LORD OF THE
FLIES
WILLIAM GOLDING
“THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY NOTES WHEN IT COMES TO
DEVELOPING YOUR UNDERSTANDING”.
Learning Intention
Success Criteria
To confidently analyse and write about a
variety of texts
To be a concise, accurate writer of analysis of
texts
To be able to transfer knowledge of literary
devices to multiple texts
To read with meaning and be able to annotate
text
To be able to identify and apply leadership and
ethical principles in novel settings
To build knowledge and understanding of
broad societal principles
PHYSICAL SETTING
1. The lagoon: most civilised place on the island
2. The mountain: salvation might occur here, positive high place
3. The jungle: rife with death and decay
4. Castle Rock: where Jack and his ‘tribe’ establish themselves
Why is this important?
Critical thinking for English requires two things:
Knowledge about the text from reading it
Knowledge of the text’s language features, context, genre, and use of form or structure. The next slides will help with this
understanding.
SYMBOLS AND THEMES
 Symbols:
1. The Conch
2. Glasses
3. Clothes
4. The Beast
5. The island
6. Masks
7. The lord of the flies
8. Scar
 Themes
1. Civilization vs savagery; loss of innocence
2. Human nature - Good vs evil
3. Power – corruption and growth
4. Leadership
5. Fear and corruption
LENS – HOW DOES CONTEXT INFLUENCE THE STORY
 Psychological
 Religious/ideological
 Literary devices
 Social
 Intertextuality
 Political
 Juxtaposition
 Ethical
 Allegory
 Colonialist
Define these three terms and look for examples in your
novel.
 Coming of age
While watching the video clip write a one sentence
explanation for each of these terms.
https://online.clickview.com.au/exchange/videos/251
03739/lord-of-the-flies-annotation-guide
CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND
https://online.clickview.com.au/libraries/videos/4110855/context-and-background
Question: What are the elements of context? Why are they important?
Answer: language/linguistics, politics, geography, economy, religion/ideologies, social, cultural.
Understanding context for the writer and the setting of a narrative are important … finish this statement using either
but, because or so.
Chapter One – what does annotating look like in a
novel? The image you see is from our practise for
Assessment 1. When reading your text, you will use
post-it notes not writing in the book.
https://online.clickview.com.au/exchange/videos/251
01935/lord-of-the-flies-chapter-1-guided-annotationkey-quotes-the-sound-of-the-shell
Why annotate? It helps you keep on track with the plot,
the characters, themes and literary devices – all
important things you will need for your literary essay
CHAPTER 1 -3 QUESTIONS
1. How do the boys come to be on the island?
2. Who is elected leader on the island and how does he gain their attention?
3. What happens to the organized work on the shelters? ,,, on the fire?
4. Describe Jack, based on the narrator’s description and his treatment of Piggy. (Remember STEAL)
5. What is Jack like? What is his relationship with the choir?
6. How do Piggy’s speech, glasses, size, and asthma serve to characterise him? What do Piggy’s glasses and the conch
symbolise on the island?
7. What is your impression of Simon? What do the boys think of him?
8. What is the scar? What does it imply about the boys’ presence on the island?
9. The main characters symbolize different social classes. Describe each one and explain the importance within these
