his head
-Page 15
-Page 98: dreams of home as an escape; wishful thinking
-P 112: dreams about home again where everything is comforting and civil
*Juxtaposition with the next scene of the boar hunt (which is the reality)
-P 164: dreams about ponies and going home
*Before, wildness was ponies and fun  But now this innocence has been murdered:
wildness is savagery, cruelty, murder, chaos
3) Conch = order, democracy, civility
-Attempt to set up a government
-Pink, fragile, beautiful
-Calls everyone together and gives everyone a voice – protects Piggy
-It gives Ralph authority
*It shatters = disintegration of civility
4) Beastie/Beast = fear
-creates havoc, stops you from functioning, makes you do crazy stuff
-it spreads
-it splits the group
-it allows Jack to come into power because he manipulates
5) Long hair = encroachment of savagery and wildness
-It’s creeping in
-Ralph resists and is annoyed by it; he constantly pushes it back  constant struggle for him
-Piggy’s hair is the only one who doesn’t seem to grow
-Jack pushes down the hair: accepts and thrives in savagery
6) Home and rescue = connection to civility
-Thinking about being home (like tea time) keeps them connected to civilization
-Tea = symbol of ultimate civilization
7) Signal fire and smoke = hope and rescue and connection to civilization
-keeps them from hunting and chaos
-it starts off strong, but when they realize the beast is on top of the mountain, they can’t
keep the fire going.
*symbolically, it shows how this irrational fear is keeping them from being rescued and
it is diminishing their feelings of hope
8) Masks/ face-paint = unleashing of savagery
-It compels them to do things
-releases them from shame and self-consciousness
-In chapter 11, Ralph can’t tell who the kids are anymore because of their masks
9) Grown-up world = authority
-Grownups know what’s going on and can fix everything, so they’ll rescue us.
-Grownups offer answers and certainty. They are civil, peaceful, and can handle conflict.
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*naïve, childish, innocent view on adults, which is IRONIC because adults are the same as
the kids
10) Parachuter = sign from adult world
-Literally: he’s a dead soldier/parachute from a plane bomb
*Symbolically: the grown-ups don’t offer what the kids are expecting
-Adults are just as savage as the kids and aren’t much better than them. There
will be no consolation for the boys if they go back.
-The boys think the parachute is the beast later on.
-It blows away during the storm – no proof!
11) Killing of the sow = just killing for fun
-gratuitous murder for fun, not for food
12) Forgetting about the rescue and fire = succumbing to savagery
 Boar Hunt
-thinking like dance
 Joining in dance
-urge to feel flesh
-but still apprehensive about slipping
 Despair
-giving up: if we can’t have the fire, then we’re screwed
-not taking action = giving up
Characters
Ralph:
 Seems kind, but immature
-He explores, giggles, laughs. He’s happy to have fun and play.
-When Piggy confronts him about telling the boys that his name is Piggy, he dismisses
Piggy and chooses popularity
-He believes that adults will rescue them.
-After he’s elected chief, he compromises with Jack
-This brings them together, along with exploring
-But he creates problems because he’s nice
-After Samneric see the “beast”, he consults with Jack
-acknowledges that he’s a good hunter
-Ralph is a good leader
 Attractive  He epitomizes the British
-His dad is in the Royal Navy: he adores him
 He wants to have fun AND be rescued
-He doesn’t want responsibility, but learns that this is impossible
-He gets frustrated because he wants to have fun, but knows he has to work
 Very rational and pragmatic
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-He doesn’t know how to handle the rumors about the beastie. He keeps insisting that
there isn’t one and tries to rationalize it.
-This reflects his response to the candle bush: “you can’t light them, they just look like
candles”
His priority = shelter and rescue
-conflicts with Jack
-when the ship passes by and the smoke is out, this lost opportunity creates an even
more heated and divisive source of conflict.
*They are 2 parallel worlds that can’t connect with each other. They can’t come
together and agree.
He resists savagery and tries to exert control
-When Jack mimics Piggy, he finds it funny and is mad at himself because he knows
Piggy is important.
-Jack “apologizes” and wins the assembly’s admiration. Ralph sees this and is
frustrated that the assembly is driven by their emotions
-He says that “the rules are the only thing we’ve got”
-He is disgusted with their hygiene
-he is most upset because the boys think it’s normal now
-Yet sometimes the temptation is to great and Ralph yields
-When Jack offers them all meat, Ralph meant to refuse it, but he broke down and ate it.
It was too hard to resist what Jack was offering.
Ralph is ambivalent: conflicted and torn
-Has mixed feelings: envious and resentful – he doesn’t want to want to join the boys,
but he still is tempted
-Struggling to hang on
-He despairs and sometimes wants to give up
In chapter 5, he matures:
-realizes that Piggy is very valuable and appreciates him. He realizes piggy has both
weaknesses and advantages.
-He has a new affectionate respect for the conch too.
-As the novel progresses, he begins to look out for Piggy.
He doesn’t want to admit the reality of the savagery of human beings
-He doesn’t want to blow the conch
-If nobody comes, then it really is all over and it becomes a reality
-He constantly says hunting is a game:
-If it isn’t, then the kids are actually cruel and savage, not good-natured.
He has moments where he is consumed:
1) Page 108: He is talking about smoke and the curtain flaps in his head, and he
momentarily forgets that smoke = rescue.
2) Page 113: He enjoys the boar hunt but that scares him
-He is full of “fright, apprehension, and pride”
3) Page 163: The curtain flaps in his head again
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-He is still fighting to remain civilized: but now he is taking action
4) Page 170: Still fighting against the curtain
5) Page 173: Keeps forgetting that smoke = rescue. Has to be reminded by Piggy
 He tries to clean up to not look like a savage
*Going through the motions helps you to keep going when your world is falling apart
-If you act civilized then maybe you can remain civilized
-Tries to call an assembly when they go to see Jack to get back Piggy’s glasses
 He follows an instinct – like an animal being chased
-After Piggy’s death, he is all alone
Jack:
 He’s a ginger and is ugly (on the outside AND the inside)
 He’s intimidating, menacing, and takes himself seriously
-Piggy and Ralph are afraid of him from the start
-typical bully: picks on the weak and defenseless (like Piggy)
-He was the natural leader with the natural charisma, but not chosen by the group
*creates a power struggle from the beginning: he wants to be the leader soo bad
-He tries to get more and more control: offers to watch the fire, look for ships, and hunt
 Jack manipulates and exploits situations for dominance and to make himself seem like a hero
-tells them there is no beast, but if there was, he would hunt it and kill it
-he gets them afraid so he can be their hero
-puts words into Ralph’s mouth
-He operates better without laws and rules
-Then he can use intimidation to make people obey him
-He makes up his own rules:
-says the conch doesn’t work on his end of the island
-He’s always struggling for power, attention, and approval
-When Ralph hits the boar, jack shifts the attention back to him by showing off his
wound
-He gives his tribe food and protection from the beast – what else could they want?
**If the beast dies, his control over them dies too. He exploits the fear of the beast for his own
power**
 His priority = food and hunting
-He’s often compared to animals while hunting  he’s animalistic
-He’s often described as having “mad eyes” when he’s trying to hunt
**He loses memory of what rescue is
-His memory of rescue is being replaced with memories of hunting
-Different value system than Ralph:
-Jack = militaristic (focuses on building forts and throwing rocks on enemy)
-Ralph = rescue (focuses on smoke)
-He replaces civilized methods with hunting
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-totally consumed with savagery
-happier this way
 He’s compared to:
o An idol
-Shows how Jack operates: must be worshipped and served
-He wants to seem god-like
o A snake
-garden of eden: he disrupted the peace and goodness
 He’s a coward
-only picks on the weak: typical bully
-only brave when he has an audience – thrives off the fear of others
-he hangs behind Ralph and Roger when they go to investigate the beast
-taunts Ralph whenever they’re in a vulnerable situation
-he wants Ralph to look weaker
-ex: they’re looking for the beast
-But Ralph usually reasserts himself
-when he tries to break off from Ralph’s group, he attacks Ralph by putting him in a
situation where it’s Jack’s word against Ralph’s
-but when he challenges Ralph and loses, he runs away crying, showing that he
is still a little kid at heart
 Gets into a physical violent fight with Ralph  descent into savagery
Piggy:
 He’s the adult voice: he’s mature, realistic
-He questions things and tries to put things together in his head
“How does [Ralph’s dad] know we’re here? … they’re all dead an’ this is an island.
