Analyse LELE Lord of the Flies

Lord of the Flies :

Lord of the flies is a William Golding novel that had three film adaptations like the 1963 one, directed by Peter Brook. These works belong to the subgenre « Robinsonade ». Robinsonade is a a type of book, a subgenre like adventure stories, that takes its name from the 1719 novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. The story is always of castaway on a desert island.

The movie plot is the same as the book. Indeed :

Young boys from a military school who survived a plane crash find refuge on a deserted island. With no family and no landmarks, they try to stick together to survive, creating a democratic world with Ralph, the oldest group, as a leader, assisted by Piggy, the band's scapegoat. But this idyllic world turns into a nightmare when Jack, the most rebellious, decides to stand apart and create a rival clan to that of Ralph, which will end in a terrible battle, with a tragic fate for some.

In the two extracts we have seen in class, one is about the stage where the shadow intrudes, one of the stage of a Robinsonade, indeed all of the characters start threatened in this unknown environment. So an assembly by vote is created : one boy : Ralph said « Who thinks there may be ghosts ? » so this question divides the group.

Through the book and the movie, Ralph behaves like a leader, he wants democracy, all the kids have the right to vote and give their opinion. He doesn’t have a agressive language or behaviour.

Compared to his rival, Jack. Jack is rude and wants to dominate the group, he doesn’t care about respect : « bollocks to the rules ». He wants to hurt, to fight and Jack refuses the rules.

Piggy , the band’s scapegoat, has angry reaction at the outcome of the vote, he is near hysterical, as shown by : « Piggy’s voice shrilled », he can’t understand the kids naive beliefs. He has sometimes very childish behaviour : « what’s grown-ups going to think ? » and sometimes Piggy his very mature : « what are we ? Humans ? Or animals ? Or savages ? ». He realized that the situation requires common sense and wisdom, so Piggy is the voice of reason from his group.

In the second extract, all of the boys are chasing Ralph, they set fire to the forest to trap Ralph, and this is the arrival of the adults on the island, a naval officer that saws the smoke.

The officer thinks they are playing and having fun : « fun and games ». All the children appear as him to unruly immatures creatures who need the supervision of adults.

Indeed, in seeing the officer, they all starting to cry. Ralph breaks down and weeps because : he thinks of his dead friends. He can show his emotions as a child now that adults have arrived. The others boys probably feel ashamed of how they all behaved. Ralph is mourning the loss of innocence, the loss of : boys who were too young to die. The boy he once was and who believed that social rules were a defense against destructive violence and that children could not be evil. « Ralph…called Piggy »

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