Glossary

Conch
 Conch is a shell belonging to any large snail that lives in the ocean. Conch shells have been used as trumpets due to their easy to hold shape and the fact that many conch shells naturally have holes on the base of the shell. An example of a conch shell:

 The conch shell is used in the story to represent the concept of order and the freedom of speech, as the system by which it is used ensures that everyone has a voice.

Picture credit: "Conch." Mhherlongcom. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <http://www.mhherlong.com/home/tgws/?page_id=276>

Anarchy

Anarchy is a system of governance in which laws are considered optional and the government has no power. Individuals do what they wish without the fear of repercussion. Anarchy is a national state of disorder, and usually isn't so much a state of government as the transition period between governmental changes. Anarchy is represented by a circle with an "A" in the centre:

Anarchy is used in the story by Jack, who runs an anarchic tribal society.

Picture credit: 

"File:Anarchy-symbol.svg." - Wikimedia Commons. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anarchy-symbol.svg>

 "Savages"

 Savages is the name that Europeans used to refer to native peoples. It comes from the belief that only Europeans were truly civilized, therefore all natives must be uncivilized "savages". In the story, the children put on "savage warpaint":

 Also, at the beginning, Jack proposes that rules must be drafted because the children were English, and therefore weren't "savages".

Picture credit: 

"Thread: Eye Black." The Lacrosse Forums RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <http://forums.insidelacrosse.com/showthread.php?166217-eye-black>

Lord of the Flies:

 Lord of the Flies is not just the title of the book. The Lord of the Flies is in fact a severed pig's head placed upon a sharp stick. It is named Lord of the Flies by Simon, who has multiple conversations with it. Here's a picture:

Picture source: "Lord of the Flies Pig’s Head Terrine." Yummy Books RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2013. <http://yummy-books.com/2012/03/03/lord-of-the-flies-pigs-head-terrine/>

 Righteous

 To be righteous means to uphold certain moral standards, it means to be morally and justifiably right. Righteousness is usually associated with religion, but not always. Jack accuses Ralph of being overly righteous during the section in which Jack begins the process of leaving the group.

Journal entry #4

Piggy

Unknown day

 Jack and the rest are gone. They all left me and Ralph with some of the littleuns. Don’t they know that they can’t survive without us, without Ralph’s rules and signal fire, they have no chance for recue; without me they have no way to light a fire or use my intelligence and knowledge to build helpful things.

 But they certainly solved that specs problem last night. They raided us and took my specs, which was our only way to light a fire.

 They came during the night. We don’t know how many came, but there were a lot of them. Ralph managed to bite someone and SamnEric punched one of Jack’s raiders. Luckily SamnEric stayed with us, but I don’t think it’s permanent, as they still seem to see this as some sort of game.

 I hate Jack. He caused all this. If only he could have accepted Ralph as the rightful ruler of the island, we wouldn’t be having this problem right now. But no, he had to go and be a control freak bent on dominating all of us. Frankly, I saw his betrayal coming from the start. The way he would look at Ralph with hate and distain.

 I also hate those damned hunters. They encouraged Jack this entire time, with their war-paint and their whoops and hollers and their crudely fashioned spears. I always hated the hunters as they were all bullies. Constantly taunting and teasing me. Stealing the conch and passing it to each other as if it were a toy and not a symbol of free speech for even the lowliest child.

 Luckily SamnEric are still with us. They seem to switch sides really fast though, and I believe that they might do just that when we go to confront Jack at his Headquarters today and tell him to give up this madness.

 I must go; I can hear Ralph calling at this very moment. SamnEric are getting their spears. We will leave the few littleuns that remained with us behind so that they do not get injured. 

 Piggy is the smartest child in the group. He basically acts as Ralph's sidekick throughout the story until his death, which would immediately follow this journal entry.

 I chose Piggy because Piggy has one of the most shocking demises in the whole story. It's sad, really to see such intelligence be wasted to keep a despotic anarchist like Jack on the throne.

Journal Entry #3

Simon

Unknown day

 The echoes whisper. The Lord of the Flies will take is vengeance on the murderous boys who killed him and placed his head on a stick. He told me as much.

 I saw them. I saw them do it. Jack and the choir boys and their spears, I saw them walking on the pig run. They provoked a pig. They threatened its babies. It chased them. They might have died. But they stabbed it. With their little sharpened wooden spears. Good lord, it still haunts me.

