Modern Classics Summarized: Lord Of The Flies

When I was a kid, I had all the standard "British schoolchildren have magical adventures" books: Narnia, The Dark Is Rising, the Chrestomanci books, Edward Eager's Magic series, anything by E. Nesbit, the list goes on. Now, these books were fun for many reasons, but I think we can all agree that the main reason we enjoyed reading them was because we saw ourselves in them. Whether the main characters traveled back in time to Arthurian legend or made half-thought wishes on ancient coins, the magic was real and present for us because we could see ourselves in the characters. Now there is a novel that fits all these categories: British schoolchildren, distant lands and a subtle fantasy element.

In fact, it is another story where we can see ourselves in the characters and easily think about how we would behave in their situation. I'm talking about Lord of the Flies. Now, this novel was written as a specific response to a now forgotten genre of adventure books, where British schoolchildren were stranded on a mysterious island and had incredible adventures and kept the British stiff, surviving off the land alone. This genre was irrationally popular and apparently William Golding, who wrote Lord of the Flies, wanted nothing to do with it. Then he wrote… this. Now, the context of this story is a barely defined nuclear war, and we get very little information about it.

That's fine, because the entire story takes place on a desert island in no man's land, so we don't really need an overview of world politics at that time. Our story begins with a plane crash that lands the protagonists on a desert island. What does our main cast consist of, you ask? Of course, a manly gang of tough British teenagers! Okay, there are many, but only a few are relevant to the story. First of all, they're divided into "big ones" and "little ones," with the little ones being the smallest kids, and the big boys being the source of all the problems in this whole stupid book.

So the main character is Ralph, and he's the first character we meet, escaping the burning wreckage of the plane. In the highly symbolic interpretation of the text, Ralph typically represents order and civilization, because he is very orderly and civilized. He is immediately joined by the second main character, Piggy, a short, fat asthmatic with terrible eyesight and a complete inability to read the social mood. He represents adulthood. So Ralph and Piggy are getting their bearings, by which I mean Ralph is getting his bearings and Piggy is tragically oblivious to Ralph's repeated attempts to leave him. Ralph eventually finds a shell, which is so symbolically relevant to the story that he is almost a character in himself.

I call him Shelly. Then Ralph "hits" Shelly and the noise summons all the other survivors: a group consisting of a group of misfits and a children's choir led by a third relevant character named Jack, who represents... just being a jerk. . Also present are main characters Roger, Simon and twins Sam and Eric, a sociopath, a Jesus figure respectively, and I'm not even sure why they're here. Ralph then tries to convince the kids and tells them that they need to be rescued, so they need to make a signal fire and keep it lit so that passing ships can see the smoke.

You will see? Order and civilization. Jack immediately becomes a rival and a complete jerk by challenging Ralph's leadership for no reason. Look, Jack is one of those people who would clearly rather be a badass than save everyone. Like people who really want there to be a zombie apocalypse. So Jack appoints himself and his crew as hunters, mainly because he wants to start killing pigs. Meanwhile, Ralph is elected boss and Piggy is firmly ignored and mocked for being an overweight nerd because, in case you haven't noticed, this book is designed to systematically destroy your faith in humanity.

So, of course, after some semblance of order is established and Piggy's glasses are used to start a fire, things immediately begin to fall apart when a group of 10-year-olds are forced to do boring things like build shelters. and collecting firewood that they need to Live, when they could also be frolicking on a pristine island paradise, is not the easiest task. Furthermore, the little ones become paranoid about a beast that one of them, who disappears shortly after, claims to have seen in the night. To make matters worse, Jack frustratingly mutinies, which comes to a head when he assembles the fire team to hunt pigs.

And as they flex their killer muscles, the fire goes out, which is a shame, because just then a ship passes by, and without the smoke signal to draw attention, it merrily speeds by, leaving our characters stranded. Then, as Ralph overcomes his personal leadership problems with a little moral support from Piggy, whom he slowly comes to like, a dogfight breaks out on the island while everyone sleeps, and a dead pilot floats up and jumps in. parachute into a tree near the top of the island. mountain. Why is this important, you might ask? Tragic misunderstandings, that's why! Lo and behold, while tending the fire, twins Sam and Eric see the dead pilot moving in the darkness, mistake him for the beast, and flee in panic.

Now that some of the big guys have seen the beast, it's a more credible threat, and Jack and Ralph decide to explore the only part of the island they haven't explored yet: a steep cliff at the end of the island. They get far enough to realize it would make a good camp in case someone riots, and then flee as soon as something starts moving. But then, mutiny! When they meet at the shelters, Jack tries to turn the kids against Ralph and get him elected leader, which fails spectacularly and hilariously, and Jack runs away, accompanied by Roger.

Do you remember? The sadist? Yes, this will be fun. So, despite his initial failure to gain support, Jack begins to gain more support through his exciting and glamorous lifestyle, which involves painting his face, eating roast pork, and giving up both common sense and proper English behavior. But unfortunately they don't have their own fire and they can't light it themselves because they don't have Piggy's glasses. And what about "rubbing two sticks together"? Too ambitious. So they raid the main camp for a fire and invite the rest of the group to a big roast pig feast, to which, after some grumbling, even Ralph and Piggy agree.

Meanwhile, however, Simon (our dreamy, nature-loving Jesus figure) has stumbled upon a pig's head on a stake, left there by Jack's crew as a sacrifice to the beast. Simon has a long conversation with the pighead, because it implies that he is not completely inside the brain, and the pighead, who calls himself the Lord of the Flies, tells Simon that the real beast was inside him all the way. time. Then Simón passes out, wakes up a little later, disoriented, and comes across the dead pilot that everyone thought was the beast. Simon realizes that he is just a normal dead man and goes to find the others to tell them that the beast was imaginary after all and that there is no need to panic.

But unfortunately, when he breaks into the camp, everyone is so nervous that they immediately mistake him for the beast and brutally kill him. Oh. So Ralph and Piggy are alone and traumatized, because everyone except the twins has defected to Jack's camp, possibly as a way to escape civilization and accept his cruelty to avoid the consequences of his actions. Oh, and around this time, Ralph and Piggy notice that Shelley has become almost white, as if the cornerstone of civilization has lost its shine. That? No, I'm not going to analyze this further. Write your own article! Jack then decides to steal Piggy's glasses to control the fire on the island and raids the camp.

Ralph and company go to Jack's camp to politely request his return. As expected, this goes wrong, and Sam and Eric are captured, while Piggy is crushed to death by a giant rock that Roger throws at him. Shelley, no! Ralph then escapes into the night while Roger tortures Sam and Eric until they agree to join Jack's tribe, and Ralph, now doubly traumatized, manages to sneak up on the camp with the intention of rescuing Sam and Eric, but they warn him that Jack will start a search for him the next day and he better hide somewhere very cozy.

So Jack and his crew recreate "The Most Dangerous Game" and set the entire island on fire in an attempt to put it out, and Ralph is about to be cornered when he runs into...an adult! More specifically, a naval officer, whose ships saw the not insignificant amounts of smoke from the burning island and came to their rescue. Jack and the crew immediately lose their let's-kill-a-12-year-old enthusiasm, and after the officer scolds them for not behaving appropriately British while in custody, Ralph breaks down crying because... I mean,! oh really! Shit! And they all burst into tears at the reality of how horrible they are.

The feel-good novel of the century!