Lord of the Flies: Chapters 1-4
Episode 50
Professor Pipes returns to break down Chapters 1-4 of William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies faster than the breakdown of the boys' island society. Explore the novel from summary and character descriptions to thematic analysis. Whether you're studying for a test or just brushing up on classic literature, Professor Pipes has you covered.
TRIGGER WARNING: Death, Death of a Child
Transcript
Introduction:
Hello and welcome to Piper’s Paraphrases. I’m Professor Pipes, and today we’re traveling to a tropical island so I can discuss chapters 1-4 of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. You’ve heard the expression “boys will be boys,” right? You know, that classic but incorrect excuse telling us to just expect that boys and men are immature, unkind, or even violent? Well, this book epitomizes that expression, showing a group of stranded boys slowly, or not so slowly, becoming chaotic, vicious, and downright evil.
Characters:
Let me start by introducing our main characters.
Ralph is the protagonist and the leader of the boys. He’s very concerned with being rescued and with maintaining social order on the island until then. As such, he is seen as a representation of humans’ civilized side, drawn to law and order, but not the tv show.
Jack is the antagonist of the story and is appointed leader of the hunters. Over time, he becomes increasingly cruel and violent, representing humans’ uncivilized, ferocious side, our tendency towards wildness, or worse.
Piggy is smart, but also kind of whiny. He’s always with Ralph, but is often made fun of by the boys. Allegorically, he represents the rational, intellectual, and even scientific parts of society.
Roger is Jack’s right hand man and, if it’s possible, he’s actually even more violent and cruel than Jack. In fact, Roger truly enjoys tormenting others. Nice kid.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Simon is genuinely sweet and kind. Unlike “civilized” boys, who are seen as “good” because they follow the rules, Simon is just inherently good-natured. He also feels connected to nature, perhaps demonstrating how nature itself is good, only corrupted when we get involved. Whoops!
Sam and Eric are twins who also tend to side with Ralph. They are always together and, much in the portmanteau style of Benifer or Swelce, these brothers are referred to as Samneric.
All these boys are some of the biguns, the older kids on the island, up to around the age of twelve. The littluns is the term used to refer to the younger boys, who are about six. They’re powerless, making them easily scared and manipulated.
Plot Summary:
In Chapter 1, we’re introduced to the boys. Sorry, not those boys. It starts with Ralph and Piggy. They come stumbling out of a jungle onto a beach, and we soon learn that they were in a plane crash, and the pilot — the only adult on the plane — didn’t make it. Yikes. Ralph is pretty excited there are no grown ups - and therefore no rules! So what does he do? A headstand and skinny-dip, of course. Piggy seems a little more worried about, well, everything: running, swimming, what his aunt would say, whether other kids will call him by his nickname, Piggy, which he hates. Sorry, dude! Eventually they find a conch shell, ta da! which Ralph uses like a horn to call out to any other surviving boys on the island. Soon, lots of boys start arriving, including Jack, the leader of a group of choir boys - Not those ones, Cooper! I’m not going to tell you again! The boys decide to elect a chief, and even though Jack clearly wants the job, Ralph is elected, but he puts Jack in charge of the choir, only it’s not the choir anymore, it’s the hunters. Soon Ralph, Jack, and a boy named Simon head to the top of the mountain to see if it is, in fact, an island they are trapped on. Aaaaaand… it is. But they’re pretty excited. I mean, who doesn’t want a beach vacation!? On their way back down, they encounter a piglet stuck in some bushes, but after raising a knife, Jack hesitates, giving the bacon a chance to run away.
In Chapter 2, the adventuring boys get back and they hold another meeting to talk about their discoveries. Ralph also makes his first rule: you don’t talk about fight club. Oh sorry, wrong book. Whoever has the conch shell is the only one allowed to speak, except for Ralph, who can talk whenever. A little boy, about six, asks what they are going to do about the beastie, a snake-thing he claims came out of the darkness and tried to eat him. While Ralph reassures everyone that there is no beastie and it was just a nightmare, not everyone agrees. Jack says that the hunters will Kill the beast, Kill the Beast if there is one. Ralph next decides that they should build a signal fire on the mountain to attract boats, but before he can make any plans or say anything else, Jack runs up the mountain excitedly, with all the other boys following along. They pile branches and logs high and take Piggy’s glasses from him to light a fire. Unfortunately, it catches part of the forest on fire as well. Where’s Smokey Bear when you need him? Piggy goes into a full on rant, telling them that they’ve been acting like children — well, they are children — so they need to start thinking things through. As the fire blazes ominously, he also points out that the little boy who was scared about the beastie had been playing down where the fire is now burning and he doesn’t see him anywhere. As the boys realize what happened, the chapter ends.
