Castle Rock
- Mixed views of Castle Rock from Jack and Ralph
- Importance of place in Lord of the Flies
The Castle Rock is a fictional place in Lord of the Flies. The boys discover it halfway through the book while looking for the beast and it is described as a ‘narrow ledge of rock, a few yards wide, and perhaps fifteen long’. The rock juts out into the Pacific Ocean and on its left is an ‘impenetrable tangle of creepers and trees’. Ralph and Jack are the first to explore, and their reaction to it demonstrates their growing division. Jack excitedly declares ‘what a place for a fort!’, while Ralph calls the Castle Rock a ‘rotten place’.
After the boys split into two tribes, Jack’s group commandeers the Castle Rock as a base. Near the end of the book, Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric approach the Castle Rock camp, where Roger waits next to a large rock…
There was one flat rock there, spread like a table, and the waters sucking down on the four weedy sides made them seem like cliffs. Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out – the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar.