The Lord of the FliesThe adventure novel, The Lord of the Flies, was an epic tale that depictedthe different facets of the human spirit. It was written by William Golding inthe 1950’s and recieved many awards. It was declared the “Outstanding Novel ofthe Year” by E.M. Forrester. The author did in no wat mean for this story to bebiographical, but Mr. Golding depicted well the many different aspect of humannature. The book has been described as “provacative, vivid and enthralling,”but Time and Tide said it best when they wrote, “It is not only a first-rateadventure story but a parable of our times.”The novel took place on an island probably somewhere in the middle ofthe Atlantic. This can be inferred because of the fact that the boys areBritish and that they arrived on the island by way of a plane cradsh. The storyalso occurred during wartime.
The story begins when a group of British boys crash on an uninhabitedisland. In the beginning they area all unruly and unmorginized. Finally, a boyby the nakme of Ralph decides to take charge and call a meeting. The boysdeclare him “chief” and then begin to follow his lead. Ralph is also assistedby another lad by the name of Piggy. The group of boys were getting along fineuntil Jack Merridew, a boy who wanted to be “chief” instead, decided to go hisown way. He disobeyed Ralph and did things his own way. He was to preoccupiedwitdh his own whims to do the act that was most important on the island, whichwas to keep the signal going so they could be rescued. Finally, Jack wentagainst Ralph and declared that if any of the other boys wanted to have “fun,”which meant acting like savages, that they should follow him. The boys splot upinto two groups and then havoc insued. Jacks group went around hunting andbeing barbaric while the others tried to get rescued. In the end Jack hadgotten all the boys except Ralph to run around loke wild animals. Then whenJack got tired of dealing with Ralph, he convinced wveryone to try and kill him.
By then however, a navy ship had come an they could never get around to thenasty deed.
There was more than one antagonist in the story, The Lord of the Flies.
They were Ralph, Piggy, and all the other boys who tried to sustain order andlaw on the island. To begin with, Ralph was the “first” chief on the island.
In the beginning, he was the one who tdook charge of the group okf boys andcalled them to order. He tried to organize a strategy dto get off the islandand make all the boys understand why it was he was doing what he was doing.
Piggy was basically Ralph’s “right-hand” man. He was probably the mkore naturalleader, but since he did not possess the confidence to stand up alone, he didall he wanted to do “through” Ralph. These boys were the antagonists becausethey desperately tried to get off the island and tried not to let anyone oranything get in their way.
The antagonist in the story in the story was Jack Merridew. He was theboy in the story who openly showed his dislike for the procedures Ralph wastaking as chief of the island. He continually disobeyed Ralph and eventuallybroke off and went his own direction. In turn, many of the boys followed Jackand his “savage philosophy.” Jack and these boys started their own “tribe” andended up causing more problems than they solved. He also prevented Ralph frombeing an effective leader by basically taking away all his power. When theother boys saw how much “fun” Jack was having they all left Ralph and followedevery action Jacck took. When the boys left, Rallph did not have many boyshelping him, dtherefore, he could not accomploish the simple taske of keepingthe signal fire going.
The theme of the novel was the fact that even the most avid attempts tobe civilized will be squandeered by the savage nature of the human spirit. Thegroup of boys were stranded on the island with almost no chance of survival andpersevered through it all. One of the most sensible boys, Ralph, eeven tried toorganize the group and get them to follow his instructions. He had them gbuildshelters and construct a smoke signal that would run throughout the day. In thebeginning the group carried these instructions out, but then anarchy overtookthem. Jack Merridew proceeded to disregard all of Ralph’s instructions andfollowed his own whims and fancies. His plan while he was on the island was tohunt and have “fun.” He did not realize that his savage nature was beginning tosurface and by the time he did realize this it was too late, the way of life hadconsumed him. The author attempts to show the reader that people must overcometheir own basic faults before they can live in active, productove, andfunctioning society. “The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of societyback to the defects of juman natrue.” -William Golding.
In the novel, The Lord of the Flies, the main conflict was betweenRalph and Jack. The two boyks comkpletely differed in their approach on what todo while stranded on the island. This brought about many confrontations thatfurther increased the animosity between them. “Jack stood up as he said this,the bloodied knife in his hand. The two boys faced each other. There was thebrilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there wasthe world of longing and baffled commonsense.” – pg. 71. There was was also theconflict between the boys and the actual island. The boys were flung into aplace which was a mystery to them and through all adversity persevered andsurvived in the most trying of circumsstances. There were no adults on theisland, so the boys were forced to organize themselves and their actions. Untilsavagery overtook them in the end, the boys did an excellent job, consideringthe circumstances, of coordinating their actions and surviving while on theisland. They had sufficiently fed themselves with the fruit that was availableand had a ready supply of drinking water when it was needed. The two previouslydiscussed conflicts were both external and a combination of “Man versus Another”and “Man versus Nature.”The novel, The Lord of the Flies, contains many literary devices used toenhance the reader’s grasp on the novels concepts. “The coral was scribbled inthe sea as though a giant had bewnt down to reproduce the shape o the island ina flowing chalk line but tired before he had finished.” – pg. 29. This passageis comparing the coral reef in the ocean to the unfinished scribblings of agiant and is a good example of a simile because it using the word “as.” “Thebreezes that on the lagoon had chased their tails like kittens were findingtheir way across the platform and into the forest.” – pg. 34. This statement issaying that the breezes on the lagoon were reocurring like kittens chasing theirown tails and is another good example of a simile. ” …whole limbs yieldedpassionately to the yellow flames that poured upwards and shook a great beardofflame twenty feet in the air.” – pg. 41. This quote is saying that limbs oftrees “yielded” to flames and since tree limbs cannot perform this human qualityconsciensly, this is an example of personification. “When these breezes reachedthe platform the palm fronds would whisper winged things in the shade.” – pg. 15.
Once again, this sentence is implying that the palm fronds were whispering, andsince a plant cannot perform this act this is another example of personification.
“Suddenly Piggy was a bubble with decorous excitement.” – pg. 15. Thisstatement furhter clarifies what Piggy looked like in the reader’s mind so thisis an example of imagery. ” …the conch exploded into a thousand whitefragments and ceased to exist.” – pg. 181. This excerpt also clearly stateswhat the conch looked like so this is an example of imagery. “‘There”‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!’ said thehead. ‘You knew didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m thereason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?'” – pg. 143. This is what “The Lord of the Flies” said to Simon while he was in the forest. The “Lord”meant that it was funny how the boys thought that the Beast was an animal thatthey could hunt and kill when it was really their own human thoughts and desires.
How the whole time they were looking for something up on the mountain when allthey had to do was look at themselves. It is important to the message of thestory because it the first instance where the author reveals and one of the boysrealizes what the group is really up against. Mr. Golding shows the reader thatthe following sequence of events will depict the darkest sides of each of theboys and that they will have to overcome themselves in order to have any chanceat survival.
