UNIT: 19 LORD OF THE FLIES

(William Golding)

SUMMARY, THEMES, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

In the midst of a nuclear war, a group of British boys find themselves stranded without adult
supervision on a tropical island. The group is roughly divided into the "littluns," boys around the age of
six, and the "biguns," who are between the ages of ten and twelve. Initially, the boys attempt to form a
culture similar to the one they left behind. They elect a leader, Ralph, who, with the advice and
support of Piggy (the intellectual of the group), strives to establish rules for housing and sanitation.
Ralph also makes a signal fire the group's first priority, hoping that a passing ship will see the smoke
signal and rescue them. A major challenge to Ralph's leadership is Jack, who also wants to lead.
Jack commands a group of choirboys-turned-hunters who sacrifice the duty of tending the fire so that
they can participate in the hunts. Jack draws the other boys slowly away from Ralph's influence
because of their natural attraction to and inclination toward the adventurous hunting activities
symbolizing violence and evil.
The conflict between Jack and Ralph — and the forces of savagery and civilization that they
represent — is exacerbated by the boys' literal fear of a mythical beast roaming the island. One night,
an aerial battle occurs above the island, and a casualty of the battle floats down with his opened
parachute, ultimately coming to rest on the mountaintop. Breezes occasionally inflate the parachute,
making the body appear to sit up and then sink forward again. This sight panics the boys as they
mistake the dead body for the beast they fear. In a reaction to this panic, Jack forms a splinter group
that is eventually joined by all but a few of the boys. The boys who join Jack are enticed by the
protection Jack's ferocity seems to provide, as well as by the prospect of playing the role of savages:
putting on camouflaging face paint, hunting, and performing ritualistic tribal dances. Eventually, Jack's
group actually slaughters a sow and, as an offering to the beast, puts the sow's head on a stick.
Of all the boys, only the mystic Simon has the courage to discover the true identity of the beast
sighted on the mountain. After witnessing the death of the sow and the gift made of her head to the
beast, Simon begins to hallucinate, and the staked sow's head becomes the Lord of the Flies,
imparting to Simon what he has already suspected: The beast is not an animal on the loose but is
hidden in each boy's psyche. Weakened by his horrific vision, Simon loses consciousness.
Recovering later that evening, he struggles to the mountaintop and finds that the beast is only a dead
pilot/soldier. Attempting to bring the news to the other boys, he stumbles into the tribal frenzy of their
dance. Perceiving him as the beast, the boys beat him to death.
Soon only three of the older boys, including Piggy, are still in Ralph's camp. Jack's group steals
Piggy's glasses to start its cooking fires, leaving Ralph unable to maintain his signal fire. When Ralph
and his small group approach Jack's tribe to request the return of the glasses, one of Jack's hunters
releases a huge boulder on Piggy, killing him. The tribe captures the other two biguns prisoners,
leaving Ralph on his own.
The tribe undertakes a manhunt to track down and kill Ralph, and they start a fire to smoke him out of
one of his hiding places, creating an island-wide forest fire. A passing ship sees the smoke from the
fire, and a British naval officer arrives on the beach just in time to save Ralph from certain death at
the hands of the schoolboys turned savages.
 1. Civilization Vs. Savagery
Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of
savagery with evil. The conflict between the two instincts is the driving force of the novel, explored
through the ending of the young English boys’ civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom
themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. As the novel progresses, Golding shows how
different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees.
Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems hardly capable of comprehending the
rules of civilization. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression
in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow’s head on the stake.
2. Loss Of Innocence
As the boys on the island progress from well-behaved, orderly children longing for rescue to cruel,
bloodthirsty hunters who have no desire to return to civilization, they naturally lose the sense of
innocence that they possessed at the beginning of the novel. The painted savages who have hunted,
tortured, and killed animals and human beings are a far cry from the honest children swimming in the
lagoon. The bloody offering to the beast has disrupted the paradise that existed before—a powerful
symbol of innate human evil disrupting childhood innocence.
3. Man’s Inherent Evil
The fact that the main characters in Lord of the Flies are young boys suggests the potential for evil is
inherent even in small children. Jack, for example, is initially keen for rules and civility, but becomes
obsessed with hunting, frightened and empowered by the promise of violence. Jack’s desire to control
and subjugate proves more powerful than his desire for empathy, intellect, and civilization, and Jack
becomes a brutal and leader. Even Ralph and Piggy, who both strive to maintain their sense of
humanity, ultimately join in on the mass murder of Simon, momentarily surrendering to the thrill of
violence and mass hysteria. While Piggy tries to ignore their participation, Ralph is devastated when
he realizes that he is no better than Jack or Roger, and that he has a darkness inside as well.
4. War And The Future Of Mankind
Set during a global war, Lord of the Flies offers a view of what society might look like trying to rebuild
after a large scale destruction. In their attempt to rebuild society, the boys cannot agree on a new
order and eventually fall into savagery. Ralph comes to realize that social order, fairness and
thoughtfulness have little value in a world where basic survival a struggle, such as after a devastating
war. The paratrooper who lands on the island reminds the reader that while the boys are struggling to
survive peacefully on the island, the world at large is still at war. Even in their isolation and youth, the
boys are unable to avoid violence. In their descent into torture and murder, they mirror the warring
world around them.
Q. 1 What is the conch and what does it symbolize?
Ans. A conch is a type of mollusk with a pink and white shell in a spiral shape. It can be used as a
trumpet by blowing into one end. In Lord of the Flies, the boys use a conch to call meetings and also
to designate who is speaking. In this way, the conch symbolizes democracy and free speech –
anyone who is holding the conch can speak his mind, and everyone else must listen and wait their
turns for the conch.
Q. 2 Why is Ralph chosen to be the chief?
Ans. At Piggy’s suggestion, Ralph uses a conch to call a meeting with all the boys stranded on the
island. Ralph then organizes the boys and suggests that they decide on a chief. Ralph is chosen
because, as Golding observes, “there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out:
there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the
conch.” The boys recognize Ralph as a natural leader, and they associate him with civilization
because the conch recalls the bullhorns that adults would have used to organize the boys back home.

