Literature Analysis

1.       The plot of “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is about a group of young boys stranded on an island, during a time of war. All of the boys meet on the beach and elect Ralph as the leader of them. Ralph allows Jack to be the leader of the hunter group. They hunt for food. Ralph creates another group to create a signal fire, in case of a passing ship. They use Piggy’s glasses to start the fire, however they lose control of the fire and it kills a “littleun.” One day a passing ship goes by, and the signal fire was unlit. Ralph went to scold Jack about this, but when he found him, Jack had just got his first kill and was going crazy over it. Ralph calls together a meeting and a littleun plants the idea that there is a monster on the island. That night an airplane battle starts over the island. A dead pilot parachutes down and gets stuck in a tree. Jack and Ralph both hear about this and go to see what it is. When they get back, a meeting is held and Jack claims that Ralph is a coward and he should be removed from the leader position. The boys refuse to, and Jack in anger leaves and creates a new tribe that he is the leader of. A little boy, Simon, gets a vision of the beast on the island, he goes to return the group, and he is pounced on and mauled to death. The only ones feeling any remorse are Piggy and Ralph. Jack’s group starts a raid to steal Piggy’s glasses. When they are stolen Piggy and Ralph go to take them back. Ralph is taking hostage and Piggy is killed. Ralph escapes and runs away, being chased by Jack. He eventually makes it to the end of the island where he finds a navy officer. Being saved, he breaks down in tears.

2.       A theme of the book is a loss of innocence. All the boys start off as young, sweet and carefree. At the end of the book, the majority of them have turned into savage killers, doing whatever they want.

3.       The author’s tone is pessimistic. He never seems to think that the boys were going to make it off the island, and they were all going to live.

4.       Five literary elements that helped me understand the story were symbolism, imagery, simile, metaphor and theme. The theme’s really brought out the essence of the story. That no man is safe from himself, and that every man has a beast inside of him.