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Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies: Summary

In the midst of a wartime evacuation, a plane carrying a group of British school boys crashes on an isolated island in a remote region of the Pacific Ocean. The plane has been shot down and the pilot killed. The only survivors are boys and they must work together to survive.

At first the boys are civilized and they elect Ralph as a leader. They meet like an assembly and use a conch shell as a talking stick. They discuss about hot to get rescued and what they have to do until then any ship come to bring them home.

Ralph insists on making a smoke signal. Therefore, he suggests that the group be split into smaller sub-groups with specific tasks. The choirboys choose to hunt for meat under the leadership of Jack. Two twin boys get assigned the task of starting and maintaining the fire. Some younger boys, known as littluns become Ralph’s counsel. They comprise a scientific thinker known as piggy and a spiritual boy known as Simon.

The hunters, under Jack’s leadership, become increasingly obsessed with killing sows to the extent that they paint their faces and track animals. All the other boys start having fears about an alleged beast in the jungle. These fears are compounded by the landing of a dead man with a parachute on top of the mountain. The boys start to view jack as a savior and leader. Others fear him.

One day while Simon was in his hiding place, he saw a sow head mounted upon a stake and began to experience delusions that the head is talking to him. Upon going up the mountain to investigate, he realizes the truth that it is only a dead man strapped on a parachute. He then rushes to the beach to inform the others.

However, upon arriving at the beach, he finds that they have become total savages participating in daily tribal rituals and dissident torture members. He attempts to tell them the truth but gets killed by Jack’s mob. Soon afterward, the mob, led by jack grows in size and recruits every other island boy saves for Piggy, Ralph, Eric, Sam, and some other Littluns.

Jack’s mob then raids Ralph’s camp and steals his glasses. When Ralph tries to get them back, they attack his team and end up killing Piggy and injuring Ralph. The following day, the tribe chases Ralph in a bid to kill him, but he ends up being saved by a British soldier who arrived at the beach after seeing the smoke signal.

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