Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies
The original UK Lord of the Flies book cover
Author	William Golding
Cover artist	Pentagram
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Genre(s)	Allegorical novel
Publisher	Faber & Faber
Publication date	1954
Media type	print (paperback & hardback)
Pages	248 pp (first edition, paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-571-05686-5 (first edition, paperback)

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It discusses how culture created by man fails, using as an example a group of British school-boys stuck on a deserted island who try to govern themselves with disastrous results. Its stances on the already controversial subjects of human nature and individual welfare versus the common good earned it position 70 on the American Library Association's list of the 100 most frequently challenged books of 1900–2000.^[1] In 2005, the novel was chosen by TIME magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.^[2]

Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies was Golding's first novel, and although it was not a great success at the time — selling fewer than three thousand copies in the United States during 1955 before going out of print — it soon went on to become a bestseller, and by the early 1960s was required reading in many schools and colleges. It was adapted to film in 1963 by Peter Brook, and again in 1990 by Harry Hook (see "Film adaptations").

The title is said to be a reference to the Hebrew name Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Ba'al-zvuv, "god of the fly", "host of the fly" or literally "Lord of Flies"), a name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan.^[3] The title of the book, in turn, has itself become a metaphor for a power struggle in a chaotic situation.

Contents 1 Background 2 Plot 3 Allegorical relationships 4 Film adaptations 5 Audiobooks 6 References to other works 7 Influence 7.1 Printed works 7.2 Television 7.3 Movies 7.4 Music 8 References 9 External links

[edit] Background

The book was written during the first years of the Cold War and the atomic age; the events arise in the context of an unnamed nuclear war. The boys whose actions form the superficial subject of the book are from a school in Great Britain. Some are ordinary students; some arrive as an already-coherent body under an established leader (the choir). The book portrays their descent into savagery, contrasting with other books that had lauded the inevitable ascendancy of a higher form of human nature, as in Two Years' Vacation of Jules Verne (1888). Although Verne's ideas are influenced by scientism and optimism, Golding was disillusioned with human nature. Left to themselves in an edenic country, far from modern civilisation, the well-educated children regress to a primitive state.

At an allegorical level, the main theme is the conflicting impulses towards civilization (live by rules, peacefully and in harmony), and towards the will to power. Other themes include the tension between groupthink and individuality, between rational and emotional reactions, and between morality and immorality. How these play out, and how different people feel the influences of these, forms a major subtext of the story.^[4]

[edit] Plot

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The story itself takes place on an isolated island. A plane has crashed (though this plane is never mentioned nor seen again for the rest of the story), and it transpires that there are no adult survivors. It is found later in the book that the plane was carrying only boys from war-torn England to an unknown destination. Two English boys, the fair-haired Ralph and an overweight, bespectacled boy named "Piggy", form the initial focus, as they begin to make sense of their new surroundings. The boys soon find a white conch shell and Piggy suggests that Ralph use the conch as a horn to call for any other survivors who might be nearby. Ralph, thus, initiates the island's first assembly where all of the survivors are revealed to be male children, none seemingly over the age of thirteen: "biguns" (a few older boys) and "littluns" (several younger boys).

The survivors rapidly side with one of two dominant boys: Ralph, and another older boy named Jack Merridew (the head of a choir group that also landed on the island, presumably in the same plane crash). A brief election is held among the children and Ralph is voted chief (losing only the votes of Jack's loyal fellow choirboys) and he calls everyone together to work toward two common goals, the first being to have fun and the second to be rescued by creating a constant fire signal, to be lit using Piggy's glasses. For a time the boys work together towards building shelters, gathering food and water, and keeping the fire going. The choirboys then create their own goal, to become the hunters of the local animals.

Jack, a bony, freckled redhead, becomes an immediate threat to Ralph's leadership, obviously envious of Ralph's ascent to chief, and empowers himself instead by turning his choir group into "hunters", who are responsible for hunting for meat and taking care of the fire. Together, Ralph, Jack, and a black-haired boy named Simon, become the supreme trio among the children, going on a short expedition to confirm that they are indeed on an island. Piggy, the most sensible of the bunch, is quickly outcast by his fellow biguns and becomes an unwilling source of laughter for the other children. Ralph, in addition to leading the project of building shelters, feels an instinctive need to protect the littluns.

