Lord of the Flies

For the song by Iron Maiden, see Lord of the Flies (song)

Lord of the Flies

File:Lordoftheflies 1997edition.jpg Lord of the Flies 1997 edition paperback book cover
Author	William Golding
Language	English
Genre	Allegorical novel
Publisher	Faber and Faber. Ltd
Publication date	1954
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Paperback
Pages	272
ISBN	ISBN 1573226122 (1997 Riverhead Trade edition)

Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding about a group of young boys who are stranded on a desert island and who must negotiate the social problems of cooperation and self-government, and fail disastrously. Its treatment of controversial themes earned it position 70 on the American Library Association's list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000.[1]

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 3,000 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.

The title is a reference to the Hebrew name Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Baal-zvuv, "god of the fly" or "host of the fly") a name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan.

Plot summary

Original UK Lord of the Flies book cover

File:Lord of the flies.jpg

Lord of the Flies book cover (Mass market paperback)

The novel begins with a large number of boys being stranded on a desert island. They were being evacuated and their plane has been shot down. The first two characters introduced are Ralph, an athletic and charismatic boy, and "Piggy", a fat boy with glasses. The two boys obtain a conch and use it to call the other boys from across the island. The boys begin to discuss who should be their leader. Ralph and Piggy are the two obvious choices, but one other potential leader arises - Jack Merridew. Jack was a choir leader, and still acts as leader of the other castaway members of his choir. Ralph is elected as leader. Piggy is less popular than Ralph, but is intelligent, and becomes Ralph's "lieutenant". However, it is evident that Jack covets the leadership position. Then, Ralph takes Jack and Simon, another choir singer, to explore the island. During their exploration they find a trapped piglet. Jack pulls out a knife, but hesitates to kill it and it escapes. Jack vows never to hesitate again. Early on, the boys are full of optimism, and expect the island to be fun, despite the fact that many of the boys are scared of a "Beastie" - allegedly some kind of dangerous wild animal on the island seen by one of the younger boys with a birthmark on his face.

The boys then make their first attempt at being rescued by starting a signal fire (lit by Piggy's glasses). The fire burns out of control, and scorches half of the island. The boy with a birthmark on his face who saw the "Beastie" goes missing during the fire, and is never seen again. Life on the island continues to deteriorate, and becomes more and more disorganized - the major characters (Jack and Ralph) have conflicting aims for the island, and there are only two people willing to build shelters.

The island's descent into chaos starts, ironically, with the potential for rescue by a passing ship. Jack had led a group off hunting, and took with him the boys who were tending to the signal fire, so the ship sailed past without knowing of the boys on the island. An intense argument ensues, in which a lens of Piggy's glasses is broken. Jack continues to push the boundaries of his subordinate role, and eventually becomes a tyrant. The irony is that the sound of his choir was originally described as the "voices of angels", but the choir boys are later described as "demonic figures". Although the signal fire is maintained along with a false sense of security, the order among the boys quickly deteriorates as Jack and Ralph continue to struggle for power.

As the novel takes place during a war, a dogfight between two planes occurs over the island. One of the pilots parachutes out of his plane, but dies upon or before landing. Two twins, Sam and Eric ("Samneric", as they become known) assume that the pilot is the Beastie, causing mass panic. An expedition to investigate leads to Ralph, Jack, and a choir boy ascending the mountain, but they eventually run away from what they believe is the Beastie. Jack denounces Ralph as a coward, and calls for another election for chief, but does not receive a single vote. He leaves the group to create a new tribe. Most of the older boys eventually leave "Ralph's tribe" to join "Jack's tribe". This new tribe hunts 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 Beastie. Flies swarm around the head of the pig. Simon comes across it, and through hallucination, the dead pig speaks to him. Its message foreshadows Simon's fate, and he runs down from the mountain to break the news about the dead pilot and being talked to by the "Lord of the Flies". However, in doing so, he is mistaken as the Beastie, and is beaten to death by the other boys.

