Lord of the Flies
William Golding

(4/6/22-4/10/22)

JN:
     A 12-year-old boy named Ralph ran through an island and stumbled upon a dazed fat boy. Both boys came from a recent plane crash. Ralph called the fat boy Piggy after Piggy gave him the idea of how others used to make fun of him, and Piggy began to ask about other survivors, of which Ralph hadn’t seen any. So, to their knowledge, there were no adults (freedom!). Ralph stripped off all his clothes (perhaps stripping his old life as well) and went into a small pond, and Piggy followed him. Ralph shared that his father was in the Navy and would find them. Piggy insisted they should find other survivors, which gave Ralph the idea to find a conch shell, and after finding a small platform made of trees, he blew it. 
     Consequently, a 6-year-old boy came running from the trees followed by many others, all with various levels of clothing (and acceptance of their situation). A group of uniformed and organized choir boys, led by a boy named Jack Merridew (J) came as well. Jack, boasting with confidence, introduced himself to Ralph. Ralph returned the favor and introduced Piggy to Jack, much to Piggy's humiliation at having the mocking nickname stick (that’ll be something he’ll have to learn to deal with). Ralph decided they should choose a leader, and Jack and Ralph, who had the most confidence, were the candidates. The choir boys voted for Jack out of loyalty and the rest voted for Ralph (the boy who had brought order to their chaos). Jack accepted defeat as long as he would still be able to lead his group. 
     As leader, Ralph's first decision was to organize a group formed of himself, Jack, and a choir boy named Simon (S) to determine whether they were indeed on an island. Ralph then told Piggy, who wanted to come along after being the one to meet Jack first, to gather everyone’s names. After not very long, the trio made it to the summit and confirmed that they were on an uninhabited island. As they walked back, they found a piglet, and Jack took out his knife but was too slow to catch it. With that, he and Ralph realized both their friendship and hunger (it’s quite easy to befriend anyone during troubling times, especially when loneliness is the only other option and if those befriending each other are children).
     Returning to the platform, Ralph called another meeting and created a rule during meetings that only those that held the conch shell could speak - although Ralph could speak whenever (similar to the way it’s done in Congress and other forms of government barring the one-person exception to the rules). Piggy first spoke about the reality that they may be on this island for a while, which brought up a conversation about gathering food and a snake, which one scared boy brought up. This lowered morale but Ralph was adamant that there was no snake, relifting morale by telling everyone that his dad would save them (perhaps a beneficial lie or exaggeration but a false promise nonetheless). Ralph riled everyone up, earning even more praise, and used that to persuade everyone to build a fire. Piggy alone recognized the childishness in it all as everyone else followed Ralph and gathered whatever wood they could find. Once a pile of wood was assembled, Ralph took Piggy's glasses to set it on fire, causing everyone to cheer as the wood went up in flames. 
     Once Piggy received his glasses back, he grabbed the conch and spoke his mind. As he did, the bonfire spread to the nearby forest, which only proved Piggy's point. So far, Ralph hadn’t thought through anything, they managed to burn the forest, and they had no count on the youngsters of the group. Piggy also pointed out that they lost track of the boy who was concerned about the snake (all fun and games until someone gets hurt), and that finally got Ralph to realize his mistakes and that their situation was more than just some fun adventure (change from childhood innocence to the double-edged sword of being a knowledgeable adult).
     Some days later, Jack came back from another unsuccessful hunt to find Ralph and Simon attempting to build shelter, which was going rather unsuccessfully as well. Ralph and Jack argued, trying to convince the other to help their cause, neither accomplishing much. Most of the other boys had run off to do their own thing and simply ate the fruit that the land produced. While Jack and Ralph ran off to bathe and clear their minds, Simon ran off to a little clearing he found that was matted with vines and spent the afternoon listening to the sounds. Like Simon, most of the littler kids spent their days gorging on fruits, sleeping, and playing aimlessly and then huddling together for comfort at night. One day, while Ralph swam in a pool by the beach, he saw smoke out on the horizon: a ship. Immediately, he ran toward where their fire should be and witnessed to his horror that Jack and his crew let it go out. Pretty soon, they discovered why as Jack and his crew came chanting with a pig carcass. Ralph didn’t care and ordered Jack to build another fire, which he promptly did with the help of everyone else. Afterward, they consoled themselves in half-cooked pig, and by the time everyone had their fill, Ralph announced he would soon be calling another meeting. 
