Conflict

    A conflict is a problem that the character or characters face in the book. In the book Lord of the Flies the conflict occurs as soon as the book begins. Basically a dozen boys around the age of 12 and younger get shot down from the sky while they are in a passenger plane during a war. The pilot of the passenger plane ends up dying, but the kids in the plane survive. The passenger plane crash landed on a land with no civilization. They are their alone, with no grown ups so they have to try and survive as said in page 8. There are also many internal problems going through many of the characters heads right now especially from the little kids. The little kids are always scared to go to sleep, so that is why one of the older kids, Ralph made a shelter so the little kids will feel more safe when they sleep at night. They are also worried about the thought of them never getting rescued and them having to live on this desserted island for the rest of their lives. 

Theme

In the book the Lord of the Flies written by William Golding the author uses different themes. The book the lord of the flies is like a kid version of the hit TV show "Lost." It's about ordinary school kids who got stranded on an island when their plane crashes. The main theme that goes with the whole book is coming of age. The main characters Ralph, Piggy and a few sub characters take charge of the pack and show true responsibility and leadership. They lead the younger kids and provide shelter, food, fire. Page 80 shows Ralph and Piggy coming of age and taking charge by building shelter for everyone else. They truly are good kids and always put them selves over everyone else. It is hard to realize but Ralph and Piggy are pretty responsible for only being 12. William Golding represents the theme of the book very clearly because he put the characters in a realisitic situation. 

Point of View

Point of view is who's perspective the story is written in, either the narrator or one of the characters. There are many different types of point of views such as third person point of view, objective point of view, first person point of view, and omniscient point of view. In the story the Lord of the Flies the point of view in which the story is told in is third person, meaning that the story is told by the narrator who takes no action in the book.  Through out the entire book William Golding never mentions the words I or me unless they are in quotes which indicates third person point of view. For example a sentence in the book says " We was attacked!" "He will be back alright." The fat boy shook his head. As you can see the author does not use the word I. Having a book being told in third person helps the reader understand the book more because the the narrator knows nothing about the characters just like the reader, so they learn about the characters by reading about their actions and what their feelings are. Basically you learn about the characters from the outside voice.

Dialogue

Dialogue is the words spoken between characters in a fictional work or participants a non fiction film. Lord of the Flies contains a lot of dialogue. On page 85 William Golding shows a conflict between Simon and Jack. 

"You! What were you mucking in the dark for?"

Simon grabbed the conch convulsively. 

"I wanted to go-to go to a place-a place I know"

"What place?"

"Just a place I know. A place in the jungle."

This conversation between Jack and Simon plays a big part in the novel. It becomes part of the reason why each main character breaks off into different tribes. There are many other conversations that also play a big role in what happens in the novel such as Jack talking to other people on the island on page 140. 

"Listen, all of you. Me and my hunters, were living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribe come and see us. Perhaps I'll let you join. Perhaps not."

This conversation between Jack and the rest of the people on this island says a lot about Jacks new personality. Now that he is in charge he seems to have a completely new attitude. 

Characterization

Characterization is the method a writer uses to reveal the personality of the characters. In the Lord of the Flies characterization is a big part of the book. I say this because in this book, all of the characters are stranded together on an island. A lot of the time when people are together for too long, their true colors start to come out. For example, Ralph took the role of leadership. Piggy was more intelligent then most of the kids which probably wouldn't be true if he was back home. For example. from page 88 to 94 a fight breaks out over power. The main characters start to fight over who is the real leader and who deserves to be leader. It is also interesting to see people act like they did when their emotions came out. You really learn a lot about who the characters actually are.

Plot

An exposition is the introductory material which gives the setting, creates the tone, presents the characters, and presents other facts necessary to understanding the story. The exposition of Lord of the Flies is when 2 boys (Ralph and Piggy) are evacuating a plane that crashed on a deserted island. Ralph and Piggy are the main characters that are introduced right in the beginning of the novel. A little late on in the book, Simon and Jack are introduced which are also main characters. Ralph and Piggy seem very nervous on how they will survive on this deserted island. The rising action is a series of events that build from the conflict. The rising action in this novel would be when Ralph, Piggy, and Simon come of up things that they need to do to survive on the island. For example, on page 114, Jack discusses hunting pigs that are on the island for food. The climax is the result of the crisis. In this novel, the main characters try their hardest to do what they can to survive and for a society. The falling action is the events after the climax that close the story. Around the middle of the book, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon break up into separate groups. They are each the leader and have other minor characters in their group. A resolution is how the problem in the book is solved. In this book, Ralph started a fire which killed Piggy. Luckily for the other characters, rescuers had seen the fire which finally had got the surviving characters off of the island. 

