Chapter Summary and Analysis

Chapter 1: Summary and Analysis

The Sound of the Shell

The novel begins with two twelve-year-old schoolboys making their way out of a jungle on a deserted island. They are survivors of a plane wreck. One of the boys is fair-haired, whereas the other boy is large and bespectacled. The fair-haired boy is Ralph; he appears confident and happily eager despite their dire situation. He is especially pleased by the prospect that no adult may have survived the wreck. He associates adults with law and order and is thrilled by the thought of a life unmonitored by adults. Ralph thus represents a Rousseauesque type of Romanticism: this becomes more evident when he takes off his clothes and rolls around nude on the hot sand.

When the other boy takes his cue from Ralph and begins to undress, the two are spotted by a group of boys. The boy suggests that they should get the boys’ names and try and convene a meeting. The boy represents the rigid, bureaucratic approach to life. Ralph dismisses the boy’s suggestion with a laugh and calls him “Piggy,” a nickname the boy detests. Ralph continues to humiliate Piggy by pretending to be a fighter jet firing at him.

By now it is evident that Ralph and Piggy have contrasting personalities. Though the boy hates the name “Piggy,” he does not object when Ralph taunts him with the name. Piggy seems more concerned about establishing order on the island. Soon, it is revealed that Piggy also suffers from asthma and poor vision. Ralph, on the other hand, seems to detest order and discipline and only seems interested in his own liberty.

Ralph treats Piggy with indifference even though he is the only other person Ralph has run into on the island. In the absence of adult supervision, Ralph appears happy to indulge his baser tendencies. Ralph’s arrogance and indifference could be seen as the author’s way to suggest that humans are inherently cruel.

Ralph then spots a small pool in the lagoon. As he swims in the pool, Piggy watches on with envy. When Ralph taunts him again, Piggy responds with insults; Piggy then takes off his clothes and joins Ralph in the pool, but refrains from swimming on account of his asthma. When Ralph realizes that Piggy is unwilling to swim, he boasts about having learned to swim at five. He tells Piggy that his father, a Royal Navy commander, had taught him to swim. When Ralph naively suggests that his father is well-ranked and influential enough to engineer their rescue, Piggy confesses that his father is dead.

Piggy then asks Ralph why he thinks his father will be able to find and rescue them. In another instance of blind belief, Ralph merely says, “Because, Because, Because.” Piggy, on the other hand, believes that an atom bomb has been dropped on England and that most people would have been killed in the explosion. Displeased with Piggy’s pessimism, Ralph urges him to put on his clothes and emerges from the pool.

Ralph and Piggy then notice a conch shell in the lagoon, and with Piggy’s help, Ralph figures out how to blow air through it. Ralph’s loud notes draw the other boys to the lagoon. The first boy to find them is Johnny, a six-year-old. As Ralph continues to blow the shell, more small boys arrive, and Piggy dutifully notes their names. Among the boys are the identical twins Sam and Eric. Soon, Ralph and Piggy are approached by a group of boys wearing black cloaks embroidered with a silver cross on the left-hand side. They turn out to be members of the boys’ choir and are led by a boy named Jack Merridew. The boys had mistaken the loud notes for the horn of an approaching ship and are disappointed to learn that the notes were from Ralph’s conch. After Ralph, Piggy, and Jack introduce themselves, Piggy attempts to get the other boys’ names as well, but Jack rudely orders him to shut up: “Shut up, Fatty,” Jack says, and Ralph, much to Piggy’s dismay and the boys’ amusement, adds that “Fatty’s” real name is “Piggy.”

Jack, in addition to being the choir leader, is also the tallest boy in the group. He is arrogant and prefers to dress in robes; he represents ecclesiastical authority. When Ralph suggests that the group should have a leader, Jack nominates himself. Jack argues that he should be the group’s leader since he is a head boy and can sing in C sharp. Roger, a quiet boy, then suggests that the group should elect its leader instead.

Though the boys are impressed by Ralph’s air of power, the choir boys vote for Jack nonetheless. However, the rest of the group vote for Ralph; even Piggy votes for Ralph, though he does so with some resentment. After Ralph is elected the group’s leader, he says that Jack can continue to lead the choir. Jack then states that members of the choir have to take up hunting to ensure the group’s survival on the island.

Ralph then commissions an exploration party and picks himself, Jack, and Simon. When Piggy insists on joining the party, Ralph turns him down with uncharacteristic politeness. Jack, Ralph, and Simon summit a peak in the jungle and find out that they are indeed stranded on a deserted island. The boys are rendered speechless by the magnificent view from the peak.

On their way back, the three of them run into a pig trapped in a bush. Jack, now in charge of hunting, attempts to kill the pig with his knife, but he is unsure and hesitant, which allows the pig to escape. Jack then resolves to be more decisive as a hunter.

Stranded on a deserted island, the boys realize that their acquired ideas of culture and law are of little use here. In their attempt to come to terms with their situation and to ensure survival, they try to create their own rules and conventions.