Audrey Livingstone

In Lord of the Flies, a group of young English boys (their ages range from about six to twelve years old) are marooned on an island after a plane crash.  The book’s main character is Ralph who, after wandering around, finds another boy nicknamed “Piggy.”  After conversing for a while, they start to look around the beach, wondering if any other boys had survived.  Then Piggy sees a conch shell and tells Ralph they could use it to make some sort of sound off to figure out if any other boys had survived the crash.  Ralph blows the conch, and boys begin to come through the trees and onto the beach.  Along with the boys from the crash, there is a boys’ choir, dressed in long black robes, with a leader named Jack.  Little did they know, there would soon be significant power struggles and conflicts between Ralph and Jack.

At first, most of the boys are delighted to be on an island where there are no grownups and therefore no rules.  However, they soon find out life is not so easy without civilization and a structured environment.  Ralph is chosen by the vast majority of the boys as leader.  Jack, an alpha male by nature, is quite upset by this decision; but, he is soon consoled when he is appointed hunter.  Quickly realizing they need to have order and structure to stay civilized, they take action toward that end.  Unfortunately, it swiftly falls apart.  For example, they had all decided it would be a good idea to have a fire going at the top of the mountain so that if a ship passed by, it would see the smoke and come to the boys’ rescue.  Jack’s hunting group had been the first group in charge of keeping the fire going, but they abandoned the job to go hunting.  Piggy got angry and pointed out to them one of the youngest boys, named Percival, had been at the top of the mountain with them but was now nowhere to be found.  Piggy had pointed out the hunting group had been responsible for the possible death of a child.

The signal fire represented their first attempt at keeping order and civilization.  If they kept the fire going, they were still making an actual effort to be rescued and return to civilization.  If they let it burn out, they no longer cared about order — if they let it burn out, they were more preoccupied with power and killing than civilization.  Jack was the first to begin the fall into decivilization.  Maybe because he was marooned even before the plane crash, or maybe because he had a more savage nature.  But he was the leader of the hunting group, and he was the one to suggest hunting for meat was more important than being rescued and returning to civilization.

Jack was not only the first to show signs of decivilization, he also led others into the same descent.  He had been the runner up for leader, so he did have some sort of hold over the boys — just not as much as Ralph.  Ralph, however, cared more about order than bloodlust and hunting.  For example, when it appeared as though Jack and the rest of his group always seemed to be hunting while important work needed to be done, Ralph became irritated, wanting to keep their life on the island as orderly as possible.  Because of this, they soon had their first verbal argument — even though a mutual dislike and power struggle had been festering since the beginning.  Ralph was very popular among the boys and was a good leader, but Jack began gaining power bit by bit.

Compared to Jack, Ralph seemed extremely orderly and civilized — but if he were to be placed back in his original environment (he had lived in England), he would looked upon as very decivilized — possibly even almost savage, which also speaks volumes about how much Jack has increasingly descended into decivilization.  For example, Jack and his hunting group failed to keep the signal fire going for a second time, during which a ship was actually passing, and they missed their chance of being rescued.  Ralph became enraged at Jack and told him Jack had warped priorities, that he cared more for hunting and bloodlust than being rescued.  He then said  Jack didn’t want was best for everyone — which was returning to civilization.  Ralph did.

In response, Jack paints his face like a savage and assaults Piggy.  Piggy had always been picked on, especially when the older boys wanted to feel more in charge.  But nobody had ever actually hurt him.  Physical abuse was the extent of their community’s decivilization.

One night while the boys were all sleeping, military planes (from World War II) fought in the sky.  Sam and Eric, who were supposed to be keeping the signal fire going, fell asleep.  While the island is asleep, a dead parachutist falls down from the sky and onto the island.  When Sam and Eric wake up, they see the parachute moving with the wind and the dead man’s mangled body in the shadows and assume it is the infamous “beastie” some of the younger children thought existed.  They run down from the mountain and find Ralph, telling him they were assaulted by the beast.  Ralph immediately calls an assembly, in which Sam and Eric give their account of seeing this beast.  And even though all the older boys have assured everyone there is no beast, fear still grips them.

At the beginning, Ralph had a strong hold over the boys and could keep a moderate amount of order among them.  However, as decivilization began to break them down, Jack became more of a leader than Ralph and had more of a hold over the boys.  The difference was the boys had respected Ralph and his leadership, whereas they feared Jack and were afraid of what would happen if they didn’t obey him.

When Jack and Ralph lead a group of boys on a hunting expedition to find the beast, they have no idea it will end with savagery.  They find pig droppings, and Jack suggests they hunt the pig while they try to find the beast.  Ralph had never understood why some of the boys had liked hunting but began to understand the excitement while hunting the boar.  They surround the animal but don’t succeed in killing it.  Still excited from the hunt, they are not discouraged; they form a circle around it in an attempt to reenact it.  Robert acts as the boar and thinks no harm will come to him.  However, the boys are so overcome with bloodlust and excitement they almost beat Robert to death in the reenactment.  Jack then suggests they kill one of the younger boys since they didn’t get to kill the boar.  Everyone laughs at the idea, but their lightness of heart on the subject shows their fall into decivilization continues to progress.

After the hunt is completely over, and everyone is back at the end of the island they’re normally at, Jack calls an assembly.  He demands Ralph be removed from his place of leadership, but nobody seconds his motion.  Beside himself with anger, Jack walks away from everyone and declares he’s making his own tribe, and anyone who would like to join him is welcome to.  None of the boys go with him at the assembly, but many of them sneak away during the night to join him.

Ralph is extremely disappointed and feels utterly defeated later that night when Jack’s tribe attacks them.  Jack and his boys become very savage, and when they hunt and kill a sow, they take its head and put it on a stick in the woods as an offering to the beast they think exists.  When Simon (one of the main characters who supports order and civilization) realizes there is no beast, he runs down to the shore to tell the rest of the boys.  However, Jack’s tribe, along with Ralph and Piggy, are caught up in their hunting dance, and in the excitement of the moment, kill Simon, thinking he is the beast.  And just as Simon is now gone, so is every trace of order and civilization in their community on the island.

After Simon’s death, all of Ralph’s power is gone and now belongs to Jack.  The boys no longer answer to Ralph but to Jack.  Jack uses the boys’ fear of the beast to control them; he convinces them Simon really was the beast, and his death was a good thing.  Jack is essentially trying to convince the boys they have a clearer state of mind while in a state of savagery and bloodlust than in a right and civilized state.

Soon after this, Jack and Ralph’s tribes enter into one of the most central conflicts of the novel, and it ends in the death of Piggy and the destroying of the conch — both very important symbols.  Piggy was the intellect and civilization of their community, and the conch was the order.  Now that both of them are gone, so are order and civilization.

At the end of the novel, Jack’s hunters set the signal fire into a full-blown forest fire in an attempt to kill Ralph.  Ralph runs out of the forest and onto the shore, hoping for the best — hoping to survive.  Ironically, his wish comes true.  Because of the great size of the fire, a nearby ship sees the smoke and comes to rescue them.  A naval officer comes to Ralph and asks him how long they have been stranded and how many boys there are.  Ralph says he doesn’t know.  He also tells him there have been murders, and the officer is appalled, thinking a bunch of British boys would be able to keep order.  Realizing the reality of actually being rescued, Ralph begins to weep — but not necessarily out of joy.  He knows life will never be the same after coming to the island of the Lord of the Flies.

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.”

They are all forever changed by their experiences on the island.