me_irl

The setting of the book is ww2, children are evacuated via planes, but the planes are shot down, and only the children survive on island without any parents left. And the story begins around here. This is what the meme is referencing.

A class of schoolboys get marooned on an island (can't remember how; plane crash?). They initially try to have a civilized society, but everything devolves terribly. They resort to factions and degrees of savagery (violence) by the end of the book when they ultimately get rescued. I think the people who find them are shocked by what they've become.

The lord of the flies is a rotting pig's head that one of the boys interprets as such due to a medical condition (epilepsy, maybe?) There's a ton more to be said about it, but I haven't read it in many years. The gist of the joke is that by locking the students in, they will be made to experience devolution first-hand over time.

And hey, because the word came up, new-wave / post-punk band Devo are playing their farewell tour. Tickets were higher than I can justify (I've never been a fan per se and would be going just to see a cultural icon), but if you're into them, go Devolve and have a fun time.

Oh, ETA: they initially formed their society by one boy blowing into a conch shell to draw others together. I missed the conch in the final frame.