For a high school book project the only thing that matters is the length of the book, "the shorter the better. I picked up this novel with no good intentions only to find out this is one of my favorite novels I have ever read! William Gerald Golding created a master piece when he wrote "Lord of the Flies." This book has made me think beyond any normal person would think, I asked myself what would I have done on that island? Or what tribe would I have joined? Several questions that always will be left unanswered.

A plane carrying a group of schoolboys crashes on a tropical island. I think they were shot down or something. The schoolboys were going home from bordingschool when they were shot down.

No adults survive, but 20-30 boys emerge unhurt. They find out that they have to make it on their on, and elects a leader; Ralph. Jack the head of a group of choirboys, also wants to be a leader, and trough the entire story it’s easy to see that he is a little jealous on Ralph. The main-characters we meet at the start are: Ralph, the diplomatic leader who tries to keep his head cold. Ralph says that they have to stick to rules if they shall survive.

Piggy is a chubby boy with glasses and a typically victim of teasing. But he is the most intelligent and moralistic of all the boys. And there’s Jack, a boy who in the beginning of the book talks about how proud he is being English, but in the end he lose all kind of moral and acts like a savage.

At the beginning everything seems to be all right, and the boys think the island is a paradise like in books they have read. But at a meeting a little boy claims he has seen a beast on the island. The older boys dismiss the idea as a nightmare, but the little ones are not comforted with this explanation.

As an attempt to soon be rescued from the island they light a fire on top of a mountain. So perhaps a ship or flight could see the smoke. The choir gets the job of keeping the little fire alive, but fails, and a ship passes. Ralph gets mad but Jack means that hunting pigs are more important. The pig hunting gets tragic consequences. After a hunt they celebrate the hunt and they are having a “party”. At the same time Simon has been in the cave, where the beast should have been. When he comes back, the hunters believe that he is the beast and they start stabbing him with their spears. Later Jack becomes tired of Ralph’s leadership and wants a re-election. But again the boys prefer Ralph. Jack gets so mad that he runs away crying. He starts his own group - “The Hunters”.

The Hunters become more savage. The more primitive they become the more they terrorize Ralph’s gang.

Piggy and Ralph want to discuss with Jack and his gang and maybe come to an agreement again, but when they meet, The Hunters won’t listen to them. Piggy stays in the background – afraid maybe he’ll be beaten up. And he can’t see much because Jack has stolen his glasses. Then as they are speaking together and yelling at each other, Roger pushes a big rock over the cliff. The rock hits Piggy and blood is over all, piggy falls even further down the cliff. He dies momentarily. Now Ralph is alone, and starts escaping from Jack’s gang.

“The Hunters” sets the island on fire to smoke out Ralph. Ralph runs towards the beach and practically runs into a Naval Officer who was standing there, attracted to the fire.

Themes

Without society's rules, anarchy and savagery can come to light.

People will abuse power when it's not earned. It's better to examine the consequences of a decision before you make it than to discover them afterward. The fear of the unknown can be a powerful force, which can turn you batty or insane.

Piggy (and Glasses): Clear-sightedness, intelligence.

Their state represents the status of social order.

Ralph: The Conch,Democracy, Order

Simon: Pure Goodness.

Roger: Evil, Satan

Jack: Savagery, Anarchy

The Island: A microcosm representing the world

The Beast: The evil residing within everyone, the dark side of human nature.

Lord of the Flies: The Devil, great danger or evil

Ralph:

Ralph is the boy who is elected to be the leader of the boys. He is the son of an officer, so he is a good leader because he probably has learnt a lot of dicipline and orders by his father. Ralph and Piggy develop a friendship during their stay, and they make rules together so all the boys can live in harmony on the island. Ralph is a good leader and he is more mature than the rest of the boys.

This is shown in the maturity of his decisions. He makes the boys start building shelters, and he makes them light a fire so ships can see them when they pass.

Even though Ralph is more mature than all of the kids, he also has a boyish way to act. He chooses people he really likes and sticks with them.

Ralph has a lot of confidence in himself so he really is the best leader. He also knows what he really wants by law and order. In the end he survives only because of his ability to think rationally and because he is effective.