Lord of the Flies - Key Quotes Flashcards
Chapter 1: ‘All round him the long scar smashed…’ and analysis
‘All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat’
- Foreshadows that it will not be a traditional boys adventure story, like Coral Island
- ‘a bath of heat’ metaphor suggests the indentation made by the plane was deep and hot, emphasising the fire imagery used throughout the story
- Symbolic description of it as a ‘scar’ is personification, suggests that the island has been permanently defaced by humans
- The verb ‘smashed’ introduces the idea of extreme violence
- Whole quote is an illusion to the Bible, humans were banished from the Garden of Eden from eating from the Tree of Knowledge. Now, humans bring this knowledge to an unspoiled island, paradise, which was eventually set on fire
Chapter 1: ‘the creature was a…’ and analysis
- ‘The creature was a party of boys’
- Introduction of the choir boys led by Jack
- Choir boys thought to be quite civilised but ‘creature’ gives us a hint that when the boys form a group, they may develop animalistic tendencies and a mob mentality
- They can develop, because savagery is not inevitable and the book is about who can win the battle
Chapter 2: ‘We must make smoke on top of the mountain…’
- ‘We must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire. A fire! Make a fire!’
- Ralph has one main goal, he wants to make a smoke signal for passing ships to rescue them.
- But the boys get carried away making a huge fire that burns part of the jungle, killing one of the young boys in the process
- Tell us the boys are looking for excitement and getting them to keep a fire will become problematical
Chapter 3: ‘Rescue? Yes, of course!…
- ‘Rescue? Yes, of course! All the same, I’d like to kill a pig first’
- Jack seems to agree with Ralph about rescue but as ‘rescue?’ is posed as question it highlights how he has to think about before being able to remember because it is not his real focus
- Differing views between them are emerging
- What will lead to them not being recused
Chapter 4: ‘Round the squatting child was the protection…’
- ‘Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and law.’
- Descent into savagery is key but they don’t immediately start attacking each other
- Behaviour is initially moderated by the memory of the rules they had been taught
- Conjunction ‘and’ is repeated several times which is a figure of speech called polysyndeton. Emphasises the way society has several ways to temper our worst tendencies
- 4 ways we are educated to behave well are presented and is enough to protect the boy, Henry, from Roger who throws stones near him but not at him. This constraint of will does not last
Chapter 4: ‘When Roger opened his eyes and saw (Jack)…
- ‘When Roger opened his eyes and saw (Jack), a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin.’
- Roger is possibly the most sinister character and here Golding uses a metaphor to suggest his evil side
- Describing it as a ‘shadow’ that creeps. The verb choice ‘crept’ connotates with being furtive. Once Roger is a hunter he is hidden darker side emerges
- He will go on to torture a pig by jamming a sharp stick further and further inside. He will kill Piggy and sharpen a stick at both end to display Ralph’s head
Chapter 8: ‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something…
‘Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! said the head’
- Simon, kindest character, suffers a fit while hiding near where the boys kill a pig. Hallucinating, he sees the pigs head impaled on a stick and thinks it is talking to him.
- The rotting head is literally covered in flies but it is the connotation of this name that is important. The Lord of the Flies is another name for the devil.
- He lets him know that the Beast is inside of everyone so it cannot be killed. As long as humans are alive, the potential of evil will always exist so it can only be suppressed, resisted and controlled
Chapter 9: ‘Kill the beast!…’
’ Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!’
- When the boys are fearful, they chant this to create a sense of togetherness, then murder Simon who was coming out of the forest to tell them that the Beast was a dead airman
- This attack has been rehearsed twice (Maurice, play pretending and Robert but actually hurting him). This time they are so fearful, in a frenzy, they confuse Simon with the Beast do not stop until they have killed him.
Chapter 11: ‘The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow
‘The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragment and ceased to exist’
- This killing is conscious and cold-blooded. From up above, Roger rolls a boulder onto Piggy, killing him and the conch.
- Piggy is a symbol of rational thought and the conch of authority and democracy. So savagery now rules
- Just before, Roger sees Piggy as a ‘bag of fat’ taking away his human qualities making it easier to kill him
Chapter 12: ‘You don’t know Roger. He’s a terror -…
- ‘You don’t know Roger. He’s a terror - and the Chief - they’re both - terrors. - Only Roger- .’
- Having been caught by the hunters, Samneric realise the threat posed by Jack and Roger
- ‘You don’t know Roger’ chimes with his description at the beginning a ‘slight furtive boy, who no one knew’ (ch 1)
- They both have power through fear, dictator-like
- ‘Only Roger’ makes us believe he is the worst
Chapter 12: ‘Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness…
- ‘Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart and the fall through the air of true, wise friend called Piggy’.
- At the climax of the story, Ralph narrowly avoids getting murdered. But he not the care-free boy he was, he now knows humans are capable of extreme cruelty
- Overall message: everyone has the capacity for evil, so when mockery is seen (Piggy and Simon) we must stand up as it will spread and affect us all
