LORD OF THE FLIES - WILLIAM GOLDING |
Chapter summaries
Chapter 1 - After
a shot down airplane lands on an island, as a result of world war II,
we meet two characters, Ralph and Piggy. The two British boys explore
the island and Piggy finds a conch shell. He tells Ralph on how to use
it to make noise. When the noise erupts out of the shell, other boys
from around the island, also survived from the plane crash, show up and that's when they start setting rules. They decide on Ralph as the leader.
Jack also waiting to be leader loses the vote. He is chosen to be a
hunter. When him and a few of the other boys explore the island, they
see a pig and attempt to kill it. They are unsuccessful and the pig
flees away. The boys realize there is no adults on the island but there
is also no sign of civilization. The boys get excited but then later
realize that they will be in trouble.
Chapter 2 - Ralph calls in a meeting. He reminds them that they are alone with no adults. He also sets a few rules, one of which is “whoever has the conch shell can talk, otherwise no”. One of the kids mention a “beastie” that he saw in the jungle while exploring. Ralph says that there is no such thing and is probably a part of his imagination. Ralph then suggests a signal fire to grab the attention of passing ships and planes. The boys scatters around to find firewood and return to build the fire. All the supplies ready buy the boys can't figure out how to light it. They finally grab Piggy's glasses and focus them with the sun and light a fire. Chapter 3 - Jack is determined to hunt a pig since the beginning of the book. The other boys are on the shore building their shelters. Ralph complains that no one is helping them build shelters. Jack then replies back that no one is helping him hunt. The two boys get involved in a verbal brawl on what's more important, food or shelter. Simon, tired of the two boys arguing, grabs a fruit and climbs up to a tree, sits down, and goes into a state of tranquility. Chapter 4 - The boys start to adapt to their daily life and routine on the island. The little children who usually just play around, eat, and have fun, now have to take their lives seriously because they keep on seeing visions and dreams of frightening scenes. They start to suffer from diarrhea and constipation because of the large amounts of fruit that they eat. Even though the little children are separated from the older ones, an older boy named Roger goes and starts stomping on the littluns’ sand castles. Later, Jack and a few hunters camouflage themselves and go into the forest to hunt pig. Meanwhile, Ralph and Piggy spot a ship going past the island, however Ralph becomes furious with Jack because it was the hunters’ responsibilities to keep the fire going. That night, Jack and Ralph have a heated conversation about Jack’s mistakes and as a result, Jack’s friendly feelings toward Ralph turn into resentment. Chapter 5 - Ralph is taking a morning stroll along the beach when he suddenly gets mad that his hair his too long and it covers his face. He decides to have a meeting to bring the group back together. That evening, Ralph blows the conch shell and the boys gather on the beach. At the meeting, Ralph begins to criticize the boys because none of them have done what was asked of them. They don’t take care of the signal fire, they don’t use the designated toilet area, and they don’t gather drinking water. Meanwhile, the littluns are frightened because they have been seeing visions of a beast on the island. However, Jack and Ralph assure the children that there is no beast and everyone gets scared. Piggy also agrees with Ralph and Jack but at the same time, a rush of fear runs through all the children. One of the littluns stands up and claims that he has actually encountered the beast face-to-face. As a result, all the other boys start asking that boy questions like where can the beast hide and what he is capable of. The littlun says that it might come out of the ocean at night. Jack tells the boys that if there is a beast, him and his hunters will hunt it down and kill it. Then Jack and a few boys left the camp running and dancing. Ralph, Simon, and Piggy were left. Ralph tells Simon and Piggy that he is thinking of resigning as the leader but the two tell Ralph that the boys need his leadership. As the group drifts apart to go sleep, the sound of a littlun crying runs along the beach. Chapter 6 - Ralph and Simon carry the littlun back to camp. That night a group of military airplanes were at battle but no one could rescue the boys because Sam and Eric, who were supposed to be in charge of the signal fire, fell asleep. In the morning, Sam and Eric awoke to tend at the fire when they saw a dead parachutist on the beach, however, they mistakenly accused him for being the beast. The two rush to the camp and Ralph blows the conch shell to assemble a meeting, Sam and Eric tell everyone what they saw. As a result, all the boys set out to see what this really was. Only Piggy and the littluns remain behind. Ralph allows Jack to lead the search. They reach a cave and Jack runs into Ralph in the cave. The two finally feel their friendly bond between them again. The boys climb the hill and Jack and Ralph notice that the boys are messing around and throwing rocks at each other. They tell the boys what they’re mission is and that this is not a time for joking around. |
Chapter 7 - All the boys stop to rest and ate some fruit they found. The boys start feeling hopeless that they will never be rescued. Simon starts spreading positively and reassuring everyone that they will make it home safely soon. That afternoon, Jack suggested to continue their search for the beastie. They were all very determined to find the beastie. It was the first time Ralph had ever been on a hunt and he was starting to feel overwhelmed by it. The boys spotted a boar, which led them to an intense chase after the boar. Eventually, the boar escapes but the boys started reenacting the chasing of the boar. A boy named Robert acts as the boar and the boys all start chasing him and they all started getting violent with each other. Simon leaves the violence to go find Piggy. During the evening, Ralph gives an idea that they continue the search for the beastie. He suggests they wait until morning to climb the mountain because it will be difficult to hunt the monster at night. After Jack hears that Ralph doesn’t want to search for the beastie, he challenges Ralph to join the hunt, and Ralph only agrees to go in order to regain his position as leader.Ralph returns, yelling and claiming that he saw the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up the mountain and see a shadow and hear noises. They quickly run away from the shadowy figure. Horrified, the boys sprint down the mountain to warn the group of what they saw.
