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Wililam Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES
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The Crash
A plane full of British school-boys crashes onto a deserted island. The boys survive but all the adults on board die. (Prologue-ish...the crash itself wasn't ever in the book but we know it happened.) -
The Big One
The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. -
Coming Together
Piggy and Ralph first meet in the devastated part of the island where their plane crashed. They talk a while on the beach, where they find a white conch shell. Piggy encourages Ralph to blow into the conch to make a loud horn. Eventually, Ralph does, and the sound alerts all of the boys from the crash. They gather. (Chapter 1) -
The Island
Ralph meets Simon and Jack. Ralph and Jack never really get along...they'll always be enemies. The boys vote Ralph as their cheif and Ralph chooses Simon and Jack to accompany him to the top of the island. There, they can confirm that they are in fact stranded on a deserted island. (Chapter 1) -
The First Try
When Simon, Ralph and Jack return from the top of the island, they spot a pig and try hunting it. They pin it, but find they are unable to kill it. They're still civilized and moral thinkers. (Chapter 1) -
Beastie
A 'littlun' with a birthmark tells the boys that he's seen a snake-like beastie. The older boys laugh, but deep down, they fear for what the littlun might have seen. (Chapter 2) -
Fire
A few of the boys help to start a signal fire at the top of the island, hoping it's smoke will be seen by a boat, but the boys lose control of their fire and end up causing a relatively small forest fire. (foreshadowing) Soon after, the littlun who first brought up the beastie dissapears. (Chapter 2) -
Construction Site
Ralph knows that the boys need shelter if they want to survive on the island. At first, all the boys agreed that they'd help build the huts on the beach, but the littluns wouldn't be of any help and the hunters had to hunt for and gather food. Eventually, it was just Ralph and Simon (who has epilepsy) building the huts. They managed to build just two over many days. (Chapter 3) -
On The Horizon
The boys spy a ship on the horizon. Ralph wants to ensure that the ship sees their signal smoke, so he runs up the mountain to create more smoke..only to find that the fire has gone out. When Ralph returns to the boys, he finds that Jack and his hunters have returned. It had been their job to keep the fire going. Ralph confronts Jack about the fire. Jack argues that they needed food and, although he didnt admit it, he was too proud of their first kill to really think about their fire. (Ch4 -
Broken Specs
Piggy tags along with Ralph when he confronts Jack about the fire. Piggy gets fired up and accuses Jack harshly. Jack, very angry now that he had two people accusing him, stepped forward and punched Piggy right in the stomach. Piggy bent over, and Jack slapped his head, knocking Piggy's glasses right onto the rocks, shattering his specs. (Chapter 4) -
Diminishing
The day after Piggy's glasses are broken, Ralph calls a meeting. He adresses how the boys are becoming less and less civilzed. Ralph seems to be the only one aware of their change. The other boys laugh when he brings up problems such as bathing and lavatories and other basic hygenic things. Then, one boy speaks up and Ralph asks his name. The boy states his name, then hestitantly adds his address, then tries to add his phone, only to find he's forgotten it. This is the first major sign... -
Diminishing II
...that the boys are starting to forget and release themselves from the rules and regulations that they knew in Britain. -
Rough Landing
During the night, an arial battle takes place over the island. It does not wake any of the boys. One of the pilots is ejected from his war plane...he had lost the battle. His parachute lowers him slowly onto the island where he lands on the mountain near the boys' signal fire. When the twins hiked up to rekindle the flame, they're scared by the dead body. The body is still attatched to the parachute and when its caught by the wind, it lifts the body into a sitting position. (Chapter 6) -
Prediction
Simon tells Ralph "I just think you'll get back alright." With this, Simon predicts Ralph's survival, but not his own. (foreshadowing) (Chapter 7) -
Vote
Jack believes that Ralph is not leading/guiding the boys they way he should and demands a re-vote for cheif. No one votes for Jack and in his anger, he and his hunters break off from the boys and start a rival tribe. (Chapter 8) -
Restricted
The boys decide to climb up the mountain once more to whether there really is or isn't a beast there. They hike up the mountain at night and encounter the dead parachutist whose sillhouette is believed to be the beast. The boys panic and race down the mountain. The next day, they decide that they will rebuild their fire on the beach so that no one else needs to face their fears. (Chapter 7-8) -
Change of Plans
Most of the older boys have broken away from Ralph and Piggy to join Jack and Roger's tribe. Ralph knows the wrongs of their choice because the tribe was violent and obsessed with the hunt. Eventually, Ralph is left with Piggy, the twins (Sam and Eric / Samneric) and most of the littluns. Ralph also knows that the tribe sees the rest of the boys as outsiders...as threats. (Chapter 8) -
Totem
A few days after most of the boys join Jack, they make an offering to the 'beast,' hoping to keep it away. They sharpen a stick at both ends* and stick the spear into the ground. They put a pig's head on the other end to make a totem pole. When Simon first encounters this offering, he gets the beginnings of a seziure and believes that the head is talking to him. He calls it the "Lord of the Flies." (foreshadowing) (Chapter 8) -
Rescue!
