Lord of the Flies

For other uses, see Lord of the Flies (disambiguation).

Lord of the Flies***************

The original UK Lord of the Flies book cover
Author	William Golding
Cover artist	Pentagram
Language	English
Genre	Allegorical novel
Publisher	Faber & Faber
Publication date	September 17th, 1954
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Paperback & Hardback)
Pages	248 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-571-05686-5 (first edition, paperback)
OCLC	47677622

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It discusses how culture created by man fails, using as an example a group of British schoolboys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves, but with disastrous results. Its stances on the already controversial subjects of human nature and individual welfare versus the common good earned it position 68 on the American Library Association’s list of the one hundred most frequently challenged books of 1990–1999. In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the one hundred best English-language novels from 1923 to present.

Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was Golding’s first novel, and although it was not a great success at the time—selling fewer than three thousand copies in the United States during 1955 before going out of print—it soon went on to become a bestseller, and by the early 1960s was required reading in many schools and colleges. It was adapted to film in 1963 by Peter Brook, and again in 1990 by Harry Hook.

The title is said to be a reference to the Hebrew name of Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Ba’al-zvuv, “god of the fly”, “host of the fly”, or literally “Lord of Flies”), a name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan. The title of the book, in turn, has itself become a metaphor for a power struggle in a chaotic situation.

Background

The book was written during the first years of the Cold War and the atomic age; the events arise in the context of an unnamed nuclear war. The boys whose actions form the superficial subject of the book are from a school in Great Britain. Some are ordinary students, while others arrive as an already-coherent body under an established leader; so does, for example, the choir. The book portrays their descent into savagery, contrasting with other books that had lauded the inevitable ascendancy of a higher form of human nature, as in Two Years’ Vacation, published by Jules Verne in 1888. Left to themselves in a paradisiacal country, far from modern civilization, the well-educated children regress to a primitive state.

At an allegorical level, the central theme is the conflicting impulses towards civilization—live by rules, peacefully and in harmony—and towards the will to power. Other subjects include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. How these play out, and how different people feel the influences of these, forms a major subtext of the story.

Plot summary

The story itself is set on an isolated island, during a war. A British plane has crashed and somehow most of the boys on board got out before the torrential rain and tide dragged the wreck out to sea (causing a "scar" on the landscape), but there were no adult survivors. Two boys, the fair-haired Ralph and an overweight, bespectacled boy reluctantly nicknamed Piggy, form the initial focus, as they begin to make sense of their new surroundings. They soon find a white shell and Piggy suggests that Ralph use the conch as a horn to call for any other survivors who might be nearby. Thus Ralph initiates the island’s first assembly where all of the survivors turn out to be male children, none seemingly over the age of thirteen: “biguns” (a few older boys) and “littluns” (several younger boys).

The survivors rapidly side with one of the two dominant boys: Ralph, and another older boy named Jack Merridew, a bony, freckled redhead who is the head of a choir group that was among the survivors. After a brief election, Ralph is voted chief, losing only the votes of Jack’s loyal fellow choirboys. The newly elected leader convokes everyone to work toward two common goals, the first one being to have fun and the second one to be rescued by maintaining a constant fire signal, which will be lit using Piggy’s glasses. For a time, the boys work together towards erecting shelters, gathering food and water, and keeping the fire going. The choirboys then set their own objective, namely to become the hunters of the local animals.

Jack becomes an immediate threat to Ralph’s leadership, obviously envious of Ralph’s ascent to chief. Actuated by his jealousy, Jack endeavours to empower himself instead by turning his choir group into “hunters”, who are responsible for hunting for meat and taking care of the fire. Together, Ralph, Jack, and a black-haired boy named Simon become the supreme trio among the children, going on a short expedition to confirm that they are indeed on an island. Piggy, the most sensible of the bunch, is quickly outcast by his fellow “biguns” and becomes an unwilling source of mirth for the other children. Ralph, in addition to supervising the project of constructing shelters, feels an instinctive need to protect the “littluns”.

