Plot Line
Exposition: A group of young British school boys crash land on a uninhabited island without any adults or grownups to help them.
Rising Action: Ralph and Piggy find each other first and assemble the rest of the group of boys by calling them with the conch shell. When all of the boys assemble, they elect Ralph as chief, leaving Jack in charge of hunting for the food. Simon, Jack, and Ralph then set out on an adventure to explore the island in order to figure out whether or not the island really is an island. They find out that it is an island and so Ralph gives everyone the job of making sure that there is a fire burning at all times so that ships passing by will see their smoke signal. In order to light the fire, the boys used Piggy's glasses to light some dead wood but the fire got out of control very quickly, almost burning down the whole entire jungle. As Ralph and Simon were building shelters, Jack and all of his choirboys, who were in charge of watching the fire, went out hunting. While they were hunting, the fire burned out and a ship passed by. When Jack and the choirboys returned with the pig they had killed, Ralph scolded Jack for not keeping an eye on the fire and for not helping with the building of the shelters. Ralph, very upset, calls a meeting in the middle of the night where the boys talk about feeling afraid of a beast that they think is lurking around in the jungle. That night, as Sam and Eric are keeping watch, some fighter planes have a battle right above the island and a soldier, on his way down in a parachute, is shot and Sam and Eric think that he is the beast. So, the next morning the boys go out on a hunting expedition in search of the monster. The boys get up to the mountain but are too afraid to go and see the monster. Jack and Ralph hold another meeting after the expedition where Jack tells all of the boys that Ralph is a coward and get the majority of the boys to turn against Ralph and go and form another group with Jack. In Jack's new group, all they do is hunt and kill things. They kill a sow and take the head off for food for the beast. Simon encounters the head and has a conversation with it. The conversation leaves Simon feeling very sick and he passes out, but when he wakes up he continues up the mountain in search of the beast. When Simon finds out that the beast is only a dead soldier, he rushes back to camp to tell the boys. Meanwhile, Jack is having a feast where he invites Ralph's group, so the boys go and eat the pig. As the night goes on, Simon comes down from the mountain and the boys mistakenly think that Simon is the beast so they kill him. The next day, Ralph and Piggy and all the other boys go about their business and Jack comes and steals Piggy's glasses. So, Ralph and Piggy decide that something needs to be done in order to stop Jack, so they go to Castle Rock in order to meet with Jack.
Climax: While at the meeting with Jack and his group of salvages, Roger throws rocks at Piggy and knocks him unconscious. As Piggy is knocked unconscious, he falls into the water and is washed away by the tide. Samneric are next, and are taken away by the choirboys and tied to a tree. Jack's next move was to try and kill Ralph, but Ralph was too quick and he escapes quickly with only an injury from the spear that Jack threw at him.
Falling Action: Ralph spends the night in the jungle alone and attempts to go back to Castle Rock. When he gets right outside of Castle Rock, he encounters Samneric who inform Ralph that he needs to leave before Jack kills him. They tell Ralph that Jack has a plan to kill him and that the next day he and all of the boys were going to go on a hunt for him. So, they give Ralph a stick sharpened at both ends and tell him to go and hide. As Ralph is hiding, Jack and the other boys find him because one of the twins tell Jack where Ralph is hiding. Ralph is able to get away, but barely. Jack sets the whole entire forest ablaze so that they can chase Ralph out of the jungle. After what seems like forever, Ralph finally arrives at the beach.
Resolution: A naval officer greets Ralph when he arrives out of the forest and all of the other boys as well. The officer looks around and sees how dirty and uncivilized the boys had become and is disappointed. They boys all start crying, ashamed of what they had done on the island.
