Lord of the Flies Quiz

Question 1

Background information about the author’s view and life? What are themes regarding the cold war that Golding was into?

Answer 1

• Author was born just before WW1
• The author fought in WW2 (1939-1945)
• When he returned from war, the threat of nuclear war were on his mind
• His experiences influenced his views on human nature
• These views were shown in his book
• The cold war occurred after WW2

Themes regarding the cold war (that Golding was into):
- The effects of the atomic bomb
- Fear of atomic bomb testing
- The vietnam war

Question 2

What was Golding’s view towards evil and human nature?

Answer 2

• Golding had a pessimistic view of human nature and fate
• WW2 and cold war showed golding that the evil in human beings could not be explained away
• He suggested that born evil and destined to remain evil

Question 3

What is an allegory?

Answer 3

• Characters, events, ideas, used to imply a larger concept
• Larger concepts could be political, moral, social, historical, religious
• The author’s understanding and perspective regarding this larger concept
• There will be subtle hints that bring you to the final message by the end of the story

Question 4

Setting of the book

Answer 4

The novel is set on an unidentified deserted island. The island is large enough for the boys to not know it is an island at first, and for there to be multiple distinct settings for events to occur (the mountaintop, Castle Rock, the jungle). However, the boys are the only humans on the island until the very end of the novel. The setting drives the plot—the island is deserted, and therefore the boys must fend for themselves.

Question 5

Significance of the island

Answer 5

• The tropical island, with its bountiful food and untouched beauty, symbolizes paradise.
• It is like a Garden of Eden in which the boys can try to create the perfect society from scratch.
• The island’s corruption by the emergence of evil and the boys’ sins likewise continues the analogy.

Question 6

The beats/Lord of the flies significance

Answer 6

• Simon recognizes that the Lord of the Flies is the savage monster buried in everyone.
• The name “Lord of the Flies” is a reference to the name of the Biblical devil Beelzebub, so on one level, “the beast” is a kind of savage supernatural figure, but mostly it symbolizes the evil and violence that potentially exists in the heart of every human.
• The beast is the embodiment of evil in Lord of the Flies, as well as the evil or sin found within each person.
• It stands in direct opposition to the ideals of democracy, civilization, and cooperation. The Beast.
• The imaginary beast that frightens all the boys stands for the primal instinct of savagery that exists within all human beings.
• The boys are afraid of the beast, but only Simon reaches the realization that they fear the beast because it exists within each of them.

Question 7

Conch significance

Answer 7

• The conch shell symbolizes the rule of law and civilization.
• It’s used to call assemblies and as a kind of microphone that grants the right to speak to whomever holds it during assembly.
• Thus, the conch symbolizes civilization, adult rules, and the democratic process.
• As Ralph is the first to utilize the conch as a social tool, it also becomes a symbol of Ralph’s legitimacy as a leader.
• Symbolizes freedom of speech, brings people together, source of struggle and power.

Question 8

Swimming pool significance

Answer 8

Symbolsizes the purification of the children, source of enjoyment, brings them comfort and show their innocence.

Question 9

Platform significance

Answer 9

Symbolsizes teh meeting place where the boys plan and get to know one another and repsrents paliament/congress

Question 10

Piggy’s glasses significance

Answer 10

• By allowing the boys to create fire, the first necessity of civilization, Piggy’s glasses represent science and technology, mankind’s power to transform and remake their environment to best suit its needs.
• Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society.
• The act of putting on his glasses before he speaks symbolizes Piggy using his intellect to think logically about the boys’ situation, or his attempt to “see” and explain their reality clearly. The glasses establish who Piggy is as a thinker and what he offers to the group.

Question 11

Significance of glasses to Piggy

Answer 11

• Brings comfort and wisdom for Piggy as he feels uncomfortable when they aren’t with him and allows him to see clearly, literally and figuratively.

Question 12

Fire significance and what does it foreshadow

Answer 12

• Fire is a complicated symbol in Lord of the Flies.
• Like the glasses that create it, fire represents technology.
• Yet like the atomic bombs destroying the world around the boys’ island, fire is a technology that threatens destruction if it gets out of control.
• Fire also symbolizes the boys’ connection to human civilization: their signal fire gives them hope of rescue.
• At first, the signal fire symbolizes rescue. But as it grows out of control, it symbolizes danger and death, foreshadowing how it will later become associated with destruction and savagery.
• maintaining ties to civilization
• When the fire ultimately burns out, the boys’ disconnection from the structures of society is complete.

