Lord of the Flies

Kees IJzerman May 2013

Lord of the Flies

• Published 1954

• WW2 still very much in everyone’s memory

• Rationing still going on in England

• Cold War had already taken hold

The Story

• Group of boys get stranded on a desert island(plane was shot; war going on)

• They are left to their own devices• Ralph and Piggy find a conch

(big shell)• Means to gather everyone;

rules

The story

• The boys start a fire; that gets out of hand• Later, the ‘fire-watch’ is abandoned > fire out.• Hunters.• Slowly two groups start forming:

Ralph/Piggy vs Jack (hunters)• ‘Littl’uns’ have nightmares

Loss of civilisation

The Story

• (In the book) A plane is shot down, pilot lands on the island by means of parachute.

• Boys only see vague shape: ‘beast’.• Expedition to ‘The Beast’.• Head of a pig (Lord of the Flies) is an offering.• Simon goes to the Lord of the Flies and has a

vision: Evil = the beast/in us?

The Lord of the Flies

The Story

• Simon goes back to the beach• The others (including Ralph and Piggy) are

feasting in a frenzy.• They kill Simon (c.f. excerpt in your reader).• The Hunters want to make fire, so they steal

Piggy’s glasses.• Ralph and Piggy go to the hunters’ camp to try

and retrieve the glasses

Final confrontation

The Story

• Roger kills Piggy and shatters the conch.• Ralph goes and destroys the Lord of the Flies.• Ralph is hunted like an animal

(smoked out)• When he reaches the beach, rescuers are

there: • They see savage, bloodthirsty young boys.

Interpretations

• Loss of civilization: rules are needed, and need to be enforced

• Good vs. Evil Ralph vs. Jack

• Science vs. crude, primitive instinctsPiggy vs. Roger

• Religion:original sin?

Storyline

• The story in a nutshell on Sparknotes Video