KEY lord of the flies quotations Flashcards
“I’m the Beast… Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and
kill! … You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close!”
The Lord of the Flies speaks these lines to Simon in Chapter 8, during Simon’s vision in the glade.
These words confirm Simon’s speculation in Chapter 5 that perhaps the beast is only the boys
themselves. This idea of the evil on the island being within the boys is central to the novel’s exploration
of innate human savagery. The Lord of the Flies identifies itself as the beast and acknowledges to
Simon that it exists within all human beings: “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?” The creature’s
grotesque language and bizarre appropriation of the boys’ slang (“I’m the reason why it’s no go”)
makes the creature appear even more hideous and devilish, for he taunts Simon with the same
colloquial, familiar language the boys use themselves. Simon, startled by his discovery, tries to convey
it to the rest of the boys, but the evil and savagery within them boils to the surface, as they mistake
him for the beast itself, set upon him, and kill him.
“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.
These lines from the end of Chapter 12 occur near the close of the novel, after the boys encounter
the naval officer, who appears as if out of nowhere to save them. When Ralph sees the officer, his
sudden realization that he is safe and will be returned to civilization plunges him into a reflective
despair. The rescue is not a moment of unequivocal joy, for Ralph realizes that, although he is saved
from death on the island, he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence and learned about
the evil that lurks within all human beings. Here, Golding explicitly connects the sources of Ralph’s
despair to two of the main themes of the novel: the end of innocence and the “darkness of man’s
heart,” the presence of savage instincts lurking within all human beings, even at the height of
civilisation.
“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting
child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law”
This passage from Chapter 4 describes the beginnings of Roger’s cruelty to the littluns, an important
early step in the group’s decline into savagery. At this point in the novel, the boys are still building
their civilization, and the civilized instinct still dominates the savage instinct. The cracks are beginning
to show, however, particularly in the willingness of some of the older boys to use physical force and
violence to give themselves a sense of superiority over the smaller boys. This quotation shows us the
psychological workings behind the beginnings of that willingness. Roger feels the urge to torment
Henry, the littlun, by pelting him with stones, but the vestiges of socially imposed standards of
behaviour are still too strong for him to give in completely to his savage urges. At this point, Roger
still feels constrained by “parents and school and policemen and the law”-the figures and
institutions that enforce society’s moral code. Before long, Roger and most of the other boys lose
their respect for these forces, and violence, torture, and murder break out as the savage instinct
replaces the instinct for civilisation among the group.
“His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had
come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they
had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a
long satisfying drink.”
This quotation, also from Chapter 4, explores Jack’s mental state in the aftermath of killing his first
big, another milestone in the boys’ decline into savage behaviour. Jack exults in the kill and is unable
to think about anything else because his mind is “crowded with memories” of the hunt Golding
explicitly connects Jack’s exhilaration with the feelings of power and superiority he experienced in
killing the pig. Jack’s excitement stems not from pride at having found food and helped the group
but from having “outwitted” another creature and “imposed” his will upon it. Earlier in the novel.
Jack claims that hunting is important to provide meat for the group; now, it becomes clear that Jack’s
obsession with hunting is due to the satisfaction it provides his primal instincts and has nothing to do
with contributing to the common good.
“What I mean is .
. maybe it’s only us.”
Simon speaks these words in Chapter 5, during the meeting in which the boys consider the question
of the beast. One littlun has proposed the terrifying idea that the beast may hide in the ocean during
the day and emerge only at night, and the boys argue about whether the beast might actually exist
Simon, meanwhile, proposes that perhaps the beast is only the boys themselves. Although the other
boys laugh off Simon’s suggestion, Simon’s words are central to Golding’s point that innate human
evil exists. Simon is the first character in the novel to see the beast not as an external force but as a
component of human nature. Simon does not yet fully understand his own idea, but it becomes
clearer to him in Chapter 8, when he has a vision in the glade and confronts the Lord of the Flies.
“The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded
into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.”
chapter 11. Roger pushed a rock onto Piggy which ended up killing him and destroying the conch (both symbols
of order and lawfulness), signifying the descent of the boys from civility into atavistic savagery. Note
the indifference of the verb ‘glancing,’ acknowledging that Piggy’s death is unimportant and
normalised. The conch, as a political symbol, has now ‘ceased to exist,’ announcing that politics has
now been erased in favour of a primitive society.
“We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re
English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right
things
chapter 2. Early on in Lord of the flies, Jack sill felt conditioned by his previous English society to want morat,
law and order, and to reject savagery. The insistence high swe’re not savages’ conveys that the will to
obey the conditioning of established bodies of authority (school, police, government, law, etc) from
“the old life’ is undying; primitive behaviour is very much seen as a rebellion at this stage.
“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?”
chapter 4. Piggy, as the voice of reason, logic and science (one whose societal conditioning is unchanging), is
noticing the transition in behaviour between the old life’ and primitive ways; his repetitious use of
rhetorical question indicates his feelings of shock and disbelief.
“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”
chapter 9. This becomes the boys’ mantra. Note the simplistic syntax (verb + subject) and exclamations, and
how it creates a threatening tone. As this is repeated throughout the text, it indicates the new
obsession and how the conditioning of the boys’ old life has now ceased to exist.
“I’m frightened. Of us.”
chapter 10. Ralph acknowledges the change in the boys as a group. As one of the only individuals who refuses
to bow to primitive ways, he now finds fear in the boys’ actions as prey finds in its predator. Also
note the use of the inclusive pronoun us- it implies that Ralph is even frightened of himself; all of
the boys are now an unpredictable primitive force.