Question 13

Adults signification

Answer 13

Adults symbolize civilization and social order to the boys. But to the reader, the world war raging outside the island makes it clear that the adult “civilization” is as savage as the boys’ “civilization” on the island.

Question 14

Scar significance

Answer 14

A rip in the forest caused by the crash landing of the boys’ plane on the island. The scar symbolizes that man, and his savage nature, destroys paradise merely by entering it.

Question 15

What color is Raplh associated with?

Answer 15

Ralph is often associated with natural colors, reflecting leadership and order.

Question 16

What color is Jack associated with?

Answer 16

Jack is linked with red, symbolizing aggression and savagery.

Question 17

What color is associated with Piggy?

Answer 17

Piggy is connected to pink, indicating vulnerability and innocence.

Question 18

What represents red?

Answer 18

The color red often represents violence and bloodshed,

Question 19

What represents black?

Answer 19

black symbolizes death and evil.

Question 20

What represents white?

Answer 20

The use of white can imply innocence and purity

Question 21

What represents gold?

Answer 21

gold represents power and authority.

Question 22

Ocean significance

Answer 22

The ocean symbolizes the unconscious, the thoughts and desires buried deep within all humans. The separation between the boys and the rest of the human world

Question 23

Beach significance

Answer 23

The beach on the uninhabited island symbolically represents stability, communication, and safety. The beach is the location where Ralph and Piggy first spot the conch in the lagoon, which they use to call the boys to assemble on the platform overlooking the sea.

Question 24

Explain theme of human nature

Answer 24

• Aimed to trace society’s flaws back to their source in human nature.
• By leaving a group of English schoolboys to fend for themselves on a remote jungle island, Golding creates a kind of human nature laboratory in order to examine what happens when the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over.
• Golding argues that human nature, free from the constraints of society, draws people away from reason toward savagery.
• The makeshift civilization the boys form in Lord of the Flies collapses under the weight of their innate savagery: rather than follow rules and work hard, they pursue fun, succumb to fear, and fall to violence.
• Golding’s underlying argument is that human beings are savage by nature, and are moved by primal urges toward selfishness, brutality, and dominance over others.
• Though the boys think the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks only in their hearts.

Question 25

Explain theme of savagery and the beast

Answer 25

• The “beast” is a symbol Golding uses to represent the savage impulses lying deep within every human being.
• Civilization exists to suppress the beast. By keeping the natural human desire for power and violence to a minimum, civilization forces people to act responsibly and rationally, as boys like Piggy and Ralph do in Lord in the Flies.
• Savagery arises when civilization stops suppressing the beast: it’s the beast unleashed. Savages not only acknowledge the beast, they thrive on it and worship it like a god. As Jack and his tribe become savages, they begin to believe the beast exists physically—they even leave it offerings to win its favor to ensure their protection.
• Civilization forces people to hide from their darkest impulses, to suppress them. Savages surrender to their darkest impulses, which they attribute to the demands of gods who require their obedience.

Question 26

Theme of power

Answer 26

• There is a destructive effect of man’s longoing for power and control
• Through many characters, the story reveals how consuming teh desire for power can be and how it ultimately has destructive effects
• The struggle of the boys to gain and maintain power not drives them apart but drives them to do sadistic and disturbing things
• This shows the destructive effect of power on children who are widely appeared to be good and innocent
• The text dosen’t say power is negative but implies that maintaining a balance of power is hard and the ongoing struggle to result in destructive effects both on individuals and scoiety

Question 27

Loss of innocence theme

Answer 27

• The boys experience harsh relaties of growing up through their own behaviours and experiences on the island
• They learn about the nature of human beings and the world as they engage in a battle between morality and immorality, civilzationa and savagery
• Their lessons that they learn are very dark which conveys the message of the lasting effect of actions which embrace the darker aspects of human nature
• Ralph and Piggy lose their innocence and transform into mature people because they oppose killing people and do not enjoy killing animals.

