Lord of the Flies: Difference between revisions
RV |
|||
| Line 40: | Line 40: | ||
===Simon=== |
===Simon=== |
||
Simon may represent natural goodness because he is the only character on the island that continues being good even when the other boys forget about the rules of society. Some see similarities between him and Jesus, based on the religious references around Simon: his name (that of one of the disciples), his skill with carpentry and his killing at the hands of a group. In addition, the night before Simon dies he knows that he won't make it home all right, just as the night before Jesus' arrest Jesus says he will be betrayed. Furthermore, Simon's actions also allude to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Simon was mistakenly thought of as the beast, and the beast was initially thought to be a snake. In the novel, Simon gives the little ones the choicest fruit, as the serpent tells Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. |
Simon may represent natural goodness because he is the only character on the island that continues being good even when the other boys forget about the rules of society. Some see similarities between him and Jesus, based on the religious references around Simon: his name (that of one of the disciples), his skill with carpentry and his killing at the hands of a group. In addition, the night before Simon dies he knows that he won't make it home all right, just as the night before Jesus' arrest Jesus says he will be betrayed. Furthermore, Simon's actions also allude to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Simon was mistakenly thought of as the beast, and the beast was initially thought to be a snake. In the novel, Simon gives the little ones the choicest fruit, as the serpent tells Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. |
||
Additionally, he is the only one on the island that sees the fear and breakdown of civilization. This is pointed out when he stated that "maybe we are the beasts". This shows that he is correctly guessing that the fear and |
Additionally, he is the only one on the island that sees the fear and breakdown of civilization. This is pointed out when he stated that "maybe we are the beasts". This shows that he is correctly guessing that the fear and chaos are being caused by the minds of the children and not a physical thing. |
||
===Other Boys=== |
===Other Boys=== |
||
Revision as of 02:52, 29 May 2006
Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It was Golding's first novel, and was published in 1954. Although it was not a great success at the time — selling fewer than 3,000 copies in the United States during 1955 before going out of print — it went on to become a bestseller, and required reading in many schools and colleges. It was adapted to film in 1963 by Peter Brook, and again in 1990. The title is a reference to Beelzebub (from the Hebrew name Baalzvuv בעל זבוב), a synonym for the Devil, or, as in Paradise Lost, one of Satan's chief minions.
Plot summary
A number of boys on a plane crash land on a desert island, amid an atomic war. The first two characters to meet are the athletic, attractive and charismatic Ralph and a bespectacled, fat boy known only as Piggy. They use a conch, which is a seashell, to call the other boys to them from across the island. One other potential leader arises from the boys - Jack, who had been leading a choir. Ralph, in fact, is elected as leader, and early on the book is full of optimism of what the boys expect to be fun. Piggy is less popular, but is intelligent and becomes somewhat of a lieutenant to Ralph.
However, early on there is talk of a "beastie" - scaring a lot of the boys. The boys' first attempt to work together towards being rescued is starting a signal fire (lit by Piggy's glasses) which goes out of control, scorching half of the island. One "littlun" called Walter goes missing in this fire and is never seen again, one could assume he died in the fire. Life on the island continues to be disorganised - the major characters (Jack and Ralph) have conflicting aims for the island, and the only person willing to co-operate with the building of shelters and not lose interest and play is Simon.
The descent of the boys into chaos starts, ironically, with the potential for rescue by a passing ship, but Jack had led a group off hunting but also took the twins with him who were tending to the signal fire, and the ship sails past. The ensuing argument sees a lens of Piggy's glasses broken. Jack continues through the book as pushing the boundaries of his subordinate role and becoming a tyrant. The irony is that the choir used to be the "voices of angels" but are later described as "demoniac figures".
