Lord of the Flies:Themes

Although there were many tasks that asked us to find out different quotes sought to be important in the novel, no one, including myself added “ What makes things break up like they do” which is found in page 127 and is said by Ralph. The reason I am mentioning it, is because it is an important question that gives insight into the novel’s central theme. Golding shows us 1. Humans are often their own enemy, causing destruction even in a tropical paradise!... and 2. No matter how logical, order will ultimately have to give in to the anarchical demands of the public


He also shows how human being abuse power when it’s not earned and how it is better to examine the consequences of a decision before making it than to discover them afterwards.

-Amira M.

The Most Important Events (Ch:9-12)

The four important events that happened in the last third of the book are the following:
i) Piggy’s death- This death was the most important event in this book because with lose of Piggy’s wise advices; Ralph could not bear to think that what will become of him. Democracy and order was kept alive on the island because Piggy was the only one who believed in a civilized society. With the death of Piggy, the conch was dead too so, they definitely had connections between them. The conch was the only thing along with Piggy that kept the boys together and connected to the real world’s law and order. He was the one that told the boys to only keep their focus on being rescued but not fighting with one another and wasting time forming new tribes with new leaders. He was the wise one on this island who told Ralph to blow the conch and got the boys together at the first place. However, no one thought of him as brave and intelligent boy instead they judged him based on his clothes, glasses and way he looked which is very common in the real world.

ii) Simon’s death - It is the most important event because it foreshadows the blood shedding that will be taking place in the rest of the book. It shows the beginning of the uncivilized brains of the boys that will slowly turn even worst. The boys were so close to knowing the truth that there is no beast on this island and so it is safe to put the fire up onto the mountain. Instead of knowing the truth, they just jumped right into conclusion and killed Simon as they thought that it was the beast. With Simon’s death Ralph and Piggy were disturbed and were clueless, that if this death was a murder or an accident. Piggy was the wise one and decided that the boys are not the ones to be blamed but Simon with his horrifying entry into the feast. With all the fears in the boys’ minds turned all at ones and indicated that it is the beast and they should kill it before it attacks which is the wise step that the boys came onto right on the spot. Anyway, they thought that they have no choice of running or escaping the beast and so all of the boys attacked Simon leading to his death.

iii) Ralph escaping from the boys- This is an important event in the book because this was the most suspenseful part that I though Jack will be killing Ralph and that will be the end of the book, which I thought, would be sad. He ran into the forest and had no way to get out of this trouble; he only had limited choices to save him. The state of Ralph at that current scene was the same as the state of the democracy and order within the boys themselves. They had turned completely into scavengers and will do anything to kill Ralph. Well, they had to otherwise; they would be hunt by Jack and his hunters. Moreover, at the end surprisingly when the navy army officer comes and saves Ralph was like a miracle same with democracy and order and it was saved. From this, we know that even though someone or something dies that does not mean that it completely disappeared from the whole world. You can still keep it alive within yourselves. The author sows the true meaning of democracy and order that is needed in our society for the living otherwise, you know the human “rice” will be cooked oops! the human race will vanish and the dictatorship will begin.

iv) The stealing of the glasses-This was important in the book because this scene foreshadowed that something bad is going to happen next. Piggy had to get his glasses back or otherwise he will not be able to see and the author gave us the feeling of “Now What”. On the other side, at least Jack and his hunters did not steal the conch because that is the only thing that gave Piggy the courage to speak his mind, it truly meant a lot to him. They not only stole the glasses but also hurt Sam ‘n’ Eric “Just a loose tooth”. Jack could have asked Ralph for the fire nicely if they really needed it! At the end, someone really ends up getting hurt. Stealing was the other thing that broke the rules and regulations of the society and now this gave the feeling that Jack and his hunter has really crossed the line.

-Jasveen

Symbols: The Conch and Piggy’s Glasses

The first symbol I’m going to talk about is the conch =]

1.) “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear this” pg.22. We first see the conch in chapter one, when Piggy tells Ralph that you can blow in it like a horn and they decide that anyone else on the island will come when they hear it. Here the conch symbolizes the force that brought all the boys together. It can also symbolize what made Ralph the leader of the boys, because he was mainly elected for being the one to blow the conch and bring them together.

2.)”I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.” Pg. 43. The conch is also used when Ralph is setting the rules for the island, at this point it symbolizes democracy because Ralph is using it to make sure that all the boys will be treated equally and fairly. Like in the quote where he wants to make sure that everyone will get a chance to be heard.

3.) Later on in the novel when Jack has started his own tribe of boys, the conch begins to symbolize loyalty to Ralph, especially for Piggy who is terrified of what would happen to him if Jack was in charge of everyone. Piggy starts to cling to the conch because he feels that it keeps the group of boys that are left together. On page 207 after the hunters came and stole Piggy’s glasses, Piggy tells Ralph “I thought they wanted the conch.” But of course Jack has no interest in the conch because none of the things it symbolizes are of any importance to him; he doesn’t want to be democratic, he doesn’t care that it was what brought them all together and he certainly has no loyalty to Ralph anymore.

4.) The final thing the conch symbolizes is the last part of civilized life the boys see on the island. Even though most of the boys have joined Jack’s group, Piggy and Sam’n’eric stay with Ralph and aren’t acting like savages the way the hunters are. The conch shows this because we see that as soon as the conch is destroyed, all the boys seem to be savages, except Ralph of course. Piggy is killed and Sam’n’eric are forced to join the hunters, the savages plan to get rid of the last civilized person on the island too. We can notice that all this happens almost as soon as the conch is smashed. “There isn’t a tribe for you anymore. The conch is gone-.” Pg 223

Now I’m going to talk about the symbolism of Piggy’s glasses.

1.) Piggy is one of the first characters we meet when we start reading the Lord of the Flies. When he is described to us, the author mentions that fact that he wears glasses right away. “He came forward, searching out safe lodgements for his feet, and then looked up through thick spectacles.” pg 12. Generally, you wouldn’t think this is such an important detail, but because of their symbolism in this case it is. One thing that his “specs” symbolize is the intelligence within the group of boys. We can notice that Piggy is the only boy in the group who needs to wear glasses similarly he also seems to be the one who has all the good ideas although he is not always given credit for them. Piggy is technically the one who brings the boys together because he tells Ralph to blow in the conch, although Ralph basically takes the credit for it later on.

2.) The glasses are again singled out when the boys are trying to light a fire to attract any ships nearby. They are unable to start it using sticks or stones, but they easily light it when they use Piggy’s glasses to direct the sunlight onto the pile of wood. At this point the glasses symbolize an attachment to civilization because we tend to associate fire with a civilized society. When they are used for this they can also symbolize Piggy’s contribution to the group; since he generally can’t help in ways that involve physical activity because of his weight and his asthma so allowing the boys to use his glasses shows that he is still helping them in their attempts to be rescued. “His specs-use them as burning glasses!” pg 52.

3.) Piggy’s glasses are also used to symbolize his weakness that allows the boys to pick on him so frequently. He stands out for being the only one to wear glasses (not to mention his weight and his asthma) not that there’s any excuse for picking on him for those reasons but for the boys that’s a good enough reason. We also see that when Piggy doesn’t have his glasses on he’s almost completely blind and therefore also quite vulnerable. There are a few times in the story when Piggy describes what it’s like to not have his glasses on. One time is when Jack takes them from him to light the fire, and the other time is when Jack takes them to light the fire for his own tribe of boys (notice the common denominator here!). Piggy says “Jus’ blurs, that’s all. Hardly see my hand-.” Pg 53. This shows us that the boys could probably do anything they want to him when they have his specs, which is sad but Jack is definitely mean enough to do it.

4.) The last thing that Piggy’s glasses represent (the last one I’m going to talk about anyways) is the balance of things on the Island that is so easy to upset. Things are going ok on the island until Jack lets the fire go out because he was hunting and a ship passes them. When they are arguing over this, Jack smacks Piggy in the head and his glasses are knocked off and one lens breaks. "I got to have them specs. Now I only got one eye." pg. 90. This is the first time we see that maybe Jack isn’t so nice, and as we know we keep seeing this more and more until it gets to an extreme. The glasses show this because the glass in the lens is easy to break, just like the peace on the island turns out to be. And when you break half of something, like one lens of the glasses, it usually doesn’t take long for the other half to follow. This turns out to be true in the novel because the situation on the island gets much worse and I think that Piggy’s other lens got destroyed in the end. The author never really mentions it, but in all the commotion to find Ralph they were probably dropped and Piggy is killed and he is kind of linked to the glasses. Maybe they were left on the island and forgotten when they all got on the ship just like their owner.

-Christina

Ralph following Piggy's death

One of the worst things that happen to Ralph is the loss of Piggy. This shocks Ralph and makes him speechless. Soon, Jack starts stabbing him with his spear and everyone id forced to abandon him, leaving him alone. At this point, it’s impossible to determine what action to take left. He runs, fearing that not doing so would result in his death as well!

To say what I would do in such case is tough since it solely depends on the situation. However, I think I would do the same as Ralph and run fearing death. The boys were savage enough to kill Piggy under Jack’s orders, they might have done the same. One thing I would do differently is take action. Perhaps I would run and avoid getting into an argument, however if this is not controlled and Jack starts stabbing, I would turn the spear around and try killing him. He was the reason for turning everyone savage; therefore, he death might lead everyone to their human, civilized nature.

Ralph should not be critized on the way he acted and everyone should understand that he was shocked as well yet took action and fled. I salute him!