Question 28

Theme of Spirituality and religion

Answer 28

• Most of the boys on the island either hide behind civilization, denying the beast’s existence, or succumb to the beast’s power by embracing savagery.
• But in Lord of the Flies, Golding presents an alternative to civilized suppression and beastly savagery. This is a life of religion and spiritual truth-seeking, in which men look into their own hearts, accept that there is a beast within, and face it squarely.
• Simon occupies this role in Lord of the Flies, and in doing so he symbolizes all the great spiritual and religious men, from Jesus to Buddha to nameless mystics and shamans, who have sought to help other men accept and face the terrible fact that the beast they fear is themselves.
• Of all the boys, only Simon fights through his own fear to discover that the “beast” at the mountaintop is just a dead man.
  But when Simon returns with the news that there’s no real beast, only the beast within, the other boys kill him. Not just the savages, not just the civilized boys—all the boys kill Simon, because all of the boys lack the courage Simon displayed in facing the beast.

Question 29

The weak and strong theme

Answer 29

• Within the larger battle of civilization and savagery ravaging the boys’s community on the island, Lord of the Flies also depicts in great detail the relationships and power dynamics between the boys.
• In particular, the novel shows how boys fight to belong and be respected by the other boys. The main way in which the boys seek this belonging and respect is to appear strong and powerful.
• And in order to appear strong and powerful, boys give in to the savage instinct to ignore, pick on, mock, or even physically abuse boys who are weaker than them.
• Over and over, Lord of the Flies shows instances where a boy who feels vulnerable will save himself by picking on a weaker boy.

Question 30

Civilization theme

Answer 30

• The boys embrace their inner evil and abandon civlized democratic ties in favour of moral corruption and dictarship
• Although Golding argues that people are fundamentally savage, drawn toward pleasure and violence, human beings have successfully managed to create thriving civilizations for thousands of years.
• Without the innate human capacity to repress desire, civilization would not exist.
  He depicts civilization as a veil that through its rules and laws masks the evil within every individual. So even while civilizations thrive, they are merely hiding the beast. They have not destroyed it.
• The Lord of the Flies is a chronicle of civilization giving way to the savagery within human nature, as boys shaped by the supremely civilized British society become savages guided only by fear, superstition, and desire.
• And even before the boys become fully savage under Jack, Golding shows hints of the savage beast within society by showing Piggy’s love of food, the way the boys laugh when Jack mocks Piggy, and all the boys’ irrational fear of the “beast.”
• And as the boys on the island shed civilization for savagery, the adults of the supposedly “civilized” world outside the island are engaged in a savage and brutal worldwide nuclear war.

Question 31

Describe Raplh as a charcater and what does he symbolize?

Answer 31

• The largest and most physically powerful boy on the island.
• Despite his size and strength, Ralph shows no signs of wanting to dominate others and is preoccupied with being rescued.
• He insists on planning and following the rules, and is able to prioritize the needs of the group above his own selfish desires.
• For example, Ralph builds the huts even though he dislikes the work, in contrast to the other boys who go off to play whenever they dislike doing important tasks.
• Ralph feels the exhilaration of hunting and killing, but he always manages to suppress savage feelings.
• Ralph symbolizes law, government, and civil society.
• Brave, leader (democratic), calm, responsible, mature, hair hair, maintains order, disrespectful toward Piggy

Question 32

Describe Piggy as a charcter and what does he symbolize

Answer 32

• The smartest boy on the island.
• Due to his obesity and asthma, Piggy is also the weakest of the biguns.
• Piggy believes passionately in civilization, law, and reasoning through problems, but he seldom does any work because of his obesity and his nonstop craving for food.
• Piggy also has a tendency to lecture and criticize.
• His condescension infuriates the other boys and inspires them to single him out, ridicule him, and even physically abuse him.
• Piggy symbolizes science and rationality.
• Fat, glasses, self-conscious, asthma, intelligent, socially akward, outsider and does not appreciate his nickname

Question 33

Why dosen’t Piggy’s hair grow?

Answer 33

• Piggy’s hair never grows out or into his eyes. This signifies his unchanging character and his inability to become savage and to remain a figure of wisdom and reason throughout the novel.

