Lord of the Flies

 

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Setting

The action of Lord of the Flies takes place during World War II on a
deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Golding deliberately borrows
the setting from Coral Island (1858) in order to contrast his theme with
that of Robert Michael Ballantyne's Utopian novel. In Lord of the Flies,
the marooned schoolboys have survived a plane crash caused by warfare; they are
innocent victims of adult violence. The island at first seems to offer them
sufficient food, water, shelter, and even the possibility of eventual rescue.
The boys build a signal fire on the...

Character List

Ralph
The protagonist of the story, Ralph is one of the oldest boys on the island. He quickly becomes the group's leader. Golding describes Ralph as tall for his age and handsome, and he presides over the other boys with a natural sense of authority. Although he lacks Piggy's overt intelligence, Ralph is calm and rational, with sound judgment and a strong moral sensibility. But he is susceptible to the same instinctive influences that affect the other boys, as demonstrated by his contribution to Simon's death. Nevertheless, Ralph remains the most civilized character throughout the novel. With his strong commitment to justice and equality, Ralph represents the political tradition of liberal democracy.

Piggy
Although pudgy, awkward, and averse to physical labor because he suffers from asthma, Piggy--who dislikes his nickname--is the intellectual on the island. Though he is an outsider among the other boys, Piggy is eventually accepted by them, albeit grudgingly, when they discover that his glasses can be used to ignite fires. Piggy's intellectual talent endears him to Ralph in particular, who comes to admire and respect him for his clear focus on securing their rescue from the island. Piggy is dedicated to the ideal of civilization and consistently reprimands the other boys for behaving as savages. His continual clashes with the group culminate when Roger murders Piggy by dropping a rock on him, an act that signals the triumph of brute instinct over civilized order. Intellectual, sensitive, and conscientious, Piggy represents culture within the democratic system embodied by Ralph. Piggy's nickname symbolically connects him to the pigs on the island, who quickly become the targets of Jack's and his hunters' bloodlust--an association that foreshadows his murder.

Jack Merridew
The leader of a boys' choir, Jack exemplifies militarism as it borders on authoritarianism. He is cruel and sadistic, preoccupied with hunting and killing pigs. His sadism intensifies throughout the novel, and he eventually turns cruelly on the other boys. Jack feigns an interest in the rules of order established on the island, but only if they allow him to inflict punishment. Jack represents anarchy. His rejection of Ralph's imposed order--and the bloody results of this act--indicate the danger inherent in an anarchic system based only on self-interest.

Simon
The most introspective character in the novel, Simon has a deep affinity with nature and often walks alone in the jungle. While Piggy represents the cultural and Ralph the political and moral facets of civilization, Simon represents the spiritual side of human nature. Like Piggy, Simon is an outcast: the other boys think of him as odd and perhaps insane. It is Simon who finds the beast. When he attempts to tell the group that it is only a dead pilot, the boys, under the impression that he is the beast, murder him in a panic. Golding frequently suggests that Simon is a Christ-figure whose death is a kind of martyrdom. His name, which means "he whom God has heard," indicates the depth of his spirituality and centrality to the novel's Judeo-Christian allegory.

Sam and Eric
The twins are the only boys who remain with Ralph and Piggy to tend to the fire after the others abandon Ralph for Jack's tribe. The others consider the two boys as a single individual, and Golding preserves this perception by combining their individual names into one ("Samneric"). Here one might find suggestions about individualism and human uniqueness.

Roger
One of the hunters and the guard at the castle rock fortress, Roger is Jack's equal in cruelty. Even before the hunters devolve into savagery, Roger is boorish and crude, kicking down sand castles and throwing sand at others. After the other boys lose all idea of civilization, it is Roger who murders Piggy.

Maurice

During the hunters' "Kill the pig" chant, Maurice, who is one of Jack's hunters, pretends to be a pig while the others pretend to slaughter him. When the hunters kill a pig, Jack smears blood on Maurice's face. Maurice represents the mindless masses.

