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)