Question 34

Describe Jack as a character and what does he symbolize

Answer 34

• The head boy of his chorus back in civilization, Jack becomes the leader of the hunters on the island.
• Jack loves power.
• Laws and rules interest him only because they give him the chance to punish the other boys and express his dominance over them.
• He loves to hunt and kill because it gives him a chance to dominate nature.
• Jack gets angry whenever he doesn’t get his way: he believes a proper leader issues orders and is obeyed.
• By the end of the novel he becomes exactly that sort of leader, wielding power only for his own whim and benefit.
• Jack symbolizes the human love of dominance and power.
• Dominant, bully, obnoxious, cruel, leader (dictator), choir members follow him with dreary obedie`nce, harsh through his commandments, disrespectful toward Piggy
• In this way, the beast indirectly becomes one of Jack’s primary sources of power.

Question 35

Describe Simon as a character

Answer 35

• A dreamy, dark haired boy, prone to fainting spells and occasional fits.
• Simon is the only member of Jack’s chorus who doesn’t become a hunter.
• The most generous of the biguns, Simon helps Ralph build the shelters not out of a sense of duty, but because he wants to.
• Simon is also the most insightful and in many ways the bravest of the boys.
• Only Simon recognizes that the boys carry the beast within themselves; only Simon suggests that they confront the “beast” by climbing the mountain; and only Simon is unafraid when alone in the jungle.
• Some critics have called Simon a symbol of Jesus Christ, but his symbolic role is actually more general.
• With his fits and spiritual insights, he stands for the mystics, prophets, and priests of all religions who confront and reveal the darkest aspects of human nature.
• Odd, not afraid to speak his mind, physically weak (faints often), skinny, mystical, quick problem solver, and kind.

Question 36

Describe Roger as a charceter and what does he symbolize

Answer 36

• A quiet, brooding member of Jack’s chorus.
• Roger is at first little more than a mystery, a quiet, intense boy who seems to hide himself from the other boys.
• But as the trappings of civilization begin to recede on the island, Roger begins to reveal himself, first by throwing rocks at littleuns (and purposely missing), then by killing a pig more viciously than necessary, then by rolling a boulder down on Piggy, then by torturing Samneric, and finally by sharpening a stick on which he plans to stake Ralph’s head, just as he earlier staked a pig’s head.
• While Jack loves power, Roger loves to cause pain.
• He symbolizes mankind’s sadistic instincts, the suppressed desire to hurt others.
• Tanned, avoids notice/attentions of others, sly, quiet at first but gradually gets louder, inner intensity, secretive and follower

Question 37

Describe Samneric as a charcetr

Answer 37

• The identical twins Sam and Eric who do everything together.
• They so closely resemble each other that the other boys use just one name to refer to both of them.
• The twins prove to be less influenced by fear of the beast or Jack than any of the other boys (except Ralph and Piggy), perhaps because as twins they’re less alone than any of the other boys.
• Sam and Eric, who quickly become known as ‘Samneric’, are identical twins, and completely inseparable.
• They provide some comic relief from their first introduction, as Piggy is unable to tell them apart, which causes good-natured laughter.
• Sam and Eric do everything together, although this sometimes leads to problems.
  Serve others and are followers

Question 38

How is Maurice

Answer 38

Second largest choir boy, funny, friendly and good natured and follower

Question 39

How is Johnny

Answer 39

Young, panicked, acts baby-like, follower

Question 40

How are the choir boys

Answer 40

6-12 ages, follow jack and obey his commands, march in straight lines, they don’t question Jack out of fear

Question 41

How is the tone?

Answer 41

The tone of Lord of the Flies is consistently dark. Parts of the novel are funny: the boyish dialogue, for instance. And it is often emotionally touching to watch the child characters develop. However, the characters being children also makes the tone much darker when, for instance, a character dies or is put in danger. The ever-present reminders of the war in the world outside the island also add to the dark and pessimistic tone.

Question 42

What is politcial/social allegory?

Answer 42

• Island is seen as its own little world
• Democracy (Ralph) -> respects rules, group gatherings, voting for decisions
• Dictatorship (Jack) -> one person rule, cunning, “I ought to be chief…because I’m chapter, chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp.”
• Cold War Era had two major political systems: democracy and dictatorship

Question 43

What is psycological allegory

Answer 43

• Characters personify different aspects of human psyche

Question 44

What is a religious allegory?

