Themes in Lord of the Flies

Themes in Lord of the Flies

1. Loss of innocence

   • "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart."
   • "the boys were falling still and silent, feeling the beginnings of awe at the power set free below them"
   • "Simon was murdered"
   • Ralph: "Things are breaking up and I don't understand why"
   • "Simon thought of the beast.. a human at once heroic and sick"
   • "A blackness within, a blackness that spread"
   • "To Ralph, this seemed the breaking up of sanity."

2. Power

   • Conch, Piggy's glasses
     • conch has power to call boys to a meeting
     • Piggy's glasses have power to light fire
   • Jack: "I'm going to be chief"
   • Ralph: "I'm chief. I'll go. Don't argue.", "Sit down"
   • J: "I ought to be chief"
   • J: "we don't want you. Three's enough"
     • Ralph&Jack assert authority over Piggy
   • "I was chief, and you were going to to what I said"
   • J: "Now you eat." - asserts dominance over Piggy
   • J: "Give me a drink" - completely dominant of his 'tribe'
   • "The most obvious leader was Jack."
   • "I've got the conch!" - Piggy has no authority even when holding the conch

3. Tribe Mentality

   • boys chant together: "kill the pig, cut its throat, spill its blood"
     • changes to "do him in" when boys play act with Robert + kill Simon
   • "the chant rose ritually"
   • "the chant rose a tone in agony"
   • "we want meat!"

4. Primitivity

   • JACK
     • "swung back his right arm and hurled the spear with all his strength"
     • "tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill"
     • "I went on. I thought by myself - I thought I might kill."
     • "began to laugh and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling"
     • "liberated from shame and self-conciousness"
     • "he giggled" after brutally killing the sow
   • "the hunters.. had outwitted a living thing, had imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long, satisfying drink"
   • "all the boys were talking at once, relieved and excited"
   • "Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in."
   • "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering" (Ralph)
   • "the crowd leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore."
   • "headless body of the sow lay where they had dropped it"
   • Samneric: torn between savagery (Jack) and civilization (Raplh)

5. Civilization

   • "We'll have a hands up, like at school"
   • conch, glasses, clothes are all ties to civilization
   • "Rules are the only thing we've got!"
   • "Demented but partly secure society"
   • "The taboo of the old life"
   • "he was back from where he came from, feeding ponies with sugar over the garden wall"
   • "Which is better - to have laws and agree or to hunt and kill?"
   • "let's have a vote"
   • "I'm calling a meeting"

6. Breakdown of Society

   • Group splits into two
     • "I'm not going to play any longer, not with you"
     • "Bollocks to the rules!"