The original semblance of order imposed by Ralph quickly deteriorates, with little work being done by most. They fail to put their plans of constructing shelters into action due to their idleness. At one point, Jack summons all of his hunters to hunt down a wild pig, even the ones who were supposed to be maintaining the fire. While they are preying on the pig, a ship passes near the island; however, with no one to maintain the smoke signal, the children are not discovered, let alone rescued. Although the chase of the pig turns out to be the group’s first successful hunt, Ralph is greatly infuriated upon learning that they have missed a potential rescue. Around the same time, many of the “littluns” begin to believe that the island is inhabited by a monster, quickly referred to by all as “the beast”. After the smoke signal incident and because of the legendary monster which has begun to fill the boys’ nightmares, Ralph convenes them to refute rumours of such a creature once and for all. The meeting, however, turns into something of a riot and Jack gains control of the discussion by boldly promising to kill the beast, again challenging Ralph’s authority as chief. Later, Ralph envisages relinquishing his position, though Piggy discourages him from doing so while the two of them and Simon yearn hopefully for some guidance from the adult world.

The identical twins Sam and Eric — often referred to collectively as “Samneric” — are in charge of the signal fire that night, but fall asleep. When they awake, they come across the corpse and the open parachute of a fighter pilot who has landed on the island; reckoning it to be the “beast” they report it during the next assembly. In an expedition to locate such a beast, Ralph and Jack come upon a cavernous part of the island which they christen Castle Rock. Ralph and Jack together discover the dead pilot atop the mountain and also fearfully mistake it to be the sleeping beast. Jack blows the conch to call another assembly, over the course of which he confirms the beast’s existence to the others. The meeting results in a schism, splitting the children into two groups. Ralph’s group continues holding the belief that preserving the signal fire is the necessary focus. Jack becomes the chief of his own tribe, focusing on hunting while exploiting the iron-clad belief in the beast. As Jack and the hunters have already slain their first pig, they beguile defectors from Ralph’s group into joining them with the promise of meat, fun, and, most importantly, protection from the beast.

Jack’s tribe gradually becomes more animalistic, emphasising the practice of applying face paint from coloured clay discovered by Sam and Eric and charred remains of trees. The narrative voice in the story reveals to the reader that these painted faces represent the hunters’ masking their more civilised selves in order to liberate their inner “savages.” The face paint becomes a motif which recurs throughout the story, with more intensity toward the end.

Simon, a part of Ralph’s tribe, who had "cracked" and went off looking for the beast by himself, finds the head of the hunters’ dead pig on a stick, left as an offering to the beast. Simon then undergoes a peculiar experience, presumably by hallucination, in which he sees the pig head, swarming with scavenging flies, as the “Lord of the Flies,” and believes that it is talking to him, identifying itself as the real “Beast”. It discloses the truth about itself—that the boys themselves “created” the beast, and that the real beast was inside them all. Simon also locates the dead parachutist who had been mistaken for the beast, and is the sole member of the group to recognise that it is a cadaver instead of a sleeping monster. Simon eventually arrives at the peak of a tribal ritual at Jack’s tribe, pursued by the ravenous flies, and endeavours to explain the truth about the beast and the dead man atop the mountain. However, Jack’s tribe, still reeling in bloodlust from their most recent kill, blindly attack and murder Simon, whom they mistake for the beast. They kill him in the shadows in their now tribal dance and ominous chant “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”. As Ralph took part in the murder along with Piggy, though both indirectly, he now feels intense remorse.

The savages then raid Ralph’s camp and attack the non-hunters in order to steal Piggy’s glasses for making a cooking fire (having grown tired of raiding their camp for burning sticks). By this time, Ralph’s tribe consists of just himself, Piggy, and Sam and Eric, among the remaining littluns. A funny moment during this raid is that Ralph and Eric, without realising, fight each other in the darkness. They all go to the rock fort of Jack’s tribe at Castle Rock to try to get back Piggy’s glasses so that he can see again. In the ensuing confrontation, the dark boy Roger triggers a rock ambush in which Piggy is struck by a boulder and thrown off the edge of the 40 foot cliff to his death. The conch is shattered simultaneously. Eric and Sam are captured and tortured by Roger to become part of Jack’s tribe. Ralph is forced to flee for his own safety, now completely alone.

The following morning, in the final sequence of the book, Jack and Roger lead their tribe on a manhunt for Ralph with the intention of killing him. Ralph has secretly confessed to Sam and Eric (believing them still loyal to him) where he will hide. The twins, however, are forced to betray Ralph’s position. Yet he escapes with his life in many close calls as the savages tear apart the island to track him down. Jack, now nearly complete in his demonic role as the ultimate savage, sets the island foliage ablaze, which has until then been the only source of food and shelter for the boys. Ralph skilfully evades capture on multiple occasions but soon is so stricken by terror and exhaustion from running that he abandons all hope, expecting to be discovered and slain. However, the fire which Jack has started attracts the attention of a nearby warship.