Following a dog fight above the island, a dead parachutist lands on the island, and the twins: Sam and Eric (Samneric, as they become known) assume it is the beast - causing mass panic. An expedition to investigate ends in Ralph, Jack, and Roger (a sadistic choir boy) ascending the mountain, and running away from what they believe is the Beast. Jack denounces Ralph as a coward and calls for another election for chiefdomship but does receive a single vote.He leaves the group to create a new tribe. Most of the older boys eventually leave "Ralph's lot" to join Jack's tribe. This new tribe is quickly able to hunt down a pig, and they decide to host a feast. Before that, they sever the pig's head and place it on a stick as an offering to the "beast." Simon comes across it, seeing that it has been infested with flies, and it speaks to him, though it is through hallucination. Its messages foreshadow the fate of Simon and he faints after that. Jack's tribe hosts the feast and here, he also orders a ritualistic dance - and Simon, who has just run down from the mountain to break the news about the beast being a dead man and being talked to by the "Lord of the Flies", is mistaken as the beast and is beaten to death by the crazed boys, ultimately being drawn out to sea with the tide.
Ralph has seen his tribe dwindle in number. The larger, less civilized tribe of Jack, however, needs to steal from them - Piggy's glasses allow them to light a fire. An overly optimistic Piggy demands them back, but is killed when Roger drops a strategically placed boulder on him. Jack fails to kill Ralph at this meeting, and the next day his tribe try to hunt him down. In doing this, they set up a forest fire, which is seen by a passing naval vessel - one of the ship's officers comes ashore and rescues the boys. Ralph's brush with death is tinged with irony, Ralph had always pushed for a fire to be kept and it was fire they used to try and kill him that actually alerts the passing ship and their rescue. For the first time on the island Ralph cries, he "weeps for the end of innocence" and the "darkness of man's heart".
Analysis
Many people have interpreted "Lord of the Flies" as a work on moral philosophy. The environment of the island, a paradise with all the food, water, and all the necessities, can be seen as a metaphor for the Garden of Eden. The first appearance of the "beastie" is that of a serpent, as evil appears in the Book of Genesis, the irony being is the only evil on the island is the boys themselves.
One of the major themes of the book is on the nature of evil. This is clearly seen in the conversation that Simon holds with the head of the pig, which is known as "The Lord of the Flies" (a literal translation of the Hebrew name of Ba'alzevuv, or Beelzebub) which is a powerful demon in hell, sometimes believed to be the devil The conversation held also points to Simon as the character representing religion and good will in the novel, which is reminiscent of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
Themes and Symbols
Given the allegorical nature of the novel, characters may represent different parts of society or human nature in the microcosm of a child's world.
Ralph and the Conch
Ralph may represent democracy as he is leader by a democratic vote, and attempts to please the majority. He can also be interpreted as a representation of the ego, which governs the id and is associated with practicality.
The conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. Piggy tries desperately to protect it and ironically, when he dies, it is also destroyed. The shell effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Ralph clutches the shell desperately when he talks about his role in murdering Simon, indicating that he had to do this to preserve democracy. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack’s camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the end of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island. Anarchy quickly ensues because any hope of strong, central leadership has been abandoned. The island society collapses into chaos.
Piggy and the Glasses
Piggy may represent rational thinking as he is logical, but unpopular, and eventually Ralph comes to realise how much he depended on him and his logic, admitting "I can't think. Not like Piggy." He is arguably the most rational boy in the group, and as such his glasses may represent intuition and intelligence. This symbolism appears from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless. The physical state of the glasses may also represent the state of the social order on the island, for as their condition deteriorates, so does the order and organisation of the boys.
Jack and the Choirboys
Jack may represent totalitarianism as he does not appreciate the results of the election, eventually seizing power in a coup and ruling alone. He also represents the antithesis of democracy, dictatorship. Everyone must abide by set rules and he shows a distinct disrespect for the conch and its associations. Jack being the head choirboy but descending into savagery can also be symbolized as a fallen angel, i.e. Lucifer. His use of typical scare tactics is also similar many governments past and present. Even after the children kill Simon, thinking he is the beast, Jack says that the beast is still alive. He does this to keep the children scared, so they will look to him for help.