Chapter 8 - The next morning, the news of the monster has the boys in panic when they gather on the beach. Piggy, who was not on the mountain the night before, is confused when the other boys’ claim to have seen a monster. Jack takes control of the conch shell and blows into it, calling for an assembly. Jack tells the others that there is a beast on the mountain and tells the boys that Ralph is a coward who should be removed from his leadership role. The other boys, however, refuse to vote Ralph out of the leadership role. Jack becomes angry and runs away from the group, saying that he is leaving and that anyone who likes is welcome to join him. Ralph does not know what to do about this. Piggy, meanwhile, is very happy to see Jack go, and Simon suggests that they all return to the mountain to search for the beast. The other boys are too afraid. Ralph becomes depressed, but Piggy cheers him up with an idea: he says they should build a new signal fire, on the beach rather than on the mountain. Piggy’s idea patches up Ralph’s hope that they will be rescued. The boys get to work and build a new fire, but many of the boys sneak away at night to join Jack’s group. Piggy then tries to convince Ralph that they are better off without them. Jack gathers his new tribe and declares himself the chief, the hunters kill a sow, and Roger drives his spear forcefully into the sow’s behind. Then the boys leave the sow’s head on a sharpened stake in the jungle as an offering to the beast. Piggy and Ralph sit in the old camp discussing the traitors, meanwhile the hunters from Jack’s tribe attack them, violently. The hunters steal sticks from the fire on the beach. Jack tells Ralph’s followers that they are welcome to come to his feast that night and even to join his tribe. The hungry boys are tempted. Just before Jack’s tribe raids the beach, Simon gets away from the camp and returns to the jungle glade where he previously sat watching the beauty of nature. However he finds the sow’s head impaled on the stake in the middle of the area. Simon sits alone in the area, staring at the impaled pig’s head, which is now swarming with flies. The sight internists him, and it even seems as if the head comes to life. The head speaks to Simon in the voice of the “Lord of the Flies,” it declares that Simon will never be able to escape him. Terrified Simon faints. Chapter 9 - Simon wakes up and finds the air dark and humid and stormy. His nose is bleeding, and he walks toward the mountain dizzy. He crawls up the hill and, in bright light, sees the dead pilot with his parachute. Simon watches the parachute, and realizes that the boys have mistaken it for the monster that has caused their entire group into chaos. When Simon sees the dead body of the parachutist, he begins to vomit. When he is finished, he untangles the parachute, freeing the parachute from the rocks. Simon then runs toward the distant light of the fire at Jack’s feast to tell the other boys what he has seen. Meanwhile Piggy and Ralph go to the feast with the hopes that they will be able to find some peace. At the feast, the boys are laughing and eating the roasted pig. Jack sits like a king on a throne, his face painted like a savage, yelling commands, and treating boys as his servants. After the large meal, Jack extends an invitation to all of Ralph’s followers to join his tribe. Most of them accept, despite Ralph’s attempts to keep them from joining. It starts to rain, Ralph asks Jack how he plans to weather the storm considering he has not built any shelters. In response, Jack orders his tribe to do its wild hunting dance. Chanting and dancing in several separate circles along the beach, the boys are in a trance. Even Ralph and Piggy feel the excitement. The boys then reenact the hunting of the pig and reach a high energy as they chant and dance. Suddenly, the boys see a shadowy figure creep out of the forest, Simon. In their state, however, the boys do not recognize him. Shouting that he is the beast, the boys attack Simon and start to tear him apart with their bare hands and teeth. Simon tries to explain what has happened and to remind them of who he is, but he trips and falls over the rocks onto the beach. The boys follow him violently and kill him. The storm reaches the island and the boys run for shelter. The wind and waves wash Simon’s body into the ocean, it drifts away, surrounded by glowing fish. At the same time, the wind blows the body of the parachutist off the side of the mountain and onto the beach, sending the boys screaming into the darkness. Chapter 10 - The next morning, Ralph and Piggy meet on the beach. They are bruised and sore and feel awkward and ashamed of their behavior the night before. Piggy is unable to confront