CHARACTERS
Bill, Robert, Harold, Henry: Generic members of Jack’s choir.
Jack Merridew: Leader choir. Tall, thin, red-haired, charismatic. Rivals Ralph’s leadership qualities.
Johnny: The first boy to respond to the conch.
Maurice: Member of Jack’s choir. Second in height to Jack. Laughs often.
Piggy: Fat, thickly bespectacled, intelligent.
Ralph: Twelve years old. Tall, athletic, fair-haired. A natural leader. First meets Piggy, likes Jack.
Roger: A strange, secretive boy. Member of Jack’s choir.
Sam and Eric (Samneric): Identical twins. Bullet-headed and robust. They do everything together.
Simon: A pallid boy, prone to epileptic seizures. Also a member of Jack’s choir.
SUMMARY
unspecified time in the future - an apocalyptic atomic war - planeload of British schoolchildren shot down crash-landed on deserted island – Ralph comes out of scarred jungle - encounters Piggy. Piggy rattles on –
asthma, thick glasses, overprotective. Diarrhoea - Ralph inspects island – delighted - Piggy follows, suggests
meeting - Ralph teases him – strip and swim – details about fathers – talk of rescue - discover lagoon and
conch – learn to use it – boys emerge from jungle – move to Ralph - Piggy learn names - the choir - leader is
Jack Merridew – Simon faints – no grownups - Piggy is intimidated - Jack scorns Piggy -Ralph reveals
nickname Ralph elected leader - boys drawn to Ralph’s - Jack leader of army or the hunters – Ralph, Jack and Simon
explore island - Piggy’s humiliation - pink coral mountain - discover animal tracks - thick tangles of creeper
vines - Simon’s secret place - roll boulder down smashes into jungle - see whole island, coral reef, scar in the
jungle – uninhabited - encounter trapped piglet - Jack hesitates at killing - pig escapes - Jack’s vow
SETTING
Place
Time
Society
TIME
DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
establish the boys’ situation
their pecking order
introduces the themes
fairly immature rudimentary grasp of organizational skills
isolated from outside world really knows where they are
age from six to twelve
voters possessing only a vague understanding of the criteria
Ralph seems to have at least some leadership ability
Diplomacy in appointment of Jack and Piggy’s responsibility
enough material to survive
mountaintop provides a vantage point
absence of adults focus on the changes that occur to the boys.
boys’ connection to civilization, rules, and authority is the conch - restraints of civilization.
Ralph is a natural leader, a doer, and, unlike Piggy, not a thinker.
Jack’s knife harsh ways, treatment of choir, contempt of Piggy, temper
Jack sees things in terms of black and white, needs must be fulfilled
Repeatedly slams his knife into tree trunks
Initial hesitation at killing the pig, foreshadows later events
Piggy is smartest knowledge rescue need to organize.
Unacceptable physical appearance, his glasses, his asthma, weak social skills alienate him
Simon chosen by Ralph exploration, vision of the island seems more poetic
an abstract thinker able to conceptualize and interpret reality
Roger a “dark boy.” His personality will chillingly emerge later.
The twins, Sam and Eric, robust and friendly boys.
Shedding of humanity
boys’ general immaturity and unwillingness to cooperate.
the boys distance from order brings them closer to savagery.
glasses (man-made contrivances) that he can see at all.
balance of power revolves around the conch
conch, communication will break down
boys’ gradual degeneration into savages as parallel to their loss of identity
still possess their clothes; the choir has full uniforms, robes, badges, and caps
illustrates the boys’ disintegration due to the inherent defects of human nature
Island of lost boys is a microcosm for all mankind, indicative of humanity’s decline as well.
note stress on sight, misted glasses, vision, blindness, obscurity, peering, squinting peeping
laughing, giggling,
shyness, self-conscious tittering
heat
SYMBOLISM
light and darkness
black cloak
mirages
island
conch
candle-buds
scar
lagoon
mountain
sea
glasses
uniforms and badges
jungle
piglet
knife
boulder
sea
platform
assembly
creepers
fruit
airman
hair
open spaces
THEMES
Conflict between civilized values and barbarous instinct
The quest for authority and power
Betrayal of confidences
Freedom and the ability to act unfettered
Society’s unwritten rules and impositions – morality, virtue and culture
Character and leadership ability
Violence and inherent bloodlust
Moral and social constraints are learnt rather than innate
The effect of environment in shaping character and behaviour.
Obedience and compliance
Cruelty and meanness
Name and identity
Belonging and acceptance
Pride, pretence, jealousy
Appearance and reality
flashed upwards with a witch-like cry
splintered trunks
army and hunters
he tripped over a branch and came down with a crash.
everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees
grass, torn
decaying coconuts
the darkness of the forest
the skull-like coconuts
insect-like creatures
perched like blackbirds
bodies, from throat to ankle, were hidden by black cloaks
enraged monster
atom bomb
like a bomb
choir described as creatures
a rock, almost detached, standing like a fort
creepers were as thick as their thighs
had to thread through them like pliant needles.
the rock tipping over, precarious position of boys
“Stay here till we die”
initial bond between Ralph and Jack will deteriorate
games deteriorate
undressing
Piggy and Jack’s antagonism
knife and Jack’s anger
Simon’s interaction with candle buds
they all three laughed ashamedly
the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh
STYLE
foreshadowing
flashback
repetition
motifs
symbols
repeated themes
point of view
allusions
imagery
metaphors and similes
aura of mysticism
tone
authorial comment
diction/ syntax
irony