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Fiction

Notes The Lord of the Flies

The Lord of Flies is the pig’s head that Jack impales on a stick as an offering to “The Beast.”
The boys call the offering “The Lord of the Flies,” which in Judeo-Christian mythology refers
to Beelzebub, an incarnation of Satan. In the novel, The Lord of the Flies functions totemically;
it represents the savagery and amorality of Jack’s tribe.

Naval Officer
The naval officer appears in the final scene of the novel, when Ralph encounters him on the
beach. He tells Ralph that his ship decided to inspect the island upon seeing a lot of smoke
(the outcome of the forest fire that Jack and his tribe had set in the hopes of driving Ralph out
of hiding). His naivete about the boys’ violent conflict—he believes they are playing a game—
underscores the tragedy of the situation on the island. His status as a soldier reminds the
reader that the boys’ behavior is just a more primitive form of the aggressive and frequently
fatal conflicts that characterize adult civilization.

27.2.1 Analysis of Major Characters

Ralph

Ralph is the athletic, charismatic protagonist of Lord of the Flies. Elected the leader of the boys
at the beginning of the novel, Ralph is the primary representative of order, civilization, and
productive leadership in the novel. While most of the other boys initially are concerned with
playing, having fun, and avoiding work, Ralph sets about building huts and thinking of ways
to maximize their chances of being rescued. For this reason, Ralph’s power and influence over
the other boys are secure at the beginning of the novel. However, as the group gradually
succumbs to savage instincts over the course of the novel. Ralph’s position declines precipitously
while Jack’s rises. Eventually, most of the boys except Piggy leave Ralph’s group for Jack’s,
and Ralph is left alone to be hunted by Jack’s tribe. Ralph’s commitment to civilization and
morality is strong, and his main wish is to be rescued and returned to the society of adults.
In a sense, this strength gives Ralph a moral victory at the end of the novel, when he casts the
Lord of the Flies to the ground and takes up the stake it is impaled on to defend himself
against Jack’s hunters.

In the earlier parts of the novel, Ralph is unable to understand why the other boys would give
in to base instincts of bloodlust and barbarism. The sight of the hunters chanting and dancing
is baffling and distasteful to him. As the novel progresses, however, Ralph, like Simon, comes
to understand that savagery exists within all the boys. Ralph remains determined not to let
this savagery -overwhelm him, and only briefly does he consider joining Jack’s tribe in order
to save himself. When Ralph hunts a boar for the first time, however, he experiences the
exhilaration and thrill of bloodlust and violence. When he attends Jack’s feast, he is swept
away by the frenzy, dances on the edge of the group, and participates in the killing of
Simon. This firsthand knowledge of the evil that exists within him, as within all human
beings, is tragic for Ralph, and it plunges him into listless despair for a time. But this
knowledge also enables him to cast down the Lord of the Flies at the end of the novel.
Ralph’s story ends semi-tragically: although he is rescued and returned to civilization, when
he sees the naval officer, he weeps with the burden of his new knowledge about the human
capacity for evil.

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