Lord Of The Flies: Chapter 9-12 Notes Essay, Research Paper

1. After Simon is killed, the next paragraph

begins, “The clouds open and let the rain down like a waterfall?” When

the boys kill Simon they not only kill him and spirituality, but what they

perceive to be the beast. Because the beast was created by them and embodied

all of their evils, one of its interpretations can be as mankind’s sin.

Simon is very similar to Jesus in this book. The Roman’s ruled the world

during Jesus’ life, and now a similar bloodthirsty society rules the island

during Simon’s life. Both are killed by such a society, and both sacrifice

themselves so that mankind’s sin can be forgiven. When Simon dies, the

rain washes away not only spirituality, but also the beast and all of the

sins that accompany it. Golding writes that the water bounded from the

mountaintop. Because the mountain top represented the peak of society,

this could be interpreted to state that all of society carries sin, even

the glorious moments of it, and that Simon’s sacrifice was extended to

the boys’ entire stay on the island and the sin that was committed during

that period of time. This is also similar to Jesus’ sacrifice that was

for all of mankind’s sins, not just the sins of the Roman society that

killed him. After Simon has been killed, the figures stagger away. By referring

to the boys as figures, they are no longer individuals, but the nameless

men who are the vehicle that society uses to carry out its evil deeds.

It is no longer of relevance who did what because it was the entire society

that killed Simon. This can be related to other societies, such as Nazi

Germany. Today Hitler is credited with most of the responsibility for World

War II. We do not like to blame German society for it because that would

mean that we are also capable of this if we had to endure the circumstances

of 1940’s Germany. We cannot blame the German race for these problems,

as they are a characteristic of humanity. We fought World War II against

the forces of racism, but we ourselves treated the Japanese very poorly

while all of this was going on. Although we too went through the depression,

we did not have the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles against us.

When any society has such horrible circumstances, they tend to look for

a scapegoat, such as a race of people. If Hitler did not enjoy such great

public support he would not have come to power. It is also very difficult

for a nation to declare war without public support. It is therefore significant

that figures staggered away because it was the whole society, and not just

Jack who killed Simon. It is also interesting to note that during the course

of this book the boys’ civilization falls from glory. They then create

a beast as a scapegoat, claiming that they can no longer climb the mountain,

and therefore return to the glory of their civilization because of it.

When Simon dies Golding refers to him as the beast. This not only can be

interpreted by the Jesus theory as stated above, but by a new theory that

establishes Simon as society’s scapegoat. It can also be interpreted to

state that the beast is all of mankind’s gifts such as spirituality, when

they are suppressed and murdered by society, crippling its ability to function.

When Simon is killed he lays still only a few yards from sea. It is important

to know that all life originates from the sea, where it arose in primitive

form. This is significant for two reasons; it tells us that spirituality

is an ancient and instinctive trait of man, and that the boys society,

that came away from the mountain (peak of society) and towards the ocean

to kill Simon, had returned from civilization to a more primitive and savage

form in doing so. Because the beast (Simon) is small, society’s problem

is not the beast itself, but the way it is dealt with. When Simon’s blood

stains the sand, his death and the savage society that killed him forever

taint the island. No matter what might happen in the future, Simon will

always be dead and because of the blood in the sand this cannot be forgotten.

The sand and ultimately the island being stained with blood also have meaning.

Because the society as inhabits the island, the island can be used to represent

society as a whole, which is has been stained by its own atrocities. During

the storm the parachute is filled with rain and swept off the island. The

parachute is a symbol of Ralph, Simon, and Piggy’s attempt to prevent the

old ways of society and civility from dying. Piggy and Ralph were part

of the savage murder; therefore this society has assimilated them and destroyed

their efforts to maintain a civilized society. Simon has now been killed

and therefore their efforts and civility can no longer be maintained. The

parachute then, tells us that civility has not only been destroyed, but

all attempts to salvage what old society values remain, have ceased and

that the entire society has become completely savage.

2. Jack’s new tribe is established at the

Castle Rock. The Castle Rock has a warlike connotation; the word castle

makes us think of war and fortresses, and the word rock brings the ideas

of cold and hard to the reader. The spot was also chosen by Jack to be

a fortress as the name might suggest. This tells us that Jack and his new

society have returned to civilization in a sense, but a lower form of it.

Instead of being a society based upon debate and knowledge, Jack has established

a militaristic state. Jack’s new tribe can be compared to ancient Sparta.

In Sparta young boys were trained to be warriors. Knowledge was not valued

in Sparta, only war. In Jack’s tribe the boys are trained to be hunters,

and this makes them very similar to warriors. Jack’s tribe also does not

value knowledge, only hunting and killing. Sparta was a very hard and strict

place to live and therefore the new tribe would probably be under the same

circumstances. These hard conditions are symbolized by the “Rock” part

of the name “Castle Rock”.