Percival

One of the smallest boys on the island, Percival often attempts to comfort himself by repeating his name and address as a memory of home life. He becomes increasingly hysterical over the course of the novel and requires comforting by the older boys. Percival represents the domestic or familial aspects of civilization; his inability to remember his name and address upon the boys' rescue indicates the erosion of domestic impulse with the overturning of democratic order. Note also that in the literary tradition, Percival was one of the Knights of the Round Table who went in search of the Holy Grail.

The Beast
A dead pilot whom Simon discovers in the forest. The other boys mistake him as a nefarious supernatural omen, "The Beast." They attempt to appease his spirit with The Lord of the Flies.

The Lord of the Flies
The pig's head that Jack impales on a stick as an offering to "The Beast." The boys call the offering "The Lord of the Flies," which in Judeo-Christian mythology refers to Beelzebub, an incarnation of Satan. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies functions totemically; it represents the savagery and amorality of Jack's tribe.

Naval Officer
The naval officer appears in the final scene of the novel, when Ralph encounters him on the beach. He tells Ralph that his ship decided to inspect the island upon seeing a lot of smoke (the outcome of the forest fire that Jack and his tribe had set in the hopes of driving Ralph out of hiding). His naivete about the boys' violent conflict--he believes they are playing a game--underscores the tragedy of the situation on the island. His status as a soldier reminds the reader that the boys' behavior is just a more primitive form of the aggressive and frequently fatal conflicts that characterize adult civilization.

Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell

A plane evacuating British boys has been shot down in the Pacific. The boys have been ejected safely from the plane and have landed on a remote island. With no adult supervision, they attempt to establish order and a plan for survival. They elect a chief (Ralph) and he selects Jack Merridew, a militant choir bully, to rule over the choir, who become hunters. We also meet Piggy in chapter 1. Piggy is fat, suffers from asthma, and has no social skills. He immediately becomes the target of the other boys who make fun of him.

Piggy finds a conch shell and shows Ralph how to blow it. The sound of the shell calls the boys together for assemblies and to discuss important matters. At each assembly, the boy holding the conch is the only one allowed to speak. At the assembly, Jack, Simon, and Ralph decide to explore the island. They confirm their suspicions that they are on an island. Towards the end of chapter 1, the three explorers find a trapped pig. The pig gets away.

Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain and Chapter 3: Huts on the Beach

Chapter 2: The three boys return from their exploration and call an assembly. One of the littleuns mentions a snake thing, a beastie, which sends fear throughout the group. They debate its existence and determine the littluns were having nightmares. Ralph decides they need to make a fire on the mountain as a rescue signal. They use Piggy's glasses to light the fire. The fire rages out of control. One of the littleuns dies in the conflagration (a fancy word for large fire). Piggy and Jack argue.

Chapter 3: Jack is obsessed with hunting pigs although he has yet to catch one. Ralph and Simon work on the huts. Everyone else plays. Jack has become savage in his quest for blood. Ralph and Jack argue. Simon wanders off, helps the littluns get fruit, and continues to an isolated location.

Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair and Chapter 5: Beast From Water

Chapter 4: Roger and Maurice bully the littluns on the beach. They are still, however, held back by rules they learned in civilization. Jack paints his face for hunting. His mask liberates him from the rules of civilization. He leads the boys on a hunting expedition. As Jack and the hunters are out, a ship passes by. Ralph realizes the hunters have let the fire go out. He races to the top, but is unable to light it in time. Jack and the hunters return with a pig. Ralph and Jack argue. Jack punches Piggy in the gut. One of Piggy's lenses from his glasses breaks. The boys cook the pig and have a feast. Ralph announces a meeting.

