The lord of the flies
Your favourite quote? Bring in class.
"Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." Immediately after their first successful hunt, Jack's hunters chant as a group, showing that they prefer to enact violence as a mob, rather than as individuals. Their chanting shows their cohesion, and their delight over killing becomes ritualistic.
Describe what Simon have/represent
Has a role as an artistic, religious visionary is established not only by his hidden place of meditation but also by the description of his eyes: "so bright they had deceived Ralph into thinking him delightfully gay and wicked." While Piggy has the glasses — one symbol of vision and truth — Simon has bright eyes, a symbol of another kind of vision and truth. Simon is different from the other boys not only due to his physical frailty, manifested in his fainting spells, but also in his consistently expressed concern for the more vulnerable boys. Littluns follow him, and he picks choice fruit for them from spots they can't reach, a saintly or Christ-like image. He stands up for Piggy and helps him get his glasses back when Jack knocks them off his head, another allusion to Simon's visionary bent. In addition, he has a secret place in the jungle, where he spends time alone. Simon's loner tendencies make the other boys think he's odd, but, for the reader, Simon's credibility as a mystic is established when he prophesies to Ralph "You'll get back to where you came from." Simon reaches an abstract understanding of mankind's latent evil nature and unthinking urge to dominate as "mankind's essential illness." When Simon tries to visualize what the beast might look like, "there arose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick" — Golding's vision of humanity as flawed by inherent depravity. Golding gives this knowledge to an outsider like Simon to reflect the place visionaries or mystics typically hold in society: on the fringes, little understood by the majority, and often feared or disregarded. Like other mystics, Simon asks questions the other boys cannot answer. His questions to them, "What's the dirtiest thing there is?" and "What else is there to do?" require both abstract thought and courageous action to answer. In contrast to Piggy and Ralph's equating adulthood with knowledge and higher understanding, Simon sees the darker side of knowledge. For him, the staked sow's eyes are "dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life," a view of adults not defined by the civilized politeness and capability the boys imagine. Yet Simon soldiers on in his quest to discover the identity of the beast on the mountaintop because he sees the need for the boys to face their fears, to understand the true identity of the false beast on the mountain, and to get on with the business of facing the beast within themselves.
Describe what Roger have/represent
He represents the sadist, the individual who enjoys hurting others. His evil motives are different from Jack's, who pursues leadership and stature and enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Roger just likes to hurt people. He is described in Chapter 1 as a boy "who kept to himself with avoidance and secrecy." His secret is that he is, in some ways, more evil than even Jack. All his life, Roger has been conditioned to leash or mask his impulses. The "irresponsible authority" of Jack's reign offers him the chance to unleash his innate cruelty. Initially, in a mean-spirited prank, Roger throws rocks at the unsuspecting littlun, Henry, but he throws them so that they miss, surrounded as Henry is by "the protection of parents and school and policeman and the law. Roger's arm was conditioned by . . . civilization." Once he joins Jack's tribe, he has lost that conditioning and eventually kills Piggy. Roger gets the roll in the tribe as the hangman, the torturer who plays a key role in all dictatorships, and relishes the role of a killer. From his point of view on top of Castle Rock, "Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat" — not other human beings
In which way is this novel a fable?
In Lord of the Flies, Golding makes a commentary on power. Ralph is representative of democracy, while Jack represents dictatorship, and their struggle results in the deaths of many of the boys. Golding ultimately comments on the violent impulses of humans, especially within the context of the war that caused the boys to be stranded on the island. As the conflict between the two boys escalates and implodes, the peace and order Ralph has tried to maintain are destroyed by the boys' desire to follow Jack's powerful, violent, and destructive leadership. They follow his lead and try to execute Ralph, as he poses a threat to Jack's power and control. Although most of them are saved in the end, the boys will likely remain disturbed by their experiences on the island and, most especially, by themselves, as they have been granted insight into the darkness they are capable of. Human beings act in ways that frequently conflict with the values they consciously hold, as is the case with Golding's protagonist Ralph. Because Ralph finds himself participating in the same savage behavior he condemns in the other boys, he presents a realistic picture of a humane person resorting to brutality under unusual circumstances. Other characters also bring ambiguity to the motifs they embody. Piggy, for example, represents the scientific rationalist whose knowledge and intellect far exceed that of the other boys. Yet for all his intelligence, he cannot figure out how to speak so that the others will listen. Golding does seek to provide a lesson in morality, but the lesson lacks the straightforward and decisive tone of the proverb that concludes most fables. At the end of Golding's fable, the reader has learned not that evil is confined to the militaristic portion of the population as epitomized by Jack; the pacifist Ralph participated in some of the brutal tribal activities. Neither has the reader learned that science or even simple common sense will save humanity from itself; Piggy is ridiculed throughout and then killed. Mystical revelations or visionary insight into the human condition will not save us; consider the fate of the saintly Simon. Instead the reader learns that evil lives in us all, and there is no proverb to remedy that situation. By invoking the complexity that underlies human nature, Golding's tale brings depth to the fable structure and presents a complex moral lesson as well.