A naval officer lands on the island near where Ralph is lying, and his sudden appearance brings the children’s fighting to an abrupt halt. Upon learning of the boys’ activities, the officer remarks that he would have expected better from British boys, believing them only to be playing a game, unaware of the two murders (of Simon and Piggy) that have occurred and the imminent occurrence of a third one. In the final scene, although now certain that he will be rescued after all, Ralph cries, in mourning for his friend Piggy, his own loss of innocence, and his newfound awareness of the darkness of human nature.

Discrepancies

• In chapter four, one of the littluns gets sand in his eyelid and washes it out with his tears, which should be impossible given the location of the tear ducts.

• Piggy makes numerous references to being heavily nearsighted, however, for his glasses to be able to light a fire, they would need to be convex, making him farsighted.

Allegorical relationships

The relationships displayed in the novel have not yet been fully examined. However, there are a few clues that can be drawn from the novel.

Ralph

When he and the others arrive on the island, he quickly establishes himself as the chief of the group, although not by any harsh, overt or physical action, but by being elected. Ralph has many leadership skills that Piggy does not and he knows when to and when not to talk (which separates him from Piggy again). Ralph suggests that a fire be lit, hoping that it will increase their chance of being saved; he is also the one who thinks up the idea of the huts on the beach and the meeting place. Ralph also progresses with order and rationality when the dead paratrooper is found on the mountain and causes the younger boys to panic. In addition to all this, it should be noted that Ralph has a tendency to be polite and logical in the tensest of moments; for example, when the children are obliged to investigate Castle Rock, Ralph takes the lead despite being horribly afraid of the “beast”. When Simon expresses his doubts about the existence of such a creature, Ralph responds “politely, as if agreeing about the weather.” Ralph embodies logic, order and civilization.

Piggy

Piggy, whose real name is never revealed, is Ralph’s chief adviser and “true, wise friend.” He represents the role of intelligence, reason and civilization. His identity with civilization is symbolized in many ways, including the fact that his hair never lengthens even as the others’ does, and his refusal to accept the existence of ghosts or the beast. Even at the beginning, the limited influence of civilization is symbolized by the limitations of Piggy’s own body: his obesity, his often debilitating asthma, and his thick spectacles. His deteriorating sway is further represented as his glasses are first broken, then later stolen by Jack, leaving him all but completely helpless. He makes a final appeal for order and reason, and is horribly killed for his efforts. With his gruesome death, simultaneous with the destruction of the conch, reason and civility are gone completely, and the descent into savagery is consummate.

The Conch

When first blown, it convokes the children to an assembly, where Ralph is elected leader. They also agree that only the boy holding the conch may speak at meetings to forestall arguments and chaos, and that it should be passed around to those who wish to voice their opinion. The conch symbolises democracy and, like Ralph, civility and order within the group. It is, however, eventually smashed into thousands of pieces by the same rock which has killed Piggy. Therefore, the conch’s destruction can be perceived as the death of order on the island.

Jack

Jack epitomizes the worst aspects of human nature when not controlled or tempered by society. Like Ralph, Jack is a natural leader. However, unlike Ralph, Jack appeals to more basic desires in the children and relies on his status as leader of the choirboys (presumably ordained by the adults). Although his way of behaving is neither disruptive nor violent at the beginning of the book, he does at that time express an ungovernable desire to hunt and kill a pig. As the story progresses, this desire grows more and more irrational, to the point where he abandons the fire (and causes the boys to miss a potential rescue) simply in order to hunt. This sparks tension between Jack and Ralph which leads to a clear dividing line between the two appearing, on one hand Jack is the irrational one, whereas, on the other Ralph represents rationality. Eventually, in the later part of the book when Ralph’s leadership is more undermined, Jack’s true evil nature is exposed. He leads most of the boys away from Ralph, and forms a separate group, based not on democracy but obedience and where violence and torture are carried out. The tale ends with Jack leading many of the boys in a frenzied attempt to kill Ralph, which is only prevented by the abrupt and unexpected arrival of a naval officer.

Roger

Roger, at first, is a simple "bigun" who's having fun during his stay on the island. Along with Maurice, he attacks a group of small children and destroy their sand castle. Maurice feels guilt for kicking sand into a child's eye, while Roger throws stones at the fleeing children. But the book states that Roger clearly threw the stones to miss, and felt the presence of civilization and society preventing him from harming the children. Later, once he feels that all aspects of western society are gone, he is left alone to his animal urges. He kills Piggy with a stone that was no longer aimed to miss. He represents man's pure, animal evil, that is only restrained by the rules of society. He is the entire theme of the book embodied in one person.

