1. Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of young boys who are stranded on an inhabited island that their plane crashes into. They we're leaving their homeland due to a unnamed war that has taken place there, the children were supposed to be flown to safety. When the plan crashes, the pilots are killed on impact while many of the boys survive. The boys are forced into survival mode as they begin their fight for power of leadership. The main characters of the novel are: Jack, Piggy and Ralph, the power struggle consists and grows between Jack and Ralph. In the beginning of the book, Ralph wins the election between the boys on who should be the leader, unsatisfied with this answer, Jack parts from the group with the children who voted for him to be their leader. The power struggle between Jack and Ralph grows throughout the book, their arguments and fights result in disastrous and tragic outcomes such as the death and injuries among the boys. Though the boys fight constantly, they share a common fear, a mysterious beast the roams the island. One of the boys, Simon, discovers that this "beast" is really a dead pilot who had also died during the impact of his landing. As Simon rushes to tell the others that there is no beast stating that the beast "live in all of them", he is unintentionally killed by Ralph and Piggy. Mortified by their wrongdoings, they blame the instincts that they have formed while living on the island. This part in the story makes it clear to the readers how even the purehearted can become filthy in tough situations. As the book progresses, the struggle between Jack and Ralph incline. Ralph loses all of his "men"to Jack and Piggy is later killed by one of Jacks followers. Outnumbered, Ralph flees the scene as the rest of the boys attempt to kill him as well. In the end, Ralph finds a naval officer on the shore who shames the boys for their savagery claiming that they had all been playing around. Ralph begins to weep at what he and the other boys have become and they begin to weep with him. The officer turns his back to the boys allowing them time to calm down then brings them all home.
2. Even the innocent get their hands dirty. We are all born into sin, even a child who knows of no wrong can do evil. All of the children in this book start off as civilized and innocent, once the shelter they had become so found of was stripped from them, the evil of the world makes its way into their hearts. The boys are forced to turn into men but their young age and inexperience leads into savagery instead of civility and maturity. One of the characters state that the beast of the island isn't a single monster that roams the island, it is the inner evil that resides inside of all of the children. They boys should not have been afraid of what may roam the island, but themselves. In the end, the worlds evil consumed every single one of the survivors of the plan crash, their biggest fears were not the unknown but themselves. Purity is only pure until it's cleanliness is striped away by a stain. Unfortunately, these boys hand's were stained with dirt, they were stained with the blood of their peers.
3. The authors tone was very dark and violent, somewhat of the reason I couldn't get a feel for this book. The authors tone was only dark because it revealed and opened eyes of what the world can really do. Adolescents were murdered and blood was spilled, there's no other tone to address a story line such as this one. In the end there was no bright side of the story, even when the children were rescued, there were tears of sadness instead of joy and relief.
* "Kill the beast! Cut his throat ! Spill his blood !" I found this very dark and disturbing, the fact that children would chant such a thing, not as a game but in all seriousness. The violence and blood lust in the tone is almost blinding.
* "[Jack] began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling." This quote is somewhat of a transition of Jacks innocence slipping away, he starts off dancing and ends up acting like a wild animal who craves nothing but the blood of others.
* "The Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran around squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him. As they danced, the sang. "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in." Regardless of the fact that young boys are known to play around rather violently, the tone of these children are not playful, just violent.
4. Imagery- this played a large role in this novel. The images that the author created really brought out the tone and theme for this story. "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist."
Symbolism- Another literary element that played a important role in this books story line. The fire for example, it represented the boys hope. That's why they tried so hard to preserve it, even the reality that it might go unseen, they continued to try to preserve it, hopeful that they would be rescued.
Dialogue- Dialogue helped the readers get a better understanding of the character and somewhat help relate to their thoughts and feelings. It also revealed the theme, when Simon was talking to the pig head and discovered who the real demons were, it became obvious to the reader what Golding was trying to say.
Setting- The setting built the entire story. The island and its landscape caused a lot of arguments between the boys which was the first sign of their savagery.
Diction- Diction helped me discover the authors tone. The way Golding worded everything made his dark tone easy to identify.
Metaphors- "What I mean is. ..maybe it's only us." This quote was used when Simon attempted to explain that there was no real beast, that the beast lived inside each of them.
Allegory- Each of the characters had different hidden meaning within them. In a way I saw Ralph and Jack as a battle between purity and impurity. From the get go Jack was somewhat of a lose cannon, Ralph was calm and level headed. Up until Ralph took place in killing Simon (by accident) he came off as the character who stuck true to who all the kids started off as and Jack was the blood lustful monsters they had all turned into.
Dynamic Characters: Every character grows as they face new challenges, in the beginning Jack couldn't kill a pig because he thought of it as too violent but in the end he had no problem killing, even if it was one of his own.
Characterization: "The fat boy glanced over his shoulder, then leaned toward Ralph." Golding's descriptions of the characters helped me visualize the story better.
Protagonist/ Antagonist: Big BIG elements of the novel.Without the constant bickering between Jack and Ralph, many of the tragedies could have been prevented. The main reason the children divided in the first place was because of the quarrel between the two.
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