Describe the final scene
In the final pages, Ralph flees through the jungle from Jack and his pack of savage boys and the fire Jack set in the on the mountain. Finally he trinspiered onto the beach where a British Naval officer met him. The Officer had come ashore after seeing the burning island from his ship. Ralph's main motivation throughout the entire novel has been maintaining a smoke signal, but Jack's careless and murderous wildfire incites their rescue from the island, which makes the whole scene quite ironic. The rest of the boys join Ralph, quite soon after Ralph's arrival and tell the officer about their nightmare. Some of them even begun to cry because the reality of what has happened to them hit them. They are transformed from murderous savages back into scared children. The rapidness of the boys' transformation can be an indication that their experience on the island has been a form of mass hysteria they weren't fully aware of as it was happening. What the boys have been through seems hard for the officer to fully comprehend. It seems like he has a hard time to accept what the boys have done, and want to be believe that have been playing a game. He expressed disappointment that British boys could revert to such savagery. This ending suggests that the line between civilized order and inherent human savagery is blurred, despite what we want to believe and our best tries to uphold order and civility, humans are genetically prone to self-destruction. Even thought Ralph, at first, enjoyed being on the island without adults, both him and Piggy wish for a "grownup" figure to tell them what to do and how to keep order. But the officer reminds us that while the boys have been trying to survive and maintain civilization on the island, adults all over the world were entering war for no obvious reason. The adult world waiting for Ralph back home is just as savage as the island with Jack and his tribe. The devastating realization for both Ralph and the reader suggests that.
Analyze the opening scene
In the opening Golding introduces the novel's major characters as well as its theme: that evil, as a destructive force in man, society, and civilization, is present in us all. As the characters interact with each other and with their environment, so do the forces they represent. Using the characters to embody these forces allows Golding the opportunity to compare and contrast with rich shadings of meaning rather than with simplistic oppositions. The novel opens with a description of the "long scar smashed into the jungle," a reference to the snake-like damage done by the plane as it crashed into the island. Here civilization with its technology has dealt a blow to nature; nature counters by sweeping the wreckage out to sea. Yet the conflict is not so simple. While the jungle may represent nature, the beach provides the conch and the platform, both of which symbolize institutionalized order and politics (civilization). Ralph is elected leader for superficial reasons, which after fall is in line with democratic politics. As the symbol of authority and in the election, it is beneficial to him that he is charming and handsome and also uses the conch. Although it was Piggy's idea to use the conch, hae had to let Ralph to do the summoning because of his asthma. Eventhough Jack is more expreienced in taking control over others, making his choirboys march to the assembly through the tropical heat in black cloaks, the arrogance of his open grab for power probably puts off some of the boys. Why? Probably because they are raised in a society that values politeness and decency. Therefore, the boys choose Ralph for his charisma and possession of the compelling conch over Piggy, who lacks the physical stature or charsima of a leader despite his intelligence, and Jack, who is "ugly without silliness" and possesses a less civil manner. Ralph is more diplomatic compared to Jack and Piggy. for instance he, calmy allowed Jack to retain control of the choir (hunters) and places Piggy in charge of names. He is obviously looking more to make friends than to lead strategically. However, Ralph engages in play and for example gleefully scuffling with Simon — which he has no time for once he is leader of the group. Those talents (acrobatics and swimming) serve no practical purpose in the jungle, which are the reasons to his role. Jack , on the other hand, as a choir leader serves him as a leader in training. He has a more warlike nature who carries a knife and volunteers his choir to be the army, amending its role to hunters at Ralph's direction. While Ralph entertains others with his trick of standing on his head, Jack successfully practices authority: "With dreary obedience" his choir votes for him as chief. He uses to his advantage here his authority, not his ability to sing a C sharp. Jack is represented as evil ever since his first appearance as a dark creature, leading his group in columns from the jungle, until Simon faints, Golding is connecting not only the uniformed military with the frightening dark side of humanity but tacitly identifying Jack as an outspoken representative of aggression. In England, Piggy would be valued ultimately for the contribution of his intelligence, despite his lack of physical ability