Analysis of Lord of the Flies.

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Chapter 1

Summary

In the midst of a war, a transport plane carrying a group of English boys is shot down over the ocean. It crashes in a thick jungle on a deserted island. Scattered by the wreck, the surviving boys lose each other. The pilot is nowhere to be found. Wandering down from the jungle to the water, one of the older boys, , meets , a chubby, intellectual boy, on the beach. Ralph and Piggy look around the beach, wondering what has become of the other boys from the plane. They discover a large white conch shell; Piggy realizes that it could be used as a kind of makeshift trumpet. He convinces Ralph to blow it to find the other boys. Summoned by the blast of sound from the shell, boys begin straggling onto the beach. The oldest among them are around twelve; the youngest are only five. Among the group is a boys' choir, dressed in black gowns and led by an older boy named . They march to the beach in two parallel lines. The boys taunt Piggy, mocking his appearance and his nickname. Jack snaps at them to stand at attention.

The boys decide to elect a leader. The choirboys vote for Jack, but all the other boys vote for Ralph. Ralph wins the vote, although Jack clearly wants the position. To placate Jack, Ralph asks the choir to serve as the hunters for the band of boys and asks Jack to lead them. Mindful of the need to explore their new environment, the boys choose Ralph, Jack, and a choir member named  to explore the island, ignoring Piggy's whining requests to be picked. The three explorers leave the meeting place and set off across the island.

The boys feel exhilarated by the prospect of exploring the island and feel a bond forming between them as they play together in the jungle. Eventually they reach the end of the jungle, where high, sharp rocks jut toward steep mountains. The boys climb up the side of one of the steep hills. From the peak, they can see that they are on an island with no signs of civilization; the view is stunning, and Ralph feels as though they have discovered their own land. As they travel back toward the beach, they find a wild pig caught in a tangle of vines. Jack, the newly appointed hunter, draws his knife and steps in to kill it, but he hesitates, unable to bring himself to do it. The pig frees itself and runs away, and Jack vows that the next time he will not flinch from the deed. The three boys make the long trek through the dense jungle, eventually emerging near the group of boys waiting for them on the beach.

Analysis

Lord of the Flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilizing instinct and the barbarizing instinct that exists in all human beings. Every artistic choice that Golding makes in the novel is designed to emphasize the struggle between the ordering elements of society, which include morality, order, law, and culture, and the chaotic elements of humanity's savage animal instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for power, amorality, selfishness, and violence. His dramatic technique is to show the rise and swift fall of an isolated, impromptu civilization, which is torn to pieces by the savage instincts of the people who comprise it. In this first chapter, Golding establishes the parameters within which this civilization will function.

To begin with, it will be populated solely with boys, the group of young English boys shot down over the wild jungle island on which the action is set. Golding's choice to make his characters boys is significant: the young boys are only half formed, perched between culture and savagery in such a way as to embody the novel's thematic conflict. Golding's assumption throughout the novel is that the constraints of morality and society are learned rather than innate, that the human tendency to obey rules, behave peacefully, and follow orders is imposed by a system of power and control and is not in itself a fundamental part of human nature. Young boys are a fitting illustration of this premise, as they exist in a constant state of tension with regard to the rules and regulations they are expected to follow. Left on their own, they often behave with instinctive cruelty and violence. By making his civilization a product of preadolescent boys' social instincts, Golding endangers it from the beginning.

In Chapter 1, the boys, still unsure of how to behave with no adult presence to control their behavior, largely stick to the learned behaviors of civilization and order, attempting to re-create the structures of society on their deserted island: they elect a leader, establish a division of labor, and set about systematically exploring the island. But even at this early stage, the danger posed to their civilization by their innate instincts is visible in their taunting of Piggy and in Jack's ferocious desire to be elected leader of the boys.

One of Golding's main techniques for presenting his dramatic conflict involves the use of symbols. Lord of the Flies is a highly symbolic novel, and many of its symbols are readily interpreted. In this chapter, for instance, the bespectacled Piggy is used to represent the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization, as he thinks critically about the conch shell and determines a productive use for it—summoning the other boys to the beach. Other symbols that appear later in the book are more complex and open to multiple interpretations.

