Lord of the flies 1954 William GOLDING (24 mars)
Summary (1/2 pages)
Characters
Themes
Opinion
The Lord of the flies is a 1954 novel written by William GOLDING. The novel begins by explaining the situation of a group of schoolboys from Britain who met themselves stranded in an uninhabited tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. This was after the plane evacuating them during the 1st world war was shot down by an enemy, the major survivors of this plane wreckage are preadolescence boys who consisted of Raph, Piggy, Jack, Simon and many other littluns. Raph and Piggy discovered a conch shell that was lying on the beach and decided to use it to convene other boys at one point as they wait to be rescued. Since they had no adult, the two came up with the idea of organizing their colleagues and nominating one of them as their leader who will be directing others until the time when grown-ups will come to rescue them. Since Raph appeared responsible and mature, all other boys agreed to elect as their leader. Although there was some objection from the boys’ choir, which was led by Jack Merridew, a redheaded boy, he allowed his members to form an unconnected clique of hunters from that of Raph.
Having authority and power, Raph came up with three primary policies to enable them to survive on the island: To have fun, to survive, and to continuously sustain a smoke signal that could alert passing ships their presence on the island, and thus they will be rescued. The group also established more democratic rule by declaring that anybody who grasps the conch has the mandate of speaking to their formal meetings and receive the attentive silence of the entire group. Further, Jack organized his choir to become a hunting group, while Simon, Jack, and Raph formed a triumvirate group of leaders with Ralph as their ultimate authority. The three inspected the island, discovering that the island is full of fruits and wild pigs, which can sustain them for some days as they wait for rescue.
The boys hunted wild pig and used the Piggy’s glasses to focus sunlight on deadwood to lit fire; Piggy had become the closest friend of Raph and an outcast by his fellow old boys “biguns” including Jack. On the other hand, Simon was busy supervising shelter building projects for littluns, whom he felt they needed extreme protections. Things started to turn upside down when cooperation began to deteriorate as the majority of the boys spend a lot of time having fun of life without adults to restrict them, and thinking about the island “beast” or the supposed monster which they were told resided in the island. Making them develop paranoia’s, but to jock who wanted to overthrow Raph promised the boys that he is going to kill the monster for them, while on the other hand, Raph insisted that it’s a myth and no such creature exists. However, the boys progressed to roast wild pig’s meat and ensuring that the signal flame doesn’t die off. Jack, who had started to gain popularity and who was in charge of hunting group one time after failing to capture the wild pig he summoned everybody go hunting, including those given the mandate to maintain the signal fire. This makes the signal fire to go off, at the same time, the vessel passed by horizon unnoticing the boys since there was no signal to alert. The incident made Raph angry, confronting Jack about his failure to maintain the signal, although the hunting group had managed to get their first kill. Don't use plagiarised sources.Get your custom essay just from $11/page
To retaliate, Jack attacks Piggy hitting him across the face and breaking one of his glasses lens, Raph Ralph blows the conch shell and rebukes the boys in a dialog intended to restore order. At the meeting, it’s was discovered littluns have started to experience nightmares since they believed that of beast or monster is lurking on the island, claiming that it hides in the sea during the day.
Not long after the meeting, some military planes engage in a battle high above the island, but the boys didn’t notice the explosion and flashing light since they slept below, as a result of the attack a parachutist drifts to earth on the signal-fire mountain, dead. Sam and Erick, who were responsible for watching the fire at night, didn’t notice the incidence as they were asleep. When the two who were twins woke up, they saw the enormous silhouette of his parachute and strange flapping noises, running to inform others that the beast has arrived and attacked them. The next day organized a hunting mission to search for the monster when they saw the shadow of the parachute from a distance; they all agreed that the beast looks like a huge, deformed ape.
This made jack to term Raph as an incapable and coward leader, who should be removed from authority, but the entire group denounced Jacks allegations, he calls the hunting group, informing them why should impeach Raph. His plan accomplishes with most of the boys joining him. Later what follows is total disagreement as Jack becomes their leader. Simon, who was suffering from epileptic, discovered that there was not the beast but a dead parachutist, he travels to inform them the truth. But when they saw Simon’s shadowy figure emerge from the jungle, they fall upon him and kill him with their bare hands and teeth. The following day they all regretted their actions, then Ralph’s group travels to Jack’s stronghold in an attempt to make Jack see reason, but Jack orders Sam and Eric tied up and fights with Ralph. What follows is a battle where Roger rolls a boulder down the mountain, killing Piggy and shattering the conch shell, and Raph barely manages to escape a torrent of spears. Jack and the rest of the boys hunt Raph like an animal in order to kill him, igniting the entire island in order to smoke Raph out. The signal attracts the attention of the British naval officer who reaches the beach only to meet exhausted Raph followed by bloodthirsty boys. The officer calms the boys asking Raph to explain what had been happening in the island knowing he is safe he narrates everything to the officer, making the boys sob, and officer turns from them in disappointment at seeing British boys demonstrating such wild, warlike behavior to their fellows.
Characters
Simon, this one most enlightened boy in the group who is also suffering from epilepsy. He is the only boy with a truly natural sense of morality in the group, and in most of his time, he spends alone. His natural sense of decency is depicted when he builds shelters and comforts littluns (little boys) on their horrible moments.
Roger, this one of the older boys in the group, he is a secretive and aggressive he thrives by harassing the littluns or those who are younger and weaker than him. He is Jackie’s closest follower and right-hand man who helps Jackie to carry out all wicked acts, or the disciplinary arm of Jack’s authoritarian rule.