     After doing some thinking on the beach, Ralph realized that Piggy, the misfit of the group, was the smartest among them when it came to figuring out how to survive, yet he lacked the confidence to prove it (confidence can trump incompetence if competence isn’t confident). Finally, he called the meeting as darkness flooded the island and asserted that they needed to use the predetermined bathroom spot near the ocean so that they wouldn’t foul the island, keep the fire going, and not build any other fires to incentivize the main fire. There was some backlash to it but it died quickly. The idea of a beast on the island returned. Jack and Ralph both attempted to squash it with its illogical basis, but fear still spread among the group, especially the little ones. During one point in the conversation, Jack snapped and brought up how Ralph being chief meant nothing (technically true as all titles in life are arbitrary… we’re all just people). Ralph shouted that all they had on this island that resembled civilization were the rules they created, but at this point Jack was too upset. As he riled up others, Ralph and Piggy spoke quietly about how they wished for a grownup to be here (little did they know how little most grownups would help them in this situation).
     R thought about stepping down as chief, but Piggy insisted Jack would be much worse. That night, unbeknownst to any of the boys, a man descended onto the island from a parachute after his plane decided it no longer wished to fly. A pair of twins who kept watch of the fire saw a glimpse of the person, mistook it for a beast, and ran as fast as they could toward the shelter. Not long after, Ralph, Jack, and the whole lot ran toward the only place that Jack hadn’t been before, a series of rocks that led to this half cave, but they found nothing there. Suddenly, Ralph saw smoke again and beckoned the reluctant group to go towards the fire to relight it. 
     Some days later, Ralph joined Jack on a usual hunt and reminisced about his previous, more comfortable life. Suddenly, they stumbled upon a large boar (which can be very dangerous) and several boys of the group mistook it for the beast. Ralph threw a spear into it and managed to scare it off, but it cut up Jack's arm a bit. They returned to the beach and began to make their way back to camp where Piggy was watching the youngsters, but soon found the task to be more dangerous than initially expected. Ralph then found a pig-run (a path made from pigs), and while most of the group went back to the shelter, Jack and R, who mostly went to prove how brave they were, and a quiet kid named Roger went up the mountain, determined to find the beast despite the darkness. Along the way, Ralph and Roger decided to stop along an ashy path, made that way by the forest fire they caused (Jungle Book style), as Jack continued. Not long after, he returned with news of the creature, which lay in between some rocks at the top of the mountain. Ralph, in a moment of boldness, urged them to find the creature, so they made their way back up the mountain. Once Jack showed them where it was, they all saw the bowed creature and Ralph walked towards it. Not wanting to have an encounter with it, they ran back towards camp and told Piggy about the beast. 
     J then called a meeting, and after a tense argument, left the group entirely. Piggy took charge while Ralph remained somber at Jack's exit and asserted they would do well without Jack. He insisted they keep up the fire but this time near the beach. That raised everyone’s spirits as they built an equally impressive fire as they did the first one. The fire died down and they realized that several others went with Jack or simply appeared to be missing, including Simon. 
     J led his group to hunt down another pig, and after they caught one, they poked it with spears and followed it until it moved too slowly that they caught up with it and then cut it to death (quite mercilessly if I might add, showing their animalistic sides). They offered the head of the pig to the beast.
(Now to Simon) Simon's secret hideout was near the head and he pondered over the horror of it as the flies began to swarm. As more and more joined the head, it became the Lord of the Flies (roll credits). In some hallucinatory fashion, the head spoke to Simon and claimed to be the beast, something that couldn’t be killed (possibly resembling fear), and commanded him to return to Jack or Ralph. The head kept growing in size until the mouth engulfed Simon. 
     (Back to Ralph) Ralph and Piggy worked to keep the fire going as thunder boomed overhead. Piggy expressed his fear of the fact that they may not get rescued and suddenly realized the importance of the fire. It was their only way out so as long as that was set, they could mess around as much as they wanted. Just then, Jack and two others cloaked in the paint came and stole some of the fire, as they planned previously, and told everyone present about the feast they would have that night (I guess they didn’t really need the paint). Expecting rain soon, Ralph and Piggy bathed in a pool and after seeing everyone join Jack for the feast, figured they should go as well. 
     (Back to Simon) After awakening from his fit, Simon saw that the pig head was back to normal. Simon snuck to the mountain top and saw the horrifying figure that Ralph and Jack had seen not long ago. Although instead of fear as they had experienced, Simon only felt disgust as the figure was deceased, trapped in its parachute, and coated in flies as the wind swayed it back and forth. After Simon freed the corpse from the parachute and the wind, he saw the fire that Jack had built at the beach and knew he must get back to them to tell them the truth about the beast.