The original semblance of order imposed by Ralph quickly deteriorates, with little work being done by most; shelters are not built. Jack, at one point, takes all of his hunters to hunt down a wild pig (the group's first successful hunt), even the ones who were supposed to be maintaining the fire. At the same time, a ship passes near the island; however, with no one to maintain the smoke signal, the children are not rescued. This angers Ralph greatly. Around the same time, many of the littluns begin believing that the island is inhabited by a monster, quickly referred to by all as "the beast," that fills their nightmares. After the smoke signal incident and because of the supposed monster, Ralph calls an assembly to debunk rumours of such a monster once and for all. The assembly, however, turns into something of a riot and Jack gains control of the discussion by boldly promising to kill the beast, again challenging Ralph's authority as chief. Later, Ralph contemplates abdicating his position, though Piggy discourages him from doing so while the two of them and Simon wish hopefully for some guidance from the adult world.

Identical twins Sam and Eric (often referred to collectively as "Samneric") are in charge of the signal fire that night, though they fall asleep. When they awake, they find the corpse and open parachute of a fighter pilot who has landed on the island (remember the timeline is now implied as WWII or a fictional Nuclear War.), believing it to be the beast and reporting it during the next assembly. In an expedition to find such a beast, Ralph and Jack come upon a cavernous part of the island that they name Castle Rock. Ralph and Jack together find the dead pilot on top of the mountain and also fearfully mistake it to be the sleeping beast. Jack blows the conch to call another assembly, confirming the beast's existence to the others. The assembly results in a schism, splitting the children into two groups. Ralph's group continues holding the belief that preserving the signal fire is the necessary focus. Jack becomes the chief of his own tribe, focusing on hunting while exploiting the belief in the beast. Jack and the hunters, having killed their first pig, gain defectors from Ralph's group by promising them meat, fun, and, most importantly, protection from the beast. Jack's tribe gradually becomes more animalistic, applying face paint from coloured clay discovered by Sam and Eric and charred remains of trees. The narrative voice in the story informs the reader that these painted faces represent the hunters' masking their more civilised selves in order to liberate their inner "savages." The face paint becomes a motif that can be found throughout the story, with more intensity toward the end.

Simon, a part of Ralph's tribe, finds the head of the hunters' dead pig on a stick, left as an offering to the beast. Simon then undergoes a peculiar experience, presumably a hallucination, in which he sees the pig head, swarming with scavenging flies, as the "Lord of the Flies," and believes that it is talking to him, identifying itself as the real "Beast". It tells him the truth about itself - that the boys themselves "created" the beast, and that the real beast was inside him and inside them all. He also finds the dead parachutist which had been mistaken for the beast, and is the only one of the group to recognise that it is a cadaver rather than a sleeping monster. Simon eventually arrives at the peak of a tribal ritual at Jack's tribe, pursued by the ravenous flies, and tries to explain the truth about the beast and the dead man on the mountain. However, Jack's tribe, raging with bloodlust from their first kill, blindly attack and murder Simon, believing him to be the beast in the shadows in their now tribal dance and ominous chant "Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!" . Ralph, who took part in the murder along with Piggy, though both indirectly, feels intense remorse.

The savages then raid Ralph's camp, attacking the non-hunters in order to steal Piggy's glasses for making a cooking fire. By this time, Ralph's tribe consists of just himself, Piggy, and Sam and Eric. In a moment of comedy, although they do not realize it, Ralph and Eric fought each other in the darkness. They all go to the rock fort of Jack's tribe at Castle Rock to try to get back Piggy's glasses so that he can see. In the ensuing confrontation, the dark boy Roger triggers a rock ambush in which Piggy is struck by a boulder and thrown off the edge of the cliff to his horrific death. Simultaneously, the conch is shattered. Eric and Sam are captured and tortured by Roger to become part of Jack's tribe. Ralph is forced to flee for his own safety, now completely alone.

The following morning, in the final sequence of the book, Jack and Roger lead their tribe on a manhunt for Ralph, intending to kill him. Ralph has secretly told Sam and Eric (believing them still loyal to him) where he will hide. The twins, however, are forced to betray Ralph's position, though he escapes with his life in many close calls as the savages tear apart the island to find him. Jack, now nearly complete in his demonic role as the ultimate savage, sets the entire island ablaze, the only source of food and shelter for the boys. Ralph skillfully evades capture on multiple occasions but soon is so stricken by terror and exhaustion from running that he gives up, expecting to be found and killed. However, the fire started by Jack is so large that it has attracted the attention of a nearby warship.