chapters.
IMAGERY
Imagery is a technique where complex sensory experiences are created with words. Imagery comes in five types corresponding to the senses:
Olfactory: Imagery conveying smells
Gustatory: Imagery conveying tastes
Tactile: Imagery conveying touch
Auditory: Imagery conveying sounds
Visual imagery: Imagery that contains pictures, colours or visual stimuli
Imagery may seem like a simple technique, but it can be consistently used throughout a text to develop devices such as symbolism, or connotation.
Similes are also often used to create imagery. Look at slides 12 and 13 for inspiration.
Activity: find an example of imagery from the text and explain the technique. Remember to include the page number. You will
write about 150 words.
Image
The sea
Analysis
'Now he saw the landsman’s view of the swell and it
Ralph looks out to sea and thinks of it as an unspecified
seemed like the breathing of some stupendous creature.' animal (perhaps the Beast).
The
'He knelt down and the arrow of the sun fell on him.'
heat
Although the sun can be warm and comforting these images
emphasise the intense heat acting like a weapon on the
boys.
The 'The wind came again, stronger now, cuffing the forest
wind heads till they ducked and roared.'
Like the heat, the wind also attacks and hurts. The forest
responds like a wounded animal.
The 'The whole thicket bent and the roots screamed as they
forest came out of the earth together .'
The descriptions of the forest make it seem as though it is a
living breathing thing with feelings and emotions of its own.
This makes the forest seem alive and sinister.
'The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept The forest fire accidentally started by the boys turns into a
The fire as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like much larger and more ferocious beast (a jaguar) creeping up
saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock.'
on them and ready to kill.
Image
Ralph
Jack
Piggy
'Ralph launched himself like a cat.'
Analysis
This emphasises Ralph’s agility in escaping
from the others who are hunting him.
This shows that Jack has descended into a
'Authority sat on his shoulder and chattered primitive state. He is powerful but he has no
in his ear like an ape.'
human sense of right or wrong – he simply
wants power.
Unsurprisingly Piggy is compared to one of the
'Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a wild pigs already on the island. Just as they
pig’s after it has been killed.'
have been killed, Piggy has now been
murdered.
'The two boys...flung themselves down and The twins are compared to a pair of overgrown
Sam and Eric lay grinning and panting at Ralph like
puppies looking eagerly at their master. They
dogs.'
will be loyal to Ralph throughout the novel.
Piggy tries to count the younger boys but they
“Then you don’t know how many of us there
are constantly moving around like annoying
The littluns ought to be?” “How could I with them little
insects. This foreshadows the later scene with
’uns running round like insects?”
the flies buzzing around the pig’s head.
LORD OF THE FLIES – WHAT DO WE KNOW
1. Name the four key characters in alphabetical order.
2. Where is the novel set? (Time and location).
3. The conch and Piggy’s glasses are example of what literary device?
4. What literary device uses the senses to describe events in a text?
5. Leadership and ethical decision making are examples of what in a
text?
EXTENDING YOUR VOCABULARY

