Lord of the Flies by William Golding
"Lord of the Flies," a novel by William Golding, explores the descent into savagery of a group of British schoolboys stranded on a deserted Pacific island after their plane crashes. With the absence of adult authority, the boys initially attempt to establish order by electing Ralph as their leader and using a conch shell to facilitate communication. However, tensions arise between Ralph's focus on rescue and Jack's obsession with hunting, leading to a division among the boys.
As fear of a mythical "beast" grows, the boys' civilized behavior deteriorates, culminating in tragic events, including the brutal killing of one of their own, Simon. The novel raises profound questions about human nature, civilization, and the darkness within, as the boys succumb to primal instincts and violence. Ultimately, the arrival of a naval officer brings an abrupt end to their descent, highlighting the stark contrast between childhood innocence and the brutal realities of human nature. This layered narrative invites readers to reflect on the complexities of society, leadership, and morality.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
First published: 1954
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Fable
Time of plot: The future, during a nuclear war
Locale: An uninhabited tropical island
Principal Characters
Ralph , a British schoolboyPiggy , another schoolboy, overweight, nearsighted, and afflicted with asthmaSam andEric , twin boysJack Merridew , choir leader and head boySimon , a quiet, introspective boy
The Story
An airplane evacuating a group of British schoolboys from a war zone crashes on a Pacific island, killing all the adults aboard. Two of the surviving boys, Ralph and a boy nicknamed Piggy, find a conch shell and use it as a horn to summon the other survivors, including the members of a boys’ choir headed by Jack Merridew. An election is held to decide on a leader. Jack has the choir members’ grudging support, but Ralph possesses the conch and is elected chief. Jack and his choir become hunters.
Later, Ralph calls an assembly to set rules. The first rule is that holding the conch gives one the right to speak. A young boy about six years old asks what will be done about the “snake-thing” he has seen. Ralph insists that no such thing exists and changes the subject to the possibility of rescue. He orders the boys to make a fire atop the mountain to signal rescuers. Jack volunteers his choir to keep the fire going. Using Piggy’s glasses to focus the sun’s rays on some fuel, they light a fire. It leaps out of control, and in the resulting confusion, the boy who had asked about the “snake-thing” disappears. He is not seen again.
Jack, obsessed with the desire to kill a wild pig, and Ralph, who wants to erect shelters, are often at odds, dividing the boys’ allegiance. One day, Ralph spots the smoke from a ship out at sea. Looking up at the mountaintop, he discovers that the boys’ signal fire has gone out. Desperately, he and Simon claw their way up the mountainside, but they are too late to start the fire again in time for the passing ship to see it. Below, they see Jack and his hunters (who should have been tending the fire) carrying the carcass of a pig. Jack is ecstatic, exclaiming over the spilled blood. When Ralph admonishes him for letting the fire die, Jack lashes out, breaking a lens of Piggy’s glasses.
Meanwhile, a veiled fear has begun to spread, especially among the youngest boys, the “littluns,” of something that haunts the night. At an assembly, Ralph tries to insist that the rules be followed and the fire kept burning, but discussion turns to the “beast,” and the gathering soon degenerates into chaos, with Jack refusing to abide by Ralph’s rules.
One day, a victim of the air war being fought overhead falls from the sky in a parachute. He lies against the rocks, dead, buffeted by the wind. Sam and Eric (twin brothers later dubbed “Samneric”) are tending the signal fire when they see the corpse, and they run back to camp, screaming that they have seen the beast. Leaving Piggy to watch the littluns, Jack and Ralph go to search the far end of the island, thinking the beast might live there, but find nothing.
Night falls, and Jack challenges Ralph to accompany him up the mountain in the darkness to seek the beast. At the top of the mountain, near the place where the boys have built their fire, they see a dark shape and, when the wind blows, a skeletal face. They flee in terror. Back at the base camp, Jack seizes the conch and speaks out against Ralph, asking the boys to vote, by a show of hands, to reject him as chief. When the boys refuse, Jack goes off by himself.
Believing that the beast is guarding the mountain, the boys agree to Piggy’s suggestion that they build a signal fire on the rocks near their bathing pool. As they work, however, several of the older boys slip off to follow Jack. With this new band of hunters, Jack pursues a sow caught feeding her litter. Running the sow down, the boys fall on her in a frenzy and kill her. Then, as an offering to the beast, they mount the pig’s severed head on a stake.
Unbeknown to Jack and his band, Simon, hidden beneath some vines, has witnessed their ritual. When the other boys leave, Simon has a silent conversation with the pig’s head—“the Lord of the Flies”—during which it seems to reveal to him that the beast is actually something within the boys themselves. Jack and his followers, smeared with body paint, burst into Ralph’s camp, and Jack invites everyone to join his band and feast on roast pig.
Meanwhile, Simon inches his way to the mountaintop, where he discovers the dead parachutist. All the other boys, including Ralph and Piggy, have gone to Jack’s camp to eat the pig. Under the threat of a downpour, they begin to dance and chant, miming the killing of the sow. Suddenly, Simon bursts into their circle, trying to tell them of his discovery. The boys, maddened by the chanting, attack and kill him, thinking him the beast.
Ralph and Piggy return to their camp. Only Sam and Eric and the littluns remain with them, and all deny—to themselves as well as to one another—any responsibility for the killing of Simon. Later, Jack and two of his hunters attack them. Ralph and Eric fight viciously, but in the end, Jack and his party make off with Piggy’s glasses, which they need to light a fire of their own.
When Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric go to Jack’s lair to demand the return of the glasses, Jack’s followers seize Samneric, and Ralph and Jack fight until Piggy, holding the conch, demands a chance to speak. As Piggy speaks, drawing a line between savagery and order, Roger, standing watch on a cliff overhead, sets loose a boulder that crashes down on the boys, smashes the conch, and crushes Piggy’s skull. Alone now, Ralph runs; he is pursued by Jack and his followers, who are hurling spears, but he manages to escape.
Later, Ralph creeps back to the encampment and discovers that Samneric, threatened with torture or worse, have become part of Jack’s tribe. They tell Ralph that Jack has sharpened a stick at both ends and will hunt him down.
In the morning, Ralph is discovered and forced out of his hiding place. Pursued, he manages to wound two of the boys, but when he attempts to hide again, the hunters light a fire to smoke him out. The chase becomes a frantic fight for life that ends when Ralph suddenly comes upon a uniformed naval officer whose cutter is moored on the beach. “We saw your smoke,” the officer says, grinning at what he presumes to be a boys’ game of war.
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