-Amira M

Piggy & Ralph following Simon's death

After Simon is murdered, Piggy and Ralph are very upset by everything that led up to his sacrificial death. Since Ralph felt the weight of being a leader since the beginning and because he felt responsible for the rest of the boys, he felt that the boys are to be blamed. Ralph talks about how the whole thing was a murder and tells piggy, "That was Simon . . . That was murder," whereas Piggy, the wiser one asserts it as an accident and nothing more. He places blame on Simon instead of everyone else. Eventually the two somewhat go into denial, pretending that it never happened, even though they were all there at the time of the killing. They are obviously disturbed by Simon's death, but are unwilling to discuss it at length.

If I were in such situation, I would act more like Piggy and less like Ralph. In everyday life, when some one passes away there isn’t much that can be done (you can not change the past) so instead one should pray for the one. Piggy, who blames on everyone, does so in an attempt to save civilization which would be the number one priority at this point. I would talk to Jack’s tribe and try to work things out peacefully. Usually when some one dies, a proper burial and a ceremony are put to pay respect. This did not happen (probably because the boys have turned savage at this point). If everyone took Simon’s words about the dead man on the hill into consideration because figuring out that the beast was truly a dead man might have led to different results.

-Amira M.

Chapter 12 Summary: Cry of the Hunters

When we last saw Ralph in chapter 11, he was running as fast as he could away from Jack’s tribe. We now find him hiding in the forest, wondering what he should do next. He can’t really believe what has happened to them all, and he thinks that the boys are only going to become more and more savage. He starts getting scared because he thinks that since they killed Piggy and Simon, they are going to look for him until they can give him a similar fate. He comes out of hiding to check out his surroundings and finds the pigs skull which scares him a bit, so he hits it and it cracks in half. He wonders if he can just go and join the tribe, but he knows that it will never happen. When he hears some of the boys nearby, he goes to see who they are and finds them to be Samneric, who are guarding Castle Rock. This makes Ralph sad, that the only other boys who were loyal to him that are still alive have turned to savages. Still, he goes over to talk to them. They warn him that he had better go away because the tribe is planning on hunting for him the next dayThey say that they’re going to keep hunting until they find him, and apparently Roger had “sharpened a stick at both ends.” They also explain that they had been forced to join the tribe, they hadn’t really wanted to. Ralph tells the twins where he plans on hiding, and asks them to make sure nobody looks there for him. One of the guards shows up and Ralph has to leave, after he goes back into hiding he finally falls asleep.

He wakes up hearing people coming, and moves through the forest as fast as he can managing to grab a sharp stick to use as a spear. He doesn’t know if he should hide, and hope they won’t find him, or run and risk being seen or being caught up to; in the end he decides to hide. Then he smells and sees the smoke, and realiezes that they are trying to make him come out of hiding by setting the entire island on fire. The smoke is getting closer and one of the boys has found his hiding spot, so Ralph runs for it. He runs as fast as he can to the beach and is prepring to be caught, since he has almost run out of land to run on, and sees a man from the Navy standing there. A ship had seen the smoke and come to see what was going on. The officer asks Ralph some questions, but definitely doesn’t learn the whole story. Then Ralph, thinking of everything that had happened to them, bursts into tears and that’s the end of the story.

Christina

Chapter 11 Summary: Castle Rock

Chapter 11 starts with the boys who are left-Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric- trying to decide what they’re going to do about Jack and his new tribe. Ralph can’t believe that some of the boys want Jack to be their leader since he’s the one who let the fire go out when the ship was passing, and Ralph blames him for Simon’s death. Now he’s also mad that they stole Piggy’s glasses from him, as well as stealing the fire and he feels that this means they have no hope of being rescued. Piggy is really angry and decides that he’s going to get his glasses back no matter what, even though the other boys feel that going over there is just asking for trouble. Piggy obviously feels that he needs to prove to himself and the other boys that he’s not just going to be pushed around anymore, so off the 4 boys go. They set off with Piggy being led by the others and carrying the conch.

When they arrive at Jacks “camp”, it is high above the sea and being guarded by some of the boys. Ralph blows the conch until of the boys, who are now all painted like savages appear. Ralph keeps saying that he is calling an assembly, and the other boys just tell him that Jack is out hunting and that they have been told not to let him in. Ralph says he’s come to talk to them about the fire and Piggy’s glasses and suddenly Jack appears. First Ralph and Jack just yell at each other, and Piggy is getting really nervous. But then Jack throws himself at Ralph and tries to stab him and the two end up physically fighting. Piggy breaks up the fight when he reminds Ralph that all they want are his specs back, and Ralph tries to calmly explain things to the rest of the boys. Except they’re savages so this doesn’t work and Jack orders his tribe to grab the twins. This causes Ralph to lose his temper, and Ralph and Jack end up fighting again. This time it’s Piggy’s turn to try to make an appeal to the boys, holding the conch the entire time. Suddenly, Roger drops a huge boulder from above which hits Piggy; destroying the conch and throwing Piggy off the cliff which obviously kills him right away. At this point, Jack starts yelling about how he’s chief, especially with the conch being destroyed; while Ralph runs away as fast as he can. As for Sam’n’Eric, they are taken prisoner by Jack’s tribe.

Christina