Ralph's tribe dwindles in number. Jack's larger, less civilized tribe, however, needs to steal from them to maintain their existence. They steal Piggy's glasses to light a fire. Piggy demands his glasses back, but is killed when Roger launches a boulder into him, crushing the conch shell and sending him over a cliff. Jack tries and fails to kill Ralph, and the next day, his tribe tries to hunt him down. In doing this, they set up a forest fire, which is seen by a passing naval vessel, and one of the ship's officers comes ashore and rescues the boys. Ralph's brush with death is tinged with irony; Ralph had always pushed for a fire to be kept, but the fire that leads to their rescue was originally lit to kill him. For the first time on the island, Ralph cries, weeping for the "end of innocence" and the "darkness of man's heart".

Major themes and symbols

Ralph and the conch

Because the rules are the only thing we've got!

Ralph may represent democracy as he is leader by a democratic vote, and attempts to please the majority. He can also be interpreted as a representation of the ego, which governs the id and is associated with practicality.

The conch shell becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and order in the novel. Piggy tries desperately to protect it and when he dies, it is also destroyed. The shell effectively governs the boys’ meetings, for the boy who holds the shell holds the right to speak. As the island civilization erodes and the boys descend into savagery, the conch shell loses its power and influence among them. Its appearance also seems to parallel their descent, as it seems to lose color as they decend into savagery. Later, the other boys ignore Ralph and throw stones at him when he attempts to blow the conch in Jack’s camp. The boulder that Roger rolls onto Piggy also crushes the conch shell, signifying the end of the civilized instinct among almost all the boys on the island. This is the point at which Jack finally wrestles any control from Ralph and without the powerful symbol of the conch to protect him, he must run from Jack's hunters who now have no barrier to kill him.

Piggy and the glasses

How can you expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper?

Piggy is the intellectual whose shattering spectacles mark the progressive decay of rational influence as the story progresses. Piggy may represent rational thinking as he is logical, but unpopular, and eventually Ralph comes to realise how much he depended on him and his logic, admitting "I can't think. Not like Piggy." He is arguably the most rational boy in the group, and as such his glasses may represent intuition and intelligence (they can also represent science, as can Piggy). This symbolism appears from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take the power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless. The physical state of the glasses may also represent the state of the social order on the island, for as their condition deteriorates, so does the order and organization of the boys. Piggy's body being fat and his asthma can also be thought of as to be the idea of how the superego and thus rational thinking are ill-suited for this environment and thought of as useless, just like Piggy's physical being is ill-suited for the island and the others consider him to be useless. His glasses making fire is also a reference to how what science produces is useful, but the science involved isn't. Piggy can also represent Socrates, because his reasoning and high intelligence only adds more problems for him and results in his eventual death. It is very similar to Plato's Apology.

Jack and the choirboys

Bollocks to the rules!

Jack may represent totalitarianism as he does not appreciate the results of the election, eventually seizing power in a coup and ruling alone. He also represents the antithesis of democracy, dictatorship. Everyone must abide by set rules and he shows a distinct disrespect for the conch and its associations. Jack being the head choirboy but descending into savagery can also be symbolized as a fallen angel, i.e. Lucifer. His use of typical scare tactics is also similar to many governments past and present. Even after the children kill Simon. Jack says that the beast is still alive. He does this to keep the children scared, so they will look to him for help.

Jack may also represent the Id in contrast to Ralph as the Superego (or Ego) 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 the Superego. 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", as he says in his working class accent. Also, he blatantly ignores Piggy's request that he not call him Piggy in front of the others. But did Ralph reveal Piggy's nickname on purpose, considering that Ralph never got to know Piggy's real name: "'He's not fatty," cried Ralph, "his real name is Piggy!'"?

Roger may represent total and absolute evil, even more so than Jack, as he is an ally to totalitarianism and is truly sadistic. He is the first boy to intentionally murder another person, and targets the 'littluns' earlier in the book.

WHITNEY LOVES MICAH FOREVER!!!!

Simon may represent 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. In addition, the night before he dies, Simon knows that he won't make it home all right, just as the night before Jesus' arrest, Jesus says he will be betrayed. Furthermore, Simon's actions also allude to the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Simon was thought of as the beast, and the beast was initially thought to be a snake. In the novel, Simon gives the little ones the choice fruit, as the serpent tells Adam and Eve to eat the fruit. Additionally, he is the only one on the island that sees the fear and breakdown of civilization. This is pointed out when he stated that "maybe it's only us" in reference to the beast. This shows that he is correctly guessing that the fear and chaos are being caused by the minds of the children and not a physical thing. Another interpretation of Simon is that he represents the poets and writers, much like Benjamin the Donkey in Animal Farm. Simon has a sense of many things which he cannot persuade the others of and is in touch with the darker side of humanity.

