Реферат: Chapter By Chapter Summary

– Lord Of The Flies Essay, Research Paper

Chapter 1

The Sound of the Shell

The opening chapter begins with two boys, Piggy and Ralph, making their way through the jungle. We learn, through their dialogue, that they had been travelling in an airplane with a group of British school children. The plane had presumably been shot down and crashed on a an island in the Pacific. It is hinted that the rest of the world is at war, and that most of it has been destroyed by nuclear attacks possibly explaining that the children were being evacuated.

A storm has come and gone, washing the wreckage away. Ralph and Piggy meet and revel at the prospect that they are alone on a tropical island with no adults. They make their way to the beach where they find a large conch shell. Using the shell as a horn, Ralph summons any other children that may be on the island. They begin to come from the jungle and Piggy tries to take names.

Along the beach two marching files of black-clad children approach. This is the first we see of Jack Merridew (who, oddly enough is the only child, besides Percival, whose last name we will learn). Piggy is immediately singled out by the group and made fun of. The children do not like him and never will.

Being children, and at first thinking that survival is a game to be played and that rescue is inevitable, they decide to vote for a chief to decide things. It is obvious the only two contenders are Jack and Ralph. Ralph is voted in; he had possession of the conch already magical in quality to those present and seemed the most able. Jack s black-clad choir are designated as hunters upon Jack s insistence already revealing his need to hunt and kill.

Ralph s first decision as chief is to send a party out to investigate whether or not they are really on an island. Himself, Jack, and Simon leave to scale the mountain. As they climb the pink granite, they take time to have fun and roll a large boulder off the edge to watch it be destroyed like a bomb. This need to destroy begins with this innocent rock-rolling and will eventually culminate with the killing of a sow, Simon, Piggy and the hunting of Ralph later in the story.

They reach the summit and indeed discovery they are on an island, apparently uninhabited. A new friendship developes between Ralph and Jack. They savor the right of domination, and Jack comments about how they will have fun and hunt until they fetch us. Jack believes rescue is inevitable and these thoughts will contribute to his behavior later in the novel.

On the descent down the mountain they discover a piglet caught in the underbrush. Jack unsheathes his knife and raises it, ready to let fly but he cannot. His current nature will not let him spill blood but this will change. He is embarrassed and promises that next time he will kill.

Chapter 2

Fire on the Mountain

Later that evening, Ralph calls another meeting by blowing on the conch. He conveys to the group of kids that they are on an island with no grown ups (The number of kids is not fully known and will never be known but we assume it is around thirty. Most of them are very small, possibly five or six years old and are called littluns. The rest are near Ralph s age, possibly twelve years old.) Also, Jack insists on having an army of hunters and begins talking excitedly about the piglet.

At this time Ralph lays down some rules. First, when someone wishes to speak at an assembly he must hold the conch shell. No one is allowed to interrupt the holder of the conch except Ralph. The conch begins to symbolize the organization of society and the rules that such a society must uphold to function.

They speak excitedly about their new temporary home, how it is a good island and how much fun it will be. Then, a littlun with a large birthmark on his face steps forward to speak. He is given the conch shell. The child tells of a beastie that he saw in the dark, lurking on the island. It looked like a snake and is the first manifestation of the Beast. It is argued whether or not such a beast could live on a small island. Ralph doesn t think so, but nonetheless he feels himself facing something ungraspable. Jack says his hunters will kill the beast if, indeed, it does exist.

Ralph then introduces another prevailing symbol of the novel: the signal fire. He will make it paramount that a signal fire be maintained to aid in their rescue. At mention of creating such a fire at the top of the mountain, the children become excited and rush off, lead by Jack, to the summit to see if they can complete such a task to really prove they can make it on their own. Ralph follows, and Piggy comments that they are acting like a crowd of kids. This is ironic, because they are a crowd of kids. It shows how Piggy is set apart from the group; that he is more mature and does not throw caution to the wind as Jack does.

A huge pile of gathered wood is made on the top of the mountain. Jack, against Piggy s protest, grabs his specs to light the fire with and soon it is blazing. Piggy comments that the effort was wasted because the fire produced little smoke. Jack begins arguing with him. Piggy tells Jack that he has the conch, thus he should not be interrupted, but Jack says, The conch doesn t count on top of the mountain, so you shut up. Jack is beginning to dislike the rules of the conch.

The group of hunters are divided up to take shifts keeping the fire going. It is then noticed that the sparks from the now-dead fire have ignited half the forest below the mountain. Piggy speaks out against the group s immaturity. He tells them that they ought to be more responsible they don t even know how many kids are on the island. Jack argues against him. Piggy points to the inferno and asks where the boy with the birthmark is. Nobody knows he has been killed by the fire, by the lack of responsibility, the rampant adventure and maybe something else that is present in the boys. He is the first to die and the boys can only stare at the fire, marveling with horror at what they have done.

Chapter 3

Huts on the Beach

The chapter begins many days, possibly weeks, after the fire on the mountain. Jack is hunting for pigs and has become good at tracking them, but has not killed one as yet. He comes back to the beach where Ralph and Simon are trying to build a hut. Two rickety huts have already been constructed and this last one is not turning out so well. Ralph complains to Jack how the kids don t help; they are bathing or eating fruit in the forest instead. This seems to be a trend with every project they try to accomplish a project is proposed at a meeting and they work hard for a little while, but never see it through to completion.

Jack and Ralph have a small argument about whether building huts is more important than hunting. This is the first of many disputes they will have. The subject of the beastie comes up again. Many of the littluns are frightened of it, which is why they are building huts. Jack comments that when he is alone hunting he feels he is, not hunting but being hunted… As though something is behind you all the time in the jungle.

Jack has a sudden insight as to where the pigs hide during the day. Ralph continues to badger him about the fact that keeping up the signal fire is more important than hunting, but Jack doesn t seem to think that way. The two boys are beginning to dislike each other. They go to the bathing pool, where, …the shouting and splashing and laughing were only just sufficient to bring them together again.

Simon wanders into the jungle, helps the littluns pick fruit, and then wanders off further, finding a clearing. There is a thick mat of creepers that grow here. He climbs under them where it is cool and dark and stays there until night fall.

Chapter 4

Painted Faces and Long Hair

Roger and Maurice are walking through a group of littluns, kicking over the things they ve made in the sand. They split off, and Roger hides behind a palm tree watching a littlun playing by the water. He begins throwing rocks at the littlun, but he aims to miss, because the taboos of the old world are still with him.

Jack comes up behind Roger and asks him to come watch as he puts on a mask of painted camouflage in order to hunt pigs better. As Jack smears the clay on his face, the mask is …a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness. The mask allows Jack to not worry about rescue and what he knows is right. Behind it he can do what he likes.

Later, Ralph and the rest of the boys are swimming in the bathing pool and smoke is spotted on the horizon. Ralph looks to the mountain top, but the signal fire has gone out. Running up to the summit, with the others following, Ralph reaches the top and the fire is dead the watchers absent from duty.

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