Lord of the Flies is about a group of British schoolboys whose plane gets shot down leaving the kids stranded on an island with no adults surviving the crash; they are forced to take care of them selves. Ralph is elected as the leader of the group and Jack becomes leader of the hunting group. Ralph is adamant about keeping the signal fire lit and maintained, and it is the hunting group’s job to control it. Jack and the hunter boys focus is on hunting and playing rather then trying to get rescued. One day a ship sails by but the hunting group let the fire go out. The younger boys have been having nightmares and many of the boys believe that there is a beast living on the island. When the kids are asleep a man falls out of his plane and his parachute lands in the trees of the forest. Two of the boys Sam and Eric wake and see it and tell everyone that it is the beast. Eventually Jack overthrows Ralph's authority and starts his own tribe. They violently slaughter a pig in the new tribe and impale its head as an offering to the beast. Simon has a delusion where the head speaks to him. He passes out and when he awakes he discovers the parachuter. After his discovery he realizes that the beast is not an animal but an evil inside. When he goes to inform the boys he is attacked and killed by them.
Jack and Ralph fight and Ralph is forced to run and hide in the forest. The boys go to smoke him out and he is forced to go back to the beach. Ironically the fire the boys set to smoke out Ralph is what saved the boys. A naval officer rescues the boys and the all resort back to their innocent childish ways as soon as an adult is upon them.
2. The theme of the book is that good and evil live with in side of everyone. The “beast” is not a physical thing but something inside them that has made them act savagely. The loss of innocence is a major theme in this book.
3. The tone of the book is chaotic, we can see this in the diction and actions taking place. Goulding provides the reader with graphic and blunt descriptions.
“Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!”
4. Literary Techniques:
• Symbolism: The beast is a symbol of evil. The impaled pig a symbol of the devil.
Also the war going on on the outside that parrellels the war between the boys on the island is an extended metaphor
• To Ralph the fire means rescue but to Jack the fire is of little importance. Ironically in the end it is the fire Jack lights to smoke out Ralph and kill him that gets them rescued.
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