Chapter 1 introduces one of the most important symbols in the novel: the conch shell. The conch shell represents law, order, and political legitimacy, as it grants its holder the right to speak and summons the boys to democratic assemblies. Later in the book, this natural object will be sharply contrasted with another—the sinister pig's head known as the , which will come to symbolize primordial chaos and terror.

Chapter 2

Summary

When the explorers return,  blows the conch shell, summoning the boys to another meeting on the beach. Ralph tells the group that there are no adults on the island, but that if they remain calm and orderly, they will eventually be rescued. He says that there is a great deal of edible fruit on the island, and that if they work together, they will be able to survive.  reminds Ralph of the pig they found trapped in the jungle creepers, and Ralph agrees that they will need hunters to kill animals for meat. For now, Ralph says, it is important that they live by a set of rules, an idea with which Jack agrees enthusiastically.

Ralph declares that, at meetings, the conch shell will be used to determine which boy has the right to speak. Whoever holds the conch shell will speak, and the others will listen silently until they receive the shell in their turn.  haughtily informs the group that the wisest course of action would be to try to find a way to improve their chances of being rescued, but he is largely ignored by the other boys. One of the younger children, a small boy with a mulberry-colored mark on his face, claims that he saw a snakelike "beastie" or monster the night before. A wave of fear ripples through the group at the idea that a monster might be prowling the island. Though they are frightened, the older boys try to reassure the group that there is no monster; the little boy's vision, they say, was only a nightmare.

Thinking about the possibility of rescue, Ralph proposes that the group should build a large signal fire on top of the island's central mountain, so that if a ship passes, it will see the fire and know that someone is trapped on the island. Excited by the thought, the boys rush off to the mountain, while Ralph and Piggy lag behind, Piggy still whining about the childishness and stupidity of the group.

The boys collect a mound of dead wood and use the lens from Piggy's glasses to refract sunlight and set it on fire. They manage to get a large fire going, but it quickly dies down; in their frenzied, disorganized efforts to rekindle it, they set a swath of trees ablaze. Piggy angrily declares that the boys need to act more proficiently if they want to get off the island, but his words carry little weight. The boys hold a meeting, during which they decide that Jack's group of hunters will be responsible for keeping the signal fire going. Now enraged at the boys' reckless disorganization, Piggy tells them furiously that one of the littlest boys—the same boy who told them about the snake-beast—has been missing since the fire started and probably burned to death. The boys are crestfallen and struck with shame, but they are nevertheless unable to discuss their feelings. Instead, they pretend that nothing has happened.

Analysis

Golding wastes no time in developing the conflict between the instincts of civilization and savagery: the boys, especially Piggy, know that they must act with order and forethought if they wish to be rescued from the island, but the longer they remain separate from the society of adults, the more difficult it becomes for them to adhere to the disciplined behavior of civilization. In Chapter 1, the boys seem determined to re-create the society they have lost; but as early as Chapter 2, their instinctive drive to play and to gratify their immediate desires has undermined their ability to act for the good of their new society. The result is that the signal fire nearly fails, and a young boy is burned to death. Because they are still conditioned by society, the boys react with confusion and shame, a sign that their behavior remains guided by a sense of morality. But ten chapters later, they begin to kill one another with hardly a second thought.

Lord of the Flies adds to its allegorical representations in Chapter 2 with its depiction of the various characters: Ralph, the book's protagonist, stands for civilization, morality, and leadership, while Jack, the antagonist, stands for the desire for power, selfishness, and amorality. Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization, as his glasses—a symbol of rationality and intellect—enable the boys to light fires, both for heat and to attract rescuers. Already the boys' savage instincts lead them to value strength and charisma above intelligence: although Piggy has a great deal to offer the boys' fledgling civilization, they see him only as a whiny weakling and thus despise him and refuse to listen to him, even when his ideas are good. For example, when Piggy suggests that they find a way to improve their chances of being rescued, the boys ignore him; only when the stronger and more charismatic Ralph suggests the same thing do they agree to make the signal fire. The signal fire itself comes to represent the boys' grasp on the idea of civilization: as long as it burns, they retain some hope that they will be rescued and returned to society, but as they become increasingly obsessed with power and killing, they lose interest in the fire. The burned-out fire symbolizes the boys' disconnection from the structures of society.

