1. Plot Summary of Lord of the Flies Social and Historical Context
Key Concepts
Characterisation: A creation of a fictional character. The direct or explicit way of using the literary device is by using another character, narrator or the protagonist themselves to tell the readers about a subject or idea. An indirect use is when the audience has to deduce for themselves the characteristics from the character by observing thought process, behavior and communication.
Protagonist: A leading character or one of the major characters in a play.
Antagonist: A person who opposes or is hostile, an adversary
Plot Summary of Lord of the Flies
During an unnamed time of war, a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is shot down over an ocean. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy, find each other on the sand. Ralph finds a conch shell and he blows it like a horn. Other boys begin to appear on the sand, including Jack Merridew, leader of a choir. The boys all vote for Ralph to be leader, even though Jack made it clear he wanted to be in charge. Ralph makes Jack, leader of the ‘Hunters’. Ralph finds it hard keeping order on the island, only Simon, a quiet and kind boy helps Ralph build Shelters. The boys make fire using Piggy’s glasses and that gets out of control. Jack is eventually successful at killing one of the pigs that inhabit the island and begins to gain more power and respect than Ralph.
All the boys begin to believe that a ‘beast’ inhabits the island, the younger boys on the island, ‘the littleuns’ are terrified.
Jack uses this fear and his new ability to kill to form a new tribe in which he is chief. The island continues to descend into chaos and two boys end up dead. A great fire consumes the island and a passing Naval ship spots the flames and arrives on the shore.
Language
Simile: An explicit comparison between two things using ‘like’ or ‘as’
Metaphor: An implicit comparison between two things not using ‘like’ or ‘as’
Personification: Attributing human-like qualities to objects, ideas or animals
Allegory: Is a story with a symbolic level of meaning where characters and settings represent other things, eg. Ralph and the conch represent democratic government
Allusion: This is one when the author references either directly or indirectly another piece of art or literature. E.g. There’s many indirect versions to the Bible and the Garden of Eden.
Foreshadowing: Gives hints about events that come later in the story. Eg. Rocks falling from the ledge during the boys’ first expedition around the island.
Hyperbole: Is the exaggeration of details to prove a point eg. We’ve got to make smoke up there or die.
Archetype: Typical traits eg. Jack is the archetype of the villain
Symbolism: Use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities eg. The conch symbolizes order
Dialogue: A conversation between two or more people.
Pathetic Fallacy: When the weather and nature reflects the character’s emotions and mood
Key Themes and Symbols
Themes: An idea, belief or message that appears more than once in a piece of literature
Civilisation vs. Savagery: Conflict between the two completing impulses, the instincts to live by rules and order or to act violently and enforce one’s will.
Loss of Innocence: The boys’ progress from well-behaved, orderly children to cruel blood-thirsty hunters.
Power: The struggle for power between the leaders, Ralph and Jack, also consider how they use their power.
Fear: The boys’ fear overtakes them, they are fearful of the beast and of each other.
Symbols:
Conch: Symbolises order, civilisation and democracy
Piggy’s Glasses: Intelligence and power
The Signal Fire: This symbol changes, rescue, hope, civilisatiion and chaos
The Beast: Fear, the more the boys believe in the beast the more savage they become.
The Lord of the Flies: The Pig’s head on the stick becomes the manifestation of evil.
Social and Historical Context
William Golding: Was an English Teacher in a private school. He said he understood boys with ‘awful precision’. He wanted to tell a realistic adventure story involving boys unlike R M Ballantye’s Coral Island published in Golding was also a Naval Officer in WW2 and had seen first hand the terrible things men do to each other in war. He witnessed The Holocaust and the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Japan. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983.
WW2: A Global War lasting from Ruler of the Nazi Party,
Adolf Hitler and his rise to power can parallel Jack and his rise to power.
Cold War: This was a state of political tension between The USA and The Soviet Union after WW2. Both countries used the threat of Atomic Power and fear spread throughout the world.
British Empire: When the boys land on the island they say ‘this is ours’ and ‘we’re British and the best at everything.’ Traditional British views of Empire and dominance are shown here. At the time that the novel was written Britain was losing lots of its colonies and empire.
Freud: Founder of psychoanalysis. He developed the idea of the theory of the unconscious. The I.D. is the savage and animal inside us, our natural instincts. The Superego is the good side of us. The force to always do right. The ego is our conscious mind, the thing that recognizes both good and evil.
Structure
Structure: Narrative structure, a literary element, is generally described as the structural framework that underlines the order and manner in which a narrative is presented to the reader, listener or viewer.
Third Person Omniscient: The narrator moves back and forth omnisciently between different scenes and thoughts. Chapter 8 is a good example of how the point of view moves between Jack and Ralph and Piggy. Having an omniscient narrator allows the reader to be objective.
Deus Ex Machina: This means ‘God of the Machine’ in Greek. This is a plot device in which a problem is suddenly solved.
Climax: The climax or turning point in the narrative is a point of highest tension and drama.
Characters
Ralph- a leading character, we are introduced to him first. He is voted chief, he struggles between being civilized and becoming savage. His father is a naval officer.
Piggy – He is fat, has asthma and is bullied by the other boys. Piggy is intelligent and always strives for rules and order.
Jack- He is arrogant and dominant, he has a thirst for hunting and killing. He makes himself chief and splits the boys into two groups.
Simon- He is kind and quiet. Simon appreciates nature and learns the true identity of the beast. He helps the littluns and Ralph.
Roger: He likes violence and hunting. He follows Jack and becomes part of his tribe.
Sam n Eric: They are twins who follow Ralph. They see ‘the beast’ and have little individual identity.
Littleuns: These are the younger boys on the island. They are often ignore or used to gain power.