A navy officer lands on the island near where Ralph is lying, and his sudden appearance brings the children's fighting to an abrupt halt. Upon learning of the boys' activities, the officer remarks that he would have expected better from British boys, believing them only to be playing a game, unaware of the two murders that have taken place and the imminent occurrence of a third. In the final scene, although now certain that he will be rescued after all, Ralph cries, in mourning for his friend Piggy, his own loss of innocence, and his newfound awareness of the darkness of human nature.

[edit] Allegorical relationships

The relationships displayed in the novel have not yet been fully examined. However, there are a few clues that can be drawn from the novel.

Ralph

When he and the others arrive on the island, he quickly establishes himself as the chief of the group — not by any harsh, overt, physical action, but by being elected. Ralph suggest building a fire so that they have a better chance of being rescued; he was also the one who thought up the idea of the huts on the beach and the meeting place. Ralph also progresses with order and rationality when the dead paratrooper is found on the mountain. In addition to all this, it should be noted that Ralph has a tendency to be polite and logical in the tensest of moments; when the children are obliged to investigate the castle rock, Ralph takes the lead despite being horribly afraid of the 'Beast'. When Simon says he doesn't believe in the Beast, Ralph responds "politely, as if agreeing about the weather." Ralph represents logic, order and civilization.

The Conch

When first blown, it calls the children to an assembly, where Ralph is elected leader. It is also agreed that only the boy holding the conch may speak at meetings to prevent arguments and chaos, and that it should be passed around to those who wish to talk. It is seen to represent democracy and, like Ralph, civility and order within the group. When the rock that kills Piggy also smashes the conch into thousands of pieces, it can be seen to be the death of order on the island.

Jack

Jack may be seen to represent the worst aspects of human nature when not controlled or tempered by society. Although he is not disruptive or violent at the beginning of the book, he does at that time express a large desire to hunt and kill a pig. As the story progresses, this desire grows more and more irrational and fanatic, to the point where he abandons the fire (and causes the boys to miss a potential rescue) simply in order to hunt. Eventually, in the later part of the book when Ralph's leadership is more undermined, Jack's true evil nature is exposed. He leads most of the boys away from Ralph, and forms a separate group, based not on democracy but obedience and where violence and torture are carried out. The tale ends with Jack leading many of the boys in a frenzied attempt to kill Ralph, which only ends with the abrupt and unexpected arrival of a Navy officer.

Simon

Simon is a character representing peace and tranquillity, with some references to Jesus Christ. He is very in-tune with the island, and often experiences extraordinary sensations when listening to its sounds. He also has an extreme aversion to the pig's head, the Lord of the Flies, which mocks and taunts Simon in a hallucination. After this experience, Simon emerges from the forest only to be brutally murdered by Jack's people, who mistake him for the beast. The final words of the Lord of the Flies to Simon hint that his death was about to occur in this manner.

[edit] Film adaptations

There have been two film adaptations:

• Lord of the Flies (1963), directed by Peter Brook
• Lord of the Flies (1990), directed by Harry Hook

[edit] Audiobooks

• Lord of the Flies (1999), read by Tim Pigott-Smith
• Lord of the Flies (Listening Library, 2005), read by the author

[edit] References to other works

Lord of the Flies borrows key elements from R. M. Ballantyne's The Coral Island (1857). Ballantyne's book, a simple adventure without any deep social themes, portrays three boys, Ralph, Peterkin and Jack, who land on an island. Golding used two of the names in his book, and replaced Peterkin with Simon. Lord of the Flies has been regarded as Golding's response showing what he believed would happen if children (or generally, people) were left to form a society in isolation.^[5]

Golding read 'The Coral Island' as he was growing up, and thought of Ballantyne as racist, since the book teaches that evil is associated with black skin and is external.^{[citation needed]} In Chapter 11 of the original Lord of the Flies, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers."^[6] This was changed to "savages" in some editions and "Indians" in the mass media publication.