Sam and Eric (the twins)

Sam and Eric, mentioned frequently in the novel as Samneric, may 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. They can also represent the tug-of-war between good and evil; Golding describes them as "barely having enough skin" to cover both: they are "stretched". They also represent good and evil due to the fact they swing back and forth in their alliances between Jack's savage tribe and Ralph's rational democracy; one moment they help Ralph and the next they tell Jack Ralph's secrets.

Other boys

The "littluns" are perhaps a representation of the masses or the plebeians who are easily swayed to support one group or another but who are needed by a leader to rule over.

The beast

The "beast" may represent brutality, propaganda and irrational fears, as it causes a panic and ultimately allies the boys around Jack. The fact that there is no "beast" suggests that it is a representation of the evil in human nature. The Lord of the Flies (which is translated from Greek "Beelzebub" and Hebrew, "Ba'alzevuv". "Lord of the Flies" is said to be a mistranslation from a mistransliterated word, but it does sound pungent and evil, like that of a reference to the devil. And a devil whose names means a devotion to decay, destruction, demoralization, hysteria and panic is particularly fitting for this book.) and the "beastie" represent the evil lurking within everyone's hearts, which, while not corporeal, is no less real. It may also be considered to be the religious belief of the island society, as it is not seen but its existence is rarely doubted, it is credited to what cannot be explained, and it is given offerings in an attempt to persuade it to spare the lives of the islanders. In this way, it is representative of what one might call "dark worship"- the worship of things that are inherently bad.

Simon's conversation with the Beast in the realm of his own mind is one of the most fascinating parts of the story, because the Beast often tells him that it is immortal and finds all human action funny, leading one to wonder if there is some intelligence inside human evil- a reference to the devil, linking back to its name.

The Killing of the Sow

The sow is a mother: "sunk in deep maternal bliss lay the largest of the lot...the great bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets that slept or burrowed and squeaked." The killing of the sow is done through bestiality and murder. Referencing to its driving force of sexuality. Especially among the half-grown boys.

They remove the head of the Sow and place it onto a stick that is jammed into the ground as a gift for the Beast, which seems to be lurking on the island. This shows their own irrational fears and blind terrors of the island and beast release the forces of death and the "devil" on the island.

The most symbolic incident of this is that of Simon and the sow head. To Simon, the head seems to be saying "Everything was a bad business....The half shut eyes that were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life." Simon fought against what the head was saying. "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!" said the head. For a moment or two the forest and all the other dimly appreciated places echoes with laughter. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The pig head tries to tell Simon that he cannot avoid the recognition of human capacities for evil and the superficial nature of human moral systems. It is the acknowledgment of the end of innocence. The head of the sow is the Lord of the Flies.

Names

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 are; the pejorative nickname also shows the hostility towards him from the other boys. Jack's name is derived from the Hebrew name Yakov יַעֲקֹב, which literally means "supplanter" or "one who takes over", just as Jack took the role of leadership by force from Ralph. Simon's name, derived from the Hebrew name "Shim'on" means "one who listens" or "one who observes", symbolizing Simon's quiet, attentive behavior. "Roger" means "famous with the spear."

The signal fire

The signal fire becomes a measure of the boys’ connection to civilization. In the early parts of the novel, the fact that the boys maintain the fire is perhaps a sign that they want to be rescued and return to society. When the fire burns low or goes out, it seems that the boys have lost sight of their desire to be rescued and have accepted their savage lives on the island. The signal fire thus functions as a kind of barometer of the strength of the civilized instinct remaining on the island. Ironically, at the end of the novel, a fire finally summons a ship to the island, but not the signal fire. Instead, it is the fire of savagery — the forest fire Jack’s gang start as part of his quest to hunt and kill Ralph. The forest fire could also represent humanity's destruction of the environment to accomplish shortsighted goals. Even if they had not been rescued, they had burned down the fruit trees and probably killed most of the wild game, and thus would have eventually perished due to their actions. Another interpretation of the fact that the "savage" fire saved the boys on the island may be that the "Allied forces" liberation of Europe from the clutches of the Nazi regime which was due to the fact that Germany attacked Russia in "Operation Barbarrossa" and that the allies of Germany, namely Japan, attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor is an analogy to the boys' condition on the island. Had those attacks never occurred, the U.S and the U.S.S.R would have never joined the war and without their contribution, Europe's fate may have been sealed. In the same manner, Ralph's fate would have been to die at the hands of Jack's hunters, were it not for the fire and its smoke, which though intended to kill Ralph, ended up signalling the British cruiser and rescuing the boys, including him.

