Laadhari 1

Plot Characteristics island by the airplane crash and the reader in the fictional
of William Goldings Novel Lord of the Flies
world of the book through in medias res technique). They
by Hela Laadhari
both bring their previous knowledge to handle the new
The plot of William Goldings novel Lord of the Flies 1 has
situation and build familiar worlds. The text pushes the
many characteristics which stirred particular responses. It is
level of expectations to the extreme making the readers
linear: There are no sub-plots. Santwana Haldar, however,
and the boys expectations exact : they both anticipate
considers this ironic since the novel has a circular
things to happen in the same way they usually do in
movement: the boys who were being carried to some
adventure novels previously read by the boys and the
unknown destination and were dropped on the midway due
reader (the generic dimension will be studied below). The
to the plane crash ... are supposed to go back to the same
boys meet each other for the first time and have to
unchanged world (125). The first chapter plunges the
introduce themselves not only to each other but also to the
readers into its actions without any introductions using in
reader. At the end, the reader and the boys set themselves
medias res technique2. This can also be seen through the
free of their own prejudices.
use of definite articles in the first sentence in the novel:
The officers appearance makes visible the double structure
The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few
of the novel: The adults world is in the background and the
feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon (7,
boys is in the foreground. The novel starts with a downfall
my emphasis). The technique creates the illusion of reality
of adults actions in the background (They are destroying
and thus gives a sort of credibility to the action taking place.
their civilisation). Because of their nuclear war, the boys are
The appearance of the naval officer at the end (Deus ex
evacuated and shot down on an island before reaching their
machina technique3) changes the course of actions. He
destination. The plot never lets the reader lose sight of
saves Ralph from being hunted and the boys from starving
adult world for long. Both worlds coalesce in the plane
to death (as everything on the island is burnt including their
crash, the air battle above the island, the parachutist fall
food). However, the boys uncertain fate gives the novel a
and finally the rescue. There are also many recurrent
sense of openness. The boys and the naval officer are not
references to adults living style. The boys become
going back to their destroyed homes.
accustomed to the rhythm of life on the island and ...the
The beginning of LF, in particular, pushes the reader into
northern European tradition of work, play, and food right
the trap of bringing his/her own prejudices and
through the day, ma[kes] it possible for them to adjust
expectations. The end of the text makes the reader aware
themselves wholly to this new rhythm (Golding, LF, 59).
of the naive self with which s/he has started reading in the
When Simon looks at the sows head, he sees that its
beginning. The reader and the boys share the same
...half-shut eyes [are] dim with the infinite cynicism of
situation: Both are thrust in a new world (the boys on the
adult life (137). There are multiple allusions to adults war
1 -Henceforward Lord of the Flies is shortened into LF and destroyed cities. One example can be found in chapter
2 -In medias res (Latin phrase literally means in the midst of one: the shattered rocks lift their stacks and chimneys
things): It is a narrative technique by which the story starts in the
middle of the action (In medias res). Patrice Pavis says that in (27). In the same chapter, Ralphs dancing around Piggy is
medias res is an exposition technique that seeks to make the
action seems real (Exposition). made similar to a fighter-plane with machine-gun (11).
3-Deus ex machina (Latin phrase literally means the god from a After Simons death, the boys express that [They] might get
machine): Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms states that the
term is now used pejoratively for any improbable or unexpected taken prisoners by the Reds (162). The arrival of the naval
contrivance by which an author resolves the complications of the
plot in a play or a novel, and which has not been convincingly officer makes Jack a mere little boy who [wears] the
prepared for in the preceding action. Pavis sees that the remains of an extraordinary black cap and who carr[ies] the
technique can be used ironically as a way of questioning the
effectiveness of divine or political solutions (Pavis Deus Ex remains of a pair of spectacles at his waist (201). He is put
Machina).

