Lord of the Flies by William Golding Dr. Bradley English I

Lord of the Flies was first published in Golding drew upon his experiences as a British naval officer during the Second World War. He based much of the plot and several of his characters on an 1858 book, The Coral Island, by Robert Ballantyne. Ballantyne’s story recounts the adventures of three British boys - Ralph, Jack, and Peterkin - who survive a shipwreck and create their own little society on an island where pigs run wild. The title of the novel is a translation of the word “Beelzebub,” which means chief or principal devil - Satan. As the boys call their leader “chief,” it could be interpreted as a shortened version for chief devil. In the story the head of a dead pig attracts many flies and is referred to the “Gift of the Darkness” as the “Lord of the Flies.”

Brief Plot Summary British schoolboys ages 6 to 12 survive a plane crash on a small coral island in the South Pacific during a world war. There are no adult survivors. The boys are intelligent, well-to-do children - the sons of aristocratic families that run society and government - who had been evacuated from a battle zone. In the beginning the boys rely on their rules of civilization taught at school to choose a leader. As time goes on, the boys grow less and less civilized. Many of the boys begin turning on one another. Some of the boys lose their lives before being rescued from the island.

William Golding Golding was born in St. Columb Minor in Cornall, England on September 19, Golding graduated from Oxford in 1935 and worked in his spare time as a writer and actor. In 1939 he began teaching philosophy and English and at age 29 he joined the Royal Navy. Lord of the Flies earned Golding enough money to retire from teaching in 1961 to write full-time. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in Until his death in 1993 he resided in Wiltshire, England with his wife and two children.

Theme All human beings have a dark side that can cause the breakdown of individual or community moral standards if this dark side gains sway over reason and right thinking. The theme of the novel is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.

Symbolism Golding relies heavily on figures of speech and symbols in the story. A log becomes the throne of the ruler, or chief; a conch, the emblem of democracy; a fist fight, a military battle; an island, the whole world. Below are many symbols used in the novel. 1.Plane crash - Failure or breakdown of society in the world Outside; spread of corrupting ideas. 2.Forest scar - This path of destruction through the forest, caused by the crashing plane, appears to represent the encroachment of corrupt civilization on the island. 3.Island - Before the arrival of the boys, the Garden of Eden; after, the corrupted world of mankind. 4.Conch - Civilized authority, democracy. 5.Eyeglasses of Piggy and Piggy himself - Insight, wisdom, knowledge.

6.Destruction of Conch - Failure or breakdown of society on the island. 7. Signal Fire - Hope 8.Imagined Beast - Fear, superstition. The boys imagine that a monster in the form of a snake, a sea monster, an ape, or other lurks nearby. 9.Dead Parachutist - The beast. The parachutist is a beast, for he has taken part in a war to kill fellow human beings. 10.Chanting and Dancing of the Hunters - Blind emotion, loss of reason. 11.Logs on which Ralph and Jack Sit - Seats of authority; thrones 12.The Big Boys - The emerging generation of evil. 13.The Little Boys - The next generation of evil. 14.The Naval Officer - The present generation of evil. 15.The Killing of the First Pig - Original sin. 16. The Killing of the Second Pig, the Sow - Release of perverted, Oedipal urges.

17.Jack’s Knife, Sticks Sharpened into Spears - Weapons of war in the macrocosmic world: a representation of masculine aggression. 18.Jack and Ralph - Perhaps similar to Cain and Abel from the bible. 19.The Impaled Pig’s Head - The evil in every man’s heart.

Characters 1.Ralph - Handsome, athletic 12-year-old elected leader by the boys. He is sensible and self-confident but gradually becomes disheartened under the burden of leadership and plots to overthrow him. 2.Jack Merridew - Aggressive older boy who envies Ralph and vies with him for leadership. He leads the choirboys. 3.Piggy - Fat, clumsy, asthmatic older boy who befriends and advises Ralph. Piggy is an orphan. 4.Simon - Timid, highly sensitive older boy who respects everyone and learns a dark secret. 5.Sam and Eric - Twins who support Ralph in his struggle with Jack. 6.Roger - Cruel older boy who seems to enjoy harming others. 7.The Choirboys - Singers led by Jack. They remain loyal to him in his struggle with Ralph. 8. Naval Officer - British seaman who arrives at the end of the novel to rescue the boys.

9.Bill - One of the choirboys. Bill is a follower of Jack who later becomes a hunter. 10.Henry - A littleun who with Percival and Johnny, is attacked with rocks by Roger and Maurice while they are building sand castles near the beach. 11.Percival Madison - This littleun would always give a full introduction of himself; Percival Wemys Madison. 12.Johnny - He is the first of the boys to reach the beach on the first day, answering the conch’s call. He is a littleun aged about six years, Johnny is subject to torment by Roger and Maurice. 13.Maurice - Similar to the hostile Roger but less cruel, Maurice is very much a follower. Originally a choirboy, he takes part with Roger in throwing rocks at the littleuns. 14.Mulberry Birthmark boy - A littleun, he is the first to invoke the name Of the “beast” and spread fear among the boys.

Detailed Map of Island