or social skills. On this uninhabited island, however, Piggy is the most vulnerable of all the boys, despite his greater mental capabilities because Jack has a strong and vocal aversion to Piggy and because of his poor eyesight, weight problem and asthma. He doesnt have the medical protection he needs. Piggy himself is on the contrary not a fan of Jack. Ralph on the other hand understands that Piggy has a realistic grasp of their situation, although he treats him badly because Piggy lacks a spirit of adventure. For example Piggy describes his aunt in the past tense, realizing that she is gone because the the atom bomb and points out that no one maybe know about their whereabouts. Ralph still speaks of his father in the present tense, telling Piggy that his father will come rescue them soon. Piggy says: "my auntie says" multiple times in the novel and provide the only female voice in the book. With only Piggy as her ineffectual mouthpiece, from this first chapter, the auntie's perspective is rendered invalid among the primitive conditions of the environment and the savage demagoguery of Jack. He also establish himself as a representative of the adult world, by quoting his aunt. The boys have an indecisive relationship to adults since they are viewing them as providers and protectors but also as punishers and limiters sometimes. At first, Ralph was happy about for the lack of grownups on the island and relied on his father's naval expertise to facilitate their rescue. Piggy, on the contrary, tries to communicate the reality that his father is probably dead, which Ralph wont belive in.
Who are in charge of keeping the signal fire going?
Jack and his hunters are initially in charge of keeping the signal fire going. After Ralph announced that they will need to make a signal fire to gain the attention of passing ships, the group of boys rushes to the top of the mountain. At the mountain, Ralph starts a fire by using Piggy's glasses. The fire gets out of control and burns the forest. To make smoke, Muarie suggested that they put green leaves on the fire and after that Ralph says that they should dedicate special people to maintaining the signal fire 24/7. Jack then offers to split his hunters into groups to maintain the signal fire. Jack doesn't view the signal fire as a necessity and quickly dismisses his hunters from maintaining the fire in favor of hunting. That leads to that the boys miss an opportunity to be rescued when a ship passes the island because they were busy hunting. As the novel progresses, Samneric abandon their post at the signal fire when they witness the "beast," and Ralph and Piggy take on the responsibility of managing the fire. By the time Ralph and Piggy assume responsibility, the majority of the boys have joined
What was the sow doing when Jack and the hunters attacked it?
Jack and his hunters murder a sow that is nursing her babies by stabbing a spear up its backside and slitting its throat. This scene is significant throughout the novel because it symbolizes the boys´frustration with living "motherless" on the island. Without their natural parental influence to guide them, they choose to act upon their primitive instincts. The barbaric, violent scene in which they rip a mother from her children imply to their own parentless situation .It also proves the depths of their barbarism and is essentially the point of no return in regards to a hope of remaining civil on the island.
Plot overview:
Lord of the flies tells the story of a group of British boys marooned on an island, free from the rules that adult society formerly imposed on them. The boys struggle with the conflicting human instincts that exist within each of them - the instict to work towrads civilization and order and the instict to descend into savagery violence and chaos.
By the end of the book, who is dead? Why?
One of the "littluns"—the boy with the mulberry-colored birthmark—is the first boy to die. The fact that "that other boy whose mulberry-marked face had not been seen since the evening of the great fire" indicates that he died when the initial signal fire raged out of control. While this first death seems insignificant, it foreshadows the other deaths that will happen as the situation with the boys spirals out of control, just like that first fire. Simon dies after talking to the Lord of the Flies. Simon discovers the body of the paratrooper on the mountain and realizes the boys have mistaken the corpse for the beast. Meanwhile, Jack and his boys have been chanting and dancing around the fire, whipping themselves into a bloodthirsty frenzy. When Simon appears and attempts to explain the true identity of the beast, the boys mistake him for the beast itself and attack and kill him. Piggy dies after being hit by a large rock that "struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee," causing him to fall fatally on the rocks below. Roger, looking to injure or kill either Ralph or Piggy, releases the large rock from above. This happens when Ralph and Piggy go to Jack's tribe to appeal to their sense of rules and order and ask them for Piggy's glasses back. Roger's act causes the death of Piggy, marks the end of reason on the island, and cuts any connection the boys had left to civilized behaviors.
