Simon

Simon is the character in Lord of the Flies that represents benevolence, and his occasional trips to his hideaway in the woods give him opportunities to express his thoughts to himself and not be judged by the other boys who find him weird. Though he is viewed by the other boys as slightly odd, in reality, he observes situations more rationally than most of them. For example, as the boys progressively worry themselves about the "beast" on the island, Simon proposes another possibility, "Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us." This quote expresses Simon's sole realization of the truth- that the society created by the boys on the island is potentially dangerous because it is governed by the irrational fear of the "beast".

Vocabulary

Embroiled, 92- 1. To bring into discord or conflict 2. To throw into confusion

Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch onto Ralph’s knees and sat down.

Strident, 16- having quality of harsh sound: creaking, grating

…the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before.

Enmity, 14- deep-seated, often mutual hatred

He trotted through the sand, enduring the sun’s enmity…

Declivities, 49- downward slopes of the ground

But Jack was pointing to the high declivities that led down from the mountain to the flatter part of the island.

Befouled, 141- filthy, soiled

The green light and the glossy patches of sunshine played over their befouled bodies.

Gesticulating, 142- making or using gestures in an excited manner

“We was scared!”, said Piggy excitedly… He was gesticulating, searching for a formula.

Ensconce, 174- to shelter or cover securely

…ensconce himself so deep that only a crawler like himself could crawl through.

Scurfy, 100- covered with dead, scaley matter from the skin

…the skin of the body, scurfy with brine.

Gyration, 65- the act of revolving or whirling

He went on scrambling… Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph.

Festoon, 86- to cover wth a string or chain of flowers

Here the breeze was fitful and allowed the strings of the parachute to tangle and festoon.

Jack

Jack is the antagonist in this novel. Jack primarily becomes upset when Ralph becomes the inital leader because he is power hungry. Jack soon leads the boys from civilized young men into savages through the novel. He is described as a malicious and animalistic character. Always attempting to weaken others, he leads the boys into the the murder of piggy. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” is what Jack and his group of hunters chanted after they killed a pig which shows his savage nature.

Modern Comparison

Many modern examples can relate to this intriguing novel, but an example of current day events relating to this novel is the devastating actions that took place among the inhabitants of Haiti And Chile during the aftermath of the earthquake that struck these countries. Through the television and radio we hear how many things are happening around the world every minute. During recent news and broadcasts we heard of how the inhabitants of Haiti were taking every possible action in order to survive and regain what they had lost. Many of their survival needs were gained through stealing and corrupt actions. Recently Chile experienced an earthquake also which caused for its citizens to take similar actions like those of Haiti. These actions support the point of the novel in that corruption takes over reality when there is not a centralized strong form of government with rules for a society to follow.

Piggy

Piggy is the chubbiest boy on the island and since he told Ralph that kids used to call him Piggy it stuck with him and the reader never learns his real name. At the beginning Piggy did not seem to be an asset because of his weight and asthma but his glasses is what keeps hope alive. Without Piggy's glasses, the lighting of a fire was impossible. Piggy represented intellect because he was the most rational character by the way he thought out everything. It was his idea to use the conch shell to summon the boys and when Ralph was disheartened about rescue, he picks another area to build the fire. "How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?" This quote shows that Piggy is the rational character. Sadly, Piggy is killed by a boulder that Roger pushed down the hill.

Simpson's Parody

Literary Elements

William Golding's purpose in writing Lord of the Flies was to express his feeling of distaste with the tendency of man to disregard law and order due to his nature- the source of defects in society. The tone of the author is serious and descriptive while interacting with young boys who treat the grave events of the story as if they are games. The moods of the audience are sympathetic, horrified, and disgusted; each is derived from the behaviors of the boys who commit these heinous acts of killing without thought or consequence. The voice of William Golding is one of sincere concern for the state of humanity. His word choice and order clearly express his original and personal feelings about the eventual ruin that approaches any situation in which laws and decisions cannot contain the barbaric nature of rebellion.
Symbolism plays an important role in Lord of the Flies where every item and person is significant. The conch, for example, represents law and order on the island. When the conch is shattered, all prior rules are forgotten and the island is left lawless. Piggy's specs also represent the progression of the story and the transfer of power from their use for fire in Ralph's attempt to be rescued to their mutiple obductions by Jack who progressively breaks them with each snatch. Piggy himself represents intelligence and rational thinking, Ralph represents leadership, Jack is the opposing force who is overcome by power, Simon is the general goodness in society, and Roger represents the sanguinary bloodlust of humanity.
Foreshadowing is used in a few situations to predict coming misfortunes. When the boys first decided that Jack and his choir would keep the fire going and istead they went hunting, this negligence was first predicted by Jack's annunciated interest in killing a pig for meat, "Next time!" It can also be foreshadowed that Jack and Roger plan to spear Ralph's head on a stick like the pig when Samneric says that they have a stick sharpened on both ends.
Though the conflict would be assumed to follow the format of Man vs. Wild, being trapped on a deserted island does not cause the boys problems with supporting themselves. Instead, the conflict is Man vs. Man, or more specifically, Ralph vs. Jack. From the moment Jack Merridew appears, he tries to obtain the role of leader among the boys who vote and give the position to Ralph.

