By the end of the book, who all out of all the characters throughout the story, make it to the end? What are the fates of those who don't make it? And what happens to those who survive their island isolation at the very end of the book?
Piggy is killed by a rock that Roger pushes over him. Simon is "mistaken" for the beast and killed by the boys. Ralph is seconds from being killed by Jack and his hunters when the sailor shows up. The arrival of the sailor is Golding's Deus ex Machina (God in the Machine). The story has ended and Ralph contemplates everything in a moment. He finally is able to be a child again and he lets go of all his pent up frustrations and angst. He cries tears of regret and sadness rather than tears of joy. Golding puts it best when he writes, "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy." Golding never meant the ending to be realistic. He was going for irony and an end to his little social experiment. Golding had proved his point. The boys had turned into savages and would eventually destroy themselves and the island.
