Identity Flashcards
initially, identity is presented…
through names
finish the quote: ‘the fat..
…boy’
finish the quote: ‘the fair…
…boy’
finish the quote: ‘they used to…
..call me “piggy” ‘
finish the quote: ‘why should..
..i be jack? i’m merridew’
initially, the loss of identity is presented…
through jack’s changing appearance
finish the quote: ‘except for a pair of tattered…
…shorts held up by his knife-belt, he was naked’
finish the quote: ‘he closed his…
…eyes, raised his head and breathed in gently with flared nostrils’
‘except for a pair of tattered shorts held up by his knife-belt he was naked. he closed his eyes, raised his head and breathed in gently with flared nostrils’
- ‘tattered’ -> losing his public-schoolboy identity
- the clean, formal appearance of jack and his uniform as head of the choir has been replaced with a disturbingly savage, almost animalistic appearance
- shorts are held up by a belt- ‘knife’ -> belt is no longer part of uniform -> but a tool to help him with his violent, destructive hunting
throughout the course of the novel, identity is presented…
through the fallen parachutist
finish the quote: ‘there was a speck above…
…the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute’
‘there was a speck above the island, a figure dropping swiftly beneath a parachute’
- human life is insignificant
- pilot is just a ‘speck’ and ‘figure’ with no identity
- just like piggy -> no one knows his name -> killed in conflict and is washed out to sea
finish the quote: ‘something like a great…
…ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees’
finish the quote: ‘the ruin…
…of a face’
‘something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees’
‘the ruin of a face’
- difference between human, animal and beast is unclear
- ‘like a great ape’ - makes link between man and animal clear -> we haven’t evolved beyond the animalistic savagery of beasts
- humans are nothing more than a ‘creature’ -> lack of evolution
- face = identity -> identity is damaged after war -> political allegory -> critical of the cold war -> totalitarianism vs liberalism
throughout the course of the novel, identity is presented…
(ch.8)
through the differences between jack and ralph
finish the quote: ‘he was safe from shame…
…or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint’
finish the quote: ‘ralph was kneeling by the remains of the fire…
…like a sprinter at his mark and his face was half-hidden by hair and smut’
‘he was safe from shame or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint’
‘ralph was kneeling by the remains of the fire like a sprinter at his mark and his face was half-hidden by hair and smut’
- contrast between jack and ralph
- jack’s ‘mask’ and ‘paint’ have associations of savagery
- whereas ralph remains a heroic, athletic ‘sprinter’
- ralph clings to his identity and civilisation-> face is only ‘half-hidden’ and it is with ‘hair’ and ‘smut’ –> only needs to wash his face to regain innocence
throughout the end of the novel, identity is presented….
through golding use of ‘the chief’ for jack
‘the Chief’
- capitals = importance
- no longer known as a boy -> superior to the rest
- totally lost his identity in his attempt to seize power and dictatorship
throughout the end of the novel, identity is presented….
through the boys
finish the quote: ‘those striped and…
…inimical creatures’
finish the quote: ‘savages were…
…clambering up castle rock’
throughout the end of the novel, the loss of identity is presented….
through the dehumanisation of ralph
finish the quote: ‘he was crashing through…
…foliage and small boughs’
finish the quote: ‘wormed out…
…of the ferns’
