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Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel by Nobel Prize-winning author William Golding. It discusses how civility created by man fails and how man shall always turn to savagery, using the allegory of a group of school children trapped on a desert island who attempt to govern themselves and fail disastrously. 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 1990–2000. The novel was chosen by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to the present.

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.

The title is said to be a reference to a line from King Lear - "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods, — They kill us for their sport". (King Lear Act IV, Scene 1) It may also be a reference to the Hebrew name Beelzebub (בעל זבוב, Baal-zvuv, "god of the fly", "host of the fly" or literally "Lord of the Flies"), a name sometimes used as a synonym for Satan.

At the beginning of his novel, Golding cites a few lines from Goethes Faust:

FAUST:
Bei euch, ihr Herrn, kann man das Wesen Gewöhnlich aus dem Namen lesen, Wo es sich allzu deutlich weist, Wenn man euch Fliegengott, Verderber, Lügner heißt. Nun gut, wer bist du denn?

MEPHISTOPHELES:
Ich bin der Geist, der stets verneint! Und das mit Recht; denn alles, was entsteht, Ist wert, daß es zugrunde geht; Drum besser wär's, daß nichts entstünde. So ist denn alles, was ihr Sünde, Zerstörung, kurz das Böse nennt, Mein eigentliches Element.

Plot summary

The story begins with a large number of young boys, ages 6 to 12, being stranded on a tropical island. They were being evacuated from a war and their plane had been shot down. The first two characters introduced are Ralph, an athletic and charismatic boy with fair hair, and "Piggy," a fat boy with glasses who also suffers from asthma. 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 is chosen by vote, 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 but because Ralph senses the threat, he elects Jack to be the leader of the hunters (his choir). Piggy is the least popular of the boys, but is intelligent, and becomes Ralph's "lieutenant", having civilized values but no way to carry them out. However, it is evident that Jack covets the leadership position. Then, Ralph takes Jack and Simon 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 "Beast" — 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 without control, and scorches a good portion of the island. The boy with a birthmark on his face who saw the Beast goes missing during the fire, and is never seen again.

The major characters Jack and Ralph have conflicting aims for the island, and life on the island begins to deteriorate, and becomes more and more disorganized. 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 (the twins Sam and Eric, or "Samneric," as they become known), so the ship sailed past without knowing of the boys on the island. An intense argument ensues, in which one lens of Piggy's glasses is broken.

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. Jack pushes the boundaries of his subordinate role, and eventually splits off and becomes a tyrant on "Castle Rock" with the rest of the savages.

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. Sam and Eric assume that the pilot is the Beast when they see him in the dark, causing mass panic. An expedition to investigate leads to Ralph, Jack, and Roger, ascending the mountain, but they eventually run away from what they believe is the Beast. 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.

The new tribe hunts down and slaughters a pig, and Jack decides to host a feast. Before that, they sever the pig's head and place it on a stick as an "offering" to the Beast. Flies swarm around the head of the pig. Simon comes across it, and hears the dead pig speak to him. Discovering that the "beast" is the dead pilot, he runs down from the mountain to break the news. However, when he arrives, it is raining terribly, and while the little ones are screaming and running around, the other boys, who were worked up in their war dance, mistake Simon for the beast and tear, bite, and claw him to death.

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's tribe captures Samneric and force them to join their tribe. Jack tries and fails to kill Ralph, and the next day, his tribe tries to hunt him down. In doing this, they set a forest fire, which is seen by a passing naval vessel, and one of the ship's officers comes ashore in a boat and rescues Ralph and some of the boys. For the first time on the island, Ralph cries.

General analysis and themes

Masks

In the book the masks are the means of which characters forget their true selves. The mask hides the boys from the truths of what they are doing, and, in their own way, are an inversive demonstration of humanity. As the boys surrender to the power of the mask, they are actually revealing the truths of humanity. Similar to how the skin slowly melts away from the Sow's head, the mask become the true humans. The bestial form of the mask is that of the inner man. Indeed, the masks are perhaps the most curious symbol in Lord of the Flies merely because of their seemingly contradictory nature.

The killing of the sow

Here, struck down by the heat, the sow fell and the hunters hurled themselves at her.

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, referring to its driving force of sexuality, especially among the half-grown and prepubescent 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's 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 is also the one who finally convinces Simon that the beast is not a physical manifestation, instead it originates from within the boys.

Flies

Nothing prospered but the flies who blackened their lord and made the spilt guts look like a heap of glistening coal.