Rising Action: Ralph and Piggy find each other first and assemble the rest of the group of boys by calling them with the conch shell. When all of the boys assemble, they elect Ralph as chief, leaving Jack in charge of hunting for the food. Simon, Jack, and Ralph then set out on an adventure to explore the island in order to figure out whether or not the island really is an island. They find out that it is an island and so Ralph gives everyone the job of making sure that there is a fire burning at all times so that ships passing by will see their smoke signal. In order to light the fire, the boys used Piggy's glasses to light some dead wood but the fire got out of control very quickly, almost burning down the whole entire jungle. As Ralph and Simon were building shelters, Jack and all of his choirboys, who were in charge of watching the fire, went out hunting. While they were hunting, the fire burned out and a ship passed by. When Jack and the choirboys returned with the pig they had killed, Ralph scolded Jack for not keeping an eye on the fire and for not helping with the building of the shelters. Ralph, very upset, calls a meeting in the middle of the night where the boys talk about feeling afraid of a beast that they think is lurking around in the jungle. That night, as Sam and Eric are keeping watch, some fighter planes have a battle right above the island and a soldier, on his way down in a parachute, is shot and Sam and Eric think that he is the beast. So, the next morning the boys go out on a hunting expedition in search of the monster. The boys get up to the mountain but are too afraid to go and see the monster. Jack and Ralph hold another meeting after the expedition where Jack tells all of the boys that Ralph is a coward and get the majority of the boys to turn against Ralph and go and form another group with Jack. In Jack's new group, all they do is hunt and kill things. They kill a sow and take the head off for food for the beast. Simon encounters the head and has a conversation with it. The conversation leaves Simon feeling very sick and he passes out, but when he wakes up he continues up the mountain in search of the beast. When Simon finds out that the beast is only a dead soldier, he rushes back to camp to tell the boys. Meanwhile, Jack is having a feast where he invites Ralph's group, so the boys go and eat the pig. As the night goes on, Simon comes down from the mountain and the boys mistakenly think that Simon is the beast so they kill him. The next day, Ralph and Piggy and all the other boys go about their business and Jack comes and steals Piggy's glasses. So, Ralph and Piggy decide that something needs to be done in order to stop Jack, so they go to Castle Rock in order to meet with Jack.
Climax: While at the meeting with Jack and his group of salvages, Roger throws rocks at Piggy and knocks him unconscious. As Piggy is knocked unconscious, he falls into the water and is washed away by the tide. Samneric are next, and are taken away by the choirboys and tied to a tree. Jack's next move was to try and kill Ralph, but Ralph was too quick and he escapes quickly with only an injury from the spear that Jack threw at him.
Falling Action: Ralph spends the night in the jungle alone and attempts to go back to Castle Rock. When he gets right outside of Castle Rock, he encounters Samneric who inform Ralph that he needs to leave before Jack kills him. They tell Ralph that Jack has a plan to kill him and that the next day he and all of the boys were going to go on a hunt for him. So, they give Ralph a stick sharpened at both ends and tell him to go and hide. As Ralph is hiding, Jack and the other boys find him because one of the twins tell Jack where Ralph is hiding. Ralph is able to get away, but barely. Jack sets the whole entire forest ablaze so that they can chase Ralph out of the jungle. After what seems like forever, Ralph finally arrives at the beach.
Resolution: A naval officer greets Ralph when he arrives out of the forest and all of the other boys as well. The officer looks around and sees how dirty and uncivilized the boys had become and is disappointed. They boys all start crying, ashamed of what they had done on the island.
Characterization
Ralph: I think that Ralph was the absolute main character out of the whole entire book. I would describe Ralph as a round, dynamic character. Ralph is a round character because he is the character that is most talked about in the book. He is written about on every single page and he is the character that everyone refers to as the main character. Ralph is also a dynamic character because he changes as soon as the book begins, from an innocent British boy to a leader of a scared group of young kids. Ralph uses the superego part of his mind as well in order to keep things afloat on the island and in order to keep all of the boys in tack. Ralph is a compliance because he took on the job of the leader and did jobs that no one else wanted to do.
Jack: I think that Jack should be describe as a dynamic and round character as well. I think this because as the book progresses, Jack goes from being completely civilized to a dirty salvage that kills all the time. Jack is also a round character because without him the book would not be exciting, and the boys would not have any adventure while on the island. Jack uses the "id"part of his brain because he makes unorganized and instinctual decisions that lead to the deaths of others on the island; Jack is basically only listening to the devil on his shoulder, not the angel. I would describe Jack as being an "Internalization" because he changes because he wants to be the chief and he wants to be the cool kid. Jack admires the beast because everyone is scared of the beast, therefore that is why he fed the beast with the sows head.
