Lord of the flies
Chapter
Events
Themes
The boys’ reactions
Plane crash on a tropical island; Ralph and Piggy find a conch, blow it and call other boys;
boys vote Ralph for their chief; Jack doesn’t dare to kill a pig
Beauty of the island
Glamour like a paradise
Leadership
Friendship
Survival
What it means to kill
They enjoy freedom, especially Ralph; games, adventure, fun, friendship
Boys build fire on the mountain’s top to get rescued; little ones are afraid of an imaginary beast; due to their carelessness they burn down a big part of the island; a small boy is missed
Rules
First signs of brutality (grabbing Piggy’s glasses)
Small boys are afraid of the beast and older ones not really
Jack tries to kill a pig but fails; Ralph & Simon build shelters for protection against rain; first quarrel between Ralph & Jack;
Simon discovers a secret place in a clearing in the jungle where he can hide;
Fire is a symbol for civilization and protection but also for danger
Jack enjoys hunting
Nobody supports Ralph in building the huts ® People are selfish
Jack’s indifferent to other boys’ ideas
Boys think that Simon is batty; he’s a dreamer and a bit strange to them; Jack is angry because he failed; Ralph is frustrated; Fear also comes up to the older ones; selfishness
Little ones are quite happy and don’t miss their parents; they are still aware of the rules of civilization (Roger teases a little boy); Jack paints his face ® camouflage; ship passes but the fire is out because some boys don’t obey the rules; Jack kills a pig ® enjoys killing; first real conflict; Jack knocks Piggy down and breaks one glass of his specs; Jack doesn’t accept criticism; they roast the pig and react the killing scene
Leadership ® 2 different types of leaders (Jack & Ralph)
Change from civilized schoolboys to painted & long-haired savages
They feel hidden behind their masks
Gap between hard work and fun
Violence and cruelty are increasing
Jack can’t stand criticism; Ralph changes the sides (feels sorry for piggy)
Ralph wants the boys to talk about their fears because the little ones are afraid of a beast;
Jack attacks Ralph rules and the assembly breaks up; rules weren’t obeyed;
Teamwork ® they ought to share the work
Ralph has got the makings of a good leader (®repeat things, short and simple, knows what is important)
The original sin
The power of fear (difficulty of fighting against irrational fear
Breaking up the rules ® split up ® chaos
Ralph begins to behave like an adult; he feels the burden of responsibility;
Jack is aggressive;
Ralph almost wants to renounce to his leadership
Dead man with a parachute lands on the island; Sam and Eric think it’s the beast; Jack wants to hunt it; they search for the beast ® tension between Ralph and Jack;
They find “castle rock”
Increasing fear
Hunger for hunting
Tension and conflict
Leadership gets more difficult to Ralph
Boys are annoyed of Ralph ® they think Ralph behaves too much like a grown-up; Ralph feels tired of responsibility
Ralph is day-dreaming and he hits a bore ® proud;
They play a mock-hunt ® during that they hurt Roger; they climb up the mountain to the beast & see a bulging ape ® flee in terror
Irony: the beast (parachutist) they fear is harmless
Hatred and competition
Antagonism between Ralph and Jack
Fear, bloodlust & violence
Jack tries to dominate and he gets more and more aggressive; Ralph misses his home;
He realises that they gradually turn into savages
This time Jack is calling a meeting ® he wants to replace Ralph; Jack behaves like a bully because he has split up their small community; Jack and his hunters put a sow-head on a stick as a sacrifice to appease the beast;
Jack invites to a feast; Simon has a fit of epileptic
Difference between “leader” and “chief”
Lord of the Flies = devil = Satan
Evil is inside of all of us
Jack is hurt first because Ralph is voted as chief again; with the painted faces the hunters feel like hidden; Simon understands that there’s evil inside of human beings
Simon discovers the parachutist; Jack has a feast again ® mock hunt; in the frenzy Simon is mistaken for the beast ® they kill him; Simon’s body is washed out
Power and authority
Violence
Murder and cruelty
Rituals
Jack is like a dictator and is demagogic; the hunter’s chant and dance turn to a ritual dance; Simon discovers the truth, but doesn’t succeed in informing the others; Jack is the leader now and treats the others as his subjects;
Ralph cannot admit that they joined the ritual; Jack controls his group; hunters steal Piggy’s specs ® fire; Jack and his hunters have an own territory on the island, castle rock
Brutality
The savages take what they need without taking care of others
No rules, 2 groups caused by Jack’s incompetence
Ralph and Piggy refuse to admit their guilt; they have a bad conscience; Ralph is longing for security; Jack establishes his authority
Ralph and the others realise that Piggy’s specs have been stolen ® they want to get it back and go to castle rock; the savages refuse to give the specs back; during the fight between Ralph and Jack, Roger kills Piggy by purpose and also splits the conch; Samneric are kidnapped
No fairness between the groups
Ralph’s group understands the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought
No stop at killing human-beings (Roger kills Piggy) ® whereas Simon’s death was more or less by accident, Piggy’s death was murder
Symbol of authority and rules, the conch, is broken
Ralph is alone after all; Piggy needs the conch to be respected; Roger is the cruellest of all the boys; Jack feels indifferent about Piggy
Ralph tries to contact Samneric, who have already joined Jack’s tribe;
The savages plan to chase and kill Ralph ® Ralph flees into the jungle; Jack burns the jungle to catch Ralph ® Ralph gets to the beach;
Naval officer finds the island due to the big jungle fire ® get rescued
No signs of civilization anymore ® no mercy
Torture made Samneric to speak and betray Ralph
Irony of the officer: he asks if they were playing war
Samneric have to obey Jack and join his tribe; Ralph is alone and Jack and his tribe want to kill him;
When the naval officer asks for the chief of the boys and Ralph answers, Jack is astonished
Ralph:
Ralph is described as a 12-year-old, handsome boy, very likeable. Already from the beginning he shows makings of a leader. Therefore he gets voted for the leader, although he didn’t seek for a leadership. He accepts the task that he was chosen and wants to live up with it. He is smart, thinks optimistic, and knows what’s important for the others. Ralph sticks to his ideas and because of his fairness he is willing to share his leadership with Jack.
