'Lord of the flies'.

LORD OF THE FLIES COURSEWORK-The title of the novel comes from the Arabic for one of the manifestations of the Devil. Baal-Zebub - or Beelsebub - means 'lord of the flies'.

In the novel, the pig's head on a stick, covered in flies, is a horrific symbol of how far the violence has come. The pig was killed by Jack and his hunters and the head is put on a stick as an offering to the 'beast'. Only Simon really appreciates that the 'beast' is actually the evil inside the boys themselves and it is that which is breaking things up.

So, the title of the novel reinforces the idea that we all have something of the 'devil' within us - and that the 'devil' can be released all too easily.

William Golding was born in 1911. After leaving Oxford University, he worked as an actor, producer and writer, and then as a teacher in a boy's public school.

During World War II Golding was lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in command of a small rocket ship. While carrying out his duties he ordered the destruction of German ships and submarines and he shelled German troops from sea during the D-day landings

Golding was horrified by what war revealed about people's capacity to harm their fellow humans. He was appalled by what happened in the Nazi concentration camps, and by the way the Japanese mistreated their prisoners. He was appalled too by the consequences of the British and American mass bombing against civilians - and even by what he himself did as a naval officer.

During the war the British justified all the destruction they wrought on the grounds that they had 'right' on their side, but Golding came to question this smug assumption. He gradually learned to see all human nature as savage and unforgiving: he knew that even the 'goodies' can become 'baddies'. In the novel, Ralph and Piggy get as involved in the dance that leads to the killing of Simon as Jack and his tribe are.

World War II ended in 1944. The United Nations was set up after the war to try to ensure that a global conflict never happened again, but in 1954, when Lord of the Flies was published, the threat of a nuclear war was still very real. It was entirely plausible to the novel's original audience that an atom bomb really could destroy civilisation.

Most imaginary desert islands are peaceful paradises where the shipwrecked traveller manages to continue living pretty much as before - think of Robinson Crusoe or Desert Island Disks!

In a novel called Coral Island by RM Ballantyne, published in 1857, 100 years before Lord of the Flies, three young British boys are shipwrecked on a desert island and have to survive without any adults. Brave and resourceful, they thoroughly enjoy their experience and there is never a hint of trouble. As one of the characters, Peterkin, says, There was indeed no note of discord whatever in that symphony we played together on that sweet coral island.

From his experience as a teacher, Golding knew that the idyllic life of Coral Island could never exist in real life. So, he set out to write a novel that showed his ideas about the darker side of human nature starting from the same basis: boys stranded on a desert island, away from all civilising influences. Lord of the Flies was the result

Paradise or Hell?

The island plays an important part in the novel. We see it first as a paradise - it is a place of 'enchantment', where 'flower and fruit grew together on the same tree.' Yet it is also full of dangers.

The table lists some of the things the boys find on their island, with descriptions that suggest either an island paradise - or something more frightening or sinister. You can probably think of other aspects of the island that at first seem welcoming, but turn out to be the opposite (print out the table and add more examples if you can...).

The boys are initially excited about being in such an apparently perfect place, just as they are excited about being away from adults. Yet they gradually find out that the island is dangerous, just as they find that life without adults and civilisation is dangerous.

(The Hellish side of the island is symbolised by the Lord of the Flies itself. See the section for more about this...)

When an aircraft carrying British children who are being evacuated from a war zone crashes on a remote island, killing all adults, the children realise that they will have to survive on their ...

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(The Hellish side of the island is symbolised by the Lord of the Flies itself. See the section for more about this...)

When an aircraft carrying British children who are being evacuated from a war zone crashes on a remote island, killing all adults, the children realise that they will have to survive on their own and no one knows where they are. The story is told in the third person, so we are provided with a clear, unbiased view of all the characters.

They begin life on the island full of excitement, but gradually the order they tried to create breaks down. The civilised schoolboys become savages.

Ralph and Piggy meet on the beach, having survived the crash. They introduce themselves, then enjoy swimming in a lagoon. The island seems a magical place.

Piggy finds a large conch. Ralph blows it like a trumpet, and all the other boys who survived flock around. One group arrives in choir uniforms, led by Jack. The boys elect Ralph as their chief, so Ralph asks Jack to be leader of the choir, who will take the job of hunters. Piggy takes names.

Jack, Ralph and Simon explore the island to see if it is inhabited. They push a huge rock off the top of a hill, shouting with delight as it crashes down.

As they scramble back to the others, they see a wild pig. Jack gets out a knife to kill it, but can't quite bring himself to draw blood and the pig scurries away.

Ralph holds an assembly. The conch becomes a symbol of authority - only those holding the conch can speak.

A small boy says he's frightened of a 'snake-thing'. Ralph reassures him there's nothing to worry about, but Jack wants to hunt, just to make sure!

Ralph says there must be a fire to alert passing ships; Jack and his choir rush off to make one. They grab Piggy's glasses to light it with. Jack announces his hunters will keep the fire going. Piggy tries to encourage them to act sensibly. Yet suddenly the fire burns out of control and spreads through the undergrowth.

