‘Lord of the Flies’by William Golding (NOT GOULDING!)

The Island

On Writing Lord of the Flies (1954)

“It was simply what seemed sensible for me to write after the war when everyone was thanking God they weren’t Nazis. I’d seen enough to realize that every single one of us could be Nazis.” --William Golding

Author—William Golding• British novelist• Born on September 19, 1911, died 1993• Studied Science and English at Oxford• Fought in Royal Navy during WWII• Participated in invasion of Normandy on D-Day• At war’s end, returned to teaching and writing• Earned the Nobel Prize in Literature

Philosophical Influence

• Thomas Hobbes– English Philosopher: 1588- 1679– Man is by nature selfishly individualistic– Man constantly at war with other men– Fear of violent death is sole motivation to create

civilizations– Men need to be controlled by absolute

sovereignty to avoid brutish behavior

Golding’s Message

“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.”

“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature.” --William Golding

Themes

• Survival• Power/leadership styles• Civilization vs. Savagery (Political Allegory)• Loss of Innocence• Human nature

• Duality of man• Nature Vs. Nurture• Good Vs. Evil

Political Allegory• Lord of the Flies can be seen as an allegory on human society

today.• When utilizing political allegory, the characters are used as

symbols that, overall, represent some kind of political organization:

• Ralph Roger• Jack the biguns• Piggy the littluns• Golding 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.

Themes

• Survival• Power/leadership styles• Civilization vs. Savagery (Political Allegory)• Loss of Innocence• Human nature

• Duality of man• Nature Vs. Nurture• Good Vs. Evil

Allegory--definition

• Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy.Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Helpful revision resources:

BBCBitesize KS4 LiteratureSparknotes websiteOther revision guides (AQA)

Significant moments in Chapter One The Sound of the Shell:

• Setting description- hints of evil.• Physical descriptions and establishing of main

characters (protagonist and antagonist).• The Conch.• Leadership conflict.• The choir school boys.• The non-killing of the piglet.• The treatment of Piggy.• CLUES FOR WHAT IS TO COME!

Chapter One conflict:

Ralph and Jack (Merridew)- struggle for leadership• How does Golding present this struggle? If the

boys don’t actually fight, how do they deal with this situation and show their feelings about the outcome? (What does each boy represent to us?)

• Clues are used to suggest this struggle will surface again: Jack’s description (his power and bullying of the other boys,his eyes, knife, potential for violence, his blushing, hair colour)

‘...the enormity of the knife descending’

Why does Golding present Jack as not being able to kill the piglet at the end of Chapter One?

Significance task…

Using your wisely chosen references, explore the significance of the ending of Chapter One for Jack’s character. Remember to comment on how we might respond to his character at this point.

Stretch and Challenge- link back to one reference from earlier when he first is introduced to explore more deeply.

Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain• Ralph speaks to the boys about how holding the conch

means it’s your right to speak.• Jack stresses the importance of the hunters.• A six year old boy with a birthmark on his face asks

what they will do about ‘a beastie’ or ‘snake thing’ he has seen. Jack says they will hunt it and Ralph reassures him and says there couldn’t be something like that.

• The fire- ‘Ralph and Jack looked at each other...’• The fire gets out of control and one of the little ones is

missing.

How does Golding present the fire as evil?

Pick out 2-3 techniques and write about how Golding uses them in this paragraph to make the fire appear destructive and even evil, warning the reader of what is to come.Make sure you add thoughtful reader response comments. Stretch and Challenge:Link back to earlier in Chapter 1 when the setting is described as having the potential for danger when Golding is subtely warning the reader.

Paragraph Section What goes in it

Point Your line of argument

Evidence Quotation from the text

Analysis Zoom in on particular word or small phrase

Interpretation Zoom out to tell us interpretation of setting – multiple if possible

Connect Link to another quotation/detail about the setting

Evaluate To what extent does it get Golding’s message across/reader response?

Build

ing

diffi

culty

and

skill

Structuring a reading paragraph

Chapter 3: contrasts between Jack and Ralph’s characters:

Huts on the Beach

Overview/significant moments:

Jack trails a pig.Ralph and Simon are building

the shelters.Conflict between hunters and

Ralph- bickering.Simon helps the little ones and

finds his place in the forest.

