Lord of the Flies Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The book begins with a tall and handsome twelve-year-old schoolboy exploring the jungle. He meets a second boy of almost the same age who is fat and wearing glasses. They start discussing the events that preceded their encounter. During a nuclear war, they were aboard a plane headed toward an unknown destination when they were shot down and crashed on this isolated island. They are sure that all of the adults aboard that plane are dead and wonder if any other schoolboys have survived. The fat boy, whose name is Piggy, is expressive and asks the other boy his name. He says that his name is Ralph, but he is reserved and does not ask Piggy his name. As Piggy gets busy eating, Ralph wanders away and finds a beautiful beach. After some time, Piggy finds Ralph and suggests they meet up with everyone who has survived. While exploring the beach, Ralph finds a swimming hole. He hopes that his father will come save them, but Piggy is sure that no one is going to rescue them. Meanwhile, Ralph finds a big conch shell. Piggy thinks that they can use it as a trumpet and tells Ralph how to blow into it. Ralph blows into it, and it makes a huge blast sound. After a few minutes, schoolboys ranging from six to twelve years old start gathering on the beach. A group of older boys who are members of the choir shows up. Jack is their leader. Once all the boys convene on the beach, they vote to elect a leader. All of the members of the choir vote for Jack, but as Ralph was the one who blew the conch shell, all of the other boys vote for him and select him as their leader. To keep Jack happy, Ralph selects the choir group for hunting and makes Jack their leader. Ralph delegates the exploration of the island to Jack and Simon, one of the other boys in the choir. Piggy stays back to note the personal information of other boys. While exploring the Island, Jack, Ralph, and Simon think that it is thrilling to live on an island alone with new friends. When returning to the beach, they come across a wild pig. In an attempt to kill the pig, Jack pulls out his knife, but he hesitates a bit and misses it. He gets embarrassed and swears that next time he will not hesitate.