The pig's head (The Lord of the Flies) may represent Satan, while the flies may represent devils and iniquitous and nefarious human beings. Simon's confrontation with the Lord may represent the Temptation of Jesus.

Even when the vessel broke in Simon's nose, and the blood gushed out, they left him alone, preferring the pig's high flavour.

The flies which represent mortal evil choose the pig over Simon. This represents the way a number of humans choose to be evil instead of good and how doing evil bears more satisfactory fruit than doing good.

The sow is a mother figure much like Piggy (connected by his name). The deaths of Piggy and the sow symbolize the end of parental influence on the island.

Names

I told you to. I told you to get a list of names!

The names of Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Jack and Roger all have symbolic meaning. Ralph's name is derived from the Old English word for "wolf council," symbolizing Ralph's role as a leader who forms meetings and councils on the island. Piggy's real name is unknown, but the name Piggy is meant to symbolise how he is vulnerable, just as the pigs on the island are. Piggy's name is also a reference to the Lord of the Flies, which is a pig's head. The pig's head holds its brain, therefore its intelligence. It is ironic, seeing as how the other boys mistreat him, while at the same time all of the brilliant ideas such as fire-making, and looking after the littluns, originated from him. The derogative nickname also shows the hostility towards him from the other boys. Jack's name is derived from the Hebrew name Jacob or 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 behaviour. Simon is also the original name of Peter, one of the Apostles in the Bible. "Roger" means "famous with the spear." "Lord of the Flies" is the literal translation of Beelzebub (hebr.).

The signal fire

Your only hope is to keep a signal fire going as long as there's light to see.

The signal fire represents the hope of the children to return to a normal life. Only with rational thinking could the boys ever be saved from the island. Since they need Piggy's glasses to make the fire, this is a good symbol. 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 tribe 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. 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 Barbarossa" and that the allies of Germany, namely Japan, attacked the United States 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.

The platform

Piggy stood on the platform, the white conch gripped in his hands

The platform may represent Parliament or Congress, for meetings and assemblies are held here. It is where the rules are created and where Ralph is elected by the boys to be their chief. There are many ties between the platform, as a place for speaking and debate, and the conch, which gives one the right to speak. Another symbolism involving the platform is the unsteady branch. This represents the unstable and shaky nature of the group and hints at the later development of instability in the island society. This may be an allusion to the war Golding fought in, showing his own point of view that when, in the wild, people find themselves in unstable situations and will most likely choose dissention than making hard decisions for themselves.

The glasses

From his left hand dangled Piggy's broken glasses

The glasses undergo a duration of decay and destruction throughout the course of the book. The point being made by this is to show the decay undergone by logic and rational thinking in today's society.

As mentioned in the section on Piggy, the glasses are important in symbolizing the descent of the boys from civilization into savagery. Actually, the glasses are important to Piggy because they symbolise intelligence status of social order. This could show that Piggy's rationality is lost at first when they are all shocked by the initial crash. When sense starts to return to the children, they go crazy with it, making suggestions like "televisions and submarines." Then they lose it again, returning the weight of thought to Piggy's shoulders. Later on, the glasses are broken in the fight that initially severed Ralph and Jack's friendship. The leaders, both desperate to be in charge, have been shown to misuse knowledge in swaying their people, and to hurt each other. This shows how far people are willing to go to hurt their fellow man.In the beginning, they're clean and unbroken in the hands of their rightful owner. As the book continues, the glasses go through several phases. At the start, no one would have thought of taking them. No one wanted them. Then when it was realized what they could do, they were taken and tossed about among the boys, kept from the helpless Piggy until Simon returned them. The children could remember some happiness, but they were also possibly reminded of the war ravaging their home. They could have been reminded that that did not exist on the island then. It was wild, but it was free. Then Jack leaves, taking half of the leadership with him. The glasses only have one broken lens. Thus, half of the sanity has been lost to savagery. Afterwards, when Ralph and Piggy are bathing, Ralph splashes water at the glasses. He started to refute the knowledge, to give in to wildness. Piggy screams at him, and he pauses, but then continues to splash, doubting the only thing keeping them separate from the animals.

Despite that, the glasses start and end the novel with one similarity: they are held always with respect as the starters of the life-giving fire. Without some form of civilization, meat would be eaten raw, boys would sleep in the rain, and everything would fall into cannibalistic madness. Even in its most primitive form - broken glasses - logic is crucial in human survival.

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." 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.

