key themes

Question 1

savagery vs civilisation

Answer 1

• jack represents savagery, ralph represents civilisation
• as time goes on, primitive rituals start to replace the rules, eg the boys chanting and making an offering to the beast
• civilisation starts to break down when jack hits piggy and breaks his glasses, which symbolify REASON AND LOGIC, so the breaking of them represents the boys break down of rational thinking
• the destruction of the boys school uniform represents their loss of values and disciplines-> the boys start painting their faces as a way to liberate them into savagery

Question 2

fear

Answer 2

• golding uses the beast to represent the boys fear- ‘as if it wasn’t a good island’ foreshadows the events that take place later in the book
• simon is killed with ‘teeth and claws’-> the boys fear has caused them to become primitive and animalistic
• jack uses fear to increase his power of the boys -> he tells them the beast can never be killed which means it’s easier for him to control them

Question 3

leadership

Answer 3

• when the boys first get to the island, they create a community that mimics the societal behaviours they’ve seen at home-> so RALPHS style of leadership appeals to them
• as they become more savage, their desires become more basic, so JACKS style of leadership is best, as it’s more dictatorial and they don’t have to think for themselves

Question 4

the island is a microcosm for the real world

Answer 4

• the boys destruction of the island symbolises mans destruction of nature
• the conflict between the two groups formed by jack and ralph represents the war occurring in the real world-> ww2

Question 5

nature

Answer 5

-when the boys first arrive on the island it is described like the garden of eden-> the boys live through a similar story that adam and eve did, and eventually lose their innocence like adam and eve did

Question 6

games

Answer 6

• at the start of the book the boys play innocent games, building sand castles which are eventually destroyed by roger -> shows their rejection of civilisation
• roger makes a game of throwing stones at a littleun, but deliberately doesn’t hit them - the game reaches a climax when roger rolls the boulder that kills piggy
• ralph is being hunted down and wishes he could say ‘i’ve got pax’ (how children pause a game), but it wouldn’t work-> sign their childhood innocence is lost

Question 7

the pig on the stick

Answer 7

• represents the boys fear- tells simon ‘i’m part of you’ meaning it’s the boys own fear that causes their evil.
• ‘lord of the flies’ is the translation of the demon beezlebubs name-> voice of evil
• speaks with the ‘voice of a schoolmaster’-> simon realises that the adult world is corrupt too
• when ralph is hunted he uses the stick from the lord of the flies, destroying the symbol of the evil, but uses it to attack others -> shows he’s been corrupted by the evil