lord of the flies themes Flashcards
what kind of leadership are there in the book
Jack and Ralph’s leadership represents the conflict between democracy and dictatorship,
Ralph listens to the others and they’re able to give him opinions whereas Jack exerts
total control.
what is jacks leadership like
Jack thinks he should lead because he’s ‘head boy’ and can ‘sing C sharp’. Although being
head boy suggests he already has some authority, the second reason suggests he doesn’t
understand what true leadership involves as well as highlighting how young Jack is - only
very young boys can sing a C sharp. Although he takes control of the hunters, he resents
Ralph’s authority and that Ralph listens to other boys, such as Piggy, equally.
Jack has an authoritarian leadership style. He later calls another vote and leaves when he
doesn’t like the outcome. Jack becomes a tribal ‘chief’ and paints his face to make himself
seem more important. He is more interested in control than leading; he’s excited by the
prospect of punishment, and eventually uses fear and pain as ways to keep control, for
example, tying up Wilfred to beat him.
what is ralph’s leadership like
The boys choose Ralph as chief because of his attitude. Ralph is logical and deliberate,
taking his leadership role seriously. He stays focussed on the important things - the rescue
fire and building shelters - even when he would rather be doing something more fun.
He develops an understanding of people, for example, how to get attention at
assemblies and that blowing the conch when they won’t come back undermines his
authority (Chapter 5).
who has the most power
power shifts back and forth; Ralph is leader at first and for a while the others accept
him, but the boys turn towards a dictatorship when Jack seems to promise them fun and
adventure, which are things that they want.
how does the conch symbolise conflict
The conch symbolises the conflict between Ralph’s democracy and Jack’s dictatorship.
Blown by Ralph, the other boys follow its rules: the declarative ‘I got the conch’ is a
repeated statement on an individual’s right to speak and be heard. When the conch is
‘exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist’, the violent verbs show
the decisive end of democracy as Jack completely takes over.
what are civilisation and society
Golding explores the way that society works. He questions what makes humanity different
to animals and asks whether people are capable of overcoming original sin. Readers see
what could happen when society’s rules and moral teachings are stripped away.
how does ralph present civilisation
In addition to his role as democratic leader, Ralph is aware that his clothing and cleanliness
are markers of civilisation. In Chapter 1, he removes his school uniform to swim,
symbolically eliminating the identifying marks of civilisation - the literally unifying clothes
that mark him as part of a community.
He later realises how dirty the boys are and how ragged their clothing is - the outward
signs of civilisation deteriorating, just as their social attitudes are deteriorating.
how do jack and roger present civilisation
Both boys give up civilised behaviour and revert to savagery. In Jack’s case, he uses mud
as war-paint and becomes a ‘chief’, sitting above the others and commanding them. For
Roger, the loss of civilisation means the loss of rules that mean he can’t hurt other people
and, instead, give him licence to glory in violence.
how does piggy present civilisation
For Piggy, ‘life is scientific’. His constant references to civilisation are connected with
intelligence: tracking time with a sundial, or building planes or a ship. He is also
insistent on the importance of the conch as a sign of rules, society and community
working together.
how does the officer represent society
The arrival of the officer symbolises the return of civilisation to the island. At first, Ralph
sees the pieces making up the man’s uniform (a link to Ralph’s school uniform) and then
the whole man.
Ironically, although the officer represents society, it is as part of the navy - an organisation
that functions through hierarchy and violence. He is a reminder that the adult society
outside the island is still engaged in the way of living that brought the boys to the island
in the first place - this is a comment on the fact that society is perhaps not so ‘civilised’
after all.
how does the conch symbolise civilisation
The conch is a symbol of civilisation, and it enables the boys to listen to each other
and abide by rules. Golding describes Piggy holding ‘the talisman, the fragile, shining
beauty of the shell’ (Chapter 11). The noun ‘talisman’ gives the conch a sense of magic
or luck, while the adjectives ‘fragile, shining’ create an impression of beauty and peace.
But the conch is also easily broken, just like the veneer of civilisation, which breaks,
leaving the boys as violent savages.
what deaths occur in the novel
Although boys are probably killed in the plane crash (and the pilot), the first character’s
death in the book is the boy with the birthmark, following the first fire that gets out
of control - this is an accidental death. After this, Simon is beaten to death by the
boys following a hunt and Piggy is killed by Roger’s rock. There is also the death of the
parachutist, who lands on the island, and the constant threat of death, at first from the
island and nature, and then increasingly from other boys.
why do the boys resort to violence
As the laws of society are forgotten, the boys descend into savagery and animalistic
behaviour. However, unlike animals, the boys take pleasure in the excitement of violence,
celebrating it in tribal rituals.
Ralph’s experience in these rituals demonstrates the underlying potential for violence in all
the boys - he joins in despite being, in most other ways, a moral and responsible leader. Yet
he, too, participates in Simon’s death. He also physically fights Jack in Chapter 11, an echo
of the way that nations will fight one another despite claiming to be essentially peaceful.
how does violence change
At first, the violence is playful or pretend. Jack fails to kill a pig because of the ‘enormity of
the knife descending and cutting into living flesh’ and Roger throws stones avoiding Henry
because he remembers the censure of society. But by the time Jack and his hunters succeed,
the boys viciously thrust spears into the pig and celebrate their victory.
As hunters, the violence is restricted to a condoned place - the need to hunt and find
meat - mirroring the way that in society violence is viewed as being acceptable in some
instances, such as in war or when combating criminality. However, violence becomes
uncontrolled and spills out into murder.
how does fear effect the boys
Early on, most of the boys don’t express fear directly. Golding alludes to fear in Ralph and
Piggy’s conversation when Piggy says that nobody knows where they are and Ralph refuses
to think about it, because he is afraid.
The boys express fear in the assembly when discussing the Beast and their nightmares, the
blackness exacerbating their fear. They argue over what they should be afraid of rather
than how to stop being afraid.
Ralph worries that fear stops the boys acting rationally - he thinks that with the fear of the
Beast they forget that the signal fire is all-important. Ralph recognises the power of fear to
distort behaviour.
Fear becomes paralysing, literally when they see the parachutist, and figuratively
when they stop trying to be rescued because they can no longer set a signal fire on the
mountain. Fear stops most of the boys, except Simon, seeing things rationally: they run
from the parachutist in terror. Only Simon is able to master his fear and see the reality of
what the parachutist is.
