Literature Analysis 3

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

1. Lord of the Flies is about young boys becoming stranded on a deserted island after their evacuation plane from Britain is shot down. Once all the boys are assembled they go about electing a Ralph as their leader and Jack in charge of the hunting. The boys enjoy themselves for a few days with no adults around and spend a lot of time playing games but soon some of the boys especially the youngest one becomes scared. A ship finally sails by but the signal fire burned out because the hunters neglected to keep it going, but they did come back with their first kill. Their fear ensues when the twins on watch find a parachute and believe it to be the beast. When they go on a search to see where this creature lies, Ralph and Jack disagree on what to do with the situation. They end up splitting the group in two. Simon has an unusual encounter with the pig head, claiming it to be the "lord of the flies". This also makes him realize that there is an evil spirit inside each of them. As Simon comes to tell the others about this epiphany, Ralph and his friend, Piggy, beat Simon to his death. Jack comes to fight them for committing such a horrible crime; during the fight, a boy named Roger rolls a huge boulder that ends up killing Piggy. The hunt to kill Ralph ensues as he hides away from his attackers in the jungle. Jack and his followers burn the forest down to make Ralph evacuate to the beach. Soon as he does, Ralph faints, figuring that he will be killed soon. As he awakes, he finds a naval officer has come due to the sight of fire. The other boys soon arrive to kill Ralph, but instead, find the officer and begin to break down. They all start to cry because they know, now, they can return home.     

2. An important theme in this novel is loss of innocence. The boys start off as care free children enjoying their time without adults playing games. But as time drags on there is no civilization to keep them from becoming savage which does happen. Their carless activities turn into rage. Insanity takes over as the plot to hunt and kill one another. A clear symbol of their loss of innocence is their use of the pig head on a stick as their idol figure. It displays a significant loss of purity.

3. The tone of Golding's narration worsens as the story goes on. He has a twisted view on the plot and it makes for a dark and savage tone. He is also very deceptive in his voice and violent when it comes to describing the actions between the boys.

4. 
Symbolism
- "The conch glimmered … a white blob against the place where the sun would rise. He pushed back his mop."
- "The fire is the most important thing on the island. How can we ever be rescued except by luck, if we don't keep a fire going?"
- "My specs!...One sides broken"

Foreshadowing
- "There was no light left save that of the stars."
- "Ralph was aware of the heat for the first time that day…an unusual heat."
- "There isn't a tribe for you any more! The conch is gone."

Diction
- "The crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words … but the tearing of teeth and claws."
- "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering."
- "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."

Imagery
- "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble."
- "Surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea." 
- "The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist."

Characterization
- "He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat…looked up through thick spectacles."
- "He was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness."
- "You could see now that he might make a boxer…but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil."