In the opening of the novel, a group of boys aged between five and twelve are stranded on an island after a plane crash. After landing on the island, two of the boys, Piggy and Ralph appear confused as to what as happened but Ralph seems more relaxed about the situation and sees the island as a utopia. The two boys find a shell which Piggy identifies as a conch. The boys use the conch to call all the other survivors on the island and bring about togetherness. Gradually this togetherness disappears as things deteriorate on the island and the fears of the boys gradually overtake them.
The first character we are introduced to is Ralph. He is portrayed as a typical British boy. He is handsome, intelligent, creative and honourable. Golding describes Ralph as mild- featured boy. We see this when he says, ‘there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that portrayed no devil’.
On the other hand, Piggy is a boy who is portrayed as working class. In Ralph opinion Piggy is an outsider. We see this when he says, ‘Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, but by fat and ass- mar, and specs.’ But Piggy is probably the most intelligent on the island and he is a thinker. Together, Ralph and Piggy support each other. This is mainly because Piggys common sense supports Ralph’s common sense. When they work together, they possess qualities that the other one lacks.
Things start to go wrong on the island when Jack is introduced. He is someone who we are meant to dislike. He is arrogant and selfish. He is in charge of his choir and Ralph recognises that he has, ‘the voice of one who knew his mind.’ Jack wants to be chief but when a vote is held, Ralph wins comfortably.
To be rescued, Ralph points out that a fire is essential. When the fire is built things start to go wrong when it rages out of control and a boy is burnt to death. This signals that the boys’ fears start to overcome them and they are a
danger to themselves. After this things go even worse when a beast is seen and then discussed at the meeting. Piggy uses his intelligence to build a shelter.
Things deteriorate even more when the children become almost animal like when Jack becomes obsessed with hunting and one day when the choir are supposed to be looking after the fire, Jack persuades all his choir to go hunting and when they are gone a ship passes by. This makes Ralph furious but Jack cannot challenge him so he takes it out on Piggy instead and breaks his glasses. These glasses are a symbol of order on the island and breaking them means that the order is broken.
The order collapses completely when Jack forms his own tribe and is joined by many other boys although the group that still signal order, the conch group still, stands.
At first the boys try to bring an orderly environment onto the island. This environment is from where they have come from. Due to their inexperience and Jack, their efforts of order collapse and Jacks tribe eventually become the dominant force on the island at the end of the first six chapters.