 But they went too far. They decapitated the poor thing, and placed its head on a stick. I thought they were Englishman, not savages.

 I didn’t think it was all that bad until the Lord of the Flies started speaking to me through the pig’s head. He explained that he was the reason for all the chaos. He is punishing us for our arrogance, especially Jack’s.

 This means that I have to leave the choir boys for awhile. I have been thinking about it for quite a long time, but this pushed me over the edge. I don’t think I can be on the same side as those two brutes, Jack and Roger. I think Ralph is a more viable option.

 At this point, Ralph is our only hope for survival. He and Piggy seem to be the only ones who still full out support the rules we laid out at the beginning. They have the conch, the ultimate symbol of power.

  Maybe I can convince some others to come as well. I know SamnEric will be pretty open to the suggestion. They think this is a game. They think that Jack isn’t serious about his plans for takeover. They are so naive.

 Now that I think about it, I have overheard SamnEric saying they would like to stay with Ralph as well. They could be valuable allies in the future.

 I must leave. The Lord of the Flies beckons me once again to return to the clearing so that we may speak again.

 Simon is a secondary character in the story. Although he is neither the stories antagonist nor its protagonist, he is still a very important character in the story.

 This particular journal entry takes place shortly after Simon starts to slip into insanity. In my opinion, that is one of the most interesting parts of  the story.

 I chose Simon because I was fascinated by Simon's descent into insanity. He is the only character who reacts to the situation in such a matter. 

Journal Entry # 2

Journal entry #2

Ralph

Unknown date

 We have been on this island so long, and I have not been keeping track of the days. I don’t even remember some of the past few days; they seem to be a blur.

 Jack insubordination is wearing down on me more and more every day. Today he stepped out of line when he broke the rules and spoke out of turn. You think this wouldn’t be a big deal, but we use the conch for a reason. That reason is that even the littlest kids get to voice their opinions without being intimidated by us larger kids.

 Today Jack actually asked me why we have rules and why anyone cares. What an idiot. Does he not know that the rules are all we have! Without the rules, we are just anarchic savages.

 Jack has changed quite a bit since I first met him. He used to be for the existence of rules. I distinctly remember him saying that we needed rules. I think his reasoning was something along the lines of we’re English, so we are axiomatically the better than everyone else, so we need rules. He seems to have changed his tune pretty quickly.

 Jack seems to be on the verge of leaving the group. I fear that the hunters would leave with him leaving just Piggy and me plus the small children, and the little uns don’t even do anything useful.

 Simon seems to be getting worse. Sometimes I catch him muttering to himself talking about something. Sometimes I worry about him, but he supports my belief that we can achieve rescue through the creation of rules and the maintaining of the signal fire. He may be a valuable ally in the future. If only I could find a way to separate him from the choir boys, then he would be mine.

 SamnEric also seem to be good candidates. They behave as if our society is a game. This means that they probably won’t stick with Jack when he starts to kill people or whatever he is planning on doing.

 I hate Jack.

 Ralph is the protagonist in Lord of the Flies. Most of the story revolves around his point of view. Ralph is elected leader at the beginning of the story and maintains this position throughout the first half of the story.

 I chose Ralph because he is my favourite character. He is the opposite of Jack. Ralph maintains his undying lust for rescue and his belief in order even when facing insurmountable odds, he rigidly defends that which he truly believes in. He represents the concept of good and order.

Journal Entry #1

 Jack

 1^st day

 We crashed yesterday. We came upon an island, the choir boys and I. We wandered through the forest. Good lord, the stench of this place. As I scratch this on a piece of bark I found on the overgrown forest floor, I try to not think of England, lest I become homesick. The other choir boys still recognize me as their leader, even when there are no adults around.

 Roger seems to be taking this the best. He follows me with a loyalty that none of the other boys seem to possess. He projects an aura of confidence that seems to inspire the other boys to keep going. Even SamnEric seem inspired by his confidence, even though I always believed those two to be slightly insubordinate.

 Simon seems slightly disturbed by our current situation, but I guess we all are. Simon however, seems the closest to collapse, as if he is waiting to collapse into insanity. But I guess not everyone has an iron will like Roger.

As I write this, I hear the boys calling me over, shouting something about hearing a trumpet or a conch shell or something. I’d better see what is going on.

 1^st day continued

 It turns out the boys were right; there was someone standing on the beach blowing into one of those conch shells. Said his name was Ralph. A whole bunch of other boys showed up as well. Mostly little kids not much older than 9 or 10.

