Literary Analysis 3

3.)  Lord of the Flies by William Golding

• Summary: The Lord of the Flies by William Golding begins with a group of young boys that are evacuating their school because of a on going war. They get on a plane and while they are on the plane, it gets shot down and it crashes on an island. Once everyone alive finds each other, they elect leaders. They choose Ralph and Jack. While Ralph is the head leader Jack is in charge of the hunting. Ralph and Jack don't get along. While the boys have a fire going, it gets out of control and burns down most of the island. While they are roaming around two of the boys say they saw a beast. Once other people start believing in the beast, pretty soon the whole group believes and the beast lives within them. Ralph and Jack are fighting more than ever. The island gets separated into two groups when Jack claims he is the new leader. Jack and his hunters go kill a pig to sacrifice to the beast. As it is on the stick, Simeon comes over and sees the head covered in flies so he calls it the Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies tells Simeon that he lives within everyone and there is no beast! Simeon goes to tell the others but it was too late as they already started killing each other like savages. Ralph hides in the forest and buries the pigs head then passes out on the beach. He wakes up with a officer looking at him asking if he was alright.

• Theme: I believe the theme of this story is innocence. These kids are still little and have a lot to learn but once they are thrown in this situation it all comes at them. I think their innocent little hearts got overtaken by the "beast" within them. 

•  Tone: William Golding wrote this in a very dark tone. Once the plane had crashed, there became a sense of chaos and panic which then led to dark thoughts. Thoughts such as "should we have laws and abide or just hunt a kill" show the darkness that corrupted the boys.

• Five Literary Elements/Techniques: 
• Diction: Golding's diction in this book helps the reader understand what is going on by giving great descriptions such as, "The crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore."
• Plot: The plot is shown significantly by the boys not only killing animals and hunting but also hunting and killing their own kind; each other.
• Tone: The loss of a structure really showed how the tone was dark and corrupt.
• Symbolism: The one major symbol in this book is the conch which calls everyone together. Once the conch gets broke, all civil actions are tossed out and it is straight chaos.
• Characterization: With all the characters being so young, it helps the reader understand how messed up the situation really is. Little boys do not come close to doing any of the stuff they do in this book which shows the loss of innocence.