Imagery

Imagery is descriptive or figurative language used to create word pictures. It is created by details that appeal to one or more of the five senses. Imagery is used frequently in the novel "Lord of the Flies," by William Golding. The author often describes the situation that either Ralph, Piggy, or Simon are in, in great detail. For example on Page 8 William Golding uses imagery to describe how the main characters got onto the island. 

    "He must have flown off after he dropped us. He couldn't land here; not in a plane with wheels."

    "We was attacked!"

    "He'll be back all right."

    The fat boy shook his head. 

    "When we was coming down I looked through on of them windows. I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it."

    He looked up and down the scar. 

    "And this is what the cabin done."

    The fair boy reached out and touched the jagged end of a trunk. For a moment he looked interested. 

    "What happened to it?" he asked. "Where's it got to now?"

    "That storm dragged it out to sea. It wasn't half dangerous with all them tree trunks falling. There must have been some kids still in it."

    This passage gave me a pretty good idea on how the plane had crashed. 

    William Golding also describes the island that Ralph, Piggy, and Simon are on in great detail, almost so you can get a sense of what the main characters are going through.  William Golding gives a description of the island on page 12. 

    "Here the beach was interrupted by the square motif of the landscape; a great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through forest and terrace and sand and lagoon to make a raised jetty four feet high. The top of this was covered with a think layer of soil and course grass and shaded with young palm trees."

Mood

Mood is the atmosphere or general feelings in a literary work. The mood of lord of the flies changes throughout the book. There is a lot of emotion to this story, and that's what makes the mood change. In the beginning of lord of the flies, the mood is a sense of confusion. There were two boys on an island, all by themselves. As it goes on the book starts to lighten up as they find more children. As the book goes on the mood starts to change. The children start to build and create there own civilization. But like any civilization it has disagreements and they all split up into there own groups. When Piggy died the whole mood of the book changed, They started to feel guilty instead of only worrying about saving themselves. No one in the book was really sure if Piggy was stabbed purposley or not. Some children are also killed by falling rock, fires, etc. In the end the survivors get the attention of a passing plain and were saved. Over all, the book leaves you with a bitter sweet ending.

Diction

In the book Lord of the flies the author uses a lot of diction. This book is written 3rd person. Their are a lot of quotes written by the characters that can tell you a lot about them. Judging from the quotes you could tell that they are kids, they are uneducated, they use a lot of slang, and you can tell that they don't really have a bright background because of the way they handle certain situations. On page 82 after the kids believe their is a monstrous "beast" following them around the island, this created a conflict involving everyone. The author described Ralph's mood by using the word "abruptly,"which means with out giving notice, or without the usual forms. I was able to come up with a honorable conclusion due to the authors diction and how he convayed the voice and tone of the character in part of the book. This helps show the characters personality and their feelings. In the book their are two different speakers. The kids and the narrator. Assuming from the narrators voice and tone I can conclude that the narrator is well educated, the narrator is an onlooker, the narrator knows whats coming, and that the narrator is an adult. The second speaker in the book are the kids. The kids give a lot of quotes. I already know the the boys range from the age of  7-13 but I can tell from their word choice how educated they are. On page 18 Piggy questioned Johnny, "What's yer name?" This showed the education level of the kids. The book has different diction depending on the speaker. There are a few high classed words towards every 10 pages. Words like "gorging" and "avoidance" and "mortification" are among the many words used in the book. 

Voice

Voice is the way a writer or speaker uses words and tone to express ideas as well as his or her personality.The author in the book the Lord of the flies uses a great mixture of voices through out the book. When reading the book and coming across the characters words I have concluded information about them such as their personality, stamina, common sense, education, and background. This helped me develop a feel for the book and a connection to the characters. In the part of the book when Ralph was caught in the forest fire, the author started to get serious since Ralph was in big trouble if he did not make it out of the fire alive. When they got rescued from the island the author started to sound relieved and calm.

About the Author

William Gerald Golding was born in Cornwall, England in 1911. His mother was a strong supporter of the British suffrage movement and his father was a school teacher. Before going to college William attended the school where his father taught. William went to a college called Brasenose at Oxford in 1930 and graduated in 1930 with a bachelor of arts in English and a diploma in education. Some books that William Gerald Golding wrote are Lord of the Flies, The inheritors, The Spire, and much more.The Lord of the Flies was William Goldings first book which was published in 1954.