Lord of the Flies

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Image:Lordoftheflies 1997edition.jpg Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It was Golding's first novel, and was published in 1954. Although it was not a great success at the time — selling fewer than 3,000 copies in the United States during 1955 before going out of print — it went on to become a bestseller, and required reading in many schools and colleges. It was adapted to film in 1963 by Peter Brook, and again in 1990. The title is a reference to Beelzebub (from the Hebrew name Baalzvuv בעל זבוב), a synonym for the Devil.

It is generally regarded as a classic of postwar English literature. It depicts the savagery of a group of schoolboys stranded on a desert island without any adults, in the aftermath of a plane crash, while fleeing wartime Britain. The war is presumably a World War Three, as Ralph mentions "We might get taken prisoner by the Reds.", which would not have been a concern for the British during World War Two. The book was published during the Red Scare, before the end of McCarthyism and as the Cold War was building up.

1 Plot summary
2 Analysis
3 Themes and Symbols
4 Coral Island
5 Notes
6 External links
7 ISBNs

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Plot summary

Image:LordOfTheFliesBookCover.jpg Image:Lord of the flies.jpg

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A number of boys crash land on a desert island, amid rumours of an atomic war. The first two characters to meet are the athletic, somewhat heroic Ralph and a bespectacled, fat boy known only as Piggy, who use a conch to call the other boys to them from across the island. One other potential leader arises from the boys - Jack, who had been leading a choir. Ralph, in fact, is elected as leader, and early on the book is full of optimism of what the boys expect to be fun. This is reflective of Ralph being a kind, democratic character, and Piggy his less popular, but intelligent back-up.

However, early on there is talk of a "beastie" - scaring a lot of the boys. The boys' first attempt to work together towards being rescued ends up in them starting a signal fire (lit by Piggy's glasses) which goes out of control, scorching half of the island. The life on the island continues to be disorganised - the major players (Jack and Ralph) have differing aims for the island, and the only person willing to co-operate with the building of shelters is Simon - who is often seen as representing religion, goodwill and spiritualism in the novel.

The descent of the boys into chaos starts, ironically, with the potential for rescue, but Jack had led a group off hunting rather than tending to a signal fire, and the ship sails past. The ensuing argument sees Piggy's glasses broken. Jack continues through the book as a tyrant, as do other members of his choir - the irony of the way these angelic children change is no accident.

A dead parachutist lands on the island, and the twins: Sam and Eric (Samneric, as they become known) assume it is the beast - causing mass panic. An expedition to investigate ends in Ralph, Jack, and Roger (Jack's sadistic friend) ascending the mountain, and coming back down even quicker. The "beastie" now becomes known as a "beast". Jack denounces Ralph as a coward, and leaves his chiefdom to create a new tribe. This new tribe is quickly able to hunt down a pig, and they decide to host a feast. Before that, they sever the pig's head and place it on a stick as an offering to the "beast". Simon comes across it, seeing that it has been infested with flies, and it speaks to him, though it is through hallucination. Its messages foreshadow the fate of Simon and he faints after that. Jack's tribe hosts the feast and here, he also orders a ritualistic dance - and Simon, who has just run down from the mountain to break the news about the beast being a dead man and being talked to by the "Lord of the Flies", is mistaken as the beast and is beaten to death by the crazed boys, ultimately being drawn out to sea with the tide.

Ralph has seen his tribe dwindle in number. The larger, less civilized tribe of Jack, however, need to steal from them - Piggy's glasses allow them to light a fire. An overly optimistic Piggy demands them back, but is killed when Roger drops a strategically placed boulder on him. Jack fails to kill Ralph at this meeting, and the next day his tribe try to hunt him down. In doing this, they set up a forest fire, which is seen by a passing naval vessel - one of the ship's officers comes ashore and rescues the boys. Ralph's brush with death is tinged with irony, both since the forest fire started to flush him out alerts the passing ship and the boys are rescued by a ship of war, and as Ralph begins to weep for "the end of innocence", so do all the other boys. The rescue had come at an awful price.

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Analysis

Many people have interpreted "Lord of the Flies" as a work on moral philosophy. The environment of the island, a paradise with all the food, water, and all the necessities, can be seen as a metaphor for the Garden of Eden. The first appearance of the "beastie" is that of a serpent, as evil appears in the Book of Genesis.

One of the major themes of the book is on the nature of evil. This is clearly seen in the conversation that Simon holds with the skull of the pig, which refers to itself as "The Lord of the Flies" (a literal translation of the Hebrew name of Ba'alzevuv, or Beelzebub). The conversation held also points to Simon as the character representing religion and good will in the novel, which is reminiscent of the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

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Themes and Symbols

Lord of the Flies contains many themes and symbols. The characters are often seen as representing different parts of society:

Ralph represents democracy as he is leader by a democratic vote, and attempts to please the majority.
Jack represents totalitarianism as he does not appreciate the results of the election, eventually seizing power in a coup and ruling alone. He also represents the anti thesis of democracy, dictatorship. Everyone must abide by set rules and he shows a distinct disrespect for the conch and its associations.
Another theory is that Ralph and Jack represent the Superego and the Id, respectively. The logic behind this is that Jack seeks to immediately satisfy the needs and act on instinct, fulfilling the description of the Id, while Ralph adheres and upholds the social norms of society. Examples of this are both positive and negative. The positive being democracy and teamwork, while the negative being mockery of societal oddities, such as Piggy being obese, wearing glasses and having asthma, or "ass-mar". Also, he blatantly ignores Piggy's request that he not call him Piggy in front of the others.
Jack being the head choirboy and the most savage can also be symbolized as a fallen angel, ie Lucifer.
Piggy represents rational thinking as he is logical but unpopular, and eventually Ralph comes to realise how much he depended on Piggy and his logic. Ralph admits this with "I can't think. Not like Piggy."
The choir boys represent the Nazi SS unit(not the army); they do what Jack tells them and use majority force to keep power.
Sam and Eric represent the masses as they are impressionable, and tend not to think for themselves. At several points in the book their behaviour mimics that of dogs.
The 'beastie' represents propaganda and irrational fears, as it causes a panic and ultimately allies the boys around Jack.
Simon represents natural goodness because he is the only character on the island that continues being good even when the other boys forget about the rules of society. Some see similarities between him and Jesus, based on the religious references around Simon: his name (that of one of the disciples), his skill with carpentry, and his killing at the hands of a group. As well, the night before Simon dies he knows he won't make it home all right, just as the night before Jesus' arrest Jesus says he will be betrayed.
The glasses represent common sense, as when they break, focus and order is lost.
The conch represents civilization, order and democracy on the island, and it transforms accordingly as the boys transform, losing its colour gradually before being utterly destroyed.
The conch's white colour represents purity and innocence, which is destroyed when it is shattered.
The Fire represents utility, a means to an end, which, when used incorrectly, becomes the end itself.
The Lord of the Flies and the 'beastie' represent the evil lurking within everyone's hearts, which, while not corporeal, is no less real.
And Roger represents total and absolute evil, even more so than Jack, as he is an ally to totalitarianism and truly sadistic. He is the first boy to intentionally murder another person.

The names of Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Jack, and Roger all have symbolic meaning. Ralph's name is derived from the Anglo-Saxon word for "council" , symbolizing Ralph's role as a leader , who forms meetings and councils on the island. Piggy's name is meant to symbolize how he is vulnerable, just as the pigs on the island were- the pejorative nickname also shows the hostility towards him from the other boys. Jack's name is derived from the Hebrew name "Yakov", which literally means "one who deceives" or "one who takes over", just as Jack took the role of leadership by force from Ralph. Simon's name means "one who listens" or "one who observes" in Hebrew, symbolizing Simon's quiet, attentive behavior. "Roger" means "famous with the spear".

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Coral Island

In the 19th Century, R.M. Ballantyne wrote a book called Coral Island. It portrayed three boys: Ralph, Peterkin and Jack (two of these names are transferred to Golding's book; Peterkin is altered to Simon, which is an allusion to the Bible "Simon called Peter") landing on an island, much like that in Lord of the Flies. They have great adventures, typical of much children's fiction written during the period of the British Empire - the book is not a realistic projection of what boys on a deserted island would do. However, it was very successful.

A number of references to Coral Island are made in Lord of the Flies, as Golding wrote it as an indirect response.

Golding read this as he was growing up and thought of Ballantyne as a racist man as the book teaches children that evil is associated with black skin and is external. It is ironic that in Chapter 11, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers"

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Notes

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The novel was written while Golding was teaching at Bishop Wordsworths School, a Church of England grammar school for boys in Salisbury, England. He taught English there from 1945 to 1962. It was because of this that The Times could comment that "Golding knows exactly what boys are like."
Lord of the Flies was produced into two films. The first one is a black and white film released in 1963 that follows the novel closely. The second film was released in 1990 and has more modern visuals, but the plot differs from the original.
An episode of The Simpsons titled Das Bus was a parody of Lord of the Flies, mirroring it in many ways. For instance while trapped on an island, they use glasses to make a fire and also hunt pigs. Another Simpsons episode, Kamp Krusty, also makes some reference to the novel.

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Nick Hornby commented that a newer novel, The Beach (written by Alex Garland), is: "A Lord of the Flies for Generation X".
Lord of the Flies is also the name of an episode of The X-Files, whose plot, however, bears no similarity to the novel's (as it concerns a person who can control flies).
English heavy metal band Iron Maiden composed a song about the novel. The song "Lord of The Flies" can be found in The X Factor (1995) and was also released as a single.
Punk Rock band "Gatsby's American Dream" has a song inspired completely by Lord of the Flies entitled "Fable".
Lord of the Flies served as the inspiration for Sunrise Animation's classic anime series Infinite Ryvius. The series follows the lives of over 400 teenagers stranded aboard a space battleship, the Ryvius, which was hidden inside an astronaut training center.
The book was the inspiration for Battle Royale.
There is an inconsistency with the physics in the book. Piggy is portrayed as extremely myopic and therefore would have had concave lenses in his glasses. However a convex lens is required to focus sunlight in order to start a fire; concave lenses scatter sunlight.
People have found many similarities between Lord of the Flies and the television show Lost − characters Sawyer and Charlie make references to the Lord of the Flies.
There is a song My Name is Legion by Electric Hellfire Club, where the word-group "Lord of flies" is used.
It is claimed that Mark Burnett's Survivor Reality TV Series was inspired by the novel.