In Chapter 3, we’re on the hunt with Jack, not for a great deal, but for a pig. It gets away, however, and he heads back to the beach, where Simon and Ralph have been, pretty unsuccessfully, building huts. So, I guess they all just suck at their tasks. Ralph and Jack get annoyed at each other and their respective priorities but try to *shake it off* and remember their friendly first adventure. Meanwhile, Simon has wandered into the jungle to sit in the solitude of a glade enjoying the wonders of nature.
A bit of time has passed by Chapter 4… and the boys have settled into a bit of a routine. We start out with the littluns playing in the sand and one being secretly stalked… by Roger! He ends up chucking rocks around, but not AT, the little kid, because that’s so much better, until Jack arrives with a new hunting plan! He has decided to use clay and charcoal as camouflage for his face, or, as he calls it: dazzle paint! If I’m being honest, that’s a way cooler name. Soon they head out for the hunt! Meanwhile, Ralph, Simon, and Piggy are chillin' out, maxin', relaxin', all cool and all swimming around in their crystal blue pool when they suddenly see a ship on the horizon. They rush up to the signal fire, only to discover that it has gone out. Before they can do anything, the ship has disappeared in the distance. In the midst of his fury, Ralph sees Jack and his hunters, with a dead pig, and Ralph angrily yells at Jack because his hunters were supposed to be in charge of maintaining the signal fire. Jack, upset and embarrassed, takes out his anger on Piggy, punching and slapping him and accidentally breaking one of the lenses of his glasses. Eventually he apologizes… for the fire. Not for beating up Piggy. He and the hunters make a new fire and cook some of the pig, but Jack, ever the gentleman, refuses to give any to Piggy, so Simon does instead. The chapter ends with Ralph announcing that he’s going to call a meeting.
Analysis:
Before I analyze this novel, it’s important to note that, according to William Golding himself, there are lots of different - even contradictory - interpretations of his book, but “the only choice that really matters, the only interpretation of the story, if you want one, is your own.” So if you disagree with my interpretation, take it up with the author and come up with your own!
Lord of the Flies is allegorical, meaning that the characters and plot are all symbolic, representing more than just themselves. The boys represent humanity. William Golding pointed out that “a group of little boys” is like “scaled down society.” Hmm… it’s almost as if little boys grow up and become leaders of societies. These symbols relate to the themes of the novel, so let’s take a look at a few.
First up, Law and Order. Ralph represents “civilization” and order in that he wants to make things on the island as similar to home as possible. He wants to build huts to live in, hold meetings, create rules, and give people jobs. These, apparently, are the keystones of “civilization.” Interestingly, when he first appears in the story, Ralph is excited that there are “no grownups,” but by chapter two, he states much more seriously, “There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves” and the boys even get excited at the prospect of “lots of rules!” After being elected chief, Ralph begins to institute these rules and gives people jobs, making Jack the leader of the hunters, stating you have to hold the conch shell in order to speak – oops, telling Piggy to get everyone’s names, and putting the hunters in charge of the signal fire. Later, he gets upset when others aren’t helping him to build shelters and even more so when they allow the fire to go out. So far, the rules of civilization seem to be logical and helpful, maintaining a sense of familiarity and order in a situation completely out of their control.