What do Piggy's glasses represent?
Piggy's glasses symbolizes intelligence because at the first meeting, piggy explains the situation to the other boys and before he put on his glasses. That symbolizes that he uses his intellect to think logically about the situation, or his attempt to "see" and explain the reality clearly. The glasses establish who Piggy is as a thinker and what he offers to the group. On a higher level, Piggy's glasses symbolize scientific reasoning and civilization. Jack realizes that Piggy's glasses can be used to start the first signal fire, and he takes them from Piggy without permission. The glasses here symbolize the science of combustion as well as the intellect needed to utilize such science and the power of fire - a link between the lost boys and the civilized world. The way Jack grabs Piggy's glasses so his savage tribe can light fires for feasts. Ralph and Piggy have just blamed Jack for letting the signal fire go out, eliminating any chance of their being seen by the passing ship. Here, Jack, feeling frustrated by his power struggle with Ralph, takes it out on Piggy, breaking one the lenses of Piggy's glasses. This assault symbolizes savagery and lawlessness attacking order, intellect and civilization. The partially broken lenses symbolize the diminishment of intellectual thought on the island as things begin to fall apart. When the bigger boys decide they will go to find out about the beast, who is, in fact, the dead pilot. Piggy expresses concern about being left behind unprotected with the "littuns". Here Piggy's glasses encapsulate the boys' situation: The one broken lens symbolizes the fact that rational thought is losing its power in the face of the boys' fears, yet the one undamaged lens - which Piggy dutifully cleans - symbolises the fact that some of the boys, Piggy included, are doing their best to remain rational and civilized. Overall. Piggy's damaged glasses represent the increasing helplessness of Ralph's group and the boys' weakened ties to civilization as Jack and his hunters gain strength. Jack and his tribe celebrate the fact that he has stolen Piggy's glasses. This act represents the fact that Ralph's diminished group has lost the power to start fires and get rescued, which symbolizes the fact that their link to civilization is totally lost. Like Piggy without sight, Ralph's group is now powerless and has lost their way. Meanwhile, Jack's tribe has gained more strength now that they have the power of Piggy's glasses. The entires situation symbolizes savagery winning. (5 examples to statements)
Who is the elected leader of the group?
Ralph
Who says the following: "Things are breaking up. I don't understand why. We began well, we were happy....Then people starting getting frightened"
Ralph
The story is an allegory (Things stand for things larger than themselves. Example: the island represent the world ). Which other examples do you find in the novel?
Ralph: the individual in society; this is suggested by the point of view which tends toward limited omniscient through Ralph's perspective. In this reading, Ralph represents each one of us attempting to lead our lives as each of the forces described below exert its influence. Jack: the animalistic, or (if you're an animal lover), the pre-rational (for our purposes the non-rational) impulse in human beings to satisy our physical, material desires without regard to the consequences; unchecked, this inevitably leads to violence and cruelty. Piggy: the intellectual or rational faculty in human beings, which, if not tempered by the other forces within us, becomes selfish and vulnerable to the non-rational force Simon: the emotional capacity in human beings which is moved to serve others; while extremely influent, when it comes into conflict with the physical or non-rational it surrender, at least on the physical level. Whether its power is ever really extinguished might provoke some interesting debate The Glasses: While the boys on the island revert to primitive ways with their hunting, nakedness, and face painting, there is still one symbol of advancement, of innovation and discovery. Yes, that's right, we're talking about Piggy's glasses. The boys find themselves at an utter loss for a way to start the fire. Jack mumbles something about rubbing two sticks together, but the fact is the boys just aren't wilderness-savvy enough to do this. Because they aren't equipped for roughin' it for real, they have to rely on some remaining relics of their old world. So, of course, the glasses breaking mean they are in danger of losing touch with the civilized world they've left behind. With one lens broken, they've got one foot over the line. But let's also remember that the glasses are, in fact, a pair of glasses, primarily intended for looking through. Looking = vision, and vision = sight, and sight = a metaphor for knowledge. Piggy knows things the other boys don't, like how to use the conch, and the necessity for laws and order. Part of the reason he gets so upset when they take his glasses is that, without them, he can't see anything. "Seeing" is Piggy's greatest attribute; it's the one reason the boys don't ostracize him completely; it's the one way he's useful. Without his glasses, then, he's useless, something that no one wants to be Political allegory: As a political allegory we need