Revision questions:• How is Jack described at the beginning

of the chapter?• Find a quote to use as evidence.• Does this change surprise us- explain

why/why not?• P49- ‘The madness came into his eyes’-

explain what this is suggesting about Jack.

• What is the main disagreement between Ralph and Jack in this chapter?

• What does it suggest about both of their personalities?

• Find a quote to reflect each character.

Chapter 3 reading in class:

1. Argument Ralph and Jack.2. Simon in the jungle of trees.

Find key chapters/moments

Ralph and Piggy

Ralph:Chapter 1: introduced/ teasing and lack of

acknowledgementChapter 2:Chapter 3:Chapter 4: their relationship changes as Ralph

moves away from Jack (Jack attacks him).Chapter 5: Ralph protects PiggyChapter 6:

Chapter 12: hunted and saved

Piggy:Chapter 1: introduced/ looks up to Ralph and

NEEDS him!Chapter 2;Chapter 3:Chapter 4: vulnerability emphasisedChapter 5: views on the beast/stands up to JackChapter 6:

Chapter 11: killed

Simon

Chapter 1: introduced and at the end of this chapter the way he sees the candle leaves.

Chapter 9: finds the truth which leads him to be savagely murdered. Image of body.

Tension in Chapter 4?Painted Faces and Long Hair

Overview/significant moments:Children getting used to new life

(heat) but night brings nightmares.Roger and Maurice/ sandcastle

moment.Ship comes but fire out.Hunters return with pig and Jack slaps

Piggy, breaking his glasses. Argument Ralph and Jack- Ralph turns to Piggy and resentment is fuelled again.

Reenactment of hunt and Ralph on his own- calls a meeting.

Revision questions:• What is the significance of how Roger and

Maurice behave towards the younger boys?• What is Golding trying to suggest about the

way Roger behaves towards Henry?• How is Jack transforming even more?• What is the argument between Ralph and

Jack about?• How does Golding describe this physical

conflict between Jack and Piggy? What does it hint at?

• What has changed between Ralph, Jack and Piggy?

• ’Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.’- What is Golding suggesting about the behaviour of the boys?

Chapter 5: Ralph’s characterBeast from Water

Overview/significant moments:

Ralph’s thoughts- calls a meeting.

Meeting shows his leadership skills children frightened- the beast is mentioned and Jack says they will kill it.

Ralph becomes insecure but Piggy and Simon reassure him they need him.

Crying littlun ends the chapter.

Revision questions:• What is happening to Ralph’s character?• Find a quote to show this.• What is Piggy trying to say about the

fear they feel?• What are all the children arguing about?• What does Simon mean when he says,

‘maybe there is a beast...maybe it’s only us.’

• What has happened by the end of the meeting?

• Why do the children seem to have to have a ‘beast’ or ‘enemy’?

Chapter 6:Beast from Air

Overview/significant moments:

Battle overhead.Twins sleep on duty and

parachutist comes down.They panic and run to the

camp so they send search party.

Ralph and Jack brought together again- Ralph tells the boys off as they play with the rocks.

Revision questions:• Why does the parachutist seem like

a monster or beast to Sam ‘n’ Eric?• When they tell the others about it,

why are all the extra details added?• Explain what you think Simon

means when he thinks, ‘the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.’

• How is the rock described as being like a monster?

• How does Ralph show his true leadership skills in this chapter?

Chapter 7: Shadows and Tall Trees

Overview/significant moments:Ralph- the image of the sea.He joins the hunt and feels the

thrill.Reenactment of hunt even crazier

this time and Robert is nearly hurt. Jack suggests a littlun.

Jack then Ralph and Roger climb the mountain and see the dead parachutist- think it’s a monster and run down.

Revision questions:• What does the enactment of the

hunt suggest to us about the boys?

• Choose a sinister quote to suggest what it could lead to.

• Choose one of the following moments and write about the conflict between Jack and Ralph.

• When the three boys approach the ‘beast’, how does Golding create great tension for the reader?

Chapter 8:Gift for the Darkness

Overview/significant moments:Jack calls an assembly and says Ralph

should not be leader but the boys support him.