Using 5 of the words in the list below write a full sentence (1 for each word) that describes the novel, Lord of the Flies.
1. Anarchy – A society without elected rule and often with vague or few rules
2. Allegory - A double-layered story
3. Democracy - A society with elected rulers and a ‘fair’ system of governance
4. Conflict – War; violence; differing of opinions
5. Dictatorship - A society ruled by one who has absolute power
6. Moral message - A message concerning how society should behave
7. Civilisation - A society in an advanced state of social development
8. Savage - Not civilised; barbaric
9. Paradise - A heaven; an ideal society where everything is perfect.
10. Atomic War - A war in which nuclear weapons are used by both sides.
You should have 5 complete sentences by the end of the lesson using the word from this list.
LEADERSHIP
Answer the following questions in your exercise book. Each question should be answered in a full sentence
 What is leadership?
 Is leadership important?
 Who is someone you regard as a leader? Can you list some of the attributes (personal qualities) your identified
leader has?
 How would you define leadership in the novel? Expand on the table below and use quotes to support your answer.
Hint: use some of the words from the previous slide to expand your answer.
Ralph
An elected leader who focussed on the future and being rescued
Jack
Self appointed leader who focusses on having fun
Piggy
Background leadership who assists Ralph with good ideas.
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES
1: A good leader must be responsible for the group that he or she oversees.
2: A good leader must be proactive and not reactive for every situation that he or she, and the group, will be facing.
3: A good leader must be open-minded for every opinion of his or her followers.
4: A good leader must have a noble character in order to prevent situations that can lead to conflict inside the group.
5: A good leader must have ears to listen attentively to his or her followers.
6: A good leader must use his or her authority or power in the right way.
7. A good leader must be wise.
NOTE TAKING SKILLS – CLASS ACTIVITY
Taking notes is an important skill and one that needs to be practised. The link below is an article about leadership
skills in Lord of the Flies; it is a well written article but not all the information is necessary for you to copy. As a class we
will practise note taking skills which are very useful skills to have for all of your subjects..
 https://www.teenink.com/opinion/school_college/article/1065396/Leadership-In-Lord-Of-The-Flies
TWO GOVERNMENTS ON THE ISLAND – WHO WOULD YOU VOTE FOR?
Ralph is one of the candidates of being a leader to the group of
boys who got stranded on a deserted tropical island. As the voting
began, most of the boys chose Ralph to become their leader.
These are guiding questions about Ralph’s character; this may also
apply for the other candidates, Jack and Piggy.
1.Why did they choose Ralph as their leader in the first place?
2.What were Ralph’s characteristics that attracted the other boys
to vote for him as the leader of the group?
3.Why did the other boys flee from his group in the next few
chapters?
Jack Merridew is another of the candidates to becoming the leader
of the stranded group. Jack represents savagery in the book, and
we are going to talk about how his character developed throughout
the whole book.
These are guiding questions about Jack’s character; this may also
apply for the other candidates, Ralph and Piggy.
1. What were the things that Jack possessed that would qualify
him as the leader?
2. How did Jack’s character show the readers that he was
representing savagery in the book?
3. Why did the other boys follow or not follow him?
AND THEN THERE IS PIGGY!
Piggy is one of the most influential characters in the book especially to Ralph and to some of the littluns. He gives
Ralph advice and helps encourage Ralph about the situation their facing. Do you think Piggy has the qualities of being
a good leader? Let’s see about the research and look at Piggy’s strengths and weaknesses just as what we did to the
other candidates, Ralph and Jack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M_dkjd2F_s
How would you answer this question?
1. Why did the other boys follow or not follow him?
CHAPTER 4 – 6 QUESTIONS
1.
In Chapter Four, why does the fire go out? What might the fire symbolize?
