Peripety – Lord of the Flies

The peripety

Jack and Ralph have always had their disagreements. Although they sometimes have been good to each other and got along very well, it has been very tense between them and there have been many conflicts between the two of them throughout the book. They have quarreled and hurt one another. However, it is not until Jack decides to leave the group and form his own group, where he is the boss, that they become real enemies.

The younger boys have always talked about a dangerous beast that they have seen during the nights. The boys are afraid that the beast will harm them. They describe the monster's form and they say that the beast is very nasty. Ralph and Jack tells them that there is no monster, but just in case, they choose to go into the woods and see if there really is a beast. Darkness falls, and Ralph proposes that they should wait until morning to climb the mountain, because it will be difficult to hunt the monster at night. In addition, he is scared of the beast. However, Jack does not care about the darkness and what Ralph wants to do. Instead, he tells Ralph to continue the hunt. Ralph, Jack and another guy, named Roger, start to climb the mountain. Then, Ralph and Roger wait somewhere near the top while Jack climbs alone to the summit. Jack returns, breathlessly claiming to have seen the monster. Ralph and Roger climb up to have a look and they see something that looks really strange. Horrified, the boys hurry down the mountain to warn the other boys. The next morning, Jack tells the others that there is definitely a beast on the mountain and that Ralph is a big coward who should not be the leader anymore, but some of the other children do not agree with him. Enraged, Jack leaves the group, saying that anyone who would like to is welcome to join him. All the hunters and some of the other boys, chooses to go with him. He becomes the chief of the group. I consider this to be the turning-point of the novel, because after this, everything changes. Ralph and Jack, who previously could stay good friends even though they had their problems, now become mortal enemies. They can not tolerate each other. Jack does many bad things to Ralph and his followers. For example, Jack and his hunters attack Ralph and the boys in his group. Moreover, Jack tries to persuade Ralph’s followers to join his group. Furthermore, Jack and Ralph fights and they say mean things to each other. As soon as Jack storms away from the group, their behavior towards each other changes radically. That is why I think that is the turning-point of the novel.

The ending

In the end of the novel, Piggy dies and all the boys in Ralph's group start to follow Jack so that Ralph is left alone. Jack decides to send the entire tribe after Ralph. Ralph hides from the boys, but is forced to flee when he smells smoke. Apparently, Jack has set the jungle on fire so that Ralph is forced to run out of the woods. Ralph abandons his hiding place and fights his way past Jack and his hunters. Chased by a group of angry boys, Ralph tries to find a place to hide. At last, he ends up on the beach, where he collapses in exhaustion. The others are close behind him. All of the sudden, Ralph looks up and sees a naval officer standing over him. The officer tells Ralph that he has come to the island, because he saw a blazing fire in the jungle. After a while, Jack’s hunters reach the beach and they stop when they see the officer. Ralph explains to the officer what has happened. He is overwhelmed by the knowledge that he has been rescued, that he will escape the island after coming so close to a violent death. Ralph and all the other boys behind him, begins to sob. The naval officer turns his back so that the boys can calm down.

I thought that the end of the novel was perfect. I would not have wanted it to end in any other way. It was a really good ending, because the boys were finally rescued from the island where they had been trapped for a very long time. Nevertheless, I find it a little funny that the boys needed to burn up the jungle in order to be rescued from the island.

The title

The Lord of the Flies is a bloody, chopped pig's head that Jack impales on a stick and leaves in the jungle as an offering to the beast. The head is soon rotting and covered with flies. One day, when Simon, one of the boys, is walking in the forest, he sees the pig's head. Simon confronts the pig's head and it seems to speak to him, telling him that evil lies within every human heart. In this way, Lord of the Flies is a symbol of evil and it is something that evokes the beast within every human being. We can for example see that every character in the book has an evil side that becomes worse over time. Both Jack and Ralph obviously has an evil side, given what has been written about these guys before. In addition, all the other boys have a little bit of evil that lies within them. This is why I think that the author chose that title for the novel.

The message

I believe that the message that the author is trying to convey is that we should not judge other people, because we all have our flaws. Nobody is perfect. Everybody has an evil, lazy, violent, irresponsible and selfish side that is shown during tough times. It is during difficult times and extreme circumstances, that the beast inside every person is released. Even the nicest person would for instance, during a war, use violence and kill others to survive.