Why is the book called lord of the flies
Video SparkNotes: William Golding's Lord of the Flies summary
Lord of the Flies is about savagery a
group of schoolboys ends up on a desert
island without adults after their plane
crashes they tried to govern themselves
and to maintain order and civility but
they ultimately fail descending into
violence and brutality at the beginning
of the book Ralph and piggy me on a
desert island in the Pacific they were
on a plane with a group of boys who are
being evacuated from England because of
a war but the plane was attacked and
crashed on the island while they were in
the air they heard that an atomic bomb
exploded in England so we know that a
nuclear war is taking place they find a
conch shell and Ralph blows into it like
a trumpet the sound calls all the other
boys who are on the plane out of the
jungle no adults have survived the crash
just boys between the ages of 6 and 12
Ralph is the oldest and biggest boy in
the island and he's 12 eventually a
whole choir comes out of the jungle led
by a boy named Jack the boys decide to
vote for a chief and they all pick Ralph
he's beautiful and seems like a natural
leader especially since he called them
with the cog Jack is not happy about
being voted down though in fact he's
humiliated Ralph likes him and wants to
be friends so he says Jackson charge of
the choir and the choir will be hunters
Ralph takes Simon and Jack up to the top
of the mountain and they find out that
they're on an island they also find out
there are pigs on the island that they
can hunt so the first one they see gets
away Ralph calls another assembly with
the conch he tells everyone that they're
on an island and they're alone no one
knows where they are
but it's a good Island with food and
water and pigs that they can hunt he
makes a rule that when they have
meetings the person holding the conch
gets to speak and the becomes an
important symbol in the book
representing civilization in order
unfortunately the positive picture Ralph
tries to paint gets somewhat spoiled
when one of the youngest boys is given
the conch
he asked what Ralph is going to do about
the snake thing or beastie that the boy
thinks is on the island Ralph says there
is no beastie but Jack says the hunt for
it when they go hunting this moment is
really the root of all the problems in
the book because this fear of a beast
doesn't go away the boys can either deal
with it Ralph's way
which is to conquer the fear through
reason saying there isn't a beast or
Jack's way which is to say we're part of
a tribe we're hunters together we're
strong enough to hunt and kill the Beast
Rao says that they need to light a small
fire on the mountain to make smoke so if
a ship passes they'll be rescued before
he can organize anything the boys rush
off to the top of the mountain and make
a huge bonfire they use piggy spectacles
to light it the fire gets out of control
and burns a big patch of jungle
including what they would have used as
firewood piggy accuses the boys of
acting like kids rebuking them for being
out of control he points out that the
boy with the mulberry birthmark was
playing down where the jungle fire
started and now he's disappeared no one
ever sees him again Jack spends his time
hunting for pigs and even after the
other hunters get tired and drift off to
swim in play
he keeps hunting though he doesn't catch
anything Ralph organizes the other boys
into building shelters but everyone
except Simon drifts off to play in Swim
- leaving Ralph to struggle with the
last shelter Jack and Ralph get into an
argument because both of them are trying
to do something important both are
frustrated and not getting enough help
and neither can make the other
understand they agree that the shelters
are important because the younger kids
are all afraid of the beasts and the
shelters are like a home that will make
them less scared a boy named Roger
follows the little one named Henry off
down the beach and starts throwing rocks
at him he's making sure not to hit Henry
but it's clear that the idea of hurting
or even killing Henry is exciting to
Roger so now we see another problem on
the island at least one of the boys is a
sociopath by nature and since there are
no adults to enforce rules it's only a
matter of time or circumstances before
Roger realizes he can kill Jack figures
out a way to paint his face because he
thinks the pigs are running away from
him because they see his pink face in
the bushes once he puts on the paint
though he feels liberated from any
self-consciousness he does a war dance
and rounds up the rest of the hunters
telling them they'll form a line to trap
one of the pigs Jack does manage to kill
a pig but while he and the hunters are
hunting they let the signal fire burn
out down at the beach
Ralph see smoke far off from a ship but
by the time he and Simon and piggy run
up to the mountains where the fire was
it's too late and the ship
disappearing Ralph confronts Jack about
this failure and while Jack gets respect
from the other boys for getting the meat
he's humiliated again Jack can't do
anything to Ralph but he smacks piggy
and breaks his glasses Ralph calls a
meeting to try to set things straight
since the boys are not doing the things
they said they do like keeping the fire