Simon

Simon is a character who represents peace and tranquillity, with some references to Jesus Christ. He is very in-tune with the island, and often experiences extraordinary sensations when listening to its sounds. He also has an extreme aversion to the pig’s head, the “Lord of the Flies”, which derides and taunts Simon in a hallucination. After this experience, Simon emerges from the forest only to be brutally killed by Jack’s people, who mistake him for the beast. The final words that the Lord of the Flies had said to Simon vaguely predicted that his death was about to occur in this manner.

Naval Officer

Arriving moments before Ralph's seemingly impending death, the Naval Officer acts as a form of deus ex machina. The Officer is surprised and disappointed to learn that the boys' society has collapsed into chaos, stating that he would have expected "a better show" from the British children.

The arrival of the officer triggers an interesting phenomenon; Ralph's, and to a larger extent, Jack's authority is completely dissolved by the officer's arrival. Upon the officer asking who is "in charge", the struggle of the book is rendered instantly obsolete: "Who's boss here?" "I am." said Ralph loudly". Jack, who was previously characterized as a powerful leader is reduced to: "A little boy who wore the remains of an extraordinary black cap on his red hair and who carried the remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist", somewhat abruptly demonstrating the illusion of authority and control.

The Lord of the Flies

Namesake of the novel, the Lord of the Flies is literally a pig's head that has been cut off by Jack, put on a stick sharpened at both ends, stuck in the ground, and offered to the "beast". Created out of fear, the Lord of the Flies used to be a mother sow who, though at one time clean, loving, and innocent, has now become a manically smiling, bleeding image of evil. This transformation clearly represents the transformation that Jack and the boys have undergone during their time in the island. In addition, the name 'Lord of the Flies' is the literal English translation of Beelzebub, a demonic figure that is often considered synonymous with Satan.

The Lord of the Flies is a physical manifestation of the evil that is in the boys, and the evil that Golding believed existed in all of us.

Film adaptations

There have been two film adaptations:

• Lord of the Flies (1963), directed by Peter Brook
• Lord of the Flies (1990), directed by Harry Hook

Audiobooks

• Lord of the Flies (1999), read by Tim Pigott-Smith
• Lord of the Flies (Listening Library, 2005), read by the author

References to other works

Lord of the Flies borrows key elements from R. M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1857). Ballantyne's book, a simple adventure without any deep social themes, portrays three boys, Ralph, Peterkin and Jack, who land on an island. Golding used two of the names in his book, and replaced Peterkin with Simon. Lord of the Flies has been regarded as Golding's response showing what he believed would happen if children (or generally, people) were left to form a society in isolation.

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. In Chapter 11 of the original Lord of the Flies, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers." This was changed to "savages" in some editions and "Indians" in the mass media publication.

Influence

Many writers have borrowed plot elements from Lord of the Flies.

Printed works

Stephen King has stated that the Castle Rock in Lord of the Flies was the inspiration for the town of the same name that has appeared in a number of his novels. The book itself also appears prominently in his novels Hearts in Atlantis and Cujo. King's fictional town in turn inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment.

The novel The Butterfly Revolution by William Butler is described on its front cover as being a "classic in the tradition of Lord of the Flies." Both books concern children separated from society who then form their own society.

Television

Also the "Das Bus" episode of The Simpsons is based on this book. The episode Kamp Krusty also has several elements from Lord of the Flies as well (a pig's head on a spear, kids using primitive weapons and wearing war paint and a burning effigy).

The South Park episode The Wacky Molestation Adventure parodies Lord of the Flies, in which Eric Cartman represents Ralph, while Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski both represent Jack. In a twist of irony, the civilised tribe in the episode (Cartman's tribe) is more evil than the savage tribe. Kenny McCormick may have represented Simon, because he was seen dead by a couple trying to discover what went wrong.

Music

• The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden composed a song about the novel, with the title "Lord of the Flies".
• The debut studio album, Boy, by Irish rock band U2 was loosely based on the novel's theme of childhood corruption, and the final song on the album, "Shadows and Tall Trees," takes its title from the novel's chapter of the same name. Additionally, some printings of the book's cover are similar to the cover of the album.

See also

• Heart of Darkness

External links

• The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
• Criterion Collection essay by Peter Brook
• Slashdoc: Lord of the Flies Literary analysis of the novel
• Nobelprize.org: Play the Lord of the Flies Game
• Lord of the Flies characters and plot
• Lord of the Flies Reviews