In the first chapter of the novel, The Sound of the Shell, William Golding introduces the three main characters of the story : Ralph, Piggy and Jack, three school boys stranded on an island somewhere in the tropics after a crash.

Ralph and Piggy meet by chance and try to understand what their situation is. They assume that the pilot has been killed and that there are no grown-ups. Moreover, some other children must have survived. Later, Ralph and Piggy discover a shell and decide to use it to call any survivor. When Ralph blows the shell, gradually a number of boys gather round Piggy and him. None is hurt and they are of varying ages. Then, they are joined by a group of boys led by Jack Merridew. They agree to elect a leader and Ralph is elected much to Jack’s disappointment. They all get organised in a little society with a leader, discipline and rules where everyone has a function. The boys assemble, they organise themselves, they adjust to the island, they start disputes and turn against each other.

Piggy sticks to Ralph all the time because he feels admiration for him whereas Ralph doesn’t show any interest in Piggy. Piggy is fragile (he suffers from asthma) and he is also unattractive (he is fat). He is clumsy but also intelligent since he discovers the conch and suggests to Ralph that they can use it to call any survivor to a meeting. When Jack appears, we discover another aspect of Piggy´s personality: he seems to have complexes and he lacks confidence in himself. Piggy has a complex of inferiority, whenever he is uneasy he keeps busy with his glasses. Piggy is shy and ill-at-ease. In fact, he is a comical figure for he is often made fun of. But in spite of these negative characteristics, Piggy exerts some power on the group for he has an intellectual insight. Piggy is indeed the cleverest boy in the group, he foresees the need of fire and shelters.

Piggy symbolises loyalty, wisdom and also common sense. He represents man’s capacity to invent. His death symbolises the complete negation of such values ( common sense, knowledge). Piggy is killed by savages. William Golding opposes barbarism to civilisation. Piggy´s death also shows the society´s distrust of intellectuals. It shows the society’s intolerance towards intellectuals.

Contrary to Piggy, Ralph is handsome, agile. Thus, Piggy and Ralph stand in sharp contrast.

Ralph becomes the leader and insists on discipline and rules, he urges the boys to have rules to live in harmony.

Later, Ralph and Piggy are joined by Jack Merridew, a very authoritative boy. As he appears he wants to have the advantage over the other boys. Therefore, in chapter three, Huts on The Beach, he is very disappointed for he hasn’t been elected to be the chief. So he proposes to go hunting as a necessity but also as a revenge, he wants to assert himself. However, Jack is not as courageous as he pretends to be (for instance, he doesn’t manage to kill a pig). Actually, he lacks confidence in himself. He wants to be acknowledged as a strong boy but he is ill-at-ease and that’s why he plays a role. He doesn’t want to show his real personality to the others.

Jack inspires fear, he is associated with evil and power. The author also stresses the regressive nature of Jack’s gang, their return to a primitive world.

In the first chapter, it can be noticed that tension is building up between the two characters and that there is bound to be a confrontation between them.

Relations between Jack and Ralph are rather strained for they both want to be the chief. They feel animosity towards each other. When Ralph is elected to be the chief Jack attempts to destabilise the situation. Later, tensions develop and break out into conflicts, the novel concentrates more and more on the rivalry between Jack and Ralph.

They have difficulties in maintaining discipline and finding a competent leader (this point is illustrated in chapter three, Huts on the Beach, when Jack comes back from a hunt, empty-handed and joins Ralph and Simon, busy trying to built a shelter for everybody. Ralph deplores the children’s attitude and also the lack of discipline, concentration and goodwill. Jack doesn’t take any notice to him. As a consequence, tension builds up. The two boys start quarrelling over whether meat or shelters should have priority.)

Thus, very often real confrontations pits them against one another. All these difficulties create an aggressive society. The writer emphasises the antagonism between the two characters since one of the central problems in the novel is the fight for leadership and power.

The boys get organised in a little society with a leader, discipline and rules. They believe there is a beast in the island and they are afraid of it. Jack suggests that fear is due to nightmares but Piggy questions this argument and says that fear is not only dreamt, so the two boys start arguing about the existence of the beast. It becomes an obsession. But Simon, a friend of Ralph, decides to wander off into the forest and he meets by chance the beast which is in fact a dead pig (it is the first and only mention of the Lord of the Flies). This Lord of the Flies is a manifestation of evil, the dark side of human nature. It represents man’s will to destroy, his evil nature. The real beast that some boys had seen was in fact a dead parachutist killed in a far-off battle.

Meanwhile Jack and his hunters manage to kill a pig and they organised a party, so all the boys gather round Jack, even Piggy and Ralph.

The extract concentrates on Simon´s death.

Situation in this passage:

The hunters and the other boys are very restless for it is the first time since they started hunting that they have managed to kill a pig. Simon, who is still in the forest, discovers that the beast they fear so much is only a dead parachutist. Thus, he is going to tell the others that the beast doesn’t exist.

First, the writer focuses on the description of the storm which conveys an impression of violence:

Golding uses other words which convey this impression of terror:

Then, the boys start dancing and they mime the scene of the hunt (Roger is the pig). The chants feeds their violence, it excites and stimulates them. The boys are in a trance, they can’t no longer control themselves. The writer carry on describing the storm. Actually, the description of the natural elements reinforces the impression of chaos, violence and apocalypse:

And just at this moment Simon appears. Hardly had he arrived when the boys threw themselves upon him. The boys think Simon is the beast, they kill him. They are no longer human beings. The writer underlines the fact that they are back to the animal world:

Thus, Simon offered his life to save others but he is killed by the very people he wanted to save.

Is natural man, as opposed to cultivated man a savage?

Throughout literature the problem has been raised. Very often it consists of a conflict between our civilised selves and our brutal inner nature.

In the novel, Golding oppose civilisation to savagery. Civilisation and a complex society have a corrupting influence on the individual human being. Man lived pure and innocent, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau puts it. So, according to the French philosopher, evil comes from a repressive society and its rules.

Nevertheless, Golding wants to destroy the idea that man is naturally good. Human beings are capable of evil as a result of their own nature. Civilisation, far from having a corrupting influence, is the only thing that restrains mankind from barbarity.

The interest of the book and the author’s concern lies less in causes than in consequences. Golding was influenced by Hobbes ( an English philosopher). According to Hobbes, man is selfish and violent, he is not by nature a social being. Each individual is guided by self-interest and by a perpetual and restless desire of power for power’s sake that ceases only in death. This point is illustrated in the novel by Jack’s character. Hobbes claims that an absolute authority (a sovereign) should impose restrictions on individual liberty. The sovereign is the only able to make decisions. In the novel Lord of the Flies the power is entrusted to Ralph by the common consent of the other boys. Hobbes suggests that the people’s loyalty to the sovereign lasts as long as his authority protects them. If his authority fails they have the right to replace him by someone more competent.

No man, according to Hobbes, has an instinct to do good or to defend his friend or feel loyal, when this happens it is merely an act of self-interest.

Golding offers no solution to the problem he presents: human nature is what it is and there is no easy or fast way to change it. Thus, the author doesn’t give us a ready-made solution.

At the same time, knowledge of a problem is a great step in arriving at a solution.

The novel can be seen as a portrayal of human beings and human behaviours. The theme of this book is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature ( William Golding).

In other words, could man be perfected by perfecting society?

I learnt during the Second World War just how brutal people can be to each other. I tried to point that out.

Thus, the main purpose of this book is to serve as a warning against man’s potential for brutality.