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William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. A Report on the Classic Allegorical Novel By Danny East. The Plot.
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William Golding’s Lord of the Flies A Report on the Classic Allegorical Novel By Danny East
The Plot A group of English schoolboys are marooned on a jungle island with no adults after their plane is shot down in the middle of a war. Two of the boys, Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell. Ralph blows into it like a horn, and all the boys on the island assemble. At the assembly, a boy named Jack mocks Piggy for being fat and runs against Ralph to become chief of the group. Ralph wins the election, and declares Jack the leader of the group’s hunters.
Point of View The story is told from 3rd person viewpoint, alternating between limited and omniscient.
Conflict As we know already, there are two main types of conflict in literature: external and internal. External conflict pits a person against another human or against an animal, an object, the forces of nature, or any other thing or things outside of him. Internal conflict involves a struggle between a person and his emotions or negative attributes. Both types of conflict occur in The Lord of the Flies.
Characters Ralph: Handsome, athletic 12-year-old elected leader by the boys. He is sensible and self-confident. Ralphis the protagonist.Piggy: Fat, clumsy, asthmatic older boy who befriends and advises Ralph. Piggy is an orphan, and is the most intelligent of all the boys. Jack Merridew: Aggressive older boy who envies Ralph and vies with him for leadership. He leads the choirboys. Simon: Timid, highly sensitive older boy who respectseveryone.
Characters Sam and Eric: Twins who support Ralphin his struggle with Jack. Roger: Cruel older boy who seems to enjoy harming others. The Choirboys: Singers led by Jack. They remain loyal to him in his struggle with Ralph. The Lord of the Flies: The pig's head that Jack impales on a stick as an offering to The Beast. The boys call the offering "The Lord of the Flies," which in Judeo-Christian mythology refers to Beelzebub, an incarnation of Satan.
Literary Tools There are several types of irony. Usually, though, irony refers to an outcome or a circumstance that is the opposite of what one might expect. It would be ironic, for example, if the shortest basketball player on a team is the highest scorer—or if the most popular, most intelligent, and most attractive student in the senior class is unable to get a date for the prom. Examples of irony in The Lord of the Flies include the following: The survivors of the plane crash are boys evacuated from a battle zone in a world war. However, the society they form eventually breaks down, and the children go to war with one another. Piggy's eyesight is weak, but his insight is strong.
Literary Tools Plane Crash: Failure or breakdown of society in the world outside; spread of corrupting ideas. Forest Scar: This path of destruction through the forest, caused by the crashing plane, appears to represent the encroachmentof corrupt civilization on the pristine island. Island: Before the arrival of the boys, the Garden of Eden; afterthe arrival of the boys, the corrupted worldof humankind. Conch: Civilized authority, democracy.
Literary Tools Eyeglasses of Piggy and Piggy Himself: Insight, wisdom, knowledge. Death of Piggy and Destruction of Conch: Failure or breakdown of society on the island. Signal Fire: Hope. Imagined Beast: Fear, superstition. (The boys imagine that a monster in the form of a snake, a sea monster, an ape, or other "beasties" that they dreamabout lurks nearby.) Dead Parachutist: The beast. (In fact, the parachutist is a beast, for he has taken part in a war to kill fellow human beings.) Chanting and Dancing of the Hunters: Blindemotion, loss of reason. Logs on Which Ralph and Jack Sit: Seats of authority; thrones.
Literary Tools The Big Boys: The emerging generation of evil.The Little Boys: The next generation of evil. The Naval Officer: The present generation of evil. The Killing of the First Pig: Originalsin. The Killing of the Second Pig, the Sow: Release of the inner urge of madness or destruction and continuation of sin.Jack's Knife, Sticks Sharpened Into Spears: Weapons of war.Jack and Ralph: Perhaps Cain and Abel (although Ralph does not die, as Abel did in the Bible). The Impaled Pig's Head (Lord of the Flies): The evil in every person's heart.
My View I liked Lord of the Flies because all of the characters seemed to represent someone I know (although their actions are on a much smaller scale).
Recommendation This is a good book for people who like Aesop’s Fables or stories with morals and a whole lot of symbolism.
References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_of_the_Flies http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides2/Golding.html http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/ http://www.answers.com/topic/lord-of-the-flies-1990-film http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Lord_of_the_Flies