going or working on the shelters he
tries to lay down some rules but then he
opens a debate so they can discuss why
they're breaking apart as a group he
says it's because people are becoming
frightened and he wants the boys to
discuss why they're frightened and agree
that there's no reason to be but instead
Jack takes the conch and says the other
boys are frightened because they're
sissies and crybabies piggy disagrees
and says that they're actually afraid of
each other
Percival one of the little uns suggests
that the Beast comes from the water
which terrifies everyone someone else
says it's a ghost and then they have a
vote on ghosts and it turns out most of
them believe in ghosts piggy yells at
the other boys for being stupid and Jack
tells him to shut up and fights with him
over the conch jack tells Ralph to shut
up too
saying he's not a good chief and to hell
with all the rules anyway he says he's
not afraid of the Beast because he's
strong and can hunt and then he leads
off most of the other boys chanting and
singing Ralph wants to give up being
chief because he's lost all control
but piggy and Simon tell him to stay
chief because Jack would be a terrible
chief
he hates Ralph and he would hurt piggy
that night while everyone's asleep
there's an air battle high up in the sky
and a dead man in a parachute falls onto
the island near the mountain top Sam and
Eric who are sleeping by the signal fire
see the parachuter but think it's the
Beast and run off to tell the others
Ralph and Jack and the older boys go to
look for the Beast in the one place they
haven't ever explored castle rock at the
far end of the island they don't find
any beasts there so they turn around and
head for the mountain as they're on
their way to the mountain they stopped
to do some hunting and Ralph gets a
taste of how fun it is afterward the
boys do this dance where one of them
pretends to be the pig and the others
chant and pretend to attack him which
gets pretty violent when they finally
get to the mountain it's dark but Jack
insists they keep going
Jack Roger and Ralph climb up in the
dark see the Beast and
on interrobang to camp back at the beach
Jack tries to get the other boys to vote
Ralph out his chief but none of them do
Jack leaves humiliated saying he's not
going to play with them any longer he
says anyone who wants to hunt can come
with him the boys build a new fire on
the beach instead of the mountain but
later many of the older boys sneak away
to join Jack Jack and his hunters paint
themselves with war paint and kill a sow
Jack and Roger put the head on a stake
that they stick in the ground Jack and
his tribe raid Ralph's group to take
fire they invite the boys there to come
to a feast and tell them they can ask to
join the tribe Simon who often goes off
by himself sees the head of the sow he
has an epileptic fit but before he does
the head says that it's the Beast
also called the Lord of the Flies the
head laughs at him and says the Beast is
inside the boys not something they can
hunt and kill then Simon passes out
Simon goes to the mountain and sees what
the Dead parachuter really is he hurries
off to tell the others there's no beasts
Ralph and piggy show up at Jack's feast
all the other boys except Simon have
already come there and most have joined
Jack's tribe Jack lets Ralph and piggy
eat Jack makes all the boys do their pig
hunting dance while they chant kill the
Beast cut his throat spill his blood in
the middle of this Simon comes out of
the forest to tell them about the man in
the parachute and the boys all kill him
even Ralph the next day Ralph and piggy
and Sam and Eric all tried to pretend
that they weren't part of what happened
to Simon that night Jack and his hunters
raid Ralph and piggy and Sam and Eric to
steal Piggy's glasses so they can make
fire Ralph and piggy and Sam and Eric
have one last meeting with the Conch
sitting by the burned out signal fire
piggy holds the conch and says he wants
to go and demand his glasses back since
that is what's right they go to the
Castle Rock
and the boys there won't let them come
in Jack comes back from the jungle after
hunting and has Sam and Eric seized and
tied up Jack and Ralph fight but piggy
comes up holding the conch and asked the
boys whether it's better to believe in
rules and agreement and getting rescued
or in hunting and breaking things up
while he's talking roger dislodges the
huge stone that shatters the conch and
kills piggy Jack throws his spear at
Ralph who runs away Jack and Roger
prepares to torture Sam and Eric while
Jack and the tribe are having a feast
Ralph talks to Sam and Eric who are now
on Lookout they tell Ralph that he's
going to be hunted the next day and that
Roger sharpened a stake at both ends
during the hunt
Ralph hides in the bushes but Sam and
Eric tell Jack where he's hiding
Jack lights the bushes on fire and the
tribe forms a line to sweep across the
island and find Ralph ultimately Jack
sets the whole island on fire and Ralph
runs out to the beach where a British
naval officer has just arrived
investigating all the smoke
Ralph tries to explain to the officer
what happened and start sweeping the
other boys weep too for more information
about the Lord of the Flies
check out the Lord of the Flies spark
note at sparknotes calm
