Themes: Page 2

Theme: Power Different types of power, with their uses and abuses, are central to the story. Each kind of power is used by one of the characters. Democratic power is shown when choices and decisions are shared among many. Authoritarian power allows one person to rule by threatening and terrifying others. Spiritual power recognizes internal and external realities and attempts to integrate them. Brute force, the most primitive use of power, is indiscriminate.

Quote from Chapter Six: Beast From Air

"'Conch! Conch!' shouted Jack. 'We don't need the conch any more. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.'"

Theme: Fear of the Unknown Fear of the unknown on the island revolves around the boys' terror of the beast. Fear is allowed to grow because they play with the idea of it. They cannot fully accept the notion of a beast, nor can they let go of it. They whip themselves into hysteria, and their attempts to resolve their fears are too feeble to convince themselves one way or the other. The recognition that no real beast exists, that there is only the power of fear, is one of the deepest meanings of the story.

Quote from Chapter Three: Huts on the Beach "'If you're hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling as if -' He flushed suddenly. 'There's nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting, but - being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle.'"

Quote from Chapter Two: Fire on the Mountain

"Jack seized the conch.

'Ralph's right of course. There isn't a snake-thing. But if there was a snake we'd hunt it and kill it. we're going to hunt pigs to get meat for everybody. And we'll look for the snake too -'

'But there isn't a snake!'

'We'll make sure when we go hunting.'"

Theme: The Indifference of Nature Throughout much of literature the natural world has been portrayed as "mother nature," the protector of man. In Lord of the Flies nature is shown to be indifferent to humanity's existence. When nature creates a situation which helps or hinders mankind, it is an arbitrary happening. Man may be aware of nature, but nature is unconscious and unaware of mankind.

Theme: Blindness and Sight Being blind and having special sight are interwoven themes. One who is blind to his immediate surroundings usually has special understanding of things which others cannot fathom. This person sees more, but he is not seen or recognized by those around him. Such a person is often considered a fool and ridiculed by others.