Summary and Analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding

-


Lord of the Flies is a novel by William Golding. It was published in 1954. The book is about a group of boys who are stranded on an island. It shows how they struggle to survive. The novel explores human nature and the thin line between civilization and savagery.

Plot Summary

A plane crashes on a deserted island. A group of British boys survives the crash. Ralph and Piggy are two of the main characters. Ralph is a natural leader. Piggy is intelligent but physically weak. The boys decide to form a society. They elect Ralph as their leader. He wants to keep a signal fire burning. This fire is their hope for rescue. Piggy helps Ralph by giving logical advice.

At first, the boys try to live in an organized way. But soon, problems arise. Jack, another boy, wants power. He and his followers ignore Ralph's rules. They prefer hunting over keeping the fire alive. The boys split into two groups. Ralph’s group represents order. Jack’s group represents savagery.

The boys become more violent over time. They start believing in a monster called "the beast." Jack uses this fear to gain control. One boy, Simon, realizes that the beast is not real. He understands that the real danger comes from the boys themselves. But when he tries to tell them, they kill him in a frenzy.

Later, Piggy is also killed. Ralph is left alone. Jack and his hunters try to kill him. They set the island on fire while chasing him. Just as Ralph is about to die, a naval officer arrives. The boys are rescued, but they have lost their innocence.

Themes

  1. Human Evil
    The novel shows that humans have a natural tendency toward violence. The boys become savage because there are no rules to stop them. The "beast" represents the evil inside them.

  2. Civilization vs. Savagery
    Ralph represents civilization. Jack represents savagery. At first, the boys follow rules. Later, they prefer hunting and violence. This shows how easily people can lose their sense of order.

  3. Loss of Innocence
    The boys start as innocent children. But they turn into killers. The novel suggests that evil exists in everyone. Society keeps it under control, but without rules, it takes over.

  4. Fear and Power
    The boys fear the beast. Jack uses this fear to gain control. Their fear makes them violent. This shows how fear can make people act irrationally.

Symbols

  • The Conch Shell: It represents order and leadership. When it breaks, civilization collapses.
  • The Beast: It is a symbol of the boys' inner darkness. It is not real, but their fear makes it real.
  • The Lord of the Flies: It is a pig’s head on a stick. It represents chaos and evil.

The Villain of Lord of the Flies

The main villain in the story is Jack Merridew. He starts as the leader of the choirboys but soon wants full control. He does not like following Ralph’s rules and decides to make his own group. He loves hunting and teaches the boys to enjoy killing animals. As he gains more power, he becomes more violent and cruel. He encourages the boys to hurt others, and his actions lead to the deaths of Simon and Piggy. He represents the human desire for power and the danger of losing control.

Another villain is Roger. At first, he is quiet, but he slowly becomes the most dangerous boy on the island. He enjoys hurting others and has no guilt. He throws stones at the younger boys and later kills Piggy by pushing a rock on him. He does not care about rules or kindness. He represents the darkest and most cruel side of human nature.

The Beast is also like a villain in the story. The boys believe that a scary creature lives on the island. They become more afraid as time passes. But the Beast is not real. It is just their fear and imagination. It shows that the real danger is not outside but inside them. Their fear makes them act violently.

The real villain in Lord of the Flies is the evil that lives inside people. Jack and Roger show this through their actions, and the Beast represents it as an idea. The story teaches that without rules and kindness, people can become wild and dangerous.

Conclusion

Lord of the Flies is about the struggle between civilization and savagery. It shows how quickly people can lose control. The novel suggests that evil exists in everyone. Without rules, it can take over. The story is a warning about human nature and the dangers of losing order.


Popular Posts

"Cry, the Peacock": A Detailed Summary and Analysis

-
Introduction Cry, the Peacock is Anita Desai ’s first novel. It was published in 1963. The novel explores a woman’s emotional struggles and her experience of loneliness and despair. The story focuses on Maya, the main character, and her troubled marriage. She suffers from isolation and mental instability. Anita Desai presents the fragility of the human mind and the difficulties of marriage. Brief Summary The novel takes place in post-independence India. However, the story focuses more on personal struggles than political events. Maya is a young woman who lives with her husband, Gautama. Gautama is a practical and intellectual man. He does not show emotions, and he does not understand Maya’s feelings. Maya is sensitive and emotional. She wants love and affection, but Gautama does not give her the attention she needs. Maya feels lonely and neglected. She spends most of her time thinking about her life. She creates fantasies in her mind to escape her loneliness. One important symbol in t...
Read more

Phonetics and Phonology : Definition and difference

-
Phonetics and phonology are two closely related subfields of linguistics that both deal with the sounds of speech, but they focus on different aspects of these sounds. Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds, specifically how they are produced, transmitted, and perceived. It is concerned with the actual sounds themselves—how they are articulated, how they travel through the air as sound waves, and how they are received by the ear and processed by the brain. Phonetics is typically divided into three subfields: 1. Articulatory Phonetics : This branch focuses on the physical production of speech sounds. It looks at the movements of the vocal organs (such as the tongue, lips, and vocal cords) and how these movements create different speech sounds. It studies how different places and manners of articulation (e.g., voicing, nasality, consonant types like stops or fricatives) contribute to the production of speech. 2. Acoustic Phonetics : This branch is concerned w...
Read more

Dhwani Theory by Anandvardhana: an introduction

-
Anandvardhana was a Kashmiri court poet and literary critic, honored with the title of Rajanak during King Avantivarman's reign.  Anandavardhana authored the Dhvanyāloka , or A Light on Suggestion (dhwani), a work articulating the philosophy of "aesthetic suggestion" (dhwani, vyaΓ±janā). Anandavardhana is credited with creating the dhwani theory. He wrote that dhwani (meaning sound, or evocation) is the "soul" or "essence" (ātman) of poetry (kavya).  Anandavardhana said, "When the poet writes, he creates a eloquent field of emotions." To understand the poetry, the reader or hearer must be on the same wavelength. Important points~ •Dhvani theory is a theory of suggestion that is considered to be the soul of poetry.  •The theory of Dhvani is a major contribution to Sanskrit literary theory.  •The theory of Dhvani suggests that the main goal of good poetry is to evoke a mood or "flavor" (rasa).  •The theory of Dhvani suggests that this...
Read more