Nobody don’t know we’re here. Your dad don’t know, nobody don’t know – we may
stay here till we die”
“You’re acting like a bunch of kids!”
 He’s the scientific mind
-He thinks analytically: call a meeting, use the conch for a purpose
-He likes order and process
-He can’t recognize sarcasm
-He thinks that they’re can’t be a beast because there is nothing for him to eat
 He’s an outsider
-He has a windbreaker, not a uniform, which means he’s not in the same social class
-He won’t do any physical work
-He’s self-conscious
-Raised by his aunt
-Plump and has asthma
-He’s not fun, he’s whiny
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 He represents respect for decorum
 He represents the voiceless and weak, the different
-He needs the conch for protection
-He protects the little ones
-He believes in the beast by chapter 6, and cowardly wants to just stay out of the
beast’s way, not getting involved or taking a risk.
 He is naive: he thinks that Jack cares about the conch
-When Jack and his hunters attack them, Piggy was afraid that they took the conch. But
they don’t care about the rules or order anymore- they do whatever they want.
-Ralph looks to check that the conch is still there: pacifying Piggy but was also
wondering himself
-Piggy is still clinging to the conch
 Responds to crisis (his stolen glasses) = clings to the conch for protection-he needs it
-He wants to play by the rules and get his glasses back from Jack – he doesn’t get that
Jack doesn’t play by the rules anymore
 Piggy’s death:
-It’s rough, open, scientific (while Simon’s death was heavenly, sweet, peaceful)
-Conch shatters into a thousand fragments, symbolizing the disintegration of civility
**With Piggy’s death, respect for democracy and order is gone too
Simon:
 He’s not the typical Anglo-Saxon: small and has coarse black hair, might be Asian
-He has fainting spells, so people don’t take him seriously
-He’s bright and alive
-The boys think he’s batty because they can’t understand him
-They don’t know who he really is
-Around butterflies- are associated with goodness
 He knows that you have to take action
-Fear prevents the discovery of truth
-He sees that they have to face the truth
-Encourages and supports Ralph to not give up
-Keep the passion, the effort going
-3 times: tells Ralph that he thinks he will get back all right
 He has insight into the human condition
-He’s afraid that the beast is “us”
-But the boys can’t comprehend this, and when he tries to translate it to them,
they cruelly laugh at him and he backs off.
-He thinks humans are “heroic and sick”
-Human beings are capable of wonderful, great things, but also horrible things
-he’s perceptive
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 He is the Christ figure
-The Lord of the Flies = temptation
-It tries to make him give up hope of rescue and helping others; it wants him to
join the others
-wants him to give up the fight
-It says that this evil is inside of humans: the beast is the evil and savagery in
man’s heart
-It is the reason why things are falling apart, why ideas of rescue are
gone, why they are in this terrible state
-Evil is everywhere  it’s even among the group. You can’t escape it.
-It has the voice of a school master = voice of authority
-Tells him to have fun: fun is associated with giving up and lawlessness
-The boys make the Lord of the Flies into a trophy
-take pride in their savagery
-He doesn’t let the Lord of the Flies stop him
-Calls it “Pig’s head on a stick”  he’s like- this is all you are: I’m not going to
give you power over me. My fear isn’t going to consume me.
-Biblical allusion: he’s been to the mountaintop and back, and now he sees the
truth (the parachute is on top of the mountain)
**Giving into pleasure causes you to lose salvation**
**Simon plans to tell them the good news. If he delivers the message, then this
truth will set them free: free from the fear, from Jack, from savagery.
-But Jack needs this fear to manipulate and control them all.