 There was one kid, Piggy a little fat wears spectacles. He was annoying, always spotting off about rules and such. Who cares? Were on an island in the middle of nowhere! Someone should seriously stop that kid from talking.

 We decided to elect a leader. Of course all the choir boys voted for me, as I am their leader. But everyone else voted for Ralph, so Ralph is in charge I guess. I don’t like Ralph. He seems to care about things that don’t matter so much, like signal fires and shelters, instead of things that do matter, like hunting for food. Anyway, it doesn't matter, as I plan to take over later anyways.

 The character I chose for this entry was Jack, a character in the story who slowly turns into the antagonist and a representative of anarchism. Jack is leader of the choir boys/hunters. 

 I chose this character because I like the concept of the struggle between good/evil and order/anarchy, a struggle that Jack brings to life and a choice that he forces everyone in the group to make, are they going to take Jack's evil and anarchic path, or Ralph's good/order path.

 Jack is very important to the story as he is the story's antagonist, and is thus central to the conflicts in the story (man v. man, man v. self). 

Quotes Part 2

"Jack's face swam near him. "And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you cant sing -- "                         "I'm chief. I was chosen."                                                                                    "Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that don't make any sense."

 This quote is from the section of the story where Jack completely snaps. It is at this point that Jack quits Ralph's society and sets out on his own. Eventually, his hunters go with him, with the exception of Sam and Eric (colloquially known as SamnEric).

 This quote represents how Jack has no value for democracy. He is so blinded by rage that he refuses to see the reason and logic behind the orders of Ralph. He is convinced of his own superiority and uses examples of the two things that he is best at in an example to dethrone Ralph and make Ralph feel inferior. This general idea is reflected throughout the entire section where Jack tries to intimidate Ralph into submission and take the role of leader.

“Who thinks Ralph oughtn’t to be chief?”

He looked expectantly at the boys ranged around, who had frozen. Under the palms there was deadly silence.

“Hands up?” said Jack strongly, “whoever wants Ralph not to be chief?”

The silence continued, breathless and heavy and full of shame. Slowly the red drained from Jack’s cheeks, then came back with a painful rush. He licked his lips and turned his head at an angle, so that his gaze avoided the embarrassment of linking with another’s eye.

“How many think –”

His voice trailed off. The hands that held the conch shook. He cleared his throat, and spoke loudly.

“All right then.”

He laid the conch with great care in the grass at his feet. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye.

“I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” 

 This is from chapter 8. this quote is from the same section as the previous quote. Even though it isn't part of its own section like the other quotes, I thought I should include it anyway. 

 This quote is very important as it makes the reader sympathize with the antagonist, something that most stories don't do. It reminds that although Jack is brutal and cruel, he is still just as human as the rest of us. He still feels emotions and pain. He still feels humiliation and betrayal. This is something we must remember, as although our enemies may be bad people, they are still human and deserve to be treated as such.

Jack spoke.

“Give me a drink.”

Henry brought him a shell and he drank, watching Piggy and Ralph over the jagged rim. Power lay in the brown swell of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.

“All sit down.”

The boys ranged themselves in rows on the grass before him but Ralph and Piggy stayed a foot lower, standing on the soft sand. Jack ignored them for the moment, turned his mask down to the seated boys and pointed at them with his spear.

“Who is going to join my tribe?”

 This quote is from chapter 9, the section I like to call "the fall of civilization". It is at this point that Jack gains power and Ralph loses all of his. Only a few loyalists remained with Ralph. Most people go with Jack, because as it is said in Star Wars: "The path to the dark side is an easy one". 

 This quote illustrates the arrogance of Jack. Instead of shouldering the responsibility of his leadership role, Jack dresses up and intimidates people. He takes all the respect that people a leader and none of the responsibility, and this is represented by the fact that he is wearing a mask.

Map

Lord of the Flies takes place entirely on an island. A question that every reader of this novel asks at one time is "What does the island look like?". Many artists have tried to visualize the island from the Lord of the Flies, but none can compare to my gifted attempt. Unfortunately I can't upload my own drawing, so I just took one from the internet and pasted it to my blog.

 As you can see, the major landmarks are here, from the Mountain to the bathing pool. From Castle Rock to the place of Piggy's death, which I may or may not have cried about (I didn't, a bro never cries). 