At odds with this law and order type of society, we see Wildness or the fierce and feral side of humanity, represented through the character of Jack, kind of like brawn versus brain. At first, Jack is governed by a sense of morality defined by his upbringing in society, and he hesitates when faced with his first opportunity to kill a pig “because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh,” but he quickly decides that “Next time there would be no mercy.” In fact, he starts to set aside all other duties in favor of the hunt. He and Ralph get into several arguments, and when Ralph is frustrated that Jack won’t help build shelters, Jack “tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.” By the fourth chapter, he has disguised himself, put on camouflage to hide himself and kill a pig, but in reality he is his truest self when in this disguise. It allows him to be wild, “liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” And once he and the hunters kill their first pig, he is ecstatic in this accomplishment, proud that he was able to outwit and destroy life. In fact, he’s so overwhelmed by this more bestial nature that he attacks not only a pig, but Piggy the person. We see this wild nature in other characters, as well. Roger, for instance, wants to throw rocks at a littlun, but instead keeps throwing them around the little boy, since “Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law” and he hasn’t quite been able to forget that yet. This wildness seems to be the default for many of the characters, suggesting that “civilization” is really just rules that people follow for fear of punishment, rather than because they are part of our moral character. In fact, the setting of the story itself shows this tendency towards chaos and violence, since the plane the boys were traveling in was shot down and everyone at the airport is dead because the atom bomb has been dropped. This suggests that even in a “civilized” society, humans are violent, cruel, and wild, making the brutal behavior of the boys a perfect symbol for society itself.
While Ralph represents the rules of society, Piggy is almost always with him, on his side, representing Reason. He continuously tries to think things through and is frustrated when the kids act like, well, kids. Who’da thunk it. He comes up with the idea of using the conch shell to call other survivors. His glasses are used to start the signal fire. He recommends making a sundial to measure time. He’s upset when the other boys rush off without giving Ralph time to think. Piggy does think things through and puts it pretty bluntly: QUOTE “How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper?” He recognizes that rules aren’t just arbitrary but instead serve important functions. Unfortunately, the other boys don’t appreciate this or, therefore, Piggy himself. What? People don’t want to listen to reason and science? No way! Even Ralph continuously gets annoyed by Piggy, making fun of his weight, his plans, and his “ass-mar” as he calls it. Eventually, this distaste for reason culminates (in this section) with the breaking of one of Piggy’s lenses, representing the beginning of the end for rational thought.
Next up, let’s talk Power. At first, power on the island is held almost exclusively by Ralph and, therefore, by the rules and order that characterize “civilized” society. However, Jack is quickly placed as an opponent in the balance of power, demonstrating the inclination and impulse towards the more wild aspects within us. This power struggle is epitomized in the fire itself. HOW the fire burns represents how power can be used. The fire is intended to be a signal, reaching out to civilization and calling for rescue. However, the boys’ first fire burns out of control, destroying a large part of the jungle and killing a little boy. Therefore power, when kept in check and put to good use, can be helpful, but left to its own devices and allowed to grow wildly, it can be destructive, as we will continue to see later in the story.
Now be afraid, be very afraid, because it’s time to talk about Fear! It makes sense that a group of young kids, stranded and alone, would be afraid. The older boys hide this fear well, most of the time, and instead focus on the joy of being in charge. The littluns, however, are not so easily comforted. During the very first meeting, one of the little boys brings up a snake-like “beastie” that he thinks is hiding in the darkness. This fear begins to permeate the whole group, embodied by this bodiless beastie. The littluns “suffered untold terrors in the dark and huddled together for comfort.” This fear furthers both Ralph’s and Jack’s agendas. Ralph wants to build shelters, not because they will offer actual protection from a beast, but because they are comforting and offer a feeling of safety. Jack, on the other hand, uses the fear to push the need for the hunt, saying the hunters will “look for the snake too” and make sure it’s not there when they go hunting, even though he doesn’t really believe it exists. However, despite these attempts to allay the fear, and increase their power, the fear begins to absorb everyone in the group, including our fearless leaders. In fact, even Jack states that when he goes hunting, “you can feel as if you’re not hunting, but – being hunted, as if something’s behind you all the time in the jungle.” And on that ominous note, I’ll end this section…
Food for Thought:
Before we finish for the day, I’d like to leave you with some food for thought. Consider these questions as you review this section of the novel.
First, how is nature affected by the boys and how are they affected by nature? Which seems more influential?
Second, in what ways are Ralph and Jack similar and in what ways are they different? What does this suggest?
Third, what role do the littluns play in the story? Why are they important and what do they demonstrate about society?
Fourth, what are your thoughts on the boys’ reactions to being stranded? In what ways are their actions realistic and in what ways do they seem unrealistic or unlikely?
Finally, this novel is a product of its time, and the author is of course influenced by his society. In what ways might the writer’s views be flawed or problematic, and where do you see this in the book?
Thanks for watching this episode of Piper’s Paraphrases. Now go forth, hunt a bunch - I mean read a bunch, and be good people.
