Lord of the Flies CORE QUOTES

Question 1

“A stain in the darkness, a stain that was Jack”

Answer 1

• Jack has become the darkness (and therefore the beast)
• The noun “stain” has connotations of permenance and constance. Anaphora emphaises the permenance
• The indefinate article “a” suggests that Jack isn’t the main reason (for the savagery) but rather the catalyst
• Jack is the beats: the boys should be afraid of Jack rather than the beast
• Golding is showing how an individual can become the embodiement of a destructive force: depicting the fears that ideological extremists of the Cold War (communism or capitalism) would lead to widespread war and chaos

Question 2

“the tearing of teeth and claws”

Answer 2

• Description of boys when they are killing Simon
• Animalistic imagery: boys have fully descended into primative and barbaric nature
• Maybe the boys didn’t know it was Simon? Too clouded by fear?
• Deindividuation = Golding is highlighting that social conformity brings the worst out of people
• Parallels transubstantiation: in Christian belief, wine and bread symbolises Jesus’ blood and body. Golding’s suggesting that Simon is dying to save the boys from sin, just like Jesus
• Parody of the crusification as the idea of transubstantiation is jusxtaposed by the horror of the death of Simon: Golding is suggesting that there is actually no hope for salvation
• Littluns had mentioned they had seen teeth and claws when talking about the beast: Golding is showing that the boys had become the beast

Question 3

“the hot, bright thunder of the fire”

Answer 3

• Describes the fire that is set to kill Ralph
• “Bright” juxtaposes the savagery in the novel and the danger and destruction that is associated with a fire: Golding is mocking how the fire is initialy used as a sign of hope and how the brightness of the fire was meant to get them rescued
• Man is in a spiral of decline of evil: death of Simon, death of Piggy, attempted killing of Ralph. Paraallels Golding’s fears of a third world war
• Fire will lead to the destruction of the island and everything inside of it: will lead to the death of the rest of the boys
• Golding is suggesting that although war is thought of as the right choice, it will lead to a pyrrhic victory
• Pyrrhic victory: a victory that is not worth winning because the loss is worse than the gain (they will lose the whole island just to kill Ralph)

Question 4

“Ape-like, among the tangle of trees”

Answer 4

• Metaphor
• Zoomorphism
• Highlights animalistic nature
• Alliterative consonance of plosives: emphasise Jack’s rugged and harsh nature. Also has connotations of chaos and uncertainty
• Parallels Darwin-s theory of evolution: if humans were able to evolve from animals, was it able to devolve back into an animal?
• Reflects Thomas Hobbes’ theory on the state of nature: humans are inherently evil and thrive to dominate others

Question 5

“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”

Answer 5

• Jack’s developments from not believing in the beast to joining in the chant shows that he has reached the peak of human savagery
• Order of verbs (kill then cut then spill) shows that they want to do more than what is necessary - they have gone beyond the point of barbarity kill for pleasure not for safety from beast
• Pronoun “his” gives the beast human qualities - the boys want to kill humans (animalistic, canibalistic) or did they know it was Simon yet carried on?
• Simon’s sacrifice for the boys to save them from sin is mocked by Golding as their animalistic nature is coming out. Suggesting that the boys are beyond salvation

Question 6

“Mankind’s essential illness”

Answer 6

• Simon is able to understand that the evil in man is the main problem in humans
• The pre-modyfing adjective “essential” emphasises that this is the main problem that is causing all of the war and chaos around the world
• Too what extent is Simon killed due to this revelations?: Simon is able to think differently to the booys and understand that they are the real beast. This parallels how people with different ideologies and think differently to the English are killed in war

Question 7

“The long scar smashed into the jungle”

Answer 7

• The adjective “scar” has connotations of pain and suffering and the verb “smashed” has connotations of damage and destruction
• The island was an idyllic place before the boys arrived
• Parallels the garden of Eden: the idyllic place was ruined by the arrival and the sin of humans
• Island as microcosm for the rest of the world: humans are runing the beauty and peace

Question 8

“The creature was a party of boys”

Answer 8

• Introduction of the choir
• Prolepsis to the beast which is actually the boys
• Described as wearing black uniform: represents the army uniform
• Highlights the deindividuation throughout the novel: the boys are able to do heinous things because they are able to hide in a mob
• Golding is mocking humans as they blame all of their actions and evilness on a uniform
• Ironic because both Simon and Jack come from the choir: both come from the same background: shows capacity for good and evil in all humans

Question 9

“Hurt and crushed”

Answer 9

• Piggy is “hurt and crushed” after Ralph tells everyone that his name is Piggy
• Shows us just how weak Piggy is
• “crushed” has connotations of destruction and suffering: Piggy is so weak that he is completely destroyed just by Ralph telling everyone his name
• Prolepsis to Piggy’s death

Question 10

“He found for them the fruit they could not reach”

Answer 10

• Simon is the only one that helps Ralph with the shelters
• Although there is some food available, Simon still stops in his journey to get more food for the littluns
• Simon represents the superego: shows capacity for good in all man

Question 11

“You’ll get back to where you came from”

Answer 11

• Simon is prophecising the future
• “You’ll” instead of “we” - knows that he won’t get off
• Parallels Jesus prophesising his own death

Question 12

“What grown-ups going to think”

Answer 12

• Piggy is the only one in the novel to speak with a lower-class accent
• Piggy symbolises rationaility
• He is constantly bought up and talked about using his flaws (“ass-mar”, lower-class accent, weight) showing the vulnerability of rationaility when faced with savagery and primal instinct
• Rousseau’s human nature - Piggy’s retionaility and intelligence is corrupted by society and he is not taken seriously