Ralph is smoked and chased out of the forest. Jack, Roger, and the rest of the tribe had caught up to him. When Ralph stumbles out of the forest, he falls to the feet of a naval officer. He tells them he'd seen their fire and had come to rescue them. The soldier commented about how the boys were all British and were expected to be in better condition when rescued. (He didn't know the half of it.) (Chapter 12) -
The First to Go
Ralph and Piggy are finally forced to humble themselves enough to ask Jack and the tribe for some meat during their feast (to honor their successful hunting). Ralph and Piggy are drawn into the celebrations, including their chant and violent dance. Simon arrives, then, but not in the way anyone wanted. Still recovering, he stumbles into the circle. The boys continue to chant. Eventually, poor Simon is beaten to death. (Chapter 9) -
Discovery
Simon, after recovering from a seizure, is wandering back to Ralph and Piggy's camp on the beach. He ends up crossing over the mountain and crossing paths with the 'beast.' Simon finally discovers that their beast is only the rotting corpse of a parachutist. He returns to the beach as quickly as possible to report his discovery. (Chapter 10) -
Fire Fighters
Days after Simon was killed, Jack's tribe attacks Ralph, Piggy and Samneric. Ralph believes the attack was just to bother him and to show him that the tribe was a threat. The real reason was that Jack wanted (what was left of) Piggy's specs to make fire. (Chapter 10) -
Decision
In the morning after the tribe's attack, Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric decide to confront the tribe and ask for the specs back. They decide to set out the next day. (Chapter 11) -
The Second to Go II
...are then forced to join Jack's tribe. (Chapter 11) -
The Second to Go
Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric confront Jack's tribe about Piggy's glasses. Jack refuses to return them and threatens the other boys, telling them to leave. Ralph refuses to leave. Jack orders his tribe to tie Samneric together. He also signals Roger, who had been leaning against an unseen lever. Roger pushed, sending a boulder rolling down the hill. It smashed straight into Piggy, sending him flying off the cliff, onto a rock standing slightly out of the ocean. Samneric... -
Hideout
Ralph returns to Castle Rock (the tribe's home) in an attempt to find Samneric. He comes at night, for a better chance that no one will spot him. Ralph is lucky. Samneric were posted to guard the rock that night. He talks to the twins, who warn him about the tribe. They tell him that they plan to hunt him, just as they do with the pigs. They warn him that Roger sharpened a stick at both ends.... Ralph doesnt know what they mean, but he knows it cant be good. (Chapter 12) -
The Hunt
Ralph had slept near Castle Rock after Samneric had told him where to hide. He stayed and listened to the battle cries of the tribe fade to the distance, to the other end of the island. Then, Ralph hears voices ouside his hiding spot...Samneric had given him away. He makes a dash for it, and finds another spot to hide in. Hiding there, Ralph realizes that it was the tribes plan to try to force him out of the forest...by setting it ablaze. (Chapter 12)