2.
How do Piggy’s glasses get broken?
3.
Why does Jack paint his face? What is the effect of the pint on his behaviour?
4.
In chapter Four, when Roger throws stones at Henry, there is a protective space around Henry “in which he dare not throw”. What does this
space symbolize?
5.
At the end of Chapter Five, Percival can no longer say his name and address but instead is reduced to inarticulate gibbering. How does this
incident serve to reinforce the theme of the novel?
6.
According to Simon, what is the beast? How do the boys react to his statement? Do you think there is some truth in his observation?
7.
Explain Piggy’s comments, “what are we? Humans? Or animals? or savages? What’s grownups going to think? Going off – hunting pigs –
letting fires out – and now!” (p 113). What is Piggy trying to maintain?
8.
Give examples of violence in nature as well as in the boys.
9.
What is the ‘Beast from the Air’ described in Chapter Six? Who discovers it and how do they react?
REMOTE ISLAND DEBATE
This activity is about Leadership. You will need to consider do you think that people would work together or against each
other if stranded on an island?
Is Lord of the Flies a realistic view of human behavior or do you think the news story is the likely outcome?
Do you think a small group of people could create a happy, functioning society?
Write down your thoughts and feelings on this topic.
CHAPTER 7 -9 QUESTIONS
1. Describe Ralph based on the following passage, “he would like to have a pair of scissors and cut this hair – he flung the
mass back – cut this filthy hair right back to half an inch. He would like to have a bath, a proper wallow with soap” (p.)
2. Why is the action of the story increasingly taking place in the near darkness or in the deep of night when only the moon
and stars give a little light?
3. Why does Jack leave the group?
4. Describe Simon's strange encounter with the Lord of the Flies. What details at the end of Chapter Eight support the
interpretation that Simon represents individual conscience?
5. With the thunder what transformations occur in the boys’ behaviour?
6. What happens to Simon in Chapter Nine?
7. What is the climax appearing in Chapter Nine? In what way is this the decisive point of the story?
CHAPTER 10 – 12 QUESTIONS
 https://online.clickview.com.au/exchange/videos/25101287/lord-of-the-flies-chapter-12-cry-of-the-hunters-guided-
annotation-key-quotes
1. What does Jack’s style of leadership represent? (hint: this is a question that requires you to think of the context
within which this book was written. Another hint look at the words on slide 13 for inspiration.)
2. As readers we are given insight to events that the characters do not always have; this is called dramatic irony. How
can you tell that Ralph does not appreciate the danger he is in?
3. How does the naval officer view what he sees, that is, the aftermath of the hunt for Ralph?
4. What kind of world do you think the boys are returning to? What evidence do you have to suggest this?
 How would you describe the novel, Lord of the Flies, in a single
(complex-compound) sentence.
 What 5 words come to mind when you think of the novel.
 Questions?
COMPLEMENTARY POEMS
 The booklet that you have received in class contains complementary poems; complementary poems are a collection
of poems that share a common theme or ‘moral message’ to a studied text, in this case, Lord of the Flies.
 We will work through the questions during class time while you continue reading your novel at home.
QUIZ
In the opening of the novel, names are not used to describe the characters.
How is the first character we see described?
Golding makes Piggy use a certain literary device to hammer home his character. He especially uses the words ‘auntie’
and ‘asthma’ when employing this device. What is it?
What kind of narrator tells the story of ‘Lord of the Flies’?
What device is used here: ‘The creature was a party of boys’?
Piggy says ‘Schee-ow!’ What literary technique is used here?
Each major character has their own individual language. Why might Golding have used this technique?
What is the symbol of order and civilisation on the island?
What is pathetic fallacy?
What is foreshadowing?
What effect can using lots of long sentences have?
THEMES AND KEY QUOTES
 Civilization vs savagery; loss of innocence
 Human nature - Good vs evil
 Power – corruption and growth
 Leadership
 Fear and corruption
LITERARY DEVICES

