Lord of the Flies Notes
"Maybe, maybe there is a beast... What I mean is...maybe it's only us" (89)
IMPORTANT HANDOUTS
Click here for a link to the Study Guide. Sorry there is no link to the glossary of vocabulary words.
CHAPTER NOTES
Okay, so we're almost at the end of the year. Way back in December, we introduced fable, symbol, and allegory, and here we bring it full circle with one of the most famous allegorical novels of the 20th century.
Chapter 1 - Welcome to the perfect island--featuring lush palm trees, pink granite, a mile-wide blue lagoon, a "solar-heated" swimming pool, and no adults! Well, it used to be perfect; now it has a scar--sort of man's calling card to Nature--"Hello, here I am; oops, sorry!" Watch for key descriptions of the boys, and watch out for Roger's backstabbing action towards his choir leader, Jack.
Chapter 2/ Enter the Beast! - More scars! Oops, sorry about that fire that got out of control. The boys have only been on the island for a day and look at the once perfect island. Moreover, as this chapter opens, it's no longer the hopeful morning; instead, the tired reality of the late afternoon begins to take hold, and as evening approaches, the boy with the mulberry-colored birth mark brings up the uncomfortable topic of the snake-thing that he "saw" in the dark. Watch how Jack and Ralph handle the boys' fears, and how jack takes advantage of every opportunity to take control.
Chapter 3 - Jack and Ralph argue over priorities, and Jack's eyes are now described as seeming "bolting and nearly mad" (48). Watch out, Ralph! This chapter ends with a focus on Simon, his kindness to the littluns, and his trip to his secret "room" in the jungle.
Chapter 4/ Jack's New Mask - The bad boys dominate this chapter. Roger kicks over sandcastles and throws stones at Henry to pass the time. (Re-read page 62 for a reminder of Roger's utter creepiness.) Meanwhile, Jack finally kills a pig after he adopts his new look - scary face paint that causes Bill to run away from him. A ship passes the island, but Jack and the hunters let the fire go out. Things get stressful when Ralph yells at Jack for abandoning the fire, but Jack regains his standing when he passes out freshly cooked meat to everyone but Piggy. Ralph needs to remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch...
Chapter 5/ Things Fall Apart - Ralph calls an evening meeting, and the talk turns from business to the beastie. Simon admits to roaming around at night and then announces that the beast may be real... and living inside the boys! With the ocean's edge just feet away, a littlun named Percival claims that the beast crawls out of the ocean. As Ralph tries to restore order and reason, Jack denounces the rules, and most of the boys run off in chaos. Only Piggy, Simon, and Ralph remain on the platform-listening to Percival weep in his misery of homesickness and fear. Watch for the description of the boys as they do their dance of "mock hunting." The dispersed figures of the boys have come together on the sand and are "a dense black mass that revolved" (92). Do you see the flies? But who will be their "lord"?
Chapter 6 - Golding begins Chapter 6 with a reminder of the atomic war raging in the adult world. In answer to Piggy, Ralph, and Simon's wish that adults were with them, Golding provides the arrival of the dead pilot to indicate his view as to whether adults would do better on the island. Although Ralph is clearly losing the respect of the boys, he earns the reader's respect when he bravely insists on going first over the bridge to Castle Rock, and thereby facing the beast first. Pay attention to Jack's and Ralph's contrasting reaction to Castle Rock. Ralph's view of it as "rotten" is foreshadowing!
Chapter 7 - In this chapter, watch for SImon's prediction about Ralph's future, and think about what Simon's words imply about SImon's own future. The beast comes out in boys as they re-enact Ralph's spearing of the wild boar. The chapter ends with the second trip up the mountain. This time all is darkness (literally and metaphorically). Be sure to think about the significance of the third boy with Jack and Ralph. How does this second trip contrast with the first? How do the time of day and the identity of the 3rd boy generally symbolize the state of the boys' morally and rationally?
