The Lord of the Flies
The Lord of the Flies is an intricate work that excites and captures the mind. By creating an isolated world and throwing people in the situation with every option at their will, the author creates an environment that is always changing and taking unexpected twists and turns. The freedom of no grownups gives the boys the reign to do as they please and decide matters as they think best. By keeping the story changing the author causes the reader to want more of the story and to keep on reading to discover what happens next. By making a world from scratch the reader develops their understanding and their own views just as the characters in the story do.
The story starts out with a group of abandoned boys stranded on an island in the middle of the ocean during a war. The first characters you encounter are Ralph and Piggy. With the help of Piggy, Ralph acquires a conch which he blows and calls other boys to where they are. The boys group together and have no idea what they are to do. They decide to have a leader for general order and as Ralph was the one to call everyone together with the conch, Ralph became chief. Another prominent character that is revealed is Jack. Along with his choir he nominates himself as a hunter to get meat for the boys.
A fire with lots of smoke is the most important priority to Ralph. After burning a large part of the jungle the boys keep a fire going with smoke in hope that a ship would see it and rescue them. After a few days Ralph has instituted several other projects to provide for the boys such as to build shelters. His projects however fail to be completed as the boys prefer to play and go off in their own groups. At one time a ship passes and Ralph runs to an unlit fire so the smoke isnt seen. He discovers that Jack left the fire to go kill a pig which he has done this time. Ralph is furious at Jack but no punishment is given since Jack is praised for bringing meat to the boys. It is at this point in the story that Ralph and Jack start a rift between them.
Now the boys are starting to give into fear from the rumor of a beast on the island after a dogfight of planes and parachuters falling. Ralph strongly denies that there is a beast but still goes with Jack and a couple of other boys to try and find the beast to kill it. They find the beast and all run away to return to the group of boys. Ralph and Jack get in another confrontation after Ralph makes a comment that the hunters are not really needed. Jack then leaves the group and starts his own tribe after the boys still vote Ralph as their leader. The next day as Jack has a feast of meat and invites boys to his tribe, Simon, a slightly crazed boy, realizes that the beast isnt what it seems and goes to discover that it is a parachute flapping in the wind and runs to tell the others at the feast. All the other boys are at the feast and now support Jack as their new leader when Simon runs in looking like the beast. Jack takes this opportunity to kill the beast and ends up killing Simon. The next day Jack takes the majority of the boys and sets up his own area in a castle like rock, not letting Ralph or Piggy in.
After a nightly raid of Ralphs camp composing of beating the boys and taking
Piggys glasses to start fires, Ralph is fed up with Jack and decides to do something about it. Ralph heads to Jacks camp with his few followers to show the others how savagely they are acting and to reason with them. This attempt only ends up with Piggy getting killed by boys defending the castle rock and the other boys that follow Ralph being taken prisoner. Ralph has to run and hide for his life as Jack is out to kill him too. Jack and his hunters end up hunting Ralph by lighting the jungle on fire to smoke him out. While hiding for his life, Ralph finds that the burning forest creates a large amount of smoke. In his last attempt at running away, Ralph runs out of his best hiding spot to the beach where he finds a soldier who came to find out what the smoke was from. When he learns of all that has occurred on the island he is disgusted.
The Lord of the Flies is a very good example of situations that have and can occur around the world. The story shows that societies must have moral standards and good leadership, that without the cooperation of everyone nothing would get done and under bad leadership a society can fall into corruption and ruin.
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