To a certain extent it can be said that Golding wrote this book as a response to The Coral Island, to show what boys would truly do if left alone on an island. In Chapter 2 the boys compare to what will happen "like in a book", saying it will be like "Treasure Island", "Swallows and Amazons" and "The Coral Island". Golding sets this to deliberately compare the two books, two different versions of boys activities when left on their own. When the officer is on the island at the end he says "like the coral island". This is once again comparing them, showing what would really happen.

Heart of Darkness and Pincher Martin

After Simon finishes talking with the Lord of the Flies, 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 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—voracious aspect, as though he wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth all the men before him".

E.L. Epstein wrote, in a critical note regarding the Lord of the Flies which appears at the end of certain editions, that this mouth "seems to represent a ravenous, unreasoning and eternally insatiable nature. This appears again in Golding's novel 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

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Many people have interpreted Lord of the Flies as a work on moral philosophy. The environment of the island, a paradise with food, water, and other natural resources, is a metaphor for the Garden of Eden. The first appearance of the beast (to a littlun in a nightmare) is in a form reminiscent of a serpent, which represents evil in the Book of Genesis. One of the major themes of the book, on the nature of evil, is brought to a head in a scene in which Simon converses 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). However the Naval Officer can also be seen as the "beast from water"(feared previously by the boys), as he comes in a "trim cruiser" from conflict in the second world war. This reminds us of Golding's view that "darkness" is within all men's hearts. The "Lord of the Flies" reveals that evil and the terror of the beast is not an external threat, but an inborn evil within 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 resources for sustaining life sets the stage for a utopia, or a 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, such as an absolute monarchy.

There have been two film adaptations.

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

Lord of the Flies in popular culture

The book has influenced or inspired multiple cultural works. It inspired Sunrise Animation's classic anime series Infinite Ryvius, which follows the lives of over 400 teenagers stranded aboard a space battleship. It was parodied in The Simpsons episode "Das Bus", which mirrored it in many ways (using glasses to make fire, calling meetings with a conch, a monster lurking in the forest of the island, stronger kids chasing after "the nerds"). In another Simpsons episode, Kamp Krusty, the lord of the flies can be seen in a shot, also mirroring the takeover of the children. The English heavy metal band Iron Maiden even composed a song about the novel, with the title "Lord of the Flies". The book also inspired Gatsby's American Dream's "Fable" and Local H's "Ralph".

Writers and film directors have also borrowed plot elements from Lord of the Flies. 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 alien world who do manage to create a functional tribal society. 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. King's fictional town in turn inspired the name of Rob Reiner's production company, Castle Rock Entertainment.

Lord of the Flies has also served a source of plot themes for subsequent films. For instance, according to film critic Benjamin Urrutia, the main sequence of Apocalypto – the lone hero being chased through the tropical jungle by fierce spear-wielding hunters, ending with an encounter on the beach by men from the outside world – mirrors the scene from the Lord of the Flies. In addition, a film adaptation of the book was one of the main inspirations for the reality TV show Survivor All Stars, according to host Jeff Probst.

Lord of the Flies is referenced several times (often jokingly) in the TV drama Lost which is also set in a desert island when the characters feel they are under the threat of turning wild.

Editions

• ISBN 0-606-00196-4 (prebound, 1954)
• ISBN 0-571-08483-4 (paperback, 1958)
• ISBN 0-399-50148-7 (paperback, 1959)
• ISBN 0-571-05686-5 (paperback - educational, 1962)
• ISBN 0-571-06950-9 (hardcover, 1962)
• 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 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)

References

1. "The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000". American Library Association. 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
2. "The Complete List: TIME Magazine – ALL-TIME 100 Novels". TIME. 2005. Retrieved 2007-05-12.
3. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02388c.htm Catholic Encyclopedia entry on Beelzebub]
4. Wagner, Thomas M. (2006). "Robert A. Heinlin: Tunnel in the Sky". SF Reviews.net. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
5. "Stephen King (1947-)". Authors' Calendar. 2003. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
6. Urrutia, Benjamin (2007). "Film Review: Charlotte's Web". The Peaceable Table. 4 (1). Retrieved 2007-03-27. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• The Lord of the Flies: A Study Guide
• NovelGuide
• SparkNotes
• CliffsNotes
• 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
• Lord of the Flies: Summary and Significant Events
• Nobelprize.org: Play the Lord of the Flies Game

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• Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from July 2007
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• 1954 novels
• English novels
• Debut novels
• Novels by William Golding