Summoned by the blast of sound from the shell, boys start to straggle onto the beach. The oldest among them are around twelve; the youngest are around six. They march to the beach in two parallel lines, and Jack snaps at them to stand at attention. The boys taunt Piggy and mock his appearance and nickname. The boys decide to elect a leader. The choirboys vote for Jack, but all the other boys vote for Ralph.
Ralph wins the vote, although Jack clearly wants the position. To placate Jack, Ralph asks the choir to serve as the hunters for the band of boys and asks Jack to lead them. The three explorers leave the meeting place and set off across the island. The prospect of exploring the island exhilarates the boys, who feel a bond forming among them as they play together in the jungle.
Eventually, they reach the end of the jungle, where high, sharp rocks jut toward steep mountains. The boys climb up the side of one of the steep hills. From the peak, they can see that they are on an island with no signs of civilization. The view is stunning, and Ralph feels as though they have discovered their own land.
As they travel back toward the beach, they find a wild pig caught in a tangle of vines. Jack, the newly appointed hunter, draws his knife and steps in to kill it, but hesitates, unable to bring himself to act. The pig frees itself and runs away, and Jack vows that the next time he will not flinch from the act of killing. The three boys make a long trek through dense jungle and eventually emerge near the group of boys waiting for them on the beach.
Lord of the Flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilizing instinct and the barbarizing instinct that exist in all human beings. Over the course of the novel, Golding portrays the rise and swift fall of an isolated, makeshift civilization, which is torn to pieces by the savage instincts of those who compose it.
In this first chapter, Golding establishes the parameters within which this civilization functions. To begin with, it is populated solely with boys—the group of young English schoolboys shot down over the tropical island where the novel takes place. Others tie the scene into a larger Freudian reading of Lord of the Flies , claiming that its symbols correspond exactly to the elements of the Freudian unconscious with Jack as the id, Ralph as the ego, and Piggy as the superego.
Lord of the Flies may indeed support these and a number of other readings, not necessarily at the exclusion of one another. Read more about who the Lord of the Flies is. Indeed, many differences between Simon and Jesus complicate the comparison between the two and prevent us from seeing Simon as a straightforward Christ figure. Simon, unlike Jesus, is not a supernatural being, and none of the boys could possibly find salvation from the Lord of the Flies through faith in Simon.
Read more about the Lord of the Flies as a symbol. Fearing that this instinct lies embedded within himself as well, Simon seems to hear the Lord of the Flies speaking with him, threatening him with what he fears the most. Unable to stand the sight any longer, Simon collapses into a very human faint. Read important quotes about the Lord of the Flies.
In all, Simon is a complex figure who does not fit neatly into the matrix framed by Jack at the one end and Ralph at the other. Simon is kindhearted and firmly on the side of order and civilization, but he is also intrigued by the idea of the beast and feels a deep connection with nature and the wilderness on the island.
Whereas Jack and Roger connect with the wilderness on a level that plunges them into primal lust and violence, Simon finds it a source of mystical comfort and joy. Lord of the Flies is deeply preoccupied with the problem of fundamental, natural human evil—amid which Simon is the sole figure of fundamental, natural good. In a wholly nonreligious way, Simon complicates the philosophical statement the novel makes about human beings, for he represents a completely separate alternative to the spectrum between civilization and savagery of which Ralph and Jack are a part.
In the end, Simon is both natural and good in a world where such a combination seems impossible. Ace your assignments with our guide to Lord of the Flies! SparkTeach Teacher's Handbook. Who is the Lord of the Flies? What is the conch and what does it symbolize?
How does Simon die? Why does Jack start his own tribe? The boys are nameless. Names are a product of society, which the boys have now left. The island is a paradise not just because it's lush and beautiful, but also because it's a blank slate on which the supposedly innocent boys can build something new. Active Themes. Human Nature.
Related Quotes with Explanations. The fat boy asks the tall boy his name. The tall boy answers, Ralph. But instead of asking the fat boy's name, Ralph wanders off. The fat boy follows, but can barely keep up because of his asthma. When the fat boy starts eating some fruit, Ralph slips away and finds a beautiful beach.
Ralph ignores the fat boy because the boy is fat and weak. Even in paradise, human nature is prejudiced against weakness. Eventually the fat boy finds Ralph and proposes they call a meeting and make a list of everyone who survived. He lets slip that in school people called him Piggy. Ralph laughs. Piggy begs Ralph not to tell anyone. Piggy, the weak boy, tries to win the friendship of Ralph, the strong boy.
Piggy's desperation only makes him seem more weak. The boys keep exploring. Ralph finds a perfect swimming hole and says his father , who's in the Navy, will come rescue them. But Piggy is fairly certain that no one knows where they landed. Piggy says they have to do something. Just then, Ralph spots a huge conch shell.
Piggy realizes they can use it as a trumpet. Piggy can't blow it himself, because of his asthma, but shows Ralph how to do it. Ralph blows, and a huge blast sounds. Though weak, Piggy is smarter than Ralph. He comes up with the idea for the meeting and using the conch. By blowing the conch, Ralph and Piggy both become civilizing forces: they organize the boys to figure out what to do. All the boys gather on the beach: they range in age from six to twelve.
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