British schoolboys crash on an island, build a civilization, and watch it burn.
Who drives the story
The fair-haired elected chief who believes in the conch, the fire, and rescue. He holds order together with his bare hands until the group's fear and hunger tear it loose, and he ends the book weeping on a beach, hunted by his own people.
Head boy and chapter chorister who loses the election and never gets over it. He discovers that painted faces, meat, and a monster to fight buy more loyalty than rules, and he builds a tribe on all three.
The asthmatic, bespectacled boy whose real name is never given and whose glasses light the fire that could save them all. He is the group's only consistent voice of reason, and the group breaks his glasses, steals them, and finally kills him.
The quiet, fainting-prone boy who goes into the forest alone and comes back with the truth: the beast is a dead man, and the real beast is inside the boys. They kill him for saying it, or for anything, since by then it hardly matters.
The silent boy who tests limits until Jack's tribe removes them all. He levers the boulder that kills Piggy, and he does it with deliberate aim, not accident.
The twins who tend the signal fire, mistake the parachutist for the beast, and are captured and forced into Jack's tribe. Even they end up betraying Ralph's hiding place under duress.
Also in the story
The adult authority who arrives in the last pages and restores 'order' with a warship. He is embarrassed by the boys' savagery without noticing he is standing on an island set ablaze in the middle of a world war.
How they are connected
The silent boy who tests limits until Jack's tribe removes them all.
He levers the boulder that kills Piggy, and he does it with deliberate aim, not accident.
The twins who tend the signal fire, mistake the parachutist for the beast, and are captured and forced into Jack's tribe.
Even they end up betraying Ralph's hiding place under duress.
Go deeper
Civilization is a thin coat of paint · The beast is inside · Fear as a political tool · Mob mentality and the individual
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
Open the summary