Written in 1954, Lord of the Flies, tells the story of young boys who are involved in a plane crash trying to flee danger in their home country, England. At first, the boys don’t worry about having to be rescued assuming their fathers will come to save them, but they soon realize they will have to change their perspective of this island when they learn they are alone. The group looks strong at first, coming together, creating leadership and a sense of organization. Though, when taken out of their structured society at an early age, this new, seemingly well set-up, society begins to experience resistance and it becomes apparent that the boys begin to retrogress. The four main characters stand out early on in this novel. Ralph, representing …show more content…
The group is brought together by the sound of Ralph blowing the first conch which becomes a symbol throughout the book representing unionship. They agree to vote on a leader who will keep the boys together and who will lead them to survival and rescue. The more logical choices were Piggy, who was smarter and more organized, and Jack, who is one of the oldest, had a natural sense of leadership, and is stronger. Ralph is picked in the end, not because he could hunt or tell the time based on the position of the sun or tell what day it was based on the shadow of the moon, but because he was the prettiest one out of all of the schoolboys. This is comparable to modern society where often, especially in younger groups, leadership is picked mainly based on popularity and not brains or brawn. Jack is upset by this decision and Ralph can tell so he allows Jack to be the leader of the choir and the hunters. The boys then begin …show more content…
Jack is stressed because his group of hunters isn’t having much success catching any pigs and the entire group would enjoy eating something other than fruit. Ralph notices that no one, except Simon, is helping to build the shelters because they are either trying to hunt with Jack or they are playing around the island not helping with anything. Ralph is noticing how many of the rules that were put in place are not being followed, the children are going to the bathroom wherever they want, completely disregarding the drinking system. Also, at assemblies, the conch begins to show a decline in power as kids are talking on their own without the conch. The ignoring of the conch, which originally represented democracy, represents the degradation of their democracy, their rules, and their newly-found structured society. Jack, still irritated over the group’s decision to make Ralph the chief, finds love in hunting. He decides to use red and black clay to camouflage their faces when hunting so it’s harder for the pigs to know they’re there. While by the shoreline, Ralph notices something in the distance, and is excited with joy when he realizes it’s a ship. He tries to get the ship’s attention but it continues to sail by. Ralph and Piggy then notice the signal fire was out, likely being the cause of not getting rescued. At this very moment, Jack and his fellow hunters come out chanting,