Plot Summary

Lord of the Flies starts off with the protagonist, Ralph and he meets a boy who goes by Piggy. At first Piggy is a nuisance but later is proven a great friend. A conch shell is discovered and is symbolism for law and order since it used to summon all the boys to a meeting.The boys arrive on this island because their plane is shot down due to World War II. Without adults to govern them, the boys are left to fend for themselves. Because of this, there is a vote for leader between Jack and Ralph. Ralph wins and Jack is angry but decides that he will be in charge of hunting.In order to be rescued, a fire needs to be built so they use Piggy's glasses to build a great fire. Jack and his hunters were responsible for keeping the fire burning and looking for food while Ralph and the others would build shelter.
One day there is a ship not far from shore and to his horror, Ralph looks up to see that the fire is not burning. As he, Simon and Piggy go up the mountain to see what the problem is, they see Jack and his hunters coming back with their first kill. Ralph chastises the boys for letting the fire go out because rescue is more important than meat. Jack disagrees and the boys reenact the scene showing that the boys are becoming much more uncivilized. A "beast" is discovered when a dead parachutist from the war gets hung in the tree and a few of the boys see it. As the boys try to find the beast, they find an unexplored part of the island which will later be Jack's home. A huge change starts to come over the boys when after a hunt, they act out what they did. In this frenzy they about beat a boy named Robert to death and Jack jokingly says they should use a littlun next time instead. Jack tries to overthrow Ralph but no one will agree so he leaves and eventually the other boys leave with him but a few. During a hunt, they kill a sow and put her head on a stake out in the woods which proves their more savage behavior. Simon sees the pighead and names it the Lord of the Flies. It speaks to him saying that it promises to have some "fun" with Simon. While Simon goes up the mountain and finds the parachutist, Ralph and Piggy attend a feast that Jack is throwing in attempts to regain control. Simon comes down to where the boys are and the boys mistake him at the beach and they tear at him until he trips and falls over the cliff to his death. Jack continues cruel leadership and attacks Ralph's camp for Piggy's glasses. Ralph and Jack fight when Ralph tries to make reason with Jack. Roger pushes a rock off the mountain in an attempt to kill Ralph but it kills Piggy instead and Ralph is now the prey of the other boys. He hides out in the jungle and takes the stake that the Lord of the Flies was on to defend against Jack. In an attempt to smoke him out, Jack sets the jungle on fire and Ralph runs for his life back to the shore. By fate when he is running from the other boys he sees a naval officer who came to the island because of the huge fire. Ironically fire did eventually get help at the moment Ralph needed it most.

Theme

The theme of the book can be said to be the struggle of the two opposing forces of both civilization and savage ruling. The two main characters, Ralph and Jack, demonstrate this theme by the way they rule the younger boys on two different guidelines. This soon results to the separation of the two groups, civilized and savage. The novel certainly sets the right theme on it’s readers by enforcing how the importance of order is necessary to have a working society. Without proper ruling, the novel soon comes to show us how a society can disintegrate when people don’t agree to follow rules.

Historical Context

The Lord of the Flies was written in the early 1950's and due to evidence in the book, the boys were marooned on the island during World War II. The boys arrive on the island after their plane is shot down during the war. Golding actually wrote this book not long after returning home from World War II. Due to the war, his view on humanity changed and he realized the evil in human nature which is what the whole book was about.
Another piece of evidence that this book was during the World War II period is when a dead parachutist from a war plane drifts down to the island and gets hung in the tree. This one cadaver is what drives the last bit of sanity from most of the boys' minds especially Jack. This parachutist is what everyone refers to as the beast and ultimately makes savages of everyone.

William Golding

William Golding was born on September 19, 1911 in England. He married Ann Brookfield on September 30, 1939 and had two children with her. He fought in World War II with the Royal Navy and was involved with pursuing and sinking the German battleship Bismarck. He passed away due to heartfailure on June 19, 1993. A few of his major works are Poems, his first book, The Scorpian God, Close Quarters, Free Fall and of course, Lord of the Flies. An interesting fact about Golding is that his biographer, John Carey, claims that Golding admits in a diary to attempted rape.






Sources
http://www.deviantart.com/
http://www.lordalford.com/lotf/lotf.htm
http://www.william-golding.co.uk/person.html