-It takes him a lot of effort to come down from the mountain
-Pestered by the flies
-Sees the parachuter and realizes it’s the beast
“The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the
others as soon as possible”
-He wants to stop Jack from winning
**Simon’s Death:
-the boys reduce him to a “thing” – makes it easier to kill him
-He tries to convey the message, but they ignore him
-The kids are compared to animals with claws and teeth
**He is carried out to sea very heavenly
-lots of images of silver and light and gentleness
-it’s like he’s going to heaven- he’s lifted out
-it contrasts the previous horribly violent scene
 THE MESSAGE OF HOPE IS LOST WITH SIMON
o
WHAT WOULD HAVE FREED THEM FROM THE CHAINS OF JACK/FEAR/LORD OF THE FLIES
IS NOW GONE
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 In order to receive Simon’s message and achieve salvation, Ralph must admit the truth, his
sings, and his wrongdoings
o You must acknowledge your guilt before redemption.
o Ralph admits he was at the dance by saying that Simon said something about a
dead man
o By accepting his faults, his admission of truth gives him impetus to keep the fire
going and to keep up the fight. He can keep the hope going and accept Simon’s
message.
Roger:
 Very negative, pessimistic, always in the shadows
-maybe we’ll never get rescued…
-looks like a Neanderthal, a caveman, a savage
-He leads in destruction of littluns’ fun:
-stalks Henry predatorily
-he throws stones around him, but not at him
*He’s associated with darkness  evil inside
 When the guard challenges him, he’s impressed and admires the chief
-Jack tortures Wilfred for power. He can do whatever he wants with no reason.
-culture of terror
-Roger loves this freedom to do whatever
-but Ralph sees that this is nonsense.
 He is a savage force of evil who takes pleasure in cruelty
-Freudian: is motivated by some irrational force
-To him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat  he doesn’t see them as
humans, so they’re easier to kill
 He pushes the rock that kills Piggy!
-He has a sense of delirious abandonment because he has abandoned ALL rules and
boundaries
The choir:
 Looks like a monster: referred to as “it” and a “creature”
 Looks like the Nazis
 Jack = “the boy who controlled them” (not led them)
Percival
 Symbolic of the littluns
-Always crying, scared
 The littluns were not distinguished: they’re seen as a clump, a mass
-easily manipulated
-obey the conch: listen to authority
-they do mindless, unproductive activities
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 Shows how the little ones are isolated and losing their security  makes them more vulnerable
to Jack
Responses
 Candle bush = reveals 3 different responses to nature
1) Ralph: practical, literal, pragmatic, rational
2) Jack: violent, animal-instinct (concerned with food)
3) Simon: metaphorical, able to see the intangible beauty, like a poet or artist
 Responses to the Dance and Simon’s death
1) Ralph
-Honest, admits the truth
-Change in Ralph: he realizes that Piggy can never accept this truth and
acknowledges that Piggy is limited
-So he doesn’t argue with Piggy
2) Piggy: avoids the truth
-Makes excuses to avoid the truth
-He searches for a formula: it needs to be logical for him to understand
-Makes it Simon’s fault
-He won’t take responsibility for the dance
*Isolation = consequence of not accepting the truth
-can’t get rescued, no hope of reconciliation
3) Samneric: echo Piggy
Messages from Golding:
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Political (WW2)
Religious (Simon as the Christ figure, etc.)
Psychological (Id, Superego, and Ego)
About humanity and civilization:
-Civilization protects the weak and the different
-Ex: Piggy, who is the intellectual (he clings to the conch because he needs it to survive)
Simon, who is the artist, the poet
-Only the rules and laws imposed by adults hold us back
-Maurice felt the unease of wrongdoing when he destroyed the littluns’ castles
-Taboo of the “old life”, the life of rules and adults, is still on the boys at the beginning
-Roger can’t throw stones at Henry, only around Henry
-taboo is an invisible protection of civility
-Roger has been trained by a civilization, but that civilization is in ruins (in the literal
sense: World War II)
-Every society needs diversity
-Needs all different kinds of people and their contributions
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