[edit] Influence

Many writers have borrowed plot elements from Lord of the Flies.

[edit] Printed works

Robert A. Heinlein's Tunnel in the Sky, published in 1955, can be seen as a rebuttal to Lord of the Flies as it concerns a group of teenagers stranded on an uninhabited planet who manage to create a functional tribal society.^[7]

Stephen King has stated that the Castle Rock in Lord of the Flies was the inspiration for the town of the same name that has appeared in a number of his novels. The book itself also appears prominently in his novels Hearts in Atlantis and Cujo.^[8] King's fictional town in turn inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment.

The young adult novel Gone, by Michael Grant, is closely related, with all of the adults and teens above 14 disappearing, leaving the rest to fend for and attempt to govern themselves.

The novel The Butterfly Revolution by William Butler is described on its front cover as being a "classic in the tradition of Lord of the Flies." Both books concern children separated from society who then form their own society.

[edit] Television

Lord of the Flies inspired Sunrise Animation's anime series Infinite Ryvius, which follows the lives of nearly 500 teenagers stranded aboard a space battleship.

Also the "Das Bus" episode of The Simpsons is based on this book. The episode Kamp Krusty also has several elements from Lord of the Flies as well (a pig's head on a spear, kids using primitive weapons and wearing war paint and a burning effigy).

The ABC television show Lost has also shown loose similarities to the book.

The South Park episode The Wacky Molestation Adventure parodies Lord of the Flies, in which Eric Cartman represents Ralph, while Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski both represent Jack. In a twist of irony, the civilised tribe in the episode (Cartman's tribe) is more evil than the savage tribe. Kenny McCormick may have represented Simon, because he was seen dead by a couple trying to discover what went wrong.

In the Two and a Half Men episode "The Salmon Under My Sweater" in Two and a Half Men (Season 2), Jake has to read Lord of the Flies for a book report.

[edit] Movies

Frank Darabont's adaptation of a 1980 Stephen King novella, The Mist (film) also bears some resemblances referring to how primitive people can get, as Darabont himself points out to the influence in a commentary. ^[9]

Fernando Meirelles' adaptation from a José Saramago novel Blindness (film) has also somewhat stronger references to the theme, questioning the boundaries of human nature in the face of a disaster.^{[original research?]}

[edit] Music

• The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden composed a song about the novel, with the title "Lord of the Flies".
• The American hard rock band Aerosmith composed a song about a pimp and his stable of women, with the title "Lord of the Thighs" which was a take off and play on Lord of the Flies.
• The debut studio album, Boy, by Irish rock band U2 was loosely based on the novel's theme of childhood corruption, and the final song on the album, "Shadows and Tall Trees," takes its title from the novel's chapter of the same name. Additionally, some printings of the book's cover are similar to the cover of the album.^[10]
• American punk rock band Bad Religion referenced the novel in the song "1000 More Fools", from their 1988 album Suffer: "I've seen the rapture in a starving baby's eyes, Inchoate beatitude, the Lord of the Flies".
• American punk rock group The Offspring referenced the title of the book on their song "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid" off their latest studio effort, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace
• American rock band Taking Back Sunday references the book multiple times in their song Liar (It Takes One to Know One).

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikibooks has more on the topic of Lord of the Flies

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Lord of the Flies

• The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
• Criterion Collection essay by Peter Brook
• Slashdoc: Lord of the Flies Literary analysis of the novel
• Nobelprize.org: Play the Lord of the Flies Game
• Lord of the Flies characters and plot
• Lord of the Flies Reviews

v • d • e William Golding Works Lord of the Flies (1954) · The Inheritors (1955) · Pincher Martin (1956) · Sometime, Never : Three Tales of Imagination (1956) · The Brass Butterfly : a Play in Three Acts (1958)  · Free Fall (1959)  · The Spire (1964) · The Hot Gates, and Other Occasional Pieces (1965) · The Pyramid (1967) · The Scorpion God : Three Short Novels (1971) · Darkness Visible (1979) · Rites of Passage (1980) · A Moving Target (1982) · Nobel Lecture, 7 December 1983 (1984) · The Paper Men (1984) · An Egyptian Journal (1985) · Close Quarters (1987) · Fire Down Below (1989) · The Double Tongue (1995) List of works