Lord of The Flies Flashcards
General points
Explores what society would be like if we had no rules of behaviour to contain violence and cruelty
Presents the view that everyone has some drives which can be damaging if we have no means of controlling them
Rules are taken for granted, or we forget the point of having them
Golding makes us realise that rules are necessary in order to protect the weak, and avoid anarchy
Makes us question how far has mankind evolved from its animalistic ancestry
Lack of surnames makes the boys’ individuality less obvious
Fragile peace between Ralph and Jack represents the fragile world peace which hangs by a delicate thread
- just like Jack, a world superpower could lose its restraint and become an aggressor
- explores what would happen if war broke out between superpowers
“lord of the flies” is a translation of “beelzebub” - a name for the devil
Golding is interested in where violence comes from, in how we can manage conflict, and in how the world can be made a safer place
If Ralph symbolises Britain/USA and Jack symbolises Russia/Germany, then Golding seems to project the consequences of the triumph of communism as the regime of Jack, which is catastrophic
-perhaps Golding wants to say hat the West and the Communist East are behaving like twelve year olds, and that the battle is not really for supremacy but for a way of making a lasting peace
Why school boys?
It enables Golding to populate the world of the desert island with childish but very real objects of fear
He can explore the difference between a social system goverened by institutional rules and a so called society where there are no rules, because there are no adults to apply or impose them
Psychology
The need to belong and be accepted can drive our behaviour
-most of the boys join Jack’s tribe
It is unrealistic to expect children to behave with the judgment of adults, when they have none of an adult’s experience and perspective
Basic physical needs are more dominant
The drive to be impulsive, demands that we gratify the momentary impulse
-e.g Jack’s obsession with hunting is this sort of drive
“ego” restrains us in our selfish drives, by considering the effect of gratifying out own wishes
-e.g. Ralph would like to experience the excitement of hunting, but decides to build shelters and manage fire duties instead
“superego” is the external influences which have power over our behaviour
-e.g. Piggy constantly asking “what will the grown-ups think”
Golding demonstrates that these restraining forces wear off sooner or later
Irrational feelings drive away rational, reasoned thoughts, and eventually we forget how to think rationally
-e.g. Ralph’ responses to stressful events become less rational from chapter 5
The beast
Piggy explains it not in terms of a monster, but in terms of jack(when you hate or fear something, you can’t get it out of your thoughts)
-the boys on the island fear a monster they have never actually seen, but their thoughts about it give it the same power over them as if it were real
Golding is telling us that the really frightening thing is the monster within - the potential in us, as people and as gangs of people, to be violent to others, for no good reason except that we are afraid of them, and we allow the feeling of fear to dictate what we do
Savage under the skin
Golding explore the potential for regression; the idea that the boys are British, and therefore cannot be savage, turns out to be nonsense
-shows us how easy it is to abandon British rules of decent behaviour when there are no adults to push the rule breakers
Roger signifies the Emperor Hirohito of Japan in World War 2
Jack signifies Stalin/Hitler
Analyse chapter 1
Piggy would like to be the leader himself(was slow to put his hand up in support of Ralph) but he understands that he does not have the charisma that job demands
Jack and his choir are oddly dressed in black(signifies death), and Jack makes violent gestures with a knife
Jack has an ugly face - reflects his ugly personality
Golding includes the odd, ominous discord in his description of the setting
- e.g. the bird Ralph disturbs has a witch-like cry, coconut are skill like, birds cry, waves make a grinding, roaring sound, animals squeal, conch strikes a harsh note
- foreshadows the island is not as good and friendly as they expect, conflict, death
Island is hostile to the humans(invaders)
-it is exotic but threatening
Jack’s criticism of Piggy here foreshadows his later intense dislike of Piggy
Bad weather on the island foreshadows later events, when Simon is murdered
Jack threatens, with prophetic and dramatic irony, next time there will be no mercy for the victim at the end of his knife
-once you have killed a pig, what is to stop you from killing a boy who is like a pig - Piggy - or anyone else
Analyse chapter 2
Jack excitably interrupts Ralph with his own agenda about hunting pigs, which is already a fixation of his
Jack is interested only in the opportunity to inflict violent punishment on any rule-breakers
Jack promises to hunt and kill the beast
-allows for the force of irrational fears in a way Ralph cannot