Jack storms off.Piggy urges Ralph to build a new fire on

the beach but in the night many sneak off to join Jack.

Hideous killing of the sow- ‘The Lord of the Flies’- a gift for the beast. They steal fire and tell Ralph’s followers they can join them.

Simon goes to his jungle glade and sees the head. Speaks to the head- warning here and apparition leads him to faint.

Revision questions:• What conflict happens between Ralph

and Jack- how do we feel about it?• What big change has happened with

the group this chapter when Jack runs off?

• How does Golding use language to describe the killing of the pig- how does he manage to make it sound really disturbing?

• Which quote disturbs you the most?• What do you think is happening to

Simon as he stares at the pig’s head?• What has happened to the groups by

the end of this chapter?

Chapter 9: Simon’s deathA View to a Death

Overview/significant moments

Simon finds the pilot/frees him and runs down the mountain to tell them.

Ralph and Piggy go to the feast and most of the boys will join. Starts to rain and frenzied hunting dance again.

Simon returns and is torn apart.Storm explodes and sea takes

the body away.

Revision questions:• When Simon frees the parachutist, what

does this show about his character- what does he symbolise?

• What change has happened to Jack and some of the boys?

• How does Golding create a sinister tension as he describes the tribal reenactment?

• Why do you think Ralph and Piggy become involved?

• How does Golding describe the horror of Simon’s murder? At what point do we realise it is Simon?

• At the end of the chapter, how does Golding describe Simon’s body as it floats out to sea?

Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses

Overview/significant moments:

Ralph and Piggy ashamed- Ralph knows murder has been committed. Conch/laughing. Only them, the twins and a few littluns left.

At Castle Rock Jack’s power is absolute- beatings/torture.

They raid Ralph and Piggy in the night and take his glasses.

Revision questions:• What does the argument at the

beginning of the chapter between Ralph and Piggy suggest about Ralph’s character?

• What has happened to Jack’s tribe now?

• How does Golding use language to create the drama and excitement of the fight? Comment on the final visual image- what does it suggest?

Chapter 11:Castle Rock

Ralph takes the conch to remind them of his authority.

Jack attacks Ralph and the hunters capture Sam and Eric. Ralph explodes and lunges at Jack and when Piggy tries to speak Roger shoves a massive rock over the top which knocks him over and kills him.

Ralph escapes now completely on his own.

Chapter 12:Cry of the Hunters

‘Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy.’

Ralph hides and when he finds the skull of the pig he knocks it over and takes the spear. The next day he hides but is found and the boys use fire to smoke/burn him out. Just before he is caught he falls and looks up to see a naval officer rescuing them.

Find key chapters/moments

Ralph and Piggy

Ralph:Chapter 1: introduced

Chapter 12: hunted and saved

Piggy:Chapter 1: introduced

Chapter 11: killed

Simon

Chapter 1: introduced and at the end of this chapter the way he sees the candle leaves.

Chapter 9: finds the truth which leads him to be savagely murdered. Image of body.

Jack and Roger

Jack:Chapter 1 introducedChapter 2 snatches glasses/against the

conchChapter 3 hunting image/obsessed with

killingChapter 4 new mask/violence to PiggyChapter 5 ‘bollocks...’Chapter 7 conflict escalates with RalphChapter 8 leaves/ savage killing of sowChapter 9 Simon’s murderChapter 11 Piggy’s murder/ fight with

RalphChapter 12 hunting Ralph and final

image of young innocent boy with glasses

Roger:Chapter 1 introducedChapter 4 stones/sandcastlesChapter 8 savage killing of the

sowChapter 10 Wilfred’s beating Chapter 11 Piggy’s murder

Language, structure and form:

Language: Allegorical- the characters,

objects and setting infused with symbolic significance.

Christian symbolism. Realistic dialogue (class- Piggy). Physical descriptions. Figurative language- similes and

metaphors.Sensual images for the

killing/action moments sow (sex) and Simon.

Structure: Foreshadowing. Conflict and climaxes build

tension leading to final catastrophes.

Setting/heat/weather woven throughout to create tension.

Form:Omniscient third person narrator-

sometimes child-like.Inner thoughts/flashback memories.Cinematic moments.

Symbolism