Lord of the Flies
Speculative Fiction
Faber and Faber
September 17, 1954
223
THE STORY
After plane full of British schoolboys is shot down onto an island, Ralph summons the boys and calls a meeting, in which the boys vote Ralph as the chief. Jack Merridew wants be leader as well, which sets Ralph and him into conflict. Ralph attempts to signal boats to rescue them by setting up a fire on the island. However, Jack is in charge of keeping the fire going. Jack leaves the fire to burn out while he and his hunters go off to hunt pigs. Once they come back, Ralph chastises Jack about letting the fire go out, and Jack is submissive, but his view of Ralph quickly changes. SamnEric keep watch over the fire and find a dead parachuter, which they think is the Beast. After Ralph, Jack and Roger go up the mountain to investigate what SamnEric think is the Beast, Jack begins to loathe Ralph because he insulted Jack’s hunters. Jack attempts to have the children vote Ralph down as chieftain but fails and runs away. Eventually most of the older boys run away to rejoin Jack and become his tribe. Jack and his tribe kill a sow and stick its head on a stick as a sacrifice to the beast. Simon hallucinates once he sees the head, and realizes that the Beast is a part of the boys, making them do horrible things. After this revelation, Ralph and his companions clash against Jack and his tribe of savages, ending in disaster
MY OPINION:
In the beginning of the book, Ralph wants Jack to be his friend and tries to at least give him a share of the power, which was amusing to read about. However, Jack became a nuisance to me in the middle of the book, in which he begins to loathe Ralph because of his desire for power, and all he talked about was pig. Like the mild sadist I am, I enjoyed reading about the killing of the sow, and most of the gore and action. But this happened in the end of the book, and besides that, there was basically no action whatsoever in the book. Most of the book is just interactions between the characters and them dealing with their problems. Chapters like these are hard to read and labor intensive. The book is an attempt to trace the defects of human society, which I think it is very efficient at doing because I got everything that was intended. This book has little amounts of gore and mild themes, therefore it should be recommended for high-schoolers or middle-schoolers with high literary capacity. I would rate this book eight out of ten stars because some chapters were tedious.
STUDY QUESTIONS AND VOCABULARY:
FIRST SECTION
1. Who is Jack and what does he want to be?
1a. Jack is the leader of the hunters/choir and he wants to be the leader of all the boys. (pg. 22)
2. What happened to the boy with the mark on his face?
2a. He died in the fire that went out of control. (pg. 46)
3. Why do the boys need shelter?
3a. So the little children will feel safe from the beast. (pg. 52)
4. Why does Jack use face paint?
4a. So the pigs do not see him. (pg. 63)
5. Why is Ralph so agitated about Jack letting the fire go out?
5a. There was a ship. IF Jack had not let the back go out, they might have gotten saved. (pg. 70)
swathing (pg. 14)
suffusion (pg. 23)
pliant (pg. 26)
recrimination (pg. 43)
antagonism (pg. 51)
MIDDLE SECTION
6. Where do the boys think the beast comes from?
6a. They think the beast comes from the water. (pg. 88)
7. At the end of Chapter 5, what do the little children think the beast is?
7a. A ghost that comes from the sea. (pg. 90)
8. Why did SamnEric mistake the dead parachuter for the beast?
8a. The dead parachuter is tangled in such a way, that it moves when the wind blows and makes noises. (pg. 98)
9. What happens when a game of “hunt the pig” goes out of control?
9a. The boys begin to savagely attack Robert, who shrieks in horror. (pg. 114)
10. What is the thing that bowed?
10a. A dead parachuter. (pg. 128)
Convulsion (pg. 76)
Lavatory (pg. 81)
Substantial (pg. 100)
Floundering (pg. 113)
Impervious (pg. 121)
LAST SECTION
11. What happens to the head of the sow and why do hunters do what they did?
11a. The head of the sow is put on a stick as an offering to the beast, and the body is used for a feast. (pg. 136-137)
12. What happens when Simon sees the head of the sow?
12a. He has an epileptic seizure. (pg. 138)
13. Where and who is the beast?
13a. The Lord of the Flies is the Beast and he is a part of the boys. (pg. 143)
14. How is Simon killed?
14a. The boys mistake him for the Beast and murder him. (pg. 153)
15. What signals the British Navy to come and investigate the island?
15a. Jack’s uncontrollable fire which scorches the island signals the navy. (pg. 195)
Serenading (pg. 125)
Obscene (pg. 143)
Garlanded (pg. 149)
Vigorously (pg. 164)
Crepitation (pg. 194)