Q. 3 Why does Jack think he should be the chief?

Ans. Jack believes he is superior to Ralph because of his status back home. He states, “I ought to be
chief . . . because I’m chapter chorister and head boy.” Later, Jack thinks he should be chief because
he is a strong hunter. Jack challenges Ralph’s leadership, saying, “He’s not a hunter. He would never
have got us meat.” Throughout the book, Jack believes he has the right to ignore the democratic
process and do what he wants.

Q. 4 Why are Piggy’s glasses important?

Ans. Piggy’s glasses are important because they enable Ralph’s group to light a signal fire that can
help them get rescued. The glasses are later used by Jack’s group to light fires for having pig roasts.
The author uses many objects as symbols to illustrate themes. One of these objects is Piggy’s
glasses. The glasses play an important role throughout the story as they demonstrate themes that are
vital to it. The glasses represent intelligence and hope as well as help to foreshadow key events
across the story.

Q. 5 Why does Jack hate Ralph?

Ans. From the beginning, Jack, who is the head choir boy back home, thinks he should be the chief,
but the other boys choose Ralph. The tension between Ralph and Jack grows because Jack has
different priorities—to hunt and have fun—than Ralph, who wants to hold onto civilization and get
rescued. Jack and Ralph are described as “two continents of experience and feeling, unable to
communicate.” Jack later challenges Ralph’s leadership and feels humiliated when the boys still will
not openly choose him. “I’m not going to be part of Ralph’s lot,” he announces as he breaks from the
group—which represents civilization’s constraints—to start his own savage tribe.

