Piggy's real name is Peterkin (or at least just Peter).
Lord of the Flies is clearly based on The Coral Island, in which the three main characters are Ralph, Jack and Peterkin. Lord of the Flies has no character named Peterkin, but it does have Piggy, whose real name is never revealed. In addition, Peterkin is depicted as the follower of the trio. Like the rest of the book, the character could be an intentional deconstruction of what it would really be like for him on a deserted island. As a bonus, both names start with P.- I always assumed Simon was the equivalent of Peterkin. Simon was the birth name of the Biblical Peter, after all.
The island is Peter Pan's idea of a science project.
Only ever actually interfering by screwing with Simon's psyche with his magic. He'll tell the story of these boys to future generations of lost boys, informing them how bad off they'd be without Peter's leadership. The book is set in the same world as 1984.
Think about it. The book is probably set during the 1950s or 60s, during World War III (as an atomic bomb being dropped is mentioned early in the book). Ring any bells? This is precisely what the Party said happened during that time (making it a very rare case of them actually telling the truth). In addition, the two books have similar underlying themes: authoritarianism and power for the taking, above democracy and power for anybody who can win the favor of others. The island is travelling through space and time.
Ralph has a Jekyll-Hyde complex.
- In the book, Ralph goes "savage" a couple of times (i.e., when "hunting" Robert). I always thought that Ralph was fighting to keep his inner beast down, like Jekyll does, but sometimes it came out, like Hyde.
- Alternately, Jack is Ralph's evil alter-ego, and Ralph and Jack represent/symbolize the two halves of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, with Ralph as Dr. Jekyll and Jack as Mr. Hyde.
Ralph is gay.
He seemed to be attached to Piggy a bit more than the others and was comfortable undressing around him, for two. Merridew isn't Jack's name
He was very quick to insist that was his name, and that he didn't want to be called Jack. Seems like he was trying to give himself a nickname.- Merridew is probably his last name. He wanted to be seen as more senior by referring to himself by his last name.