Allusions/references to other works

The Coral Island

In 1857, R.M. Ballantyne wrote a book called The 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 The Coral Island are made in Lord of the Flies, as Golding wrote it as an indirect response.

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. It is somewhat ironic then, that in Chapter 11 of Lord of the Flies, Piggy calls Jack's tribe "a pack of painted niggers." It should be pointed out that the term was not viewed as offensive in 1950s British society as it is today, being seen as a descriptive (rather than abusive) term for people of dark skin. (For instance, the word "nigger" played a prominent role in the 1954 British film The Dam Busters). In any case, the word was changed to "savages" in some editions and "Indians" in the Mass Media publication.

The Heart of Darkness and Pincher Martin

After Simon finishes talking with the Sow, he imagines he is looking into a vast mouth. "There was blackness within, a blackness that spread... Simon was inside the mouth. He fell down and lost consciousness." The mouth (this mouth also seems to be a reference to Conrad's "Heart of Darkness": "I saw (the dying Kurtz) open his mouth wide—it gave him a weirdly voracious aspect, as though he wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth all the men before him." It seems Golding is very close to Conrad both in basic principles and in an artistic method.) seems to represent a ravenous, unreasoning and eternally insatiable nature. This appears again in Pincher Martin, in which the development of the theme of Nature inimical to the conscious personality of man is developed in a stunning fashion.

Literary significance and criticism

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, is a metaphor for the Garden of Eden. The first appearance of the "beastie" is in a form reminescent of a serpent, as which evil appears in the Book of Genesis. One of the major themes of the book, on the very nature of evil, is brought to a head in a scene which Simon holds with the head of the pig, which is known as "The Lord of the Flies" (a literal translation of the Hebrew name of Ba'alzevuv, or Beelzebub) which is a powerful demon in hell, sometimes believed to be the devil himself. 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. Some Christian readers allude the British Naval officers' rescue of the boys, as the second coming of Christ (Bible story in Revelation). The "Lord of the Flies" in the end reveals that evil and the terror of the "beastie" is not an external threat, but an inborn evil with the boys themselves.

Others have looked at the novel as a work on political philosophy. The stranding of the boys, without any adult supervision, represents a clean slate upon which they have the power to build a small society without reference to any past authorities (past governments, religion, etc.). The abundance of food and water and all the necessities is a setting that sets the stage for a utopia or perfect society. The actions of the boys demonstrate the spectrum of governments, with Ralph and Piggy representing democratic ideals while Jack represents more authoritarian systems.

Lord of the Flies in popular culture

File:LordoftheFlies1990.png

Lord of the Flies (1990) DVD cover

• In the movie Hook, Robin Williams compares the Lost Boys to the savages in Lord of the Flies.
• In the Bad Religion song "1000 More Fools," they reference the Lord of the Flies.
• In Lizzie McGuire episode "Last Year's Model," Gordo mentions Lord of the Flies.
• An episode of The Simpsons titled "Das Bus" was a parody of Lord of the Flies, mirroring it in many ways (using glasses to make fire, a monster lurking in the forest of the island, stronger kids chasing after "the nerds" and other dissidents of the island). An early Simpsons episode, "Kamp Krusty," also makes reference to the novel during the sequence where the camp plunges into anarchy, but the only reference shown is the pig's head on a pike during Kent Brockman's newscast. The chants against Milhouse and company ("Kill the dorks!" "Bash their butts!" "Kick their shins!") is a direct parody of the "Kill the Pig" chant in LOTF.
• 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.
• Rock band Gatsbys 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.
• It is claimed that Mark Burnett's Survivor reality TV series was inspired by the novel.
• It has been speculated that the Nine Inch Nails song "Piggy" is Trent Reznor's vision of what Simon must have said to the pig's head (aka "The Lord of the Flies") at the end of Chapter 8.
• The book was the inspiration for Battle Royale.
• People have found many similarities between Lord of the Flies and the television show Lost − characters Sawyer and Charlie make references to Lord of the Flies.
• 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 novel, Hearts In Atlantis.
• On The Weekenders, "Lord of the Pies" is one of the many pizza place variations. In this pizza place, Lor's brothers run rampant and chase a pig.
• The popular TV show 'Lost' is also a parody of Lord Of The Flies with such characters as Jack (in Lost) representing Ralph. Incidentally the island in 'Lost' is geographically identical to the one in Lord Of The Flies; with a mountain at one end and a small island at another. It also features a jungle, lagoon and beach.
• In Melbourne, Australia, there is a business called Lord of the Fries, with a store on the corner of Elizabeth Street and Flinders Street
• The MMORPG The Matrix Online had a Zion critical mission titled "Lord of the Flies," which the Assassin, was metaphorically the title character since he was composed of flies.
• In the Seinfeld episode "The Handicap Spot" the four main characters chip in to buy The Drake a big screen TV for his engagement party. The next day Jerry and Elaine visit The Drake. The 1990 remake of "Lord of the Flies" is playing on the TV.

Notes

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Lord of the Flies (1963) DVD cover

• 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."
• Nick Hornby commented that a newer novel, The Beach (written by Alex Garland), is: "A Lord of the Flies for Generation X".
• There is an apparent inconsistency with physics in the book. Piggy is portrayed as extremely myopic and therefore would have had diverging lenses in his glasses. However, a converging lens is required to focus sunlight in order to start a fire; diverging lenses weaken sunlight.
• Another scientific inconsistency is the mention of a crescent Moon rising on the eastern horizon just after sunset. If the Moon is on the side of the Earth opposite the Sun, it should be a full or three-quarter Moon, not a crescent.
• Because of the novel's content, it has been the frequent target of censors, and appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 at number 70. [2]
• Sol Yurick adapted the characters of Simon, Ralph and Jack for his novel The Warriors as Cleon, Swan and Luther (Simon is beaten and killed like Cleon, Ralph wants to survive like Swan, and Jack is pure bad milk like Luther).
• Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon references the scene where Simon talks to the Lord of the Flies—except that his main character is a girl, stranded alone in the woods, and she sees 3 entities, one of whom is clearly the Lord of the Flies.

External links

• Lord of the Flies A Study Guide
• The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
• NovelGuide
• SparkNotes
• Lord of the Flies (1963) at IMDb
• Lord of the Flies (1990) at IMDb
• Criterion Collection essay by Peter Brook
• Slashdoc : Lord of the Flies Literary analysis of the novel

Editions

• ISBN 0-606-00196-4 (prebound, 1954)
• ISBN 0-399-50148-7 (paperback, 1959)
• ISBN 0-8072-3176-2 (audio cassette with paperback, 1977, unabridged)
• ISBN 1-55651-525-1 (paperback, 1988)
• ISBN 0-02-635121-8 (hardcover, 1990)
• ISBN 0-571-16056-5 (paperback, 1996)
• ISBN 1-57322-612-2 (paperback, 1997)
• ISBN 1-56137-384-2 (hardcover, 1998)
• ISBN 0-7910-4135-2 (paper text, 1998)
• ISBN 1-56137-383-4 (hardcover, 1999)
• ISBN 0-7910-4777-6 (hardcover, 1999)
• ISBN 0-7641-0821-2 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-14-028333-1 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-571-20053-2 (paperback, 1999)
• ISBN 0-399-52901-2 (paperback, 2002)
• ISBN 0-8072-0954-6 (audio cassette, 2002, unabridged)
• ISBN 0-399-52920-9 (hardcover, 2003, Anniversary Edition)
• ISBN 1-58663-355-4 (paperback, 2003)
• ISBN 0-88411-695-6 (hardcover)
• ISBN 0-8072-1364-0 (paperback)
• ISBN 0-571-22767-8 (paperback, 2005)

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