Lord of the Flies Guide to Biblical Allusions

Lord of the Flies: Guide to Biblical Allusions

Allusion A reference to an outside work. It is meant to give the reader more meaning without adding a lot of extra text. Some of the most commonly alluded to texts include The Bible Shakespeare Greco-Roman mythology Fairy tales

The Garden of Eden

God makes Adam (man) and Eve (woman) and gives them paradise

Only rule: Don’t eat fruit of knowledge

The serpent tempts Eve. She eats, and then Adam eats.

“Whoops! We’re Naked!”

God kicks them out.

Cain and Abel • Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. • Abel offered God an animal sacrifice while Cain offered God an agricultural sacrifice.

• Cain was jealous of God’s response to Abel’s sacrifice, so he killed his little brother. • It was the first murder. • Cain was condemned to wander the earth forever.

St. Peter • His name was Simon, but Jesus changed it to Peter. • One of Jesus’ apostles • 1 st leader of Christian Church

He holds the keys to heaven and decides who can get in.

Beelzebub Sometimes this is a name given to Satan in the Bible , and at other times, it is a name given to one of the princes of Hell. This name literally means “lord of the flies. ”

Jesus Exorcising Legion • Jesus came upon a man who was possessed by demons. • Jesus moved the demons from the man to a nearby herd of pigs. • When he asked the demon’s name, it said, “We are Legion because we are many. ” • The demons caused them to run off a cliff. • The people in the town became afraid of Jesus and asked him to leave.

Temptation of Christ • While Jesus is fasting by himself in the desert for 40 days, Satan comes to him and tempts him 3 times: 1. To turn stones to bread 2. To survive a jump off a high cliff 3. To worship him in exchange for power over all the cities • Jesus does not accept any of his temptations and he has a feast with the angels.

Agony in the Garden Before Jesus was sacrificed, he went to a garden to pray. His agony was so much that he sweat blood. This was where he was betrayed by Judas, and the Romans arrested him.

Crucifixion of Christ • Jesus was executed by the Romans for teaching sorcery. Many people were blood hungry at the time of his execution. • In order to speed the execution, the Romans pierced his sides. • Jesus is often depicted with a halo around his head in any art that shows the crucifixion.

• Christians view his death as having cleansed all the people in the world of their sins. • When his tomb was opened 3 days after his death, his body was nowhere to be found.

The Book of Revelation The last book of the Bible discusses the end of the world and the final battle between good (the Lamb) and evil (the dragon, the Beast of Water, and the Beast of Land).

According to The book of Revelation, the world of the sinners will end when fire is cast down upon it.