Answer 44

• Island represents Garden of Eden
• Castaways sin/fall from grace
• Loss of innocence/descent to evil as they fail to follow certain rules set by the “gods” of society (adults)

Question 45

What is appeasement?

Answer 45

• Giving into demands of aggressive political powers to avoid conflict
• In LOTF -> Ralph tells Jack he can still be in charge of his choir group/hunters (pg 19)
• Like Hilter fooling Western Powers to earn Czechoslovakia as the other countries gave the land to avoid crisis

Question 46

What are the 6 sources of power?

Answer 46

• physical force (means of force, connecting to the theme of civilization and savagery)
• Wealth (money controls the world)
• State action (use of laws) (democracy → Ralph and the conch vs dictatorship → Jack through singular power)
• Social norms (majority of people seeing something as acceptable)
• Ideas (create an endless amount of power, ex. Black Lives Matter, Nazi movement)
• Numbers (large amounts of people create power by expressing collective interests, ex. Germany putting fear in people made them believe in him)

Question 47

“This last piece of shop brought sniggers from the choir, who perched like black birds on the criss-cross trunks and examined Ralph with interest.” meaning and figurative language?

Answer 47

The narrator likens the choir boys, dressed in black cloaks and seated on fallen tree trunks, to a flock of irreverent black birds sizing up Ralph. Comparing Jack to black birds to show his insignificance.

Simile

Question 48

Part of the eerie, looming, ominous ambiance of the novel is created by the constant feeling that the island that the boys are on is a sentient, living organism.

Answer 48

Personification

Question 49

“All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat.”

Answer 49

The narrator uses two metaphors, one linking the strip of jungle damaged by the plane crash to a scar, and another comparing the heat and humidity to a bath.

Metaphor

Question 50

“Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch” when he looks at the fire

Answer 50

Although the boys need fire, Piggy can see the dangers of it. The fire for him is hyperbolic and foreshadows disaster.

Hyperbole

Question 51

How is the morning?

Answer 51

The bright sun rises and teh air is fresh and sweet
It is the best time of day for the boys
They tend to forget their hopes and worries

Question 52

How is noon?

Answer 52

The sun reaches a high point in the sky
The heat and its light becomes unbearable
The boys take shelter in the shade

Question 53

How is afternoon?

Answer 53

The boys are confused by illusions that are caused by the white light of the sun
Piggy recognizes these as mirages

Question 54

How is evening?

Answer 54

It grows cool
Darkness descends upon the island
In the blackness, the boys become frightened and restless

Question 55

Keys ways younger boys contrast from big boys:

Answer 55

• Huddle in small groups
• Spend most of their time eating major quantities of fruit from the jungle so they are often sick
• They spend a lot of time crying
• Percival once stayed in a hut for two days constantly weeping
• The boys seek escape from their troubles by playing games that are serious (not happy)

Question 56

Trampling of sand castles representation:

Answer 56

• Risk of violence becoming rule of the land
• The older boys do not help the younger ones
• Though they aren’t completed uncivilzed yet

Question 57

What does Beast from Water signify

Answer 57

The title signifies the boys’ fears and how they project their anxieties onto the unknown. Underlying fear of the unknown, can’t go past a certain depth in the ocean

Question 58

An example of foreshadowing from Chapter 5?

Answer 58

An example of foreshadowing is the discussion about the beast, hinting at the descent into savagery. Golding’s attempt to show that anyone can become the beast; the beast is within everyone, yet we must choose whether or not we wish to embody it

Question 59

What does Raplh’s dialogue in Chapter 5 reveal during the debates?

Answer 59

Ralph’s dialogue reveals his leadership struggles and concerns regarding order; specific examples include his attempts to maintain control during meetings.

Question 60

What is heavily personfied in Chapter 5?

Answer 60

The literary device of personification is used when discussing the beast, enhancing the theme of fear as it becomes a tangible entity.

Question 61

What does the conch symbolize in chapter 5?

Answer 61

The conch shell symbolizes order and democracy; its power diminishes as chaos ensues.

