LoTF Flashcards
What are the key scenes for violence at the beginning?
Jack unable to kill the piglet
‘the creature that stepped from the mirage’ foreshadows the boys animalistic nature. creature looks menacing and sinister.
Jack ‘shouted at the choir’ -> aggressive, violent
Jack ‘slashing’ at plants. -> Jack is the only one who has a weapon. ‘sizeable sheath-knife’
What are the key scenes of violence in the middle?
Killing of the sow -> bloodlust, excessive violence, descent into savagery. ‘the sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her.’
snatching and breaking Piggy’s glasses. takes them ‘without permission’ to light the fire.
Jack ‘smacked Piggy’s head’ breaking a lens in his glasses.
monosyllabic chanting ‘kill the pig! cut his throat! spill his blood!’ boys get caught up in a frenzy of mob mentality.
Simon get brutally killed when he is mistaken for the beast -> ‘the sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed’
What are the key scenes of violence at the end?
Jack tied up one of his tribe members and beat him for angering him. ‘ he got angry and made us tie wilfred up’
some members of jacks tribe go to steal Ralph’s fire at night and end up fighting him. They steal Piggy’s glasses. tomorrow, we shall hunt again’
Island on fire -> metaphor of hell
‘smoke was seeping through the branches in white and yellow wisps’
Introduction for violence
The Lord of the Flies is an allegorical novel which is significant as evil takes over the boys morality. In the novel, violence is presented as a natural part of human nature. This is shown as the boys on the island are forced to fend for themselves without any adult supervision, and as a result, they quickly become aggressive and violent towards each other. It suggests that violence can emerge when people are forced to compete for power or resources. Violence represents the boys descent into savagery. As the boys become more brutal, like hunting of the pigs, the boys descend further into savagery. Violence links to the symbol of the pigs head as hunting created the ‘Lord of the Flies’. Violence is a key theme throughout the whole novel but becomes more dramatic by the end of the novel as the boys lead to killing eachother.
Conclusion for violence
Ultimately, violence links to the theme of law and order as they cannot co-exist in a stable society. This is shown as violence peaks when the conch is destroyed and all sanity is lost until the arrival of the naval officer at the end of the novel. Goldings intentions was to show the ‘darkness of man’s heart’ and he believed that every individual has the potential for evil and that the flawed human nature is seen in ‘mankind’s essential sickness’.