Raph, he is the sterling or the major protagonist of the story, a 12 years old boy; also, he was elected as the leader of the entire group of boys. He is responsible, intelligent, and social when maintaining the discipline structure and order. He turned to be the enemy and target when the boys become wild. The author uses him to represents the civilizing instinct of a human being.
Jack, has powerful manifestations and leadership capabilities, but he is more authoritarian and dictatorial since He competes with Ralph for supremacy and is corrupted by the power he attains, suppressing the littluns and his opponents.
Piggy, he is near-sighted and plagued by asthma; he becomes a target of teasing, persecution, and bullying. He is the most intelligent boy in the group. His pair of spectacles symbolizes his greater insight into what is happening on the island.
Sam and Eric, they were twin brothers, also known as Samneric, who were close allies of Raph. They were part of bigguns group, although in most cases the stayed in their small group of two. The two were willing to follow Ralph while independent enough to criticize him privately and led by fear to move toward Jack’s side as events progress. The author uses them as ordinary people that make up every society and each leader must have them to survive.
Lord of the Flies, though he is not a living character, he has been used by the author to mold all themes of the entire book. The Lord of flies is the name given sow’s skull that Jack’s gang pierces on a stake and erects in the forest as an offering to the “beast.” To them, it signifies primeval instincts of supremacy and malice that take control of Jack’s tribe.
The beast, this is another imaginary (object) character created by the boys’ ingenuities as a result of anxieties. The creature takes physical form in the body of the dead parachutist. The fear of the beast makes the boys turn to savagery. However, the beast symbolizes the inherent evil lurking in each boy’s flawed heart.
Themes
The theme of natural evil
The entire novel depicts that despite age, everyone has the capacity to develop natural evil or mercilessness. For instance, the entire group of boys was made up of young children led by Raph, who was 12 years old. Despite them being young children, we can see the fight for power between jack and Raph, the murder of Solomon, and Piggy. However, one might think that children can’t conduct savages, but from the novel, the author depicts the evil within. Further, even the littluns, who were as young as six years old, showed their inclination toward evil, when they gathered together, and acted cruelly to each other and the land around them. Using the boys’ character, Golding’s attempt to describe their decline into cruelty as the major demonstration of human nature. Since the boys were not adults, yet their interactions resulted in casualties and deaths as a result of natural evil. Further, the Lord of the Flies, which signifies this evil, says to Simon, that you can’t kill the evil within because of its part of you, meaning that evil is a natural thing to human beings.
The theme of civilization versus savagery
The Lord of the flies’ novel entirely emphases on an internal human battle between the countervailing drive toward savagery and the need for civilization. On the side that inclines toward savagery, it’s only concerned in self-fulfillment of their essential needs; this side is prepared to use all means to achieve what it wants, including murder and violence to attain their desired goal. While the party that supports civilization feels the necessity or desire to live a systematic life guided by rules and basic respect for others. For instance, when the boys land on the island as British schoolboys who are civilized, governed by school rules, uniforms, and authority. Nevertheless, the boys live in a civilized world, amid brutal, savage wars, and that why they left England to escape from enemies’ brutal attacks but ended up crashing on the island. Consequently, the boys are seen reflecting precisely what they see in their societies or in the adult world.
For instance, Raph, Piggy, and entire crew create rules, live by them, and insist others follow them, with their main motive being to get off the island and back to the adult world. While Jack and his group revert to primal savagery, In narration, this descent is a disintegration of the morals of English boys’. While on the other hand, the fall to savagery reflects the boys’ search for more sustaining orders than Ralph offers in tribal belongingness. The appeal of rituals such as the dance, the killing chant, and the promise of protection from beast anxiety through apparent displays of strength. Leading to savagery whereby they first take out on a pig and very quickly turn on other boys, with Jack and his hunting group focusing on satisfying their corrupt needs. The two groups are not ready to appreciate each other efforts, and each wants to claim superiority over their counterpart. For instance, before Piggy is murdered, he tries to explain to Jack and the entire group why they should live by rules. But jack didn’t heed to Piggy’s instructions since he is filled with hatred, thirst for power, and savagery. Setting the entire island on fire to destroy Raph not even aware that this will also affect the whole boys’ group life on the island as there will be no source of food.
Opinion
In conclusion, the novel Lord of flies is one of the best novels that examines our contemporary societies, and explaining the entire reality that everybody should be aware of despite the age. The author uses the allegorical explanations to connect the different aspects of modern-day life, and how searching for the perfect equilibrium between savagery and civilization has become the major issue in the human face. However, although the author uses children as the main character, the novel brainstorms everybody who reads it. By explaining the difficulties that our societies are facing, especially children who are not aware of how to conclude issues or things done by the adults in the community. Similar issues that led to average on the island; whereby, boys’ were not sure whether to go about utilizing their skills revolving around civilization or their natural-born instinct of savagery. Although the book was written in the early 1950s, its story can be used to interpolated and used to solve our political, religious, and psychological problems being experienced in our contemporary societies. The book setting is also highly metaphorical to get across the fable’s morals, educating the society how it can improve itself in areas where fighting has overtaken peaceful diplomacy, compromise, and discourse. Consequently, the book has a good flow of occasions, themes and elaborations hence making it easy for any reader to acquire a voice of reason, also making the book more engaging and extremely relevant to contemporary readers.