Chapter 8 / A Conversation with the Lord of the Flies- Blind fear takes over all the boys as things come to a head between Jack and Ralph. Watch out for Jack's distortions of the truth when he describes what happened on the mountain. Jack challenges Ralph to his face and calls for a revolt against Ralph. At first , the boys refuse to renounce Ralph, but their loyalty doesn't last. Jack will form his own tribe, and you can read in horror about the new tribe's first hunt. Clearly, the Beast--which is originally just fear--has grown into something much more savage inside the boys. Meanwhile, Simon is experiencing one of his spells of physical weakness. We don't know the exact nature of Simon's disability--it could be migraine headaches, it could be epilepsy, it could be some other neurological disorder--but we do know that he frequently has fainting spells (Golding 20). In his weakened state, Simon encounters the "gift" left by Jack's tribe as a offering to the Beast. (Note that "darkness" is mentioned again in the title of this chapter.) Although Simon is clearly ill and fading in and out of reality, his conversation with the Lord of the Flies (which is occurring entirely in Simon's mind and reflects Simon's beliefs and fears) contains solid truth about what the Beast really is, how the boys view Simon, and what lies ahead for Simon if he insists upon showing the truth to the boys. This is a tough chapter in many ways, good luck!
Chapter 9--This chapter is also a tough one to read because it is so sad. Pay attention to the juxtaposition in the mood of the narrative at the chapter's end as it changes from crazy and violent when Simon ("so small a beast") is attacked, to calm and peaceful when the forces of nature give him a "burial" at sea. Here's something to think about: Did Ralph and Piggy join in the group's attack on SImon?
Chapters 10-12--These final chapters end the book on a very sad note. So what is Golding's message here? Is there any reason to hope for a better future? Is Golding warning us or condemning us?
Literature lovers will look for
IMPORTANT HANDOUTS
Click here for a link to the Study Guide. Sorry there is no link to the glossary of vocabulary words.
CHAPTER NOTES
Okay, so we're almost at the end of the year. Way back in December, we introduced fable, symbol, and allegory, and here we bring it full circle with one of the most famous allegorical novels of the 20th century.
Chapter 1 - Welcome to the perfect island--featuring lush palm trees, pink granite, a mile-wide blue lagoon, a "solar-heated" swimming pool, and no adults! Well, it used to be perfect; now it has a scar--sort of man's calling card to Nature--"Hello, here I am; oops, sorry!" Watch for key descriptions of the boys, and watch out for Roger's backstabbing action towards his choir leader, Jack.
Chapter 2/ Enter the Beast! - More scars! Oops, sorry about that fire that got out of control. The boys have only been on the island for a day and look at the once perfect island. Moreover, as this chapter opens, it's no longer the hopeful morning; instead, the tired reality of the late afternoon begins to take hold, and as evening approaches, the boy with the mulberry-colored birth mark brings up the uncomfortable topic of the snake-thing that he "saw" in the dark. Watch how Jack and Ralph handle the boys' fears, and how jack takes advantage of every opportunity to take control.
Chapter 3 - Jack and Ralph argue over priorities, and Jack's eyes are now described as seeming "bolting and nearly mad" (48). Watch out, Ralph! This chapter ends with a focus on Simon, his kindness to the littluns, and his trip to his secret "room" in the jungle.
Chapter 4/ Jack's New Mask - The bad boys dominate this chapter. Roger kicks over sandcastles and throws stones at Henry to pass the time. (Re-read page 62 for a reminder of Roger's utter creepiness.) Meanwhile, Jack finally kills a pig after he adopts his new look - scary face paint that causes Bill to run away from him. A ship passes the island, but Jack and the hunters let the fire go out. Things get stressful when Ralph yells at Jack for abandoning the fire, but Jack regains his standing when he passes out freshly cooked meat to everyone but Piggy. Ralph needs to remember that there is no such thing as a free lunch...
