Lord of the Flies: Mind Map

"I don't care what they call me," he said confidentially,

"so long as they don't call me what they used to call me in school."

Ralph was faintly interested.

"What was that?"

The fat boy glanced over his shoulder, then leaned toward Ralph.

He whispered.

"They used to call me Piggy!" (1.65-70)

Simon's innocence and good hearted nature

Painted faces and long hair

Torturing animals and people

Fundamentals of the human psyche

Rules of society and the desire to break them

Simon's meditation spot

Identity in the novel plays a huge role on many of the boys, such as the effect it has on many of the young'uns as well as the more mature boys as well, such as Ralph. They often find themselves questioning whether or not they can truly resist the violent impulses they get and are enabled by Jack and his tribe of savages. The rules of society the boys used to face on a day to day basis are no longer present and they have to decide whether or not they want to be civilized or savage. Simon himself represents a Jesus-like figure and is innocent in nature and eventually, even Ralph plays a part in his death when Simon was his ally and friend. Many of the boys can't decide whether or not they're prepared for violent life but they go to Jack's tribe anyways out of fear and end up discovering their savage impulses anyways.

Ralph and Jack looked at each other while society paused about them. The shameful knowledge grew in them and they did not know how to begin confession.

Ralph spoke first, crimson in the face.

"Will you?"

He cleared his throat and went on.

"Will you light the fire?" (2)

"Shut up," said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things."

"A chief! A chief!"

"I ought to be chief," said Jack with simple arrogance, "because I'm chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp." (1.229-231)

“Where’s the man with the megaphone?”

The fair boy shook his head.

“This is an island. At least I think it’s an island. That’s a reef out in the sea. Perhaps there aren’t any grownups anywhere.” (1.9-11)

Identity and Innocence

As the novel goes on, the boys begin to realize and take advantage of the fact that there are no adults on the island and therefore no social rules they have to adhere to. In the book, Golding emphasizes the inherent impulse that the boys have to break away from normal social and moral rules in order to adhere to their more savage nature. In the beginning, they keep themselves relatively well cleaned and structured but as time goes on and Jack forms his own tribe (a huge marking point in the book and a turning point for everything), we begin to see things that are more abnormal socially take place such as: boys with painted faces and wielding weapons, violence towards animals and humans (the violent and sexualized killing of the sow and Simon's murder), anarchy in the tribes and violent impulses.

Golding emphasizes beautifully in the novel how the boys descend slowly into a violent and unstructured dynamic, desiring to fulfill their violent impulses over rational thought and prioritizing rescue. They wish to hunt and kill and don't have the patience to wait to be survived.

Jack's tribe

The desire to kill

Pig's head on a stick

Face paint

Spears

Shelters and bathing

Competing impulses

Social expectations

Obtaining supremacy over others

The desire for violence

Reason vs. Impulse

Law vs. Anarchy

In the Lord of the Flies, Ralph's style of leadership tends to drift towards a more ordered and structured environment where everyone has a role in their struggle for survival. Him and Piggy lead the children on the island with logic and democracy but their style of leadership and way of thinking gives rise to jealousy and hatred in Jack's heart; he wishes he could have power and leadership like Ralph does so he becomes mutinous, starting his own tribe and going for a more chaotic and fun-oriented way of life.

In Lord of the Flies, from the very

beginning power struggles are present. Jack and Ralph, both as powerful personalities, clash and desire to be the designated leaders. However, only one can be chosen and that ends up being Ralph. Jack ends up becoming extremely jealous over this and eventually goes rogue and starts his own tribe where he can dictate and control everything that happens in his own power-hungry manner, as opposed to Ralph who has a more democratic and rescue-based approach.

In the first few chapters, Ralph ends up being chosen as chief when they hold the vote because he has a sense of authority and control; he was the one who called the assembly and he has the Conch, a huge symbol of power in The Lord of the Flies. The children admire and respect it and as such, they feel Ralph is more qualified and with his attractive appearance he wins their favour over Jack.

Order and Chaos

Structure; Democracy

Rescue; Signal fire, shelters

Logic

Mutiny; Jealousy

Piggy and Ralph vs. Jack

Hunting; celebration

Power

Savagery and Civilization

Desire

Appearance; Qualifications

The Conch

Pride

Authority

Attitude; Personality

Jack vs. Ralph ; The Vote

Wisdom and Knowledge

Piggy, the paragon of wisdom

Civilization

Ralph's leadership

Prioritization

The signal fire

Being rescued

Maintaining hygiene

The sun dial

Logic

Lord of the Flies

Competing Impulses

Wisdom and knowledge are the opposite end of the spectrum of fear and evil in the Lord of the Flies. The symbolization of wisdom is extremely strong in Piggy himself. He represents the wise outcast in the book, having almost no desires for savagery or violence. He prefers instead to help Ralph in his leadership and promote logical details. Together, Piggy helps Ralph to stay on the logical path by helping him to prioritize keeping the signal fire lit and making sure rescue is their primary concern. Furthermore, Ralph himself puts a large emphasis on personal hygiene, actively keeping himself clean and wishing he could cut his hair and nails while all the other boys are content to live in their filth.

He tried to remember.

“Smoke,” he said, “we want smoke.”

He turned on the twins fiercely.

“I said ‘smoke’! We’ve got to have smoke.”

There was silence, except for the multitudinous murmur of the bees. At last Piggy spoke, kindly.

“’Course we have. ’Cos the smoke’s a signal and we can’t be rescued if we don’t have smoke.”

“I knew that!” Shouted Ralph. He pulled his arm away from Piggy. “Are you suggesting–?” (11.73-78)

Fear and Evil

The Beast; Illusion

Loss of faith; conversion Jack's tribe

The sow and Simon's death; the dance

Savagery and idolization of violence

The Lord of the Flies (pig's head on a stick)

Lord of the Flies: Mind Map

The Lord of the Flies has many themes involving fear and evil in it; one of the largest symbols of the island's fear as a collective is the Beast. The "beast" is truly just the corpse of a dead parachuter but the boys turn it into a huge concern across all of the tribes. It causes the boys of Ralph's tribe to lose faith in him; they want to take action and numb their fears but Ralph continues to silence them with logic, saying that there's no way the Beast is real.

“We may stay here till we die.”

With that word the heat began to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence. (1.125)

The deaths of the sow and Simon in the book symbolize the beginning of savagery and the growing of evil on the island. Jack's tribe's "dance" ends up causing Simon's death and they secretly love it, craving blood and killing. Jack's tribe is basically the center of the evil and fear on the island, and many of the young'uns go to his side out of fear of what he might do to them otherwise; furthermore, they love the idea of hunting and giving into their evil impulses for the rest of their time on the island. They begin to prioritize hunting and killing over rescue and that's when they begin to slip into evil habits. The pig's head on the stick marks the beginning of their evil habits and stays there for the remainder of the book, looming like a mark of their growing savagery over the entire island.