Ralph and Jack may also represent the Superego and the Id, respectively. The logic behind this is that Jack seeks to immediately satisfy the needs and act on instinct, fulfilling the description of the Id, while Ralph adheres and upholds the social norms of the Superego. Examples of this are both positive and negative. The positive being democracy and teamwork, while the negative being mockery of societal oddities, such as Piggy being obese, wearing glasses and having asthma, or "ass-mar", as he says in his working class accent. Also, he blatantly ignores Piggy's request that he not call him Piggy in front of the others.
Roger may represent total and absolute evil, even more so than Jack, as he is an ally to totalitarianism and truly sadistic. He is the first boy to intentionally murder another person, and targets the 'littluns' earlier in the book.
Simon
Simon may represent natural goodness because he is the only character on the island that continues being good even when the other boys forget about the rules of society. Some see similarities between him and Jesus, based on the religious references around Simon: his name (that of one of the disciples), his skill with carpentry and his killing at the hands of a group. In addition, the night before Simon dies he knows that he won't make it home all right, just as the night before Jesus' arrest Jesus says he will be betrayed. Furthermore, Simon's actions also allude to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Simon was mistakenly thought of as the beast, and the beast was initially thought to be a snake. In the novel, Simon gives the little ones the choicest fruit, as the serpent tells Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. Additionally, he is the only one on the island that sees the fear and breakdown of civilization. This is pointed out when he stated that "maybe we are the beasts". This shows that he is correctly guessing that the fear and chaos are being caused by the minds of the children and not a physical thing.
Other Boys
Sam and Eric may represent the masses as they are impressionable, and tend not to think for themselves. At several points in the book their behaviour mimics that of dogs. They can also represent the tug-of-war between good and evil; Golding describes them as "barely having enough skin" to cover both: they are "stretched".
The 'littluns' are perhaps a representation of the masses or the plebeians who are easily swayed to support one group or another but who are needed by a leader to rule over.
The Beast
The 'beastie' may represent propaganda and irrational fears, as it causes a panic and ultimately allies the boys around Jack. The fact that there is no 'beast' suggests that it is a representation of the evil in human nature. The Lord of the Flies and the 'beastie' represent the evil lurking within everyone's hearts, which, while not corporeal, is no less real. It may also be considered to be the religious belief of the island society, as it is not seen but its existence is rarely doubted, it is credited to what cannot be explained, and it is given offerings in an attempt to persuade it to spare the lives of the islanders.
Names
The names of Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Jack, and Roger all have symbolic meaning. Ralph's name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for "council" , symbolizing Ralph's role as a leader , who forms meetings and councils on the island. Piggy's name is meant to symbolize how he is vulnerable, just as the pigs on the island were- the pejorative nickname also shows the hostility towards him from the other boys. Jack's name is derived from the Hebrew name "Yakov", which literally means "one who deceives" or "one who takes over", just as Jack took the role of leadership by force from Ralph. Simon's name means "one who listens" or "one who observes" in Hebrew, symbolizing Simon's quiet, attentive behavior. "Roger" means "famous with the spear."
The Signal Fire
The signal fire becomes a measure of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is perhaps a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, it seems that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of measurement of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery — the forest fire Jack’s gang starts as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph.
Coral Island
In 1857, R.M. Ballantyne wrote a book called The Coral Island. It portrayed three boys: Ralph, Peterkin and Jack (two of these names are transferred to Golding's book; Peterkin is altered to Simon, which is an allusion to the Bible "Simon called Peter") landing on an island, much like that in Lord of the Flies. They have great adventures, typical of much children's fiction written during the period of the British Empire - the book is not a realistic projection of what boys on a deserted island would do. However, it was very successful.
A number of references to The Coral Island are made in Lord of the Flies, as Golding wrote it as an indirect response.
Golding read The Coral Island as he was growing up, and thought of Ballantyne as racist, since the book teaches that evil is associated with black skin and is external. It is ironic that in Chapter 11 of Lord of the Flies, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers" (changed to "savages" in some editions)
Lord of the Flies in Popular Culture
- An episode of The Simpsons titled Das Bus was a parody of Lord of the Flies, mirroring it in many ways. For instance while trapped on an island, they use glasses to make a fire and also hunt pigs. Another Simpsons episode, Kamp Krusty, also makes reference to the novel in that in one scene there is a pig's head with flies around it in the background.