only to look at the state of the world at the end of World War II. The world was divided into two camps the free world and the Soviet Union much like the camps of Ralph and Jack. In addition the postwar Cold War Era suffered from fears of atomic destruction. Lord of the Flies shows the world at the brink of atomic destruction. The novel serves as a warning to the leaders of the world. The Fire: Fire is used in several ways in Lord of the Flies. From the very beginning of the novel, Ralph is determined to keep a signal fire going, in case a ship passes near to the island. That's fine until the first signal fire the boys light begins burning out of control, and at least one boy is missing (read: burned up). The fire thus becomes a symbol, paradoxically, of both hope of rescue and of destruction. Ironically, it is because of a fire that Jack lights at the end of the novel - in his attempt to hunt and kill Ralph - that the boys are rescued. What could that possibly mean, the fact that rescue equals destruction? It brings us back, as all these symbols do, to The Big Massive Allegory of the novel. If the boys' world is just an allegory for the real world, then they're not being rescued at all; they're just going on to a larger scale of violence and, yes, that's right, destruction. Hence, rescue equals destruction. Ralph's Hair: All right, we told you we could blame Ralph's moments of savagery on his hair. Well, we were lying. What we meant to say was that Ralph's hair was a symbol for his growing savagery. That shaggy mop eventually has a life of its own. The narrative always makes a point of telling us that it's in Ralph's face, that he wishes he could cut it, that it makes him feel dirty and uncivilized. We know the hair has to be a big deal because the very first words of the novel are, "The boy with fair hair lowered himself down..." Getting your hair cut is one of the perks of civilization, many of which Ralph and the others have had to give up. It also reminds us that the boys have been on the island for quite a while now; this is no mere weekend getaway. Lastly, there's something horribly disturbing about his hair just growing, growing, with no way to stop it and the assumption that it will simply go on forever, much like the boys' growing violence and the increasingly savage occurrences on the island. The island itself is an allegory for society. The author shows that, like children stranded on a deserted island, society can break down due to bad leadership, mob mentality, and a lack of true civilization The Lord of the Flies: is also a biblical allegory. The boys are literally handed a paradise--warm weather, a beautiful lagoon, no nagging adults, plenty of fruit and berries, and wild game for hunting--a Garden of Eden, if you will. But because of their own imperfections and inability to control their savagery, they lose their paradise. They do not listen to Christ-figure Simon, who tries to warn them about their destructiveness. Instead, they murder Simon and later set fire to their paradise and come very close to destroying not only the island but themselves as well. Total: 10
Describe what Jack have/represent:
Represents evil and violence, the dark side of human nature. A former choirmaster and "head boy" at his school, he arrived on the island having experienced some success in exerting control over others by dominating the choir with his militaristic attitude. He is eager to make rules and punish those who break them, although he consistently breaks them himself when he needs to further his own interests. His main interest is hunting, an endeavor that begins with the desire for meat and builds to the overwhelming urge to master and kill other living creatures. Hunting develops the savagery that already ran close to his surface, making him "ape-like" as he prowls through the jungle. His domain is the emotions, which rule and fuel his animal nature. For him, the conch represents the rules and boundaries that have kept him from acting on the impulses to dominate others. Their entire lives in the other world, the boys had been moderated by rules set by society against physical aggression. On the island, however, that social conditioning fades rapidly from Jack's character. He quickly loses interest in that world of politeness and boundaries. The dictator in Jack becomes dominant in his personality during the panic over the beast sighting on the mountain. In trying to get Ralph impeached, he uses his rhetorical skills to twist Ralph's words. In defense, he offers to the group a rationale that "He'd never have got us meat," asserting that hunting skills make for an effective leader. As Jack strives to establish his leadership, he takes on the title of "chief" and reinforces the illusion of station and power by using the other boys ceremoniously as standard bearers who raise their spears together and announce "The Chief has spoken." (4)
Describe what Ralph have/represent:
Represents leadership, the properly socialized and civilized. He is attractive, charismatic, and decently intelligent. He demonstrates obvious common sense. Ralph is the one who conceives the meeting place, the fire, and the huts. He synthesizes and applies Piggy's intellectualism, and he recognizes the false fears and superstitions as barriers to their survival. He is a diplomat and a natural leader.
