Lord of the Flies quotes and themes Flashcards
“The english are best at everything”
- Said by Jack in chapter 2
- Jack says that all people of England are inherently good
- Starting point of the novel to outline the misconception that people are inherently good
“Mankind’s essential illness”
- Said by Simon in chapter 5
- Simon is first person to understand the existence of the beast
- States the inner nature of humans are the real beast
“The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist”
- Conch symbolises civilsation and order
- Symbolises end of rational thought and order (paired with the death of piggy)
- Verb “exploded” emphasises the destruction of rationality rather than falling apart, etc…
- Symbolises that the conch is beyond repair (and so is civilisation)
“Sam, Eric”, “Sam ‘n Eric”, “Samneric”
- Chapter 1 to 2 to 10
- Shows the deterioration to primitive nature
- Unable to articulate thoughts and cannot make speech
“A stain in the darkness, a stain that was Jack”
- Jack is becoming the darkness (and therefore the beast)
- Jack is using the fear of the beast to control the boys
- 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
“Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”
- 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?
“You’ll get back to where you came from”
- Simon is prophesising the future
- “You’ll” instead of “we” - knows that he won’t get off
- Parallels Jesus prophesising his own death
“His feet left prints in the moist, black Earth”
- Simon is very closely connected to nature
- The forest is the garden of Eden?
“We used Piggy’s specs … he helped that way”
- Only one to stand up for Piggy even though he didn’t volunteer his specs
- Simon shows innate goodness and superego
- John Locke - tabula rasa
“What grown-ups going to think?”
- 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
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart”
- Represents what happens if rules are gone
- Ralph represents government. The deterioration of Ralph symbolises loss of democracy and order when there is no society which leaves to innate savagery
- Proves Hobbes’ state of nature
“Roger stooped, picked up the rock, aimed, and threw it at Henry - thre it to miss”
- Use of verbs “stooped”, “picked”, “aimed” and “threw” show how measured and caluclated Roger is in his acts of violence
- Anaphora of “threw” emphasies how calculated he is
- Roger is a sadist: inflicts pan for pleasure
“Roger ceased to be a pig and became a hunter”
- Played the part of the pig and the hunter
- Was the hunted and hunter
- Seen both sides - prefers to be hunter (hows innate savagery)
“Let’s have a vote” : “you couldn’t stop me coming if I wanted”
1) First to suggest democracy - wants to keep order
2) Threatens Robert, shows descend into savagery as he knows he can’t be stopped
Cold war context
- Rivalry between Soviet union and the west
- A war between two different styles of government (Soviet = authoritarian rule, west = democracy)
- Ralph represents the west (democracy and free speech) and Jack represents the Soviet union (authoritarian rule)
How does Golding suggest the both sides (Soviet and the west) are responsible for the destruction?
- The littlun that dies in the fire (ch 2) is not protected by Ralph’s democracy
- Both sides take part in the murder of Simon
- Although Jack’s rule is very detrimental, it is the battle between both that causes the most destruction
- Clash between ideologies causes most damage