Jack leads the excited crowded away and leaves Ralph and Piggy with the conch
-prefigures the way Ralph and Piggy have the conch, but less and less power from Chapter 8 onwards
Shows dramatic irony in Jack’s announcement that they are not savages because they are english
-public school boy jack is the most English and the most savage of all the boys
Irony - Piggy’s sight is poor, but his foresight and perception and understanding of the consequences of actions is excellent
Once the idea of a “beastie” is spoken about it casts a shadow of doubt in all the boys’ minds - signals the end of innocence - later on Piggy mentions that the only evil on the island is the evil in the minds of the boys - evil is not external but internal
Chapter 2 builds and extends the potential for conflict between the democratic leader, Ralph, and the demagogic Jack
Rolling stones, starting fires, and killing pigs all provoke the island to reject its tiresome colonists, and inflict the same chaos and suffering on them
For Jack, Roger and the hunters, fire is a means of cooking meat, since they have neither the desire nor the imagination to work towards being rescued
-fire is primitive, a way of returning to pre-civilised times
For Ralph, fire is a means of communication with the outside world and therefore the mean of salvation
Analyse chapter 3
Simon raises the perception that the island is not “good”(contrary to Ralph’s own view), and Jack admits that he can feel hunted while hunting
- there is a hostile presence in the jungle
- they are unwelcome here
- prefigures a theme which grows stronger in later chapters - the island resents and rejects those who behave badly on it
Last part of chapter 3 is devoted to Simon and his need for solitude(like Christ going into the wilderness for Lent)
Jack is so obsessed with hunting that he has almost forgotten the concept of rescue
All the boys are doing what they want - lack of rules, order - foreshadows later descent into savagery
Analyse chapter 4
Golding uses threatening language in the first two paragraphs to create a sense of foreboding
-e.g. snapping, angry, menaced, dark, darkness
Piggy is a young fogey - old before his time
Piggy is the only boy whose hair stays the same length - suggests that he is not growing - he has already reached a point of maturity beyond the others
Makes us question where is the line between “harmless” leg pulling and unacceptable cruelty
Golding changes the narrative to two more of the six year olds(percival then henry) to show how uninterested, and indifferent to, shaping the society we live in some people are
Percival is the same colour as a mouse - timid and fearful just like a mouse
Roger’s skin colour is not changed much by the sun - implies he spends most of his time in the shade, watching or stalking other - antisocial, psychopath
-his alienation from the group is becoming fiercer and fiercer
Golding is using Henry who enjoys directing and controlling the tiny creatures to say that even the youngest have a desire to impose their authority on something smaller and weaker than themselves
At this stage Roger does not throw stones to hit henry, as he is still affected by the social convention of their old life that hurting other people is wrong
-later on when he kills piggy the residual constrains of a civilised society have worn off and there is no deterrent to Roger’s sadistic drive
The effect of the face paint is to make Jack feel like a different person - it changed him into a dancing, snarling and bloodthirsty savage - jack is “liberated from shame and self-consciousness” - allowed him to regress to a more primitive version of himself, ungoverned by any sense of morality
Does not like having blood on his hands, and wipes it on his shorts - he is not yet comfortable with shedding blood
Jack stands for the irrational, easily distracted, impulsive, emotional, Ralph stands for the big picture of long term plans and goals, rational thinking
-it seems impossible to keep both aspects of our being in balance
Jack punches Piggy and breaks his glasses - Piggy’s insights are not valued, and piggy himself will be smashed on the rocks, like his glasses
His cruel acts raise the hunters to “a gale of hysteria”
-a reference to the effect of Hitler’s oratory during his rise to power
Narrative comment confirms that things are going wrong, collaboration is breaking down
Ralph relights the fire by him self - contrast in section 2 where Jack helped to fan it and keep it going
The killing of the pig is re-enacted in a way which prefigures the killing of Simon later on
- Maurice pretended to be the pig - “the word pretended” is repeated
- contrasts to Simon’s killing later on, when there is no pretending
Analyse chapter 5
Boys are starting to protest that Ralph is making too many rules - starting to get tired of regulations, descent into savagery
Demonstrates that the impulsive glamour and excitement of hunting will always overpower the mundane need to build shelters and keep a fire burning, which will result in the confrontation between Ralph and Jack at the end of the last chapter
Piggy stands on the edge of the assembly at first, because he disapproves of it, but he is soon drawn into it
