Lord of the Flies
... a British plane, carrying many “schoolboys” (from Britain), was shot down over a deserted, tropical island. Two boys, Ralph and Piggy, discover a conch shell, and use it as a horn to gather the other boys. Once they gathered all of the boys, they all elected a leader, Ralph. Ralph’s first act, upon being leader, was appointing another boy, Jack, as leader of the group who would hunt and gather food for the entire group. Ralph decides that they need to light a signal fire to attract the attention of passing ships. To start the fire, he uses Piggy’s glasses by concentrating them on some dead wood. Some of the dead wood burned uncontrollably, and lights a nearby forest. One of the “littleuns” disappears, the others assuming that he burned to death. Everybody is enjoying the experience on the island at first. They all play games, and fool around, but Ralph protests that they should be keeping the signal fire going, and building their shelter. The hunters fail to catch a wild pig, and Jack becomes more intent with the act of hunting. One day, a ship was passing by. However, to Ralph’s horror, the signal fire, which was all of the hunter’s responsibility to keep lit, had burned out. Ralph blames Jack, who was after all, the leader of the hunters. Jack then hit’s Piggy, who was Ralph’s right-hand man, across the face. Ralph blows the conch shell, and calls a meeting. One of the “littleuns” had been having nightmares. He believed that there was some sort of monster on the island, and that it hid in the ocean during the day. This idea scares the entire group. Soon after the meeting, two military planes go into combat over the island. Sam and Eric, who were responsible for keeping the new signal fire going, heard noises coming from above a bit of a cliff. They didn’t see the parachuter, but only a silhouette, making odd movements and many weird noises. Sam and Eric were frightened, and report that the beast had attacked them. Jack, who was frustrated with Ralph, called a meeting. He told the group that Ralph was a coward, and that they should remove him as the leader. However, the group feared what would happen if Jack was the leader, and so they refused to remove Ralph as leader. Frustrated, Jack runs into the woods and orders people to follow him. The people that followed him were the new hunters. The new hunters then went off and killed a wild pig, put the sow’s head on a stick, and left it there. There was a name given to the head, “Lord of the Flies.” Simon, who was a kind, sweet child, swore that the Lord of the Flies was talking to him. It told him to go and join the Hunters. However, the ending is next. Read the book! Characters Ralph: A twelve-year-old English Boy, who is the leader of the group of boys stranded on the island. Ralph tries to make a tiny village on the island until they can get rescued. Ralph is the main character in the book. He is a calm person who handles the situation thrown at him, with excellence. Jack: Jack is the guy in the book that you love to hate. Jack is the leader of the hunters, and is Ralph’s worst enemy. He longs for total power, and become more and more wild, blood thirsty, and cruel, as the novel progresses. Jack is the second most important character in Lord of the Flies. Simon: A kind, sensitive boy in the group. Simon in some ways is the only truly “good” person on the island. He behaves kindly to the littleuns, and is willing to work for the good of the group. Furthermore, Simon is the only character who doesn’t seem to change from civilized, to savage. Piggy: Ralph’s...