Lord of the Flies - Book Summary

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Lord of the Flies begins when a plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is shot down over the Pacific Ocean during an atomic war. The pilot is killed, but many of the boys survive, deserted on an uninhabited island without adult supervision. The boys discover food and fire. They craft tools and form political and social systems. However, their brutal instincts eventually devolve into savagery and violence. Their challenges for control demonstrate the struggles for power between democratic and authoritarian political systems.

• Ralph is the protagonist of the story and the elected leader of the boys. He is a handsome, confident, and calm twelve year old. He represents the political and moral tradition of liberal democracy, trying to protect the group of boys from nature and their base instincts.

• Ralph’s friend, Piggy, is a pudgy and awkward asthmatic boy with glasses who shows keen intelligence. Piggy detests physical labor, embodying intellectualism and culture within the democratic system that Ralph represents.

• Jack is aggressive, cruel, and sadistic, exemplifying militarism under authoritarianism. Once the leader of the boys’ choir, he turns the choir boys into hunters, seeking to conquer and control nature through violence.

• Simon has a deep affinity with nature and often walks alone in the jungle. Like Piggy, he is an outcast. He represents the spiritual side of humanity.

• Sam and Eric are identical twins. The others consider them the same person and combine their names into one name: "Samneric." They embody the struggle for individualism and human uniqueness.

• Roger is boorish and cruel like Jack, and enjoys hurting others.

• Maurice relishes the ritual of hunting and epitomizes the mindless masses within a militant society.

• Percival is one of the smallest boys on the island. His character is an example of the weak members of society that a successful democracy strives to protect.

The novel opens with Ralph climbing out of plane wreckage searching for survivors on a beach. He finds others like himself and they elect him as their chief. Ralph, Simon, and Jack explore the island and search for food. Jack shows early signs of violent behavior when he tries to kill a wild piglet, but balks before he can actually stab it.

Ralph calls a meeting with all the boys to set rules of order. Jack agrees with his edict because rules are an opportunity to inflict control and punishment. They all agree to use a conch shell, which authorizes its holder to speak and is available to all. Ralph instructs the boys to build a fire on the mountaintop to signal their presence to any passing ships. Piggy proves essential when his glasses are used to start the fire.

The boys soon settle into a daily pattern on the island, showing decency toward one another. Jack and his choir-boys-turned hunters try to hunt pigs, unconcerned with their long-term survival. Ralph orchestrates the building of shelters. The youngest of the boys, known generally as the "littluns," spend most of the day searching for fruit to eat and are in constant fear of an imaginary beast. Piggy, who is viewed as an outsider among the boys, considers building a sundial. Simon, the only boy who has consistently helped Ralph, enjoys walking around the jungle alone where he finds a serene open space with aromatic bushes and flowers.

A ship passes by the island but doesn’t stop, perhaps because the fire has burned out. Piggy blames Jack for letting the fire die, for he and his hunters have been preoccupied with killing a pig at the expense of their duty. Jack punches Piggy, breaking one lens of his glasses, and his hunters chant, "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in." They perform a ritualistic dance in which Maurice pretends to be a pig and the others pretend to attack him.

Ralph becomes concerned by the irresponsible behavior of Jack and his hunters and begins to appreciate Piggy's maturity. He calls an assembly and criticizes the boys for not assisting with the shelters and not maintaining the fire on the mountaintop. The “littluns” express their fears of an imaginary beast but Ralph attempts to demystify the question of the “beastie.” Jack then decides to abandon established rules and to lead an expedition to hunt the beast, leaving only Ralph, Piggy and Simon behind. Piggy warns Ralph that if Jack becomes chief, the boys will never be rescued.