The situation is like the huge rock they rolled in chapter 1 - there is a moment of imbalance, just before a tide of destruction
Analyse chapter 6
The woodlice cannot avoid being caught in the fire - the boys are like small insects which cannot escape from their own hot and destructive fears
Dramatic tension is built as we do not see the corpse but the twins’ horrified reaction to what they have seen
Ralph will not use the conch to call an assembly n fear of bringing the beast down to them - the rational Ralph is becoming overcome by the fear and irrationality; could also be Ralph realising the conch has lost its power
Simon bumps into a tree and a spot on his forehead begins to bleed, same thing happens to Ralph’s bitten nail later on
-character who bleeds like this has been singled out for cruel suffereing - Simon dies, Jack attempts to kill Ralph
Golding’s description of the ledge of Rock and the breathing-style pattern of the rising and falling water is a way of preparing the way for the moment of Piggy’s death when he falls on to that rock
Jacks excitement at the damage the rocks in castle rock could do to someone foreshadows what Roger will do to Ralph and Piggy
Analyse chapter 7
Golding presents Ralph as being close to Roger and Jack when he jabs at Robert with a spear
Jack says that the play-hunt needs to be made more authentic by dressing a small boy up as a pig
-foreshadows what will be done to Piggy, and the hunting of Ralph
The language used to describe Robert(squealed, blundered, frenzy) blurs the distinction between the human and the sub-human(pig)
At the end of the chapter Ralph, Jack and Roger discover the parachutist and runs away just like Sam and Eric did at the end of chapter 5
Simon did not predict his own personal safety, or Piggy’s, only Ralph’s
Analyse chapter 8
The hunt is like a military operation - improved equipment, sophisticated tracking skills - foreshadows how he will hunt Ralph in the final chapter
-sow sheds drops of blood, Ralph noticed his nail bleeding - likens Ralph to the sow
Roger addresses Jack as “chief” - primitive, uncivilised
Roger is instructed to sharpen a stick on both ends - similar stick is prepared for hunting Ralph in chapter 12 - implies that he too will be decapitated after being put to death in a sadistic way
-killing pigs will have become the same thing as killing people
Flies feast on dead sow as well as Simon - implies Simon will soon be dead
Jack uses paint instead of clothes in a step further towards primitivism; also insists on a bizarre ritual
Analyse chapter 9
The two beings perceived as the beast(Simon and the parachutist) are removed from the island, which leaves the real beast - the inner savagery of the individual to reveal its true force
Simon’s eye has lost their brightness, walks like an old man expressionless - boyishness has gone
-his understanding about the nature of human now is similar to that of very old people, mature
The reluctant journey Ralph and Piggy make, to observe Jack’s camp anticipate the powerless trip they will later make to try to recover Piggy’s broken glasses
Jack is similar to a Neanderthal or caveman - complete descent into savagery, no sense of morals, primitive
Silence is used when Ralph and Piggy arrives to signify dramatic tension
The thunder supports the decisive confrontation between Ralph and Jack - Ralph’s leadership is being destroyed
Ralph and Piggy are drawn to the group, because all of us feel the need to be attached to a social group(see psychology)
-including Ralph and Piggy in the group shows that the instinct for inhumane violence is societal and collective, it is in everyone, not just something which abnormal or damaged individuals are prone to
Simon is repeated mostly as the beast and “it”
Mob described as “a single organism” - people have no mind of their own
The group hysteria over the fire led to the accidental death of the small boy in chapter 2, now it has taken a more primitive and savage character, and collective fear has become a trigger for ritualistic murder
-the fear is the fear of being hunted by the beast, but the fear itself releases the beast(Lord of the flies said in chapter 8”i am a part of you)
Analyse chapter 10
The transfer of power to Jack becomes final and complete with the theft of Piggy’s glasses
Jack presents the beast as something which cannot be killed
- the threat from the beast can help Jack maintain order
- confirms what the lord of the flies said to Simon - the inner beast, the real beast, is something you cannot kill, because you cannot kill what is inside of you
The other boys are not referred to by their names - they are now too primitive and savage to have civilised names or individual identities anymore
Fire is dying - Ralph’s passion, hope, Ralph’s belief that their fate is in their own hands at all is dying along with it
Ralph relies on escapism to retain his sanity
-his way of talking to Piggy and some of his physical movements demonstrate that he is on the verge of a breakdown
Jack does not attempt to take the conch - it has no value to Jack - it is a redundant symbol of a civilised method of behaving and organising