Simon: Simon can be described as the flat, yet static character. Simon is flat because even though he is mentioned in the book, Ralph, Piggy and Jack kind of overshine him. Simon is static because even throughout all of the chaos that goes on, Simon stays the same as the person who arrived on the island. Simon never changed for the bad. Simon also uses the "ego" part of his brain because he makes kind and smart decisions, like the ones that the angel on your shoulder would be telling you to make. Simon is a compliance because he does things that no one else would do, like traveling up the mountain on his own or building the shelters. Simon was the one character out of the book that I really looked up to.
Piggy: Piggy can be described as a static, round character. Piggy is a round character because he is always around, almost like the annoying character that no one likes. Piggy is also a static character because, like Simon, he never changes for the bad. He is always staying true to the person he was before he landed on the island. Piggy uses the "ego" and "unconscious" part of his brain as well because he used the angel on his shoulder to help him make the right decisions, but he is also very influenced by his peers. Piggy uses the "Deindividualization" part of social influence because he does what everyone else does, he can't make decisions without looking at what everyone else has done first.
Themes
Civilization vs. Savagery: I felt like Civilization vs. Savagery was a big part of the book. When the boys crashed on the island, they were civilized and humane. They took a while to get used to life on the the island because living in shelters with only a small ration of food per day was a big change to what they were used to at home. As time went on, they grew accustomed to the island and started to forget what it was like to be civilized. The boys started to become dirty and viscous. They turned into savages within an instant. Lord of the Flies shows us just how quickly humans can go from being completely civilized to dirty savages.
Loss of Innocence: Loss of Innocence was a huge part of the Lord of the Flies. Like I said, the boys landed on the island as young, civilized boys that were clueless, like all young kids are. As time passes on the island, the boys forget what it means to be civilized and start to make rational decisions without their consciences. They start killing other boys and losing control of one another. They forget what it means to be a little kid, running around and having fun, and instead they become like the soldiers in World War II, killing everything in sight.
Absolute Power: Absolute Power was also another huge theme in the book. At first, Ralph is elected as chief of the group and this upsets Jack very much. Jack, all his life, had been used to getting everything that he wanted and being in charge 24/7. All that changed when he got on the island and there were no adults to help him or give him what he wanted. So, Jack got jealous of Ralph and started his own group on the island. Holding power got to Jack and made him do things that he normally wouldn't do. He killed boys who threatened his power and boys who he didn't like. Jack let power get to him and change him completely.
Motifs
Hunting: All throughout the story, the boys are going hunting. The first time Jack went hunting, he was unable to kill the pig, so he developed the need to kill a pig every time he went hunting. When Jack was supposed to be watching the fire, he went hunting instead. When Jack first started his group, he decided that their basis was going to be hunting. All Jack did was hunting; hunting pigs, hunting people, there was no end. Jack was obsessed with hunting.
Bible Stories: A lot of the scenes in the book have to do with Biblical stories that were told in the past. The island itself represents the Garden of Eden, as a place that was originally a good place, that turned evil. Simon's conversation with the Lord of the Flies represented the one that Jesus had with the Devil during his forty days of fasting in the wilderness. All throughout the book, are references to the Bible.
Symbols
The Conch: The Conch shell in the book is used to call all of the boys together to assemble. Like in civilization, a bell or alarm would be used at school to call the boys to all of their classes. The conch shell symbolized civilization in a time of chaos for all of the boys.
Piggy's Glasses: Piggy's glasses represent the "science and intellectual" endeavor in society. Piggy, being the smartest out of all the boys, uses his glasses in order to help make the signal fire. When Jack's group needs to make fire, they steal the glasses from Piggy leaving Ralph's group with nothing to make a signal fire with.
Tone
I think that the tone of Lord of the Flies is a serious, yet scary and depressing one. It is serious because the war that was going on around them is a very serious part of out history. It is also scary because the boys have to grow up and be adults alone on an island that was uninhabited. They have to deal with a beast and the boys that turn on them and become crazy. It is also a depressing tone because there never really is anything exciting and happy that happens in the story. The boys are always missing home and their families. There is always some type of danger that is happening.
Mood
The mood in Lord of the Flies can be described in many different ways. One way to describe the mood is to use the word abandonment. The boys feel like they were abandoned on the island because there are no adults on the island to help them. They also were feeling abandoned by their parents when they put them on a plan to get away from the violence of WWII. Another word to describe the mood of LOTF, is hopelessness. As time passes by on the island, the boys start to loose hope that they will ever be rescued or that they will ever get off the island. The boys give up.