The boy who spoke up about the snake-things is missing - presumably burnt

Jack sets off hunting, but fails to catch a pig. He returns to the camp to find Ralph, who has been hard at work building shelters with Simon. Ralph complains the others don't help at all.

Ralph and Jack can't agree what their priorities are - making shelters and getting rescued, or finding meat.

Simon goes off by himself into the dense jungle and worms his way into the thickest part

Roger bullies three littluns playing, then watches their games. Even they are disagreeing and fighting.

Jack paints his face as camouflage to help him hunt a pig and goes off with his hunters.

Ralph spots a ship on the horizon, but the hunters have let the fire go out, making it impossible for the ship to know they are there and denying them rescue. The hunters return triumphant with a pig, but have to face Ralph's anger. In the argument that follows, Jack breaks half of Piggy's glasses.

They all cook the pig and eat it, although Jack is initially unwilling to share. The hunters are still excited and chant Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.

Ralph immediately calls an assembly in the darkness. He tries to clarify his thoughts as he prepares for it, and wishes he could think as clearly as Piggy.

At the meeting, Ralph tries to re-establish rules. Then he tries to confront the fear everyone is feeling about a beast. Piggy claims there can be no beast; Simon suggests the beast is 'only us'. The discussion gets more heated, with boys snatching the conch from eachother to talk and breaking the rules.

Jack declares he and his hunters will find the beast and starts a wild dance that Ralph is powerless to stop.

Piggy wishes for some grown-ups to keep order. Ralph wishes for a sign from the grown-up world

Ironically, that sign appears: late that night, a parachutist's body lands on the island, the victim of an aerial battle. Sam and Eric, tending the fire, see the body and believe it to be the beast.

Jack volunteers to lead an expedition to find the beast. After a dispute about whether the signal fire or finding the beast is more important, they set out to the far rocks, the only unexplored place on the island. Ralph bravely crosses to the rock first to confront the beast, followed by Jack. When it is clear there is no beast, the others come, and they realise it is a great place for a fort.

Jack and his followers want to stay at the fort, but in the end Ralph convinces everyone to go back to the mountain and make a fire

As the party walk back through the jungle, Ralph feels anxious at how dirty and uncivilised he is becoming, and is worried about his position as chief. He dreams of his home, yet Simon reassures him, saying he is sure he will get back.

Jack and his followers approach a pig, but it escapes, then they play at killing a pig - almost too violently.

When night falls, the older ones wonder whether to continue the hunt for the beast or rejoin the little ones. In the end, Ralph, Jack and Roger go on while the others return. They climb through the burnt area of the mountain and when they reach the parachutist's body, the wind makes it rear up. They run away, terrified, thinking it must be the beastNow the threat of a beast is more real, the tension between Jack and Ralph increases. Jack calls an assembly, and when the boys vote for Ralph to remain as chief, Jack declares he is not going to 'play' any more and goes off by himself.

Ralph and the others, knowing that they can no longer rely on Jack and his followers to keep the fire going on the mountain, start a fire down by the bathing pool.

Jack and his small group kill a pig and leave the head on a stick in a clearing, as an offering to the beast. Simon, hiding in the clearing, sees it all. He stays on when the others leave, staring hypnotised at the bloody head, which is now covered in flies.

Jack and his hunters swoop on Ralph, Piggy and the others and steal wood to make a fire for a pig feast. Jack invites everyone to eat meat - if they join his tribe.

Meanwhile, Simon - dehydrated and ill - imagines the pig's head talking to him and mocking him. He has an epileptic fit.

Simon wakes in the night and discovers the dead body of the parachutist. He realises that this must be 'the beast' and, after freeing the tangled lines from the rocks, sets off to tell the others.

Ralph learns from Piggy that Samneric and Bill have gone to Jack's group to get meat. They decide to go too, to eat meat and find out what's going on.

Everyone else (except Simon) is already there, laughing and singing. Jack is in the middle, giving orders like a king. He commands his gang to give meat to Ralph and Piggy, then he asks who will join his group. Ralph protests that he still is chief.

The dispute is interrupted by thunder and lightning which makes the boys uneasy. Jack orders them to dance the pig hunting dance - Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! The chant becomes frenzied, so when Simon stumbles into the middle of the group with his news, they kill him.

The parachutist's dead body is lifted out to sea by the wind and Simon's dead body gently drifts away from the beach

Piggy and Ralph discuss the events of the previous night without actually mentioning Simon's death, which shows how anxious they are about what happened.

Jack is now a real chief, with a painted face and a tribe of 'savages'. He beats those he's angry with and wields full control.

Ralph, Piggy and Samneric make another fire on the beach to create smoke in the hope of rescue. They feel better when they have completed the work. Ralph relaxes and dreams of home.