Apart from the building of the signal fire, the most important development in this chapter is the introduction of the monster, called a "beastie" by the little boy who claims to have seen it. At this stage of the book, the beast is merely an idea that frightens some of the boys. But as the novel progresses, the beast's existence is tacitly accepted by all of them. One of the novel's most important symbols, the beast represents the instincts of power, violence, and savagery that lurk within each human being.

Chapter 3

Summary

Carrying a stick sharpened into a makeshift spear,  trails a pig through the thick jungle, but it evades him. Irritated, he walks back to the beach, where he finds  and  at work building huts for the children to live in. Ralph is irritated because the huts always fall down before they are completed, and though they are vital to the boys' ability to live on the island, none of the other boys besides Simon will help him. As he and Simon work, most of the other boys splash about and play in the lagoon. Ralph gripes that few of the boys are doing any work. He says that all the boys act excited and energized by the ideas and plans that they make at meetings, but none of them is willing to work to make the plans successful. He also worries about the smaller children, many of whom have nightmares and are unable to sleep. He tells Jack about his concerns, but Jack, still trying to think of ways to kill a pig, is not interested in Ralph's problems.

Ralph, annoyed that Jack, like all the other boys, is unwilling to work on the huts, implies that Jack and the hunters are using their hunting duties as an excuse to avoid the real work. He points out that they have failed to catch a single pig. In Ralph's opinion, the hunters ought to help with the hut building rather than stalking uselessly through the forest. Jack protests that the work of the hunters is central to the group's survival, because the boys need meat to eat. He claims that although they have so far failed to bring down a pig, they will soon have more success. As Jack and Ralph bicker, the bond between the two boys seems to crack, and hostile feelings well up in each of them. Hoping to regain their sense of camaraderie, they go swimming together in the lagoon. But their feelings of mutual dislike remain and fester.

In the meantime, Simon wanders through the jungle alone. He helps some of the younger boys—known in the emerging parlance of the island civilization as "littluns"—to reach fruit hanging from a high branch. He walks deeper into the forest and eventually finds a thick jungle glade, a peaceful, beautiful open space full of flowers, birds, and butterflies. Simon looks around to make sure that he is alone, then sits down to take in the scene, marveling at the abundance and beauty of life surrounding him.

Analysis

The conflict between Ralph and Jack symbolizes the main conflict of the novel, with Ralph representing civilization and the desire for order and Jack representing savagery and the desire for power and self-gratification. The conflict between the two boys has been brewing since the election scene in Chapter 1, but until Chapter 3 it has been hidden beneath the surface, masked by the camaraderie the boys feel as they work together to build a community. In this chapter, the conflict between the two boys erupts into verbal argument for the first time, symbolically illustrating the divisions undermining the boys' community and setting the stage for further, more violent developments.

As they argue, each boy tries to give voice to his most basic conception of human purpose, as Ralph advocates building huts and Jack champions hunting.

Ralph, who thinks about the overall good of the group, deems hunting frivolous; Jack, drawn to the exhilaration of hunting by his bloodlust and desire for power, has no interest in building huts and no real concern for what Ralph thinks. But because Ralph and Jack are merely children, they are unable to state their feelings articulately. It is important to note that, at this point, the conflict between civilization and savagery is still heavily tilted in favor of civilization. Jack, who has no real interest in the welfare of the group, is forced to justify his desire to hunt rather than build huts by claiming that it is for the good of all the boys. Additionally, though most of the boys are more interested in play than in work, they continue to re-create the basic structures of civilization on the island. They even begin to develop their own language, calling the younger children "littluns" and the twins Sam and Eric "Samneric."

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In addition to the development of the Ralph/Jack conflict and the continued development of the boys' island civilization, the emergence of Simon as a symbolic figure is another important development in Chapter 3. Simon's basic characteristics become clear from his actions in this chapter. He helps Ralph build the huts when the other boys would rather play, indicating his helpfulness, discipline, and dedication to the common good. He helps the littluns reach a high branch of fruit, indicating his kindness and sympathy; many of the older boys would rather torment the littluns than help them. And he sits alone in ...

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