Simon’s death. Ralph, clutches the conch desperately and laughs hysterically, insisting that they had been participants in a murder. Piggy denies this. The two are now alone; everyone except Sam and Eric and a handful of littluns have joined Jack’s tribe, which is now headquartered at the Castle Rock. At Castle Rock, Jack rules with absolute power. Boys are punished for no apparent reason. Jack ties up and beats a boys and then warns the boys against Ralph and his small group, saying that they are a danger to the tribe. The entire tribe, including Jack, believe that Simon really was the beast, and that the beast is capable of disguising himself of anything. Jack then states that they must continue to guard against the beast, for it is never dead. He says that he and two other hunters, should raid Ralph’s camp to get more fire, he also says that they will hunt again tomorrow. The boys at Ralph’s camp fall asleep, depressed and also falling asleep, Ralph falls into a slumber of nightmares. The boys are awakened by howling and shrieking and are suddenly attacked by a group of Jack’s hunters. The hunters badly beat Ralph and his companions, who do not even know why they were attacked, for they gladly would have shared the fire with the other boys. But Piggy knows why, for the hunters have stolen his glasses, and with them, the power to make fire. Chapter 11 - Piggy’s glasses get stolen by Jack and his tribe, leaving Piggy unable to see. Due to this, the boys aren’t able to make a signal fire for their rescue. They had been depending on the glasses for all of their needs, and now that the glasses have been destroyed, the boys were hopeless. Ralph is trying to take the conch shell to Castle Rock to plan what the boys would do without the glasses. Ralph thought this would remind Jack’s followers of what a great leader he was and how important his authority was. Jack and his followers return dragging a dead pig. Ralph demands him to return the glasses back to him. He explains how important it is that they make a signal fire for all of their rescue. Jack laughs disagrees to give them back, causing them to get into a huge fight. Jack had been trying to get Sam and eric to join his tribe so he could have more followers than Ralph. When they disagree to join, Jack also orders his hunters to find the two twins and to tie them up together. This angers Ralph even more, causing them to fight one more time. Piggy starts crying out, trying to stop the violence. As Piggy tries speaking, Roger shoves an enormous rock down to the mountainside. Ralph hears the rock falling and runs away from it. On the other hand, Piggy doesn’t hear it, and it strikes Piggy and crushes him into death. The boys are in shock at what had just occurred. Even after the death of Piggy, Jack still continues to torture Sam and Eric until they eventually join Jack’s tribe, betraying Ralph. Chapter 12 - The next morning, Ralph hides under a thick underbrush and thinks about the deaths of Piggy and Simon that have occurred on the island. He thinks about everything that had gone wrong and all the chaos him and the other boys have created. He sees the “Lord of the Flies” and gets so upset, he knocks the skull down to the floor to release his anger. That evening, Ralph goes to Castle Rock and sees Sam and Eric guarding the entrance and working for Jack. The twins give him food but when Ralph asks them to return back to his tribe, they refuse. Ralph feels alone and isolated at this point. He doesn’t have anyone else he could be with, so he goes into hiding and falls asleep by a thicket without telling anyone. Jack tries finding Ralph and starts getting frustrated when he couldn’t find where he was hiding. Jack decides to set the jungle on fire in order to smoke Ralph out. Ralphs smells the smoke and immediately escapes his hiding place and joins the other boys. As soon as he joins the other boys, he sees a naval officer standing right next to him. Confused and lost, Ralph asks what he was doing at this island and how he knew they would be here. The naval officer tells the boys he was on ship and saw the island on fire and immediately came to see what was occurring. The boys tell the naval officer everything, starting from the conch shell and ending with the murder of their two friends. The officer is surprised to hear that boys this young could be involved in such an experience. The boys were relieved they were finally going back home. Ralph starts crying because he survives a near death experience. He also feels like he had lost his innocence. He came to the island innocent and with good intentions. When he got to the island, he was involved in many violent fights, witnessed two deaths of close deaths, and completely lost himself. |