Lord of the Flies - Essay 6

Renee Johnson
Feb 28, 2011
Ms. Purnell 11:30
Lord of the Flies
By: William Golding
Illustrator: Sam Weber
Copyright: 1954
Pages: 291/12 Chapters
Setting: Early 1950’s; Salisbury, England
Characters: Ralph, Jack and Piggy

An English schoolboys group stuck in an island when their plane is shot down in the middle of a war. Ralph and Piggy find a conch shell. Ralph blows it and all the boys on island get together. They hold an assembly and the boys elect Ralph their leader through election. Ralph nominates Jack the chief of hunters’ group. Ralph, Jack, and Simon explore the island and find out wild pigs. Then the boys make rules to manage themselves. The first rule is that who wishes to voice his opinion at assembly must hold the conch. At the meeting, one young boy claims to see a “beastie” in the jungle. Ralph takes it to be just a nightmare. Ralph proposes to build a signal fire at the mountain peak so that any passing-by ships can see its smoke and save them. They use Piggy’s spectacles to light the fire. They do it carelessly and the forest on fire. The boy who saw the beastie disappears when jungle caught fire for good. Ralph gets annoyed when nobody gives him a helping hand to make shelters. Jack becomes so obsessed about hunting. The jealousy between Ralph and Jack explodes when Jack compels those boys who to come hunting who are appointed to keep an eye on signal fire. They hunt their first pig meanwhile a ship goes by while the signal fire is out. It causes an argument between Ralph and Jack. Ralph calls for meeting expecting to correct things. But the meeting turns out to be devastating. The same night, a dead parachutist falls on the mountain peak near signal fire. On duty boys takes him to be the beast. Ralph and Jack begin searching island for the beast. While searching for the beast, they discover a rock could be used as a fort, but don’t find the beast. To prove themselves daring, they climb the mountain in the dark. They see the parachutist...