Section B: LOTF Essay knowledge Flashcards
Answer questions relating to the text and inferred knowledge.
What do Piggy’s glasses symbolise? List ideas and explain them.
Piggy’s intelligence and level-headedness. A reminder of civilisation and ‘technology’, they cannot be replaced on the island. They are used to light the fire - showing the resourcefulness of civilisation and the boy’s inability to survive without it.
What does the conch symbolise? List ideas and explain them.
Democracy; all the boys have a voice on the island and can express themselves freely, whilst maintaining order and individual importance when holding the conch.
Civilisation; a sense of unity and order maintained via the rule of law.
Democratic leaders: Leaders are chosen by the people, based on their ability to represent them in a positive way.
What does the destruction of the conch represent?
The fall of civilisation; without the conch, the boys are able to descend into savagery, with Jack at the helm. The boys no longer have a voice and are dictated by Jack and Roger.
Links to civilisation (and law) are lost, the boys will regress to primal instincts.
‘The conch _________ into a _________ white fragments and _______ to exist.’
‘The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist.’
Golding: ‘Man produces _____ as a _______ produces _____’.
Golding: ‘Man produces evil as a bee produces honey’.
What does the Lord of the Flies (the pig’s head on a stick) represent?
The Pig’s head is the embodiment of evil that lurks within everyone.
While it could be argued that the head is a ‘supernatural’ force, the voices heard by Simon are in his own head, foreshadowing the fall of Simon and the surge of savagery. The scene mirrors the moment, during Jesus’ forty days, where the Devil tries to tempt Jesus into sleeping and eating during fasting.
Jack: ‘who wants to join __ _____?’
‘Who wants to join my tribe?’
Jack: “I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to ____ him.”
“I was just waiting for a moment to decide where to stab him.”
Jack: “Before I could ____ it–but–next ____!”
“Before I could kill it–but–next time!”
‘His voice rose to a shriek of terror as ____ snatched the ________ off his face.’
‘His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses off his face.’
What is the first moment where savagery becomes apparent on the island?
Jack tries to kill a pig - he hesitates and fails to kill it, showing that civilised teachings are still present within Jack’s mind. But his lust for blood shows the fragility of civilisation without laws and the presence of consequences, allowing the temptation of evil-doing to flourish (or the desires of the id, when considering the Personality Theory).
Jack to Piggy: “The _____ doesn’t count on top of the ________,” said Jack, “so you shut up.”
“The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain,” said Jack, “so you shut up.”
What is the allegorical meaning behind Jack and his tribe?
Jack represents Adolf Hitler in his rise to power, where the tribe represent his devoted Nazi followers.
As the tribe grows, the rest of the boys that join (after the death of Piggy and Ralph flees) represent those that were lured into Hitler’s promises of strengthening Germany, but became passive and concerned about his goals and intentions.
The boys attack Simon: ‘At once the crowd surged after it, ______ down the rock, leapt on to the _____, screamed, struck, ___, tore.’
‘At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore.’
What do the boys see lurking in the trees that they fear is the ‘beast’? What was it in reality?
A parachutist stuck in the trees, the cables of his parachute act as puppet strings and the movement of the wind contorts its body - giving the haunting illusion of being alive.
After the murdering of Simon, the parachutist falls from the trees and is swept away, giving the boys the belief that it is the beast they killed, and not Simon.