Chapter 5: Ralph tries to set things in order. He reestablishes rules regarding the fire and where to go to the bathroom. The subject of the beast is brought up. Jack argues the island is too small for a beast. One of the boys claims the beast comes from the sea. The boys argue. Simon suggests that they are the beast. They all make fun of him. The arguing continues. Jack storms away from the meeting with his hunters, who make horrific sounds in the darkness. Piggy begs Ralph to call them back with the conch. He longs for grown ups to make things right.

Chapter 6: Beast from Air and Chapter 7: Shadow and Tall Trees

Chapter 6: A plane is shot down high above as the children sleep. A dead parachutist lands on the island, stuck in the rocks and trees. Samneric see the dead parachutist and mistake it for the beast. The boys hunt for the beast. They can't find it. Jack thinks he's found a good fort from which to throw rocks at people. After not finding the beast, Ralph notices the fire has gone out. None of the others, especially Jack, seem to care.

Chapter 7: The hunt for the beast continues. The boys come across a pig run and Ralph sticks a boar in the nose with a spear. The boar escapes. The boys act out a pig hunt with Robert playing the part of the pig. Even Ralph enjoys the spectacle. The quest for the beast continues until evening. Jack, Ralph, and Roger agree to scale the mountain. The three boys see the dead parachutist who they mistake for the beast and run away as fast as they can.

Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness

Jack calls a meeting, insults Ralph, and asks for Ralph to no longer be chief. Nobody else agrees. Jack, embarrassed, leaves the tribe and goes into the forest. The assembly continues. Simon suggests they go up the mountain. Piggy suggests they build the fire on the beach since the beast is on the mountain. The boys gather wood. The littluns sing and dance. Roger, Bill, Maurice, and other biguns escape into the woods, following Jack. Simon has also disappeared into his secret spot.

The hunters track down a pig and kill it. They chop off its head and offer it to the beast as a sacrifice. Flies swarm. The hunters race back to the beach to steal fire. Simon arrives at the pig's head after the hunters have left. He imagines the pig's head is speaking to him. The pig's head tells Simon he can't escape. Jack's hunters raid Ralph's camp for fire and invite the others.

Chapter 9: The View to a Death and Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses

Chapter 9: Simon passes out and wakes up. He explores, discovers the truth about the beast, and heads immediately to the beach to tell the others. Meanwhile, all the boys have left the original camp to join Jack's hunters. Even Ralph and Piggy go. There's a dispute. It rains. Jack and his hunters begin their chant. Simon appears from the forest. They kill him. The dead parachutist is driven by the wind, over the boys, and out to sea. After the storm ceases, the boys gather around dead Simon as his body is washed out to sea.

Chapter 10: Ralph, Piggy and Samneric are the only ones left in the original tribe. Ralph and Piggy express their horror over witnessing/participating in Simon's murder. Jack and his crew have taken up residence at the fort. Roger approaches and is told of one of the boys (Wilfred) being tied up and whipped. Jack and his tribe have been transformed into savages. They plot to steal fire. They raid Ralph and Piggy's camp and steal Piggy's glasses.

Chapter 11: Castle Rock and Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters

Chapter 11: Piggy declares his intention to confront Jack and demand his glasses back. The four boys go to castle rock, conch in hand. Ralph blows the conch at the fort entrance. Ralph and Jack spar. Ralph demands Piggy's glasses. Jack's savages tie up Samneric. Piggy tries to talk sense into the savages. Roger wedges the giant rock loose. It smashes the conch and knocks Piggy off the cliff. Jack and the others throw spears at Ralph, who runs away.

Chapter 12: Ralph flees and returns at night to speak with Samneric who are the new guards. They warn Ralph to go away. Ralph learns the tribe will hunt him the next day like a pig. Roger is sharpening a stick at both ends. Ralph hides in a thicket. One of the twins gives away Ralph's location. They eventually fill the thicket with smoke. Ralph charges out and runs for his life. The hunters pursue. Ralph notices the island has caught fire. The hunters chase Ralph down to the beach where he finds a naval officer there to rescue them.