The novel starts with a tropical island, which a group of English boys discover after their plane crashes, killing all the adults on board. The island itself is a symbol. The island is to be the landing place of the crashed plane because an island is isolated from the rest of society. The boys have no contact with the outside world and must look to themselves to solve the problems of their own micro-society. In this way, the island, which symbolizes isolation, serves as a perfect weakness of human nature which eventually comes out.

Ralph, a tall boy with "fair hair," seems perfectly calm and almost excited with the fact of being free of adults and on his own in this strange island. Ralph wandered out of the tropical jungle paradise. Ralph thought to himself "We are going to have fun on this island". Ralph was enjoying himself, while his friend Piggy, a pudgy boy with thicklensed glasses was worried. The glasses symbolize the voice of reason and logic among the boys. Piggy defends his glasses even

Ralph found a large conch shell in the lagoon and Piggy told him to blow it. The conch shell is also a symbol in this story. This shell is the first discovery Ralph and Piggy make on the island, and Ralph blew on the shell to call all the boys together because they were separated by the crash. The conch shell later on becomes a powerful symbol of civilization and government. The shell is used to govern the boys meetings. The person who holds the conch shell is given the right to speak. As the island society wears away, the shell loses its importance among the boys.

The signal fire is also a symbol. The fire was very important to the boys in the beginning but towards the end it lost all value and was no longer kept as a main priority. In the beginning, the fire was only meant to be used as a rescue signal, the reason for this fire was to "help them to find us. If a ship comes near the island they may not notice us. So we must make smoke on top of the mountain." At this point, the boys' main mission is to get off of the island. Throughout the novel though, the boys begin to care less and less about keeping the fire going. Ralph commented "Can't they see? Can't they understand? Without the smoke signal we'll die here?" Ralph is trying to keep the idea alive but the boys are starting to care more about other things and less about keeping the fire going. In addition, Ralph makes a final request to the boys, mainly Jack, in a fit of fury. He says "don't you understand? You painted fools? Piggy and I-we aren't enough. We tried to keep the fire going, but we couldn't, and then you, playing at hunting..." Ralph's rescue fire task is slowly dying and Jack's hunters could not be bothered with the thought of being rescued. All they want to do is have hunt and have fun. The boys go from wanting to be rescued too not even caring at all.

On the way down the mountain, a wild pig crossed the path, but the boys were unable, and not quite willing to kill it. Jack promised, though, that the next time he would stab the animal for meat. Jack soon set about making good his promise of meat. Golding described Jack trying to hunt the pig, "On all fours, sme

Some common words found in the essay are:
Ralph Piggy, Objects Characters, Meanwhile Ralph, Beast Jack, Lord Flies, Can't Can't, Piggy Jack, Piggy I-we, William Golding, Jack Jack, lord flies, conch shell, throughout novel, island ralph, pig's head, top mountain, boy named, symbols novel, pig head, beast jack,
Approximate Word count = 1450
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)