Lord of the Flies, 1963

March. 15, 2022 | ANACAPRI SLACK

This movie is about a group of boys who escape England during a war. Their plane is shot down, and they are stranded on a remote island. The main character of the movie is Ralph. As he is walking through the forest, he meets a chubby boy who has glasses who tells him his nickname is Piggy. They continue walking where they find a beach and a conch shell. Ralph blows the shell to rally the other survivors. As more survivors make it to Piggy and Ralph, it is realized that no adults have survived the plane going down.

A small group of school choir boys approach wearing dark cloaks and hats. They are being led by Jack Merridew. All the boys decide to vote to appoint a chief. Ralph wins the vote. Ralph creates a rather civilized and harmonious society. The choir boys become the hunters of the group and start making wooden spears. Jack has a knife. Ralph, Jack, and Simon explore the island to find it deserted. Ralph tells the boys they have to make a fire.

They start to build shelters and they start a signal fire with Piggy’s glasses. As the movie goes on, Jack starts to get more violent. He finds a pig when he is hunting. The fire goes out which puts a damper on the boys sense of hope of being rescued. Piggy reprimands Jack and Jack hits Piggy. One of the lenses on Piggy’s glasses breaks because of Jack. Ralph is mad at Jack because of this.

Soon some of the boys start talking and fearing that there is a beast on the island. The twins, Sam and Eric, tell the boys that there is another monster on the island because they saw something land on the mountain. All the boys go to search for the beast except for Piggy and the littluns. As Ralph, Jack, and Roger are searching on top of the mountain, they see something move and run away.

Jack becomes consumed with the beast. He leaves the society Ralph created to create his own without rules. He wants to create a society where they play and hunt all day. Only a few boys the boys to get them to listen to him. Piggy takes the conch, and the boys start mocking him. Roger pushes a boulder off of a cliff which falls onto Piggy. It kills him and crushes the conch. Jack and his society start going after Ralph. Ralph hides in the jungle. Ralph and his group create fires to try to smoke Ralph out. Ralph makes it to the beach where a naval officer has found them. He is disturbed over seeing how the boys have turned into spear carrying savages. Ralph sobs as the fire consumes the island.

Ralph creates a peaceful and harmonious society at first. Ralph was elected to be the leader. They have a conch and rule was that only the boy holding the conch can speak. Only Ralph can interrupt when someone is holding the conch. The conch symbolizes the order that the boys have. Piggy’s glasses represent the intelligence of the society. The signal fire represents the boys’ hope to be rescued and off the island. Jack’s knife represent violence, savagery, and the growing aggression. It shows power. When the signal fire goes out, the boys start slowly slipping into more savagery and aggression. Jack breaking Piggy’s glasses shows lawlessness attacking intellect and civilization. The aggression and savagery starts to go through all of the boys. The beast symbolizes the hidden savagery that exists in all human beings. When Ralph goes to talk to the boys, the conch shell represents the last shred of civilization and peace they have left. When it is broken, it shows that savagery has taken over all of the boys, and there is no turning back. The beast represents the evil that exists within everyone. The boys give into the paranoia and the beast. They have no order, intelligence, or hope.

Additional Resources

Online Articles:

Rutger Bregman, The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 months

Vittorio Bufacchi, Lord of the Flies real-life story shows how humans are hard-wired to help each other – philosopher

A Broken Perspective of Civilization in Lord of the Flies

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