Lord of the Flies

• Strength

  • Ralph physically strong - "built like a boxer"
  • Piggy intellectually strong - "Life is scientific [...] I know there isn't no beast"
  • Jack is powerful and controlling
  • Simon is morally strong - understanding the beast and people's character
• Littleuns weak and dependant:

  "They obeyed the summons of the conch partly because Ralph blew it and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority"
• Identity and anonymity

  Initially individual

  Lack of individual identity in names "Boys" "littleuns" "samneric"
• "Life is scientific [...] I know there isn't no beast [...] I know there isn't no fear either"
• Fear

  Fear of the unknown eg. beast leads to violence

  Beast symbolises internal fears

  Jack uses fear for manipulation "My hunters will protect you from the beast"

  Piggy isn't fazed by fear: "I know there isn't no beast [...] I know there isn't no fear either". He attempts to rationalise against it but people don't listen
• "I'll give the conch to the next person to speak"
• "He's going to beat Wilfred [...] he got angry and made us tie Wilfred up"
• Inherent evil

  "Maybe there is a beast ... Maybe it's only us"

  links to descent to savagery
• Inherent Evil


  "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew didn't you? I'm part of you"
• "Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the leaver" - pushing the rock to kill Piggy
• Loss of innocence

  Initially: "This is our island. It's a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us, we'll have fun" - innocence shown through childlike play and belief in the goodness of their situation
• Loss of innocence

  Ralph's realisation: "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy"
• Civilisation vs Savagery

  • Begins with attempt at establishing civilisation - "We've got to have rules and obey them"
  • Turns into - "Bollocks to the rules"
  • Leads to - deaths of Simon and Piggy, "kill the beast! Cut its throat! Spill his blood!"
  • The climax is reversal of the beginning - ultimate savagery - hunting Ralph
  • Shows the fragile nature of society
  • Naval officer is stark contrast
• Loss of innocence

  Jack unable to kill the Pig - "Enormity the downward stroke would be"