 One thing you can learn from this map is the location of everything in the story, from the mountain to castle rock, from Pig Fire to the Bathing Pool, from the Scar to the actual pig's head known as "The Lord of the Flies". What are these places? I am so glad I asked. "The Lord of the Flies" is a detached pig's head on a stick. The pig that the head belonged to was killed by Jack and his hunters during a hunt. The Bathing Pool is (as its name suggests) a pool that the children use for bathing. The mountain is a symbol of truth and hope in the story. The children light the fire on the mountain when Ralph is in charge. This represents the hope for rescue that Ralph gives the children. When Jack takes charge, the fire dies out. The death of the fire represents the hope for rescue that is lost by the children when Jack takes over and forces everyone to behave aggressively and uncivilized. Castle Rock is a small separate island connected by a small isthmus. Castle Rock is the location where Jack sets up his headquarters after being banished by Ralph. Castle Rock is also assumed to be the lair of "The Beast". Without this map, it would have been harder to visualize the setting of "the Lord of the Flies"

 I included this map in the blog because it is the highest quality map I could find on the internet.

Map source:

"Lord of the Flies Island Tour." Lord of the Flies Island Tour. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Apr. 2013. <http://wdb.sad17.k12.me.us/teachers/bburns/com/documents/literature/lof/island.html>.

  

Quotes, part 1

"We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages, we're English, and the English are best at everything."

 This quote is from Chapter 2, when the boys are attempting to set up a functioning government with laws.  While most of the boys wish to have rules to maintain order, Jack wants rules to maintain a sense of superiority that the English always seem to have. 

 This philosophy is not exactly new. Since the beginning of the British empire, the British have believed themselves to be superior to every native group that they have come across. In the most extreme cases, natives weren't even considered to be human (in the case of the Australian Aborigines). The British even believed themselves to be mentally superior to the Irish, even though they lived less than 200 km away from the English.

 It's not like this idea of superiority isn't completely false. Although the British were not actually physically or mentally superior over anyone else, they did have a superior navy and a superior army over every other country they encountered. From the native tribes to the Indian Military, all the way up to the French army (an army that was very powerful at the time). The British used a vast array of tactics created over generations of Warfare let them perfect the art that every nation seeks to master: he art of war.

 The British may have had a grand army, but they were also vastly cruel. They may have been the greatest at conquering, but they were also the greatest at cultural destruction. The British forced Anglicanism on many of the nations that they conquered, both destroying a chance to worship and live comfortably and a chance to study, as many of the religions and cultures did not keep written records, so we only know what the British explorers knew, and what they told us may be falsified in an attempt to make the natives sound brutal and savage. A good example would be the people of Zimbabwe. When the British first settled Zimbabwe (known as Rhodesia at the time, in honour of Business man and mining magnate Cecil Rhodes), they discovered a ruin known as the "great city of Zimbabwe". The natives of Zimbabwe had known of the ruined city long before the Europeans arrived, and had also known that the ancestors of the natives had built the city. British archaeologists noticed the large ruin and started excavation. The archaeologists discovered artifacts obviously African in origin, but couldn't believe that the people that they believed to be so primitive could have built such a wondrous monument. Instead of giving up the British philosophy of European superiority, the British fabricated a story about ancient European immigrants to Zimbabwe building the city, and stating the ancestors of the native Africans were either allowed into it by the "European generosity" or the Africans savagely took over the city and declared it their own. In that example, the British stumbled upon something amazing that would have debunked the theory of "European superiority" and instead of getting rid of their false ideology and accepting that they weren't superior, they made up a story to maintain superiority, and then enslaved the native people. If you were to analyze British history, you would notice that this behaviour was a pattern throughout the entire British empire.

"Because the rules are the only thing we've got."

This quote from chapter 5 of Lord of the Flies, a section of the story in which Jack is becoming more and more insubordinate to the verge of leaving the group entirely. Ralph says this during a group meeting when Jack speaks out of turn. Ralph calls Jack out on this, to which Jack says "Who cares?"

"Because the rules are the only thing we've got." Ralph replies.

 This sentence illustrates Ralph's knowledge that the group has nothing if it is not organized. Without rules, the group would slip into anarchy and everybody would die. 

 Ralph turns out to be right. When Jack rises to power and declares a near anarchic government with few rules, chaos reigns and people die (the most notable and dramatic being the death of Piggy). If it weren't for the rescue at the end of the story, the children would have been almost certainly been killed off.