Suddenly, the calm is interrupted by Jack and two hunters who invade the shelters and begin a fight. They leave triumphant with Piggy's glasses, rendering Piggy near blind and helpless

Ralph, Piggy and Samneric hold an assembly with just a few littluns - everyone else is now in Jack's tribe. They are bitter against Jack for having stolen Piggy's glasses, their one chance of rescue. Piggy is determined to get them back, so they set out with the conch. They wish they looked smarter, to prove how civilised they still are.

Painted savages guard the camp while Jack is out hunting. When Jack returns, he argues with Ralph about Piggy's glasses. Jack orders Samneric to be tied up. Piggy bravely takes the conch and stands to speak, despite being able to see almost nothing. He tells the savages to stop acting 'like a crowd of kids', so they become angry. Roger, high on the cliff, heaves a rock loose. It strikes Piggy and kills him. The conch is shattered too.

Jack, unaffected by Piggy's death, claims he is now Chief as the conch is broken. He assumes complete control. Ralph is alone

Ralph lies hidden and afraid. Everyone else is now part of Jack's tribe. He comes across the pig's head on the stick and, in sudden anger, destroys it with his bare hands.

Ralph meets Samneric who warn him to be careful - Roger is especially dangerous. They help him find a place to hide. He tries to sleep.

Early next day, Jack forces Samneric to reveal Ralph's hiding place. The tribe heave another rock down the mountain near to where Ralph is hidden, but he is not hit. Next they light a fire to try to smoke him out. The fire takes hold.

The situation gets worse and worse - Ralph begins to panic, knowing Jack is out to kill him. He tries to hide, but the savages find him. He bursts out and runs wildly - straight into a naval officer who has landed on the island to investigate the smoke.

The officer is shocked when Ralph says that two boys have died. Ralph claims that he is the leader - then bursts into tears. The officer turns away, embarrassed

After looking at the play and showing that I understand what it is all about I will now explain the various themes in the book.

Things breaking down

Golding himself wrote of his novel: The boys try to construct a civilisation on the island; but it breaks down in blood and terror because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human.

The central theme in Lord of the Flies is that of things breaking down. This is shown in a number of ways. Violence replaces peace, friends turn into enemies, life ends in savage death. Everything degenerates.

The war is anothere theme of the book.

The boys are on the island because the plane that was evacuating them from Britain during a fictional nuclear war was attacked. Piggy reminds Ralph: "Didn't you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb? They're all dead."

Ralph is proud of his father - a commander in the Navy. So, the character who tries hardest to keep peace comes from a home that revolved around war.

We know that the civilisation from which they were trying to escape is being destroyed. When Roger stops himself throwing stones at the littluns, we're told: Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilisation that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.

The dead parachutist who lands on the island was gunned down during an overhead battle. Ironically, the naval officer who comes to their rescue is himself involved in the war. The boys may have been saved from life on the island, but what sort of life are they going back to?

Violence is always present. It starts as a game, but grows more horrific throughout the novel. For example:

When he first finds out Piggy's name, Ralph danced out into the hot air of the beach and them returned as a fighter-plane, with wings swept back, and machine-gunned Piggy.

When the first pig is killed, Jack boasts, You should have seen the blood!

The ritual 'dance' revolves around violence: Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.

The boys become like wild and savage animals: when Jack hunts a pig he is ape-like; Simon is killed by the tearing of teeth and claws; Ralph becomes like a hunted animal, not a boy, at the end: He raised his spear, snarled a little, and waited.

The murder of Simon is particularly horrific because it involves all the other boys - they get caught up in the frenzied chant: The crowd ... leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore

Relationships is another important theme in the book which is displayed throughout. All the friendships and good relationships on the island break down, either through bullying and violence or death.

Ralph and Jack seem to be friends at the start, yet Ralph knows Jack is hurt when he is not elected chief. This jealousy for power is at the root of some of the violence.

Ralph finds it hard even at an early stage to get things done. He and Simon are left to build the third shelter by themselves, because everyone else is too busy having fun. The community spirit of the assemblies is hard to maintain.

Even the littluns' games involve violence and broken friendships. Once Roger watches them playing: Percival had gone off, crying, and Johnny was left in triumphant possessions of the castles.

As pressure builds, the boys find that they have to take sides. When Jack defies Ralph and goes off alone, he challenges, Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too. He ignores Ralph's effort to make peace.

Jack's tribe becomes ruled by fear. Most boys don't want to be involved, but have no option. He keeps control by intimidating them and bullying them, such as when he ties up and beats Wilfred.

Roger rules by terror too. When Samneric are captured, Roger advanced The island is first seen as like paradise, too good to be true. Ralph thinks: Here at last was the imagined but never fully realised place leaping into real life.

However, the island is soon found to contain many dangers. For example, coconuts fall from the trees and just miss injuring Roger, the sun burns them, and the isolation is a curse.

Ralph reflects at the end that the island once had a strange glamour, but becomes scorched up like dead wood.

All this echoes the Bible story of the Fall of Man, when Adam and Eve were cast out of Paradise as a punishment for disobeying God. The island becomes a burnt wasteland, as if as a punishment for all the violence committed by the boys.

. Thankyou.