Describe what Sam and Eric have/represent
Samneric: they represent persons who are civilized and socialized. They have alway been a group, since they are identical twins and therefore they know no other way than to adapt and fulfill the collective identity and will. Sam and Eric are dedicated to the idea of being rescued but get overwhelmed, quite easily, by the They are initially devoted to rescue but easily overwhelmed by the by the savagery of the tribe. They represent the well-intentioned members of society, teamplayers, who listen to rules they are told by the ones in charge. That's one of the consequence to why they got intimidated by Jack and abandon their fire-tending duties at his command. When Ralph got angry at Sam and Eric hence to the loss of a rescue opportunity, Samneric mock him once they are alone, despite the fact that their desertion of duty caused his anger and the loss of possible rescue. On a human level, they may laugh to dispel their guilt or because their childish perspective has already allowed them to forget the loss they caused or because their priority is merely to avoid punishment. On the symbolic level, however, laughter is a totally social act.
Who is the only boy brave enough to discover the true identity of the beast?
Simon
Who says the following: "What I mean is...maybe it's [the beast] only us".
Simon
Describe the opening scene
The book opens with Ralph meeting Piggy. Thanks to that they begin to talk to one another we get to know how they got here. It occurs that a group of boys was being evacuated to an unnamed destination because of a current nuclear war. The boys got stranded when their plane crashed and was dragged out to sea. Ralph is glad to be on a tropical island without adults, but Piggy is not. The two boys make their way out of the jungle and onto the beach. Ralph does not request an introduction from Piggy and is rather uninterested in him. Piggy, on the other hand asks for Ralph's nam whereupon he confides his hope that he won't call him Piggy as they did back home. On the beach, Ralph spies a conch, which he fetches. Furthermore, Piggy identifies it as a valuable shell that can be blown as a trumpet and urges Ralph to blow into the shell to gather any other survivors to the beach. That leads to that boys between ages 6 and 12 come streaming out of the jungle onto the beach, assembling on the platform near Ralph. Jack and the choirboys arrive last. Everyone discuss their situation and vote on a chief, choosing Ralph over Jack. Thanks to ralphs innitiative, Jack remain in charge of the choirboys, designating them hunters, but doesn't seem to happy by this seemingly small gift of command. Ralph alsto reveals Piggy's nickname when the boys indentify them. before Piggy can establish his real name. Ralph forms a search party to establish that they are, in fact, on an island. In agreeing to go along, Jack reveals with a flourish that he owns a large sheathed knife. Piggy is hurt to be excluded from the search party, and Ralph placates him by giving him the job of taking the names of all the boys who remain behind at the platform. Ralph, Jack, and Simon creates a search party to explore where they are, and as though on an unhibited island. Piggy is not included in the trio, which makes him hurt. Ralph therefore gave him the job to take the names of all the boys on the beach instead. However, On their return, they encounter a piglet trapped in jungle vines, testing Jack's hunting skills and nerve. Jack pulls his knife but falters, and the pig gets away; he vows fiercely that next time he will follow through.
What does the conch symbolize?
The boys use the conch to call meetings and also to designate who is speaking. In this way, the conch symbolizes democracy and free speech - anyone who is holding the conch can speak his mind, and everyone must listen and wait their turns for the conch. However, the fact that the conch is easily broken, signalling the end of civil communication, symbolizes the fragility of democracy, which needs protection by all participants in order to survive. The conch is used not only to call meetings but also establish order when he boys talk. Thus, the conch symbolizes civilization, adult rules, and the democratic process. As Ralph is the first to utilize the conch as a social tool, it also becomes a symbol of Ralph´s legitimacy as a leader. When Ralph goes to call the boys for a meeting about the beast, he realizes that he doesn't even need to blow the conch to summon everyone. The conch has become such a powerful symbol of law and order that it is enough for Ralph to simply hold the conch up. Although here are leadership tensions between Ralph and Jack, at this point in the novel, the link to civilization continue through the conch's symbolic power and the rules it represents. During a meeting at which Sam and Eric talk about their encounter with the beast, Jack becomes agitated and interrupts Piggy to make clear how fed up he is with using and respecting the conch. At this moment, jack rejects the rules of the meeting and Ralph's legitimacy as a leader. Jack shows signs of becoming a tyrannical leader in his claim that some voices and people matter more than others. In the face of these more savage tendencies, the conch is losing its power as a symbol of civilization and the democratic process. At this meeting the first called into session by Jack rather than Ralph, Jack challenges Ralph's leadership. Since the boys won't agree to make him chief, jack decides to leave the group to go off on his own. When Jack puts down the conch, it is symbolic of his rejecting the rule of civilization and democracy. he is also rejecting the legitimacy of Ralph's leadership, which the conch represents. The conch is losing its power to keep the boys unified and connected to civilization and rules. Roger, standing above Piggy and Ralph, deliberately lets go of a large rock with the intention to injure or kill one of the two boys. Piggy is hit by the rock and falls to the rock below and dies. In this moment, the conch that Piggy was holding is shattered. The destruction of the conch, the object used to call meetings and keep order, symbolizes the end of civilized rules and democracy. This loss of order is also demonstrated by Piggy's murder. (6 examples to the statement)
Jack commands which group?