Q. 6 Who is Lord of the Flies?

Ans. Physically, the Lord of the Flies is the pig head that Jack, Roger, and the hunters mount on a
sharpened stick and leave as an offering for the beast. The head is described as dripping blood,
eerily grinning, and attracting a swarm of buzzing flies. When The Lord of the Flies “speaks” to
Simon, we can assume that his voice is a hallucinatory effect of Simon’s disintegrating mental state.
He loses consciousness after the episode, and is killed later that night. Later, when Roger and Jack
vow to hunt and kill Ralph, they imply that they will repeat their offering to the beast, using Ralph’s
head this time. Symbolically, the Lord of the Flies represents the evil inside each one of the boys on
the island.
Q.7 Why is the backdrop of the war important to the story?
Ans. The backdrop of the war is important to the story because it is why the boys’ plane is shot
down, an event that kills the adults on the plane and leaves the surviving boys alone on the island.
Later when a dead pilot descends by parachute onto the island like “a sign came down from the world
of grown-ups,” the boys think the pilot is the beast, something to be feared. In a sense, the boys’ idea
is true because the pilot represents the brutality of war, which reveals the dark side of humanity. At
the end of the story, the naval officer who rescues the boys seems to represent all that is orderly and
civilized, but he also represents the death and destruction of war that underscore Golding’s point
about humanity’s capacity for evil.
Q.8 Discuss the setting of one of the work of fiction you have read. Also point out its
connection with the main action of the fiction.
Ans. In this regard the setting and sequence of Damon and Pythias comes to my mind. In this short
play the writer laid an artistic foundation of the plot in the setting of the play while he depicts the cruel
nature of the king and lawlessness prevailing in that society. He also points out the culture of
suppression and the network of spies of the king who reported any word spoken against him. This
setting goes a long way having a decisive impact on the plot of the play where Damon is arrested on
this account and then the life of one friend is put at stake owing to no fault of his but those cruel laws
which were in place there.
Q.9 A narrative work of literature depicts the desires and struggle of the characters. How
does a writer bring home his message through his characters?
Ans. In a work of literature, characters always are the mouthpiece of the writer and through these
characters he promotes his ideas and approach towards life. The same has been done by
Shakespeare in Merchant of Venice where Shylock, the Jew is portrayed as a symbol of greed and
selfishness to be disgraced in the end while Antonio comes before us as a symbol of generosity and
selflessness who is ultimately rewarded for his staunch faith in basic human values.
Q. 10 What is Point of View in the work of fiction.
Stories are generally told in one of two points of views:
1. First-person point of view
2. Third-person point of view
First-person point of view means that one of the characters in the story will narrate–give an
account–of the story. The narrator may be the protagonist, the main character. Writing in first-person
point of view brings the readers closer to the story. They can read it as if they are the
character because personal pronouns like I, me, my, we, us, and our are used.
Third-person point of view means that the narrator is not in the story. The third-person narrator is
not a character. Third-person point of view can be done two ways:
1. Third-person limited
2. Third-person omniscient
Third-person limited means that the narrator limits him/herself by being able to be in one character’s
thoughts. Whereas, third-person omniscient means the narrator has unlimited ability to be in
various character’s thoughts. Writing in third-person point of view removes readers from the story
because of the pronouns he, she, it, him, her, his, hers, they, them, and theirs.

Q.11 What is an Irony? Give an example of Irony from literature.

Ans. The three main forms of irony are verbal, dramatic, and situational. Verbal irony sets forth
a contrast between what is literally said and what is actually meant. In dramatic irony, the state of the
action or what is happening as far as what the reader or viewer knows is the reverse of what the
players or characters suppose it to be. Situational irony refers to circumstances that turn out to be the
reverse of what is expected or considered appropriate.
There are several types of irony involved in the novel, 1984, by George Orwell. The very first example
is the slogan given at the beginning of the novel. This slogan is “War is Peace; Freedom is Slavery
and Ignorance is Strength.” Almost every abstract idea is given beside or parallels to the idea that is
contrary to it. These contradictory statements show the irony hidden in them that although Oceania is
at war, yet it is stressing the need for peace and the same is the case with others that although all are
slaves of the state, they are calling it freedom. This is verbal irony.