Question 62

How does Golding portray the conflict between savagery and civilization

Answer 62

Golding portrays the conflict through the boys’ debates and increasing fear, exemplified by their reactions to the beast. Contributes to the mood and creates suspense

Question 63

What emotion do the characters experience during the meeting about the beast? How does Golding use descriptive language to convey these emotions

Answer 63

The characters experience fear, confusion, and frustration, depicted through Golding’s use of vivid and tense descriptive language.

Question 64

Examine the use of imagery in the description of the island at night. How does this imagery contribute to the overall mood of the chapter?

Answer 64

The imagery of the island at night creates a sense of foreboding and suspense, contributing to the mood of unease.

Question 65

How does the perspective of the boys change regarding the beast from the beginning to the end of the chapter? Discuss the implications of this shift?

Answer 65

The boys’ perspective shifts from disbelief to genuine fear, leading to a greater acceptance of the beast as a real threat.

Question 66

Analyzing Fear - How does the quote “The beast is a hunter” reflect the boys’ internal fears? Discuss how fear influences their behavior and decisions throughout the chapter.

Answer 66

• Fear motivates them to hunt the beast
• Boys are fearful that the beast will hunt them
• Ralph feels more disconnected from his civilized life
• They are afraid the beast is within them
• Jack and Ralph were getting into a lot of fights showing their fears of savagery/the beast

Question 67

Symbolism of the Fire - In what ways does the quote “We’ve got to make smoke up there - or die” symbolize the struggle between civilization and savagery? Discuss the significance of the signal fire as a representation of hope.

Answer 67

• Keeping fire connection between civilization/the boys
• Without civilization savagery can emerge
• Signal fire very important to them (to be rescued/not give up)
• Connection to the boys trapped on the island/the outside world

Question 68

Cultural Identity - What does the statement “We’re not savages. We’re English” reveal about the boys’ understanding of their identity? How does this belief impact their actions and relationships on the island?

Answer 68

• Boys still believe they are civilized
• Show how some boys trying to keep their civilization/sanity
• Belief allows them to be less reckless in their decisions (not everyone listens)
• The island is making the change within them (some allowing it to happen)

Question 69

Power of the Conch - Discuss the meaning behind “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain.” What does this suggest about the decline of order and civilization among the boys, and how does this relate to the theme of power?

Answer 69

• Order/authority
• Helps boys establish rules/sense of civilization
• As they become more savage the conchs power fades (don’t listen to it anymore)
• Conch power being diminished
• Ralph is the only person left to connect to civilization

Question 70

Rationality vs. Fear - How does the quote “Fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream” illustrate the struggle between rationality and fear? In what ways do you think fear shapes the characters’ perceptions of reality?

Answer 70

• Ralph tells the boys how they should not give into fear
• Believes the nightmares the littluns are having are not real so they should not fear the beast
• Jack and Ralph have a fear of losing power
• Internal struggle between internal thoughts and internal fears
• Fear can lead to the breakdown of civilization/rationality
• Fear affects the ability to think rationally

Question 71

Embracing Savagery - Analyze the significance of the quote “We’ll kill the beast. We’ll carve it up.” What does this reveal about Jack’s character and the overall theme of savagery overtaking civilization in the novel? How does this moment mark a turning point for the group?

Answer 71

• Shows larger overall loss of innocence/savagery
• Shows a gruesome/ritualistic act showing savagery in the boys
• The boys try to stay civilized but later some give in to their savagery
• Jack says the quote and symbolizes the boys savagery and violence from leaving the point of maintaining order
• Solidifies his effort of protecting them from the beast
• Shows significant turn in them maintaining their original order of things (making shelter, protecting)

Question 72

Painted faces symbolization

Answer 72

The face paint is a camouflage to hide their true identities. Once their faces are covered, they adopt new personalities. They are transformed from innocent and disciplined English schoolboys into savage hunters. The paint symbolises their descent into savagery and bloodthirst.

Question 73

explain civilization vs savagery

Answer 73

Civilization is the good inside of man to choose to live by rules, under authority, act reasonable, and peaceful with others. Savagery represents the evil of choosing not to live peacefully with others and not live by rules, but instead living to gain power over others and acting violently.