He behaves sensibly and courageously and not a coward. As a chief he tries to cheer the others up.
Another making of his leadership is that he has a lot of common sense, rationality and responsibility. He knows that without rules they won’t survive. Ralph soon realizes that fears are difficult to handle. The boy has some natural authority, charisma and has a strong moral sense for what is wrong.
Simon’s murder causes a bad conscience in him and he also admits it.
As a good leader he cares for the welfare of the others and worries about them.
Jack:
Jack has also the makings of a leader but just the opposite of Ralph. Instead of being understanding he dominates his subjects and rules like a dictator or even a tyrant (® anarchy = chaos, no rules, the strongest one dominates). He is egotistic and wants to control others, and he doesn’t care for the welfare of the other boys.
Jack enjoys the admiration, for this reason he more or less likes the situation on the island and so he doesn’t really want to be rescued because in the world of the grown-ups he would be a normal 12-year-old boy again.
He releases ruthlessness by his instincts, the power he gets corrupts him. Jack envies Ralph’s chief position from the very beginning; however, at the end he is neither a boy, nor a leader, but a tyrant, a savage chief respectively. William Golding shows Jack’s evil inside at the beginning when he and his choir appears like a dark creature or a snake.
Simon:
Simon is really shy and sensitive, just due to the reason that he has a personality, which cannot express his ideas. The others don’t take him seriously and treat him like a crazy outsider. Although he is friendly and helpful nobody really accepts him because he is so batty and imaginative, that you can say he lives in his own world.
In contrast to Piggy who is the rational type, who acts and thinks with his brain, Simon has insight by his intuition, which can make him courageous.
Simon is able to resist the devil’s temptations, although he lacks of self-confidence, so he becomes a martyr who dies for the truth.
Roger:
At the beginning he is an introverted boy and not much different from the others. However, soon it gets obvious that evil is inside of him. First he teases one of the little ones by throwing stones at him, but he’s still aware of the rules and the limits of civilization. Finally he turns to the cruellest “savage” and is even able to kill Piggy by purpose.
He commits that murder without Jack’s order, but with his silent agreement.
He enjoys hurting others and doesn’t feel guilty about it. Due to his lack of moral scruples, he becomes a merciless torturer and Jack’s “hangman”.
Piggy:
Piggy differs from the others, which is apparent from the beginning on. He is a boy from working class, already causing a social difference between him and the boys. Additionally he is handicapped by his illness.
Nevertheless he is the most intelligent of the boys and because of his common sense and his perceptive and practical thinking he often knows what to do.
Although he seems more grown-up (mature) and quite wise the others doesn’t respect him. Piggy cannot talk to the boys and sometimes Jack teases him that much that he is unable to control himself. He has a scientific view of life and trusts in rules and order, in Ralph.
Piggy bears the danger from Jack in his mind, but he underestimates it. First he doesn’t believe in fears and beasts but later on fear also grips him.
He knows exactly that Simon’s death was a murder but he tries to suppress it. As already mentioned, Piggy lacks of intuition in contrast to Simon.
Symbols:
Fire: Fire is an ambivalent symbol because on the one hand it stands for danger but on the other hand it signifies protection, secure and food.
Irony: Jacks jungle fire attracted the officer’s attention
Conch: The conch is a symbol for belonging together and democratic order and society. It stands for fairness and stability and actually the conch makes it possible to create a community in the beginning.
Furthermore it signifies authority and civilization, and William Golding shows that rules, stability and fairness can be easily broken.
Painted faces:
When the boys are painted they are deliberated from civilization, they become more and more savages. They don’t have to obey rules and orders anymore and can do what they want.
Dance and Chant:
The singing is important because it’s a sign for belonging together and they can forget their fears. However, when they are all united in this crowd nobody of them think for themselves anymore, which makes it easier for the leader to control them.
Parachutist/The beast:
He is symbolic for the world of the grown-ups and that there is no difference from the boys’ situation. “The adults world” is even crueller.
The beast is actually the opposite of the conch and shows the dark side in man.
Specs:
The specs are a symbol for intelligence because without intelligence (specs) they wouldn’t be able to light a fire. For Jack Piggy’s glasses strengthen his power because from the moment he has stolen them he confirms his leadership.
Message:
The devil is inside of all human beings. Man makes progress in all sciences but no progress in mind. They have never learned to live together peacefully.
Evil can destroy every community, no matter how unified they are.
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