     (Back to Ralph) As Ralph and Piggy approached the feast that Jack led, the voices began to quiet down until Jack noticed them. They temporarily got past their grievances by laughing at Piggy and then passed around meat. When Jack felt that Ralph and Piggy had enough of their fill, he asked who would like to join his tribe, prompting Ralph to immediately retort about being chosen chief. It started storming (setting up the atmosphere), and while Ralph talked about their lack of shelter, Jack riled up his group to form a dance mimicking their recent hunt. Darkness fell so that the only light came from sporadic lighting and the dance continued as it took on a primal form (quite the cult they have). Suddenly, the beast stumbled onto the beach (you’ll understand), and the animalistic group acting as one pounded on the beast. As the storm raged even heavier, a wind gust blew the corpse in his parachute off the mountain and onto the beach, scaring everyone away. As everyone scattered and the night wore on, the tide rose and dragged Simon's dead body out to sea (for Simon was the beast). 
The following morning, Ralph and Piggy realized what happened, and Ralph was quite upset about it (understandably so). With only so much they could do, they knew they had to move on and continue surviving. At this point, only the twins and some youngsters remained with Ralph and Piggy.
     (Over to Jack) Jack ruled with an iron fist (a classic tyrant using fear as a method of motivation) and beat up a kid for some reason no one else knew about. He determined they would have another hunt the following day and needed a way to get another fire started. So at some point in the night, they ambushed the other camp, and while the others were able to fight them off successfully, they stole Piggy's glasses, which they ultimately came for. 
     That morning, Piggy lost it. He couldn’t see, they had no way to call out for rescue, they had no fire, and Jack's group had killed Simon. The twins and Ralph agreed so they gathered spears and made their way to Jack's fort, which lay atop a cliff. Jack was out hunting but came back right as Ralph and his group approached the fort. Fairly quickly, Ralph and Jack found themselves in a fight with spears (boys will be boys… sarcasm of course). Before anything happened, Piggy used the conch and surprisingly got everyone’s attention, even Jack's goons, who were all unrecognizably coated in war paint (as the conch still symbolized order). He spoke of how they were acting like kids and needed some sign of being remotely civilized if they wanted to survive. Before he could continue, however, Roger, the quiet kid, caused a large rock to tumble towards Piggy. It broke the conch upon impact (broke law and order) and grazed Piggy, causing him to stumble off the cliff and fall to his death (that’ll traumatize the kids). Just like Simon, the waves took him out to sea (pretty gory and ruthless, especially since these are kids playing at survival, but that’s what happens when you have a leader and an anonymous group defined by leader-controlled groupthink). 
     Jack then called for the twins to be bound as he launched his spear at Ralph, hitting him in his chest. Before more spears could hit him, Ralph ran to the forest. The wound wasn’t too bad so he went to find food. While he did, he caught sight of the Lord of the Flies, a skull now, and stole the stick which it was pitched on. He then returned to Jack's fort and saw the twins keeping watch. He managed to climb his way up to them without alerting anyone else and learned that Jack planned to hunt Ralph the following day and that Roger and Jack truly had no humanity left. Ralph tried to figure out what would happen to him if he was caught, but couldn’t figure it out in time (now he would be playing the part of the pig). After getting some rest, Ralph found a spot where he was well hidden but still could hear Jack. The twins had given over where Ralph would hide though, most likely forcibly. In all his savageness, Jack lit a fire, forcing Ralph out. As Ralph ran across the island, he thought over his options: hide, fight, or climb a tree. Jack's group was spread out along the island so only one person would be near Ralph if he did hide, so he hid. And when he had had enough of hiding, he attacked the person closest to him and ran towards the beach. His location was immediately revealed and everyone came to storm him.
     Ralph reached the beach before falling for one last time, knowing his fate was sealed. But, when he looked up, he saw a sailor instead, an adult. Jack and his group soon followed but when they saw the sailor, their humanity immediately returned. The sailor had seen the island on fire and took a rowboat toward it. He asked the children how many there were in total, if any died, and who was the leader. Ralph spoke up, and Jack, for once, didn’t rebuke his claim as the leader. They didn’t know how many there were (something that Piggy vouched for once upon a time) but knew that Simon and Piggy were killed. At this point, knowing his childhood innocence was truly destroyed by the brutal murders of Simon and Piggy and how their peaceful island full of everything necessary for survival was quickly tarnished by the chaos that came when they forsake their humanity, Ralph began to cry. Most of the other kids followed. The sailor oversaw all of this as the ship approached the shore. (And that’s all for the Lord of the Flies. Quite the chilling yet thought-provoking story. Thank you and I wish you the best of luck in staying away from deserted islands.)