The choir who got to be the hunters.
Which is the mayor theme of the novel?
The conflict between two competing impulses that exist within all human beings: the instinct to live by rules, act peacefully, follow moral commands, and value the good of the group against the instinct to gratify one's immediate desires, act violently to obtain supremacy over others, and enforce one's will - civilization vs. savagery. Throughout the novel, Golding associates the instinct of civilization with good and the instinct of savagery with evil. The conflict is the driving force of the novel, explored through the English boys' civilized, moral, disciplined behavior as they accustom themselves to a wild, brutal, barbaric life in the jungle. He represents the conflict between civilization and savagery in the conflict between the novel's two main characters: Ralph, the protagonist, who represents order and leadership; and Jack, the antagonist, who represents savagery and the desire for power. As the novel progresses, Golding shows how different people feel the influences of the instincts of civilization and savagery to different degrees. Piggy, for instance, has no savage feelings, while Roger seems barely capable of comprehending the rules of civilization. Generally, however, Golding implies that the instinct of savagery is far more primal and fundamental to the human psyche than the instinct of civilization. Golding sees moral behavior, in many cases, as something that civilization forces upon the individual rather than a natural expression of human individuality. When left to their own devices, Golding implies, people naturally revert to cruelty, savagery, and barbarism. This idea of innate human evil is central to Lord of the Flies, and finds expression in several important symbols, most notably the beast and the sow's head on the stake. Among all the characters, only Simon seems to possess anything like a natural, innate goodness. (3 explainations to the statement)
Describe what Piggy have/represent
The intellectual with poor eyesight, a weight problem, and asthma. He is the most physically vulnerable of all the boys, despite his greater intelligence. Piggy represents the rational world. By frequently quoting his aunt, he also provides the only female voice. His intellect benefits the group only through Ralph; he acts as Ralph's advisor. He cannot be the leader himself because he lacks leadership qualities and has no rapport with the other boys. Piggy also relies too heavily on the power of social convention. He believes that holding the conch gives him the right to be heard. He believes that upholding social conventions get results.
When was the novel written? What happened in history during that time and how has it influenced the novel?
The novel was written 1954 and is his first success sine he started writing novels after the war. In 1940, a year after England entered World War II, Golding joined the Royal Navy, where he served in command of a rocket-launcher and participated in the invasion of Normandy. Golding's experience in World War II had a profound effect on his view of humanity and the evils of which it was capable. After the war, Golding resumed teaching and started to write novels. The lord of the flies is fictional, but the idea of human evil is at least partly based on Golding's experience with the real-life violence and brutality of World War II. Free from the rules and structures of civilization and society, the boys on the island in Lord of the Flies descend into savagery. As the boys splinter into factions, some behave peacefully and work together to maintain order and achieve common goals, while others rebel and seek only anarchy and violence. In his portrayal of the small world of the island, Golding paints a broader portrait of the fundamental human struggle between the civilizing instinct—the impulse to obey rules, behave morally, and act lawfully—and the savage instinct—the impulse to seek brute power over others, act selfishly, scorn moral rules, and indulge in violence. Golding explores the broad spectrum of ways in which humans respond to stress, change, and tension. Writing in an era following the Second World War known as the 'atomic age,' Golding tapped into a widespread cultural panic over nuclear destruction and man's capacity for warfare in Lord of the Flies. After the first atomic bombs were detonated over Japan at the end of the war in 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States began building their nuclear arsenals, leading many people to fear apocalyptic nuclear conflict. People built bomb shelters, students practiced nuclear bomb protection drills in American classrooms, and the Soviet Union and the United States engaged in a policy of brinksmanship that would come to be known as the Cold War. By placing his novel after a presumably nuclear attack, Golding asked questions that were common for the time period: How will human beings behave if society is destroyed? Are the worlds' great empires capable of mutual destruction? And maybe most