Lord of the flies - Chapter 1 Flashcards
“I ought to be chief”
Jack shows willingness to bypassed democracy when he attempts to put himself in the position of chief before a democratic process has occurred
“ a conch he called it”
Piggy refers to his neighbours conch
“let him be chief with the trumpet thing”
The conch symbolises and lends to Ralph’s authority and democratic power
“something creamy lay among the terry weeds”
This highlights the importance and unique nature of the conch
“The choir is yours, of course”
This decision from Ralph allows Jack to seize control of the boys later on
“a witch-like cry”
this symbolises the boy’s paranoia of the unknown as the source of the sinister cry was most likely something innocent
introduces evil
“He’s throwing a faint”
This introduces us to Simon and marks him as an outsider
“with dreary obedience, the quiet raised their hands”
This conotates the control that Jack held over the choir and for shadows how he would have similar control over the rest of the boys
“sucks to your asthma”
This highlights that Ralph is not a perfectly moral character and for shadows the theme of evil
“shut up fatty”
This marks piggy as an outsider due to his physical appearance as well as highlighting Jack’s nature
“ skull like coconuts”
this for shadows, the end with the boys being unleashed upon the innocent island
“because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh”
this shows Jack is initially unable and unwilling to kill
this highlights the enormity of his descent into savagery.
“after all we are not savages”
This is ironic as Jack is the first person to show savage tendencies as well as the fact that he becomes chief of the savages
“ we’ve got to decide about being rescued”
this is ironic as Jack later on allows the signal fire to become extinguisher in favour of going
Initial description of Ralph
’ The boy with the fair hair’
‘You could see that he might make a boxer’
‘There was a mildness about his…eyes that proclaimed no evil’
- natural leader
- oldest boy
- father is a naval commander
- tall, attractive
Initial description of Piggy
‘He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat’
‘An expression of pain and inward concentration altered the pale contours of his face’
‘Adjusted the spectacles on his nose’
- history of being bullied
- has asthma
- physically unfit and severely short sighted
Initial description of Jack
‘tall, thin and bony…his hair was red beneath the black cap’
‘his face was…freckled, and ugly without silliness
- used to being in control and getting his own way
- chapter chorister and head boy at his school
What happens in the first chapter?
first day on the island
- boys are stranded on the island after a plane crash
- Ralph and Piggy find a conch
- Ralph is elected leader
What are the themes in the first chapter?
Innocence
Order and disorder
leadership
civilisation and savagery
good and evil
What is the main symbol in the first chapter?
The conch
–> leadership
–> school assemblies
–> order and civilisation
–> democracy