3. If this society is left on the island

alone without hope of rescue, it shall continue to deteriorate even further.

When Jack came to power it was a revolution that ended with a militaristic

state and killed Simon (spirituality) and Piggy (knowledge and reason)

as part of its process. The final step in the completion of this revolution

was to kill Ralph, the leader of the old society. If Ralph would have been

killed and the boys would not have been rescued, the new militaristic tribe

would have enjoyed a brief period of stability, just as Ralph’s old society

did at the book’s beginning. This would be the calm after the storm so

to speak. However, if Ralph who was a qualified leader could not hold his

society intact, then how can we expect Jack, who is an inept leader to

what Ralph could not? One of the things that this book teaches us is that

human nature, and not the individuals of that society dictate certain actions

performed by society. Ralph and Piggy were individuals of good intent,

but they were present when Simon was murdered. Therefore we cannot look

to the individuals remaining on the island in search of clues about what

direction society might take. We must look for the history of what has

happened on the island to continually repeat itself. It is very likely

that Jack will eventually take his power and abuse it, like so many people

in his position do, and cause great public upheaval. Perhaps the boys will

just get sick of Jack. No matter what happens Jack will fall from favor,

and once these conditions are met the society will be ready for a new leader.

This new leader could be Roger, or perhaps on of the smaller children when

he gets older, but this does not matter. What does matter is that when

society is in upheaval, a vacuum of power is always created. Someone is

always waiting to fill the void. Eventually this person would likely fall

from power, and the cycle of stability followed by revolution would continue.

With revolution comes the potential for violence and death, and if the

remaining boys were not rescued some of them would likely be killed. Because

Piggy has died this pattern cannot be broken. If Piggy was not killed,

there would be a voice of reason on the island. It is not just that Piggy

and his voice of reason have died, but symbolically the voice of reason

has died on the entire island. The boys are quick to disregard reason after

Piggy dies which is why they hunted Ralph without second thought. Piggy’s

voice of reason would have continually attempted to influence the boys

to return to an orderly and civilized society. When Piggy died all hope

of this also died.

4. Fable- A brief tale embodying a moral

and using persons, animals, or inanimate things as characters.

Parable- A short narrative making a moral

or religious point by comparison with natural or homely things.

Myth- A traditional story, usually focusing

on the deeds of gods and heroes, often in explanation of some natural phenomenon,

as the origin of the sun, etc. It purports to be historical, but is useful

to historians principally for what it reveals of the culture of the peoples

it describes or among whom it is current.

Allegory- A story or narrative, as a fable,

in which a moral principle or abstract truth is represented by means of

fictional characters, events, etc.

When categorizing this story as a fable,

parable, myth, or allegory, one could make a good case for either of these.

Golding prefers myth. I believe that it could be categorized as a myth

because a myth creates characters and deifies them. These characters represent

all aspects of humanity and how they interact with each other. Because

the characters of this story represent these aspects of humanity and how

they interact with each other, they are not so much individuals, but the

ideologies that a myth incorporates into its gods. As a myth this story

can also be useful by revealing the peoples it describes. However, I believe

that this story is best categorized as an allegory. It carries an abstract

truth represented by fictional characters and events. Without scratching

the surface, the story is about a group of boys lost on an island. When

you dig deeper for abstract truth, you find that the story is about the

behavior society and the fictional characters that represent this are actually

personified human characteristics. The events that represent the abstract

truth of this society are less significant as events than as symbols. I

believe that categorizing this story as an allegory is more appropriate

than doing so as a myth because a myth is defined as explaining natural

phenomenon. It could be argued that the behavior of society is governed

by nature and that its bizarre results are a natural phenomenon. I would

probably have to agree with this, but the no section in the definition

of an allegory can be questioned for being less than an integral part of

Golding’s writing strategy.

5. The three boys that die over the course

of the story are; the boy with the birthmark, Simon and Piggy. Simon was

killed by the group of boys when he returned to tell them about the beast.

Simon was killed at night, and perhaps he was not recognizable. The boys

thought that he was the beast, but they surely must have known that it

was not a beast when they heard human screams. The entire society had therefore

murdered Simon. Piggy was murdered by Jack’s militaristic state. It was

Roger that dropped the rock on Piggy’s head, so he is technically responsible,

but this does not matter. What does matter is that Jack’s new society fostered

an atmosphere that made it acceptable to kill without cause. This new society

was founded by Jack, but also by public support. It was this society that

killed Piggy. The boy with the birthmark was killed by the forest fire.

The was a result of society neglecting the its responsibility for its technology

and the power it has over nature. The boy then, is not murdered, but killed

by neglect. We also know very little about this boy. Society did not care

that it set the forest on fire. This tells us that when society neglects

and abuses technology, it often kills something mysterious and unknown

without caring for what potential it might have.