into opposition to the officer with his revolver and white
cap (200). The island is roughly boat-shaped and the tide
[is] running so that long streaks of foam trail away from the
reef and for a moment [the boys feel] that the boat is
moving steadily astern (29). These descriptions are
compared to the officers trim cruiser in the distance
(202). With all these elements linked together in parallels,
the reader assumes that s/he must interpret the boys story
on the island in relation to the adults world. This will push
the reader to the conclusion that what is happening on the
island is not really different from what is happening in the
real world
There are many climactic moments in the plot such as the
death of the boy with the mulberry-coloured birthmark, the
appearance and disappearance of the ship, the discovery of
the dead parachutists corpse (the beast) by the boys, Jacks
leaving of the group, Lord of the Flies speech with Simon,
Simons and Piggys killing and Ralphs hunt. It seems that
each set of actions has its own climactic moment. For
instance, Piggys death is the culmination of hunting
experience while Simons death is the culmination of the
dance ritual. Lord of the Flies speech with Simon is
considered as the climax of the whole narrative (137-138,
143-144). It is of high importance to the development of
the actions. Major cruelties such as Simons and Piggys
deaths and Ralphs hunting happen afterward. The head
threatens Simon that he and the boys will have fun and kill
him (144). The reader also is confronted with the beast and
his perception of events changes: They can be read in the
light of the beast speech. Instead of looking at how the boys
will spend the remaining time on the island till they are
rescued, his/her attention is drawn toward solving the head
riddle.
There are many scattered elements that are not tightly
linked together especially in the first chapters. They give the
impression that the plot is loose. For example, rock pushing
appears in chapter one, six, eleven and twelve. The first two
times are meaningless alone (the boys push them for fun).
However, they prepare the reader for Piggys killing in
chapter eleven and give it credibility. When another rock is
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pushed toward Ralphs hiding place in chapter twelve, the
reader appreciates the seriousness of the situation. Many
events in the beginning of the novel are repeated in the
end with different ordering and with a different attitude. To
the extent that one may argue that the events in the
beginning of the novel are mirrored in the end
The replica is not sudden but it takes the form of a gradual
development of actions which are connected from
beginning to end. Rock pushing is one element among many
others that can strengthen the plot through the use of a
mirrored structure. One may take a close look at this
through the following examples. When the fire gets out of
control in chapter two A tree explode[s] in the fire like a
bomb. Tall swathes of creepers r[i]se for a moment into
view, agonize, and [go] down again. The little boys scream
at them. Snakes! Snakes! Look at the snakes! (46). At the
end of the novel, Jacks tribe sets the whole island on fire.
The sound of both fires is described as drum-roll (in the
first fire a boy is killed and in the second another is nearly
hunted) (47, 197). In Shadows and Tall Trees, Maurice and
Roger suggest they add a drum and a real pig to their
hunting dance (115). Jack makes a funny joke about us[ing]
a littlun instead (115). Though they do not have a drum in
A View to a Death, thunder acts like one. It heightens the
level of their dancing game and allows them to reach a state
of frenzy which ends with killing Simon. When the drum-
roll appears again at the end because of the final fire, it
acquires a different attitude and meaning: it is a call for
blood. The flames are alive in both fires. In the first one,
The flames, as though they [are] kind of wild life, cr[eep]
as a jaguar creeps on its belly... (44). They are described as
a bright squirrel which le[aps] on the wings of the wind
and cling to another standing tree, eating downward (44).
The same image of living flame(s) eating trees is repeated at
the end: A flame, seemingly detached sw[ings] like an
acrobat and licked up the palm head on the platform (201).
The boys fear from the creepers in the fire is self-inflicted
(they create that fire). At first, the boys hidden fear is
expressed by little ones as a snake-thing or a beastie
that grows up later on to become a dark thing and a
 Laadhari 3

beast expressed by the older boys including Jack. It is
ironic that the boy who mentioned the snake-thing for
the first time is lost, as if the snakes in the fire ate him.
The beasts growth is not the only thing that happens
gradually. Almost everything in the novel evolves in the
same way. For instance, cruelty toward Piggy starts with
Ralphs indifference at knowing his name (9). He reveals his
nickname to the others. Jack insulted him as Fatty (21). In
the next chapter, the boys pinch Piggys glasses to light the
fire. Afterwards, he is hit twice by Jack and one side of his
glasses is broken. He is not taken seriously by the older boys
in assemblies. Later, the hunters steel the remains of his
glasses in chapter ten. Piggy tries to restore them but he
gets killed in the next chapter. His death can be seen as the
culmination of the boys hunting experience: Piggys arms
and legs twitched a bit, like a pigs after it has been killed
(181). The hunting experience in its turn starts gradually
with Jack who is at first unable to kill the trapped piglet.
Next, he tells the boys that he and his hunters will provide
them with pigs meat. In chapter four, he thinks that he
might kill (51). In chapter four, the hunters paint themselves
and hunt a sow at the expanse of their rescue opportunity
(This incident is of high importance because it delivers a
blow to the shaky harmony and order on the island). After
killing Piggy, they chase Ralph. He starts to think like a pig.
One of his escaping options is to Burst the line like a boar
but he decides to hide (196). At that point, He wonder[s] if
anything unknown and fearful is called a beast. The hunters
do not know if there are big animals on the island and
assumed that the beast might be one (83). The beast is also
thought to come from the sea since there are plenty of
undiscovered animals in it (88). Has the parachutist been
examined in day light, they would have discovered the
mechanisms of his movement by the parachute strings and
wind. Therefore, it would be logical to say that the beast
indicates a lack of knowledge combined with fear. The
beasts themselves are not harmful. Almost all of the
atrocities that happened on the island are the results of
intense fear.
Works Cited List
Primary Source:
Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. Ed. E. L. Epstein. New
York: The Barkley Publishing, 1954. Print.
Secondary Sources:
Deux ex machina. The Oxford Dictionary of Literary Terms.
3rd ed. Oxford: OUP, 2008. Print.
Haldar, Santwana. William Golding:Lord of the Flies. New
Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2006. Print.
In medias res. The Oxford dictionary of literary terms. 3rd
ed. Oxford: OUP, 2008. Print
Isaac, Arnold R. Remembering Vietnam. Military Review
93.5 (September-October 2013): 86+. Print.
Pavis, Patris. Deux ex machina Dictionary of the Theatre:
Terms, Concepts and Analysis. Toronto, U of Toronto P,
1998. Print.

a pig would agree (197). But he is saved by the naval
officers appearance. Events start on the beach and ends on
it.
---. Exposition.Def. 2B. Dictionary of the Theatre: Terms,
Concepts and Analysis. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1998.
Print.

The beast recurs several times in many forms. In addition to

the already mentioned beasts Simon himself is mistaken as
one several times. A little boy, Phil, sees something big and
horrid in the trees and it turns out to be Simon walking
outside the shelters (85). During the dance, he is mistaken
again as the beast and is killed. Even the text refers to him
at this point as the beast: The beast [is] on his knees in the
center, its arms folded over its face. It [is] crying out against
the abominable noise something about a body on the hill
(152). The boys did not know that it is Simon. It seems that