Chapter 5/ Things Fall Apart - Ralph calls an evening meeting, and the talk turns from business to the beastie. Simon admits to roaming around at night and then announces that the beast may be real... and living inside the boys! With the ocean's edge just feet away, a littlun named Percival claims that the beast crawls out of the ocean. As Ralph tries to restore order and reason, Jack denounces the rules, and most of the boys run off in chaos. Only Piggy, Simon, and Ralph remain on the platform-listening to Percival weep in his misery of homesickness and fear. Watch for the description of the boys as they do their dance of "mock hunting." The dispersed figures of the boys have come together on the sand and are "a dense black mass that revolved" (92). Do you see the flies? But who will be their "lord"?
Chapter 6 - Golding begins Chapter 6 with a reminder of the atomic war raging in the adult world. In answer to Piggy, Ralph, and Simon's wish that adults were with them, Golding provides the arrival of the dead pilot to indicate his view as to whether adults would do better on the island. Although Ralph is clearly losing the respect of the boys, he earns the reader's respect when he bravely insists on going first over the bridge to Castle Rock, and thereby facing the beast first. Pay attention to Jack's and Ralph's contrasting reaction to Castle Rock. Ralph's view of it as "rotten" is foreshadowing!
Chapter 7 - In this chapter, watch for SImon's prediction about Ralph's future, and think about what Simon's words imply about SImon's own future. The beast comes out in boys as they re-enact Ralph's spearing of the wild boar. The chapter ends with the second trip up the mountain. This time all is darkness (literally and metaphorically). Be sure to think about the significance of the third boy with Jack and Ralph. How does this second trip contrast with the first? How do the time of day and the identity of the 3rd boy generally symbolize the state of the boys' morally and rationally?
Chapter 8 / A Conversation with the Lord of the Flies- Blind fear takes over all the boys as things come to a head between Jack and Ralph. Watch out for Jack's distortions of the truth when he describes what happened on the mountain. Jack challenges Ralph to his face and calls for a revolt against Ralph. At first , the boys refuse to renounce Ralph, but their loyalty doesn't last. Jack will form his own tribe, and you can read in horror about the new tribe's first hunt. Clearly, the Beast--which is originally just fear--has grown into something much more savage inside the boys. Meanwhile, Simon is experiencing one of his spells of physical weakness. We don't know the exact nature of Simon's disability--it could be migraine headaches, it could be epilepsy, it could be some other neurological disorder--but we do know that he frequently has fainting spells (Golding 20). In his weakened state, Simon encounters the "gift" left by Jack's tribe as a offering to the Beast. (Note that "darkness" is mentioned again in the title of this chapter.) Although Simon is clearly ill and fading in and out of reality, his conversation with the Lord of the Flies (which is occurring entirely in Simon's mind and reflects Simon's beliefs and fears) contains solid truth about what the Beast really is, how the boys view Simon, and what lies ahead for Simon if he insists upon showing the truth to the boys. This is a tough chapter in many ways, good luck!
Chapter 9--This chapter is also a tough one to read because it is so sad. Pay attention to the juxtaposition in the mood of the narrative at the chapter's end as it changes from crazy and violent when Simon ("so small a beast") is attacked, to calm and peaceful when the forces of nature give him a "burial" at sea. Here's something to think about: Did Ralph and Piggy join in the group's attack on SImon?
Chapters 10-12--These final chapters end the book on a very sad note. So what is Golding's message here? Is there any reason to hope for a better future? Is Golding warning us or condemning us?
Literature lovers will look for
- the deus ex machina
- the juxtaposition between Simon's "burial" at sea and Piggy's "burial" at sea
- how Piggy's death is a parody of a scientist's data report (while Simon gets the burial of a saint)
- situational and dramatic irony galore
- symbolism and allegory - How Simon, Jack, Piggy, and Roger function as symbols. Also watch for the symbolism of the fire, specs, conch, pig's skull, stick sharpened at both ends, darkness and light, scar, and the boys appearance.