An allegory
An allegory is a narrative which has a symbolic and deeper level of meaning. Characters, setting, objects and colours,
as well as having a place in the story, also stand for or represent other bigger ideas. So in Lord of the Flies:
Ralph represents civilisation, order and democracy
Jack stands for savagery, disorder and dictatorship
Piggy symbolises rational scientific thought
Simon represents human morality and goodness
the island setting is a microcosm of the wider world
An allegory can be seen as a very long extended metaphor. The symbolic meaning of an allegory is often political (eg
George Orwell's Animal Farm) or religious (eg CS Lewis' Narnia books); Lord of the Flies is both.
FORESHADOWING
A key technique, the author describes a seemingly ordinary event which will happen again much later in the book, only
this time it will be far more significant. Sometimes the hint can be as simple as something that somebody says or an
action they carry out. Some examples of foreshadowing in Lord of the Flies are:
An example from the novel: Roger throws stones towards Henry. At this stage, the behaviour that Roger has been taught
at home stops him from going any further. Towards the end of the novel, the small stones have become a huge rock
which Roger rolls down the hill onto the unsuspecting Piggy, who is killed as a result. The difference between the two
events shows how far Roger’s understanding of civilised behaviour has broken down.
Example 2: The pig hunt game which the boys play foreshadows two significant events. At first it is just a silly game with
one of the boys pretending to be a pig and the others chasing after it. The next time it becomes more physical and
Robert (pretending to be the pig) is hurt. The boys begin to accompany the game with a sinister chant "Kill the pig" and
turn the whole thing into a wild and savage dance. They eventually get so carried away with all this, that Simon is
brutally killed - the game foreshadows Simon’s death. It also foreshadows the final hunt to slaughter Ralph.
Example 3: When Ralph and Simon discuss being rescued, Simon says that he thinks Ralph will be rescued. Ralph is
rescued, of course, though perhaps not quite in the circumstances which they might have imagined. Interestingly, Simon
does not include himself in this rescue – a hint to the reader that he will not actually survive.
SYNTAX: SENTENCE STRUCTURE
Examining structure in a text can refer to looking at the writer’s deliberate arrangement of sentences and paragraphs. This is known as syntax. Here is an
example of how such a piece of text might be analysed:
He jerked his head off the ground and listened. There was another noise to attend to now, a deep grumbling noise, as though the forest itself were angry with
him, a sombre noise across which the ululations were scribbled excruciatingly as on slate. He knew he had heard it before somewhere but had no time to
remember.
Break the line.
A tree.
Hide, and let them pass.
A nearer cry stood him on his feet and immediately he was away again, running fast among thorns and brambles. Suddenly he blundered into the open, found
himself again in that open space -- and there was the fathom wide grin of the skull, no longer ridiculing a deep blue patch of sky but jeering up into a blanket of
smoke.
In this extract, Ralph is on the run and being hunted down by the other boys and the structure of the passage helps to demonstrate this. The sentences where
Ralph is running and moving are longer and suggest his continued movement. When he pauses to stop, listen or get his breath back they are shorter – in fact
they are often phrases rather than sentences. The three central phrases are Ralph's thoughts ('Break the line.' / 'A tree.' / 'Hide and let them pass.') They are
incomplete and broken up as thoughts would be and they appear on separate lines to emphasise this further.
At the moment when Ralph comes across the pig's head, use is made of a dash in the middle of the sentence. This indicates that Ralph has come to a sudden
halt as he sees the horrible sight which is in front of him.
METAPHORS
 William Golding used many metaphors in The Lord of the Flies. Complete the table below which has identified some
of the significant metaphors in the text.
Literal
Piggy’s glasses
The island
The conch
Face paint
Fire/smoke
The Beast
Your choice of
metaphor
Metaphor
Quote and page number
PATHETIC FALLACY
 Pathetic fallacy is a literary term for the attribution of human emotion and conduct
to things found in nature that are not human.
 For example, initially starting a rescue signal fire, the boys end up creating a
massive inferno that “laid hold on the forest and began to gnaw” (p44).
 What annotations have you discovered in your text. Theme, literary
devices and vocabulary can be useful ‘flags’ to highlight portions in
your novel.
WRITING AN ESSAY
An essay is a series of paragraphs that discuss a particular topic. The main types of essay are:
-
Descriptive – describing places and people
-
Narrative – relating an incident, telling a story
-
Explanatory – explaining something
-
Argumentative – persuading by argument
-
Opinionative – putting a viewpoint
-
Discursive – discussion ‘for’ and ‘against’ a topic.
PLANNING YOUR RESPONSE
 Read the following essay question carefully.
 Pick out the key words from the question and brainstorm a plan. See the example below,
The symbol of fire is used extensively in Lord of the Flies. Explain the role of symbolism and fire in the novel.
The words highlighted in green are key to understanding the question.
Activity: how would you define ‘explain’ and ‘symbolism’?
What does fire symbolize?
What examples of fire would you select to from the novel “prove” (substantiate) your argument.
STRUCTURES
The typical essay structure looks like this:
The typical paragraph looks like this:

Introductory paragraph. This paragraph signposts the topics of
the body paragraphs usually in sentence 3.

Topic sentence (usually the first sentence but it can be further into
the paragraph).

Body paragraph 1

Explanation (sentence) of the topic of the paragraph

Body paragraph 2


Body paragraph 3 (there may be more body paragraphs
depending on the topic and the writing length).
Example (sentence), this could be a quote or paraphrase to
substantiate the topic of the paragraph.

Conclusion. Make sure you have answered the question in this
paragraph.
* The last think I read is the first thing I remember. At strong last
sentence is very important.
(Explanation and Example sentences can be repeated with more
explanations and examples in the paragraph.)

Linking sentence OR concluding sentence.
* a paragraph must have a minimum of 4 sentences –
TEEL/TEES/PEEL/PETAL are all acronyms of paragraph structure.
 Write a plan for the essay topic on slide 34
 Write an introductory paragraph for this essay.