importantly, is human nature intrinsically self-destructive, or does it have the moral capability to act in the interest of the greater good? Golding used the allegory of boys stranded on an island to explore the kind of all-too-human drive for violence and domination that lead to nuclear acquisition in the first place. As a member of the British Navy during the Second World War, Golding had been the captain of a ship that assisted in the invasion at Normandy, or D-Day, when the allies invaded Nazi occupied France, and this experience directly informed his view of man's capacity for cruelty. Golding wrote "before the Second World War I believed in the perfectibility of social man.... but after the war I did not because I was unable to. I had discovered what one man could do to another..." Following the war, Golding worked as a headmaster at a boys' school, which influenced his writing as well. By setting his story among schoolboys, rather than grown men fighting an actual war, he made his themes of brutality and the breakdown of civilization innate and inevitable. He intended his novel to be a direct warning about the specific dangers of nuclear proliferation, edited out a lengthy beginning describing a nuclear war that sets the plot in motion, leaving the sense of global apocalypse, and the boys' swift and inexorable descent toward the warfare that landed them on the island. Both William Golding and his fictional characters were familiar with Robinsonades, a 19th century genre that took its name from Daniel Defoe's desert island novel, Robinson Crusoe. Written in the eighteenth century, Robinson Crusoe is an adventure tale about a shipwrecked sailor who survives by his wits for several years before finally returning home to England. Writers as influential and varied as Edgar Allen Poe, Herman Melville, and Goethe wrote novels about sea faring adventures that pitted man against the elements. For Golding, though, the most influential Robinsonade was R.M. Ballantyne's 1858 novel, The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean, a novel about three British schoolboys marooned on an island who show bravery and valor in a series of adventures and conquests. Golding said in interviews that this novel was a boyhood favorite of his, and was part of the inspiration for Lord of the Flies.
What did the hunters do with the sow after they had killed it?
They sharpened a stick at both ends and then Roger drives his spear forcefully intro the sow's anus. Then the boys leave the sow's head on the stick in the jungle as an offering to the beast. As they place the head upright in the forest, the black blood drips down the sow's teeth, and the boys run away. The rest of the sow are they eating. Jack also offer the other group of boys some meat.
The major conflict
is that the boys marooned on the island struggle with the conflicting human instincts that exist within each of them
The rising action
occurs when rumors surface that there is some sort of beast living on the island and the boys grow fearful, and the group begins to divide intro two camps supporting Ralph and Jack, respectively.
The falling action
occurs when the boys decend further into savagery and chaos. When the other boys kill Piggy and destroy the conch shell, Ralph flees from Jack's tribe and encounters the naval officer on the beach.
The climax
reaches when Simon tries to spproach the other boys and tell them the Lord of the Flies is not a real beast, they kill Simon Savagely.
In chapter 11 when Ralph announces that he is calling an assembly, he is greeted with silence. Why is silence so threatening to the boys?
they decide the four remaining biguns will ask Jack's tribe for the glasses back, reminding them of a signal fire's importance. Samneric express a real fear of approaching the other boys who have now become complete savages. Piggy insists that Ralph call an assembly to discuss the matter. Although blowing the conch to summon only themselves seems rather ridiculous, Piggy asserts that "It's the only thing we got." Assemblies regulated by the conch still bring him comfort despite their lack of effectiveness. In fact, the conch is the only tool of authority or action left to them, but it's an ineffectual one, given the savages' loss of regard for it. When Ralph blows the conch at Castle Rock, for example, the savages greet him with silence and a stone thrown at Sam by Roger. The conch symbolizes not only the power to speak during assembly but also the power of speech itself, an ability that separates humans from animals. In a way, the savages cause Ralph to lose his power of speech, when he gives up his address on the importance of rescue because he is "defeated by the silence and the painted anonymity." With the exceptions of Jack's commands, the savages' reactions to Ralph's and Piggy's speeches are all non-verbal: jeering, laughing, booing, and a general "clamor." Following Roger's impulsive assassination of Piggy, "the silence was complete" as Piggy provided the last bastion of human intellect and reason on the island.
