Book: Lord of the Flies
Author: William Golding
Publication: 1954
Pages: 202
Completion Date: 4/19/25
Main Characters
Ralph – athletic boy who is elected leader of the group
Piggy – intelligent boy, but is fat, has glasses and asthma
Jack – another athletic boy who is the main hunter. Leader of a group of choir boys who were all on the plane together
Secondary Characters
Roger – You don’t hear much from him until the end of the book. A particularly sadistic boy.
Eric & Sam – two twins who stay loyal to Ralph & Eric until end of the book.
Lil’uns – these are the many smaller boys, probably a maximum of 8 years of age.
What I learned from this book:
A group of British boys are evacuated from somewhere (doesn’t really say from where) during a war (possibly nuclear) by plane and they crash-land on an island. There are no adult survivors and the boys initially are wandering all over the island. Ralph & Piggy find a conch – Ralph blows on it to make a loud horn sound – calling all of them together. They decide to elect a leader (Ralph) and make some general rules such as 1) building some shelter, 2) keeping a signal fire going, 3) sanitation (use a certain area for the toilet) and 4) look for food. Jack and his choir boys decide to make spears and hunt for pigs. During one of the expeditions, he pulls the people manning the fire away to help. As a result, the fire goes out just as a ship passes by. Soon after this, things start to break down. The shelters were only haphazardly built, there is no fire and other than fruit, the only other food are the pigs killed by Jack & his group. The lil’uns start to believe that there is a beast on the island. He either lives there or comes from the sea – but it is obvious that this is as a result of their nightmares and irrational fear brought on by the lack of adults to provide guidance & comfort to them. Still, Jack begins leaving the head of any killed pigs as an “offering” to the beast is a good course of action going forward. The head is ultimately covered with black flies, hence the name of the book, “Lord of the Flies.”
Ralph & Jack decide to lead a group over the entire island to prove there is no beast. Unfortunately, the night before a plane is shot down and an ejected dead pilot lands on the top of the hill. He lands in such a way that when air fills the parachute, it pulls him back from a kneeling position to one where his upper body is upright. At the end of the day and early night, Ralph & Jack see this. They hightail it back to the group, now believing that there is indeed a beast on the island. Of course, when telling the others, the story is embellished upon so that he has teeth, claws, glowing eyes and was chasing them. At this point there is a re-vote on who the leader should be. Ralph is still elected, so Jack & his group break away, leaving Ralph, Piggy, Eric, Sam and the lil’uns on their side of the island. That night, they steal some fire from Ralph’s group because the fire is started using Piggy’s thick glasses as a magnifying lens. Ralph & his older crew go to Jack to complain about the stealing of the fire, stating that all they had to do was ask for it and it would have been given. Meanwhile, Simon (a quiet boy) has found the “source” of the beast. He cuts the parachute from the dead pilot’s body and is taking it back to the group. Just as Jack & his hunting group have worked themselves into a frenzy, dancing around the fire at night chanting “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” – Simon runs out all wrapped up in the parachute. The boys in an enraged panic, spear him repeatedly and toss his body over the cliff to the ocean. Ralph, Piggy, Sam & Eric retreat to their side of the island with the knowledge that it was Simon who was killed by the hunters. The hunters, in their altered state of mind, do not recognize that it was Simon (or refuse to believe it) and believe that they killed the beast.
That night, Jack’s group attack Ralph’s group to steal Piggy’s glasses so that they have fire to cook their meat. When Ralph, Piggy & the twins go to confront them, the hunters take the twins captive. Roger (you don’t hear much about him until this point in the book) levers a boulder down from above and it rolls down the hill, killing Piggy & knocking him off the cliff. Ralph runs off and the hunters agree that the next day they will hunt Ralph down and kill him. As they are slowly pushing him towards the other end of the island as a hunter pursues its prey, they have lit the island on fire to prevent any places for him to hide. At the last moment at the end of the forest, he burst out onto the beach – only to be met by a British captain who saw the smoke from the fires and came to rescue them. The captain admonishes them for “playing war” until he realizes that two boys have already died. It becomes apparent to the boys what has happened and they begin weeping as a result of their shame.
What I learned that can increase the prospects for success after prison:
1) Food is power – because Jack & his hunters are killing pigs and have fresh meat, the hungry children are drawn to him. While they initially prefer the rules & order offered by Ralph, hunger convinces many of them to turn their back on it and join Jack, even though they know what he is doing is wrong. I see this to a certain extent in prison. Those who have access to commissary can legally purchase additional food, giving them access to different foods or snacks. Indigent prisoners who have no one outside to support them, must resort to various prison hustles to get what they want/need. This may involve just doing someone’s laundry or tailoring clothers, but more likely involves stealing from the cafeteria/machine shop, woodshop, etc. and selling to others.
2) Secondary to food is fire, mostly for cooking the meat and to a lesser extent, to send a signal fire. Thus, once they have meat, they need fire, which is started using Piggy’s glasses. That is why they ultimately raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses.
3) Children need adults to provide comfort, encourage morality through rules and order, and to prevent irrational fear among young children. This book demonstrates what happens amoung children and early teenagers when there is no adult leadership. Again, I see evidence of this in prison. Many of my fellow inmate came from broken homes and/or the foster system. It if further amplified when the next generation of fathers are not present, creating a spiral downward as men are imprisoned too much or too long. While my son has had a good upbringing, I still worry about him given that I will be gone for two years of his teenage life.