- English heavy metal band Iron Maiden composed a song about the novel. The song "Lord of The Flies" can be found in The X Factor (1995) and was also released as a single.
- Detroit Horrorcore group Twiztid made a reference to Lord of the Flies in the song Blink on the Mostasteless Re-Release. When I close my eyes my body's paralyzed, Ingulfed in the swarm by the Lord of the flies. My eyes stay closed my temperature falls, My bed starts shaking blood dripping from the walls.
- Punk Rock band "Gatsby's American Dream" has a song inspired completely by Lord of the Flies entitled "Fable."
- Lord of the Flies served as the inspiration for Sunrise Animation's classic anime series Infinite Ryvius. The series follows the lives of over 400 teenagers stranded aboard a space battleship, the Ryvius, which was hidden inside an astronaut training center.
- It is claimed that Mark Burnett's Survivor Reality TV Series was inspired by the novel.
- It has been speculated that the Nine Inch Nails song ""Piggy"" is Trent Reznor's vision of what Simon must have said to the Pig's head (aka "The Lord of the Flies") at the end of Chapter 8.
- The book was the inspiration for Battle Royale.
- People have found many similarities between Lord of the Flies and the television show Lost − characters Sawyer and Charlie make references to the Lord of the Flies.
Notes
- The novel was written while Golding was teaching at Bishop Wordsworths School, a Church of England grammar school for boys in Salisbury, England. He taught English there from 1945 to 1962. It was because of this that The Times could comment that "Golding knows exactly what boys are like."
- Lord of the Flies was produced into two films. The first one, which was black and white production and was released in 1963, follows the novel closely. The second film was released in 1990 and has more modern visuals, but the plot differs from the original.
- Nick Hornby commented that a newer novel, The Beach (written by Alex Garland), is: "A Lord of the Flies for Generation X".
- There is an apparent inconsistency with the physics in the book. Piggy is portrayed as extremely myopic and therefore would have had concave lenses in his glasses. However a convex lens is required to focus sunlight in order to start a fire; concave lenses scatter sunlight. On the other hand, they could simply have held it upside down, making it a convex lens.
- Another scientific inconsistency is the mention of a crescent Moon rising on the eastern horizon just after sunset. If the Moon is on the side of the Earth opposite the Sun, it should be a full or three-quarter Moon, not a crescent.
- Because of the the novel's content it has been the frequent target of censors and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number 70. [1]
- Sol Yurick adapted the characters of Simon,Jack and Ralph for his novel The Warriors as Cleon,Swan and Luther.
External links
- The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
- Comprehensive detail on Lord of the Flies
- MonkeyNotes study guide
- Barron's Booknotes for Lord of the Flies
- NovelGuide
- SparkNotes
- Contemporary review Salon.com
- Lord of the Flies (1963) at IMDb
- Lord of the Flies (1990) at IMDb
- Peter Brook essay on criterionco.com
- Slashdoc : Lord of the Flies Literary analysis of the novel
ISBNs
- ISBN 0606001964 (prebound, 1954)
- ISBN 0399501487 (paperback, 1959)
- ISBN 0807231762 (audio cassette with paperback, 1977, unabridged)
- ISBN 1556515251 (paperback, 1988)
- ISBN 0026351218 (hardcover, 1990)
- ISBN 0571160565 (paperback, 1996)
- ISBN 1573226122 (paperback, 1997)
- ISBN 1561373842 (hardcover, 1998)
- ISBN 0791041352 (paper text, 1998)
- ISBN 1561373834 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 0791047776 (hardcover, 1999)
- ISBN 0764108212 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0140283331 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0571200532 (paperback, 1999)
- ISBN 0399529012 (paperback, 2002)
- ISBN 0807209546 (audio cassette, 2002, unabridged)
- ISBN 0399529209 (hardcover, 2003, Anniversary Edition)
- ISBN 1586633554 (paperback, 2003)
- ISBN 0884116956 (hardcover)
- ISBN 0807213640 (paperback)
- ISBN 0571227678 (paperback, 2005)