William Golding's Lord Of The Flies Essay

Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a novel about a group of young school boys that have to survive on their own on an uninhabited island, after their plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean. The story takes place in what is believed to be the 1950’s, when Queen Elizabeth ruled and television was just beginning. At first we meet Ralph and Piggy who gather all the boys by blowing into a conch shell. This conch shell represents order and civilization throughout the story. There are some boys around the age of six which were referred to as littluns, and then there are the main characters, who are older, they were referred to as bigguns. We meet Jack Merridew and his soon-to-be hunter, choir boys. When the boys get together on the island, they

The littluns are soon frightened of an unknown beast. Ralph puts it off as their imagination and focuses on keeping a signal fire going. Ralph and Jack have many conflicts about priorities which eventually leads the group to split. The rest of the boys have to choose between going with Jack who wants to hunt and have fun, or Ralph, who wants to be rescued and survive. This splitting left Ralph with Piggy (an intellectual, bullied boy), Simon (a realist), Samneric (twins), and a few littluns. Soon a boy, Roger becomes noticed as a cruel person. He is Jack’s right hand man who just enjoys hurting people. Jack’s group liked to paint their faces with mud and blood when they went hunting. They would have fun celebrations before setting off. On one hunt, Jack cuts the head off of a sow, places it on the end of a sharpened stick, and leaves it as a present for the beast. Later, Simon sacrifices himself to walk through the jungle alone to tell Piggy something for the group. On his way, he runs into the sow’s head which is surrounded by flies. In this scene the sow’s head is named the Lord of the Flies and it ‘talks’ to Simon, making him lose hope, mocking