TURNING TO SAVAGERY
Name ____________________________________
Lord of the Flies, Chapter 8
Reread the section of chapter 8 that describes the killing of the sow. Then answer the questions that follow using textural evidence for
support.
1.
Describe the scene just before the arrival of the hunters. What is the atmosphere?
2.
Throughout the passage, what is emphasized about the sow?
3.
What is emphasized about the boys?
4.
From a hunter’s point-of-view, what is wrong with the boys’ actions?
5.
What is disturbing about the language used to describe the hunt and the killing?
6.
How do the boys react after the kill?
7.
What does Jack do with the pig’s head? Why?
BEFORE AND AFTER
How does this hunting scene compare with the previous ones depicted in the novel? What is Golding trying to show?
EXTENDING
Read the following news article. What connections do you see between what happened at Glenbrook and Lord of the Flies?
Girl Fight: Savagery In The Chicago Suburbs
by Susannah Meadows , Dirk Johnson | May 18, 2003 8:00 PM EDT
Tracey figured she was tough enough for a little hazing. It was a tradition of the "powder puff" football game for girls
at upscale Glenbrook North High School outside Chicago. Maybe the seniors would put a little ketchup in her hair, or
smear her with whipped cream. It was the price of being a junior.
But when she stepped out of the car a week ago Sunday at the Cook County Forest Preserve, wearing a jersey she
bought for the game, a bucket was put over Tracey's head. She was led to a field and forced to her knees. Somebody
jammed coffee grounds into her ears. And then--while other girls in the field were being pushed and kicked, and
splattered with paint, human feces and pig guts--somebody started hammering the bucket with a baseball bat. Tracey
(not her real name) lost consciousness for more than two minutes, her parents say, sustaining a severe concussion. All
the while, a crowd of beer-swilling students watched and cheered the vicious display. At one point, while Tracey's
bucketed head was being slammed with the bat, somebody called out, "That's not her," and a voice responded, "Oh, this
is the wrong bitch?"
Nobody expects teenagers to act like savages, least of all girls from a fancy school that boasts superb test scores and
championship debate teams. But when it was over, five girls required hospital care; one with a broken ankle, another
needing at least 10 stitches in her scalp. When a videotape of the brutality was passed on to cable television, the ugly
incident went international. Many of the students could face criminal charges, according to Mike Green, Northbrook
Police deputy chief. School officials are examining the tape, identifying the attackers and barring them from some
extracurricular activities. The tape also shows some teenagers trying to stop the violence. One group is seen huddling
around an injured girl, trying to lead her away from the mayhem. According to unwritten rules of the ritual, nothing can
be put in the girls' mouths, and boys are not allowed to join in. Those rules were not observed.
About 50 junior and senior girls participated in the powder-puff incident, once an innocent homecoming farce
supervised by the school. Perhaps another 50 students watched it happen. Rollin Soskin, a lawyer who represents
several of the victims, says he may file lawsuits against the attackers for injuries and emotional distress. He is also
pondering whether Glenbrook North officials--who stress the incident happened away from school grounds--should
have known what was coming. Police are also probing reports that one parent supplied the beer for the "game" and
another provided the pig parts.
Tracey's parents, who agreed to talk to NEWSWEEK on the condition that their names not be used, say the victims
were threatened with more violence if they left the field--and were subjected to taunting by some seniors at school
afterward, who called them "wimps" and "sluts." Her parents say Tracey still seems lackadaisical. She might need to
see a neurologist. "She's not right yet," says her father, "yet hopefully, with time, she will be."
Mike Riggle, the school principal, said the torture might have its roots in grudges. "What we are hearing is that there
may have been old scores to settle," he said. A Glenbrook North senior named Danny says it involved jealousy over
boyfriends dating back to junior high. Whatever the reason for the beatings, the juniors submitted to the punishment, he
says, "for social acceptance." It was one group of popular girls christening the next class. A year ago the senior girls
had been roughed up--a videotape of last year's game shows some violence, though not on this scale. Now it was their
turn to act like bullies.
With the town and school facing scorn, village president Mark Damisch called for perspective. "These kids were
goofs," he says. "This is not a morality tale for all of Western civilization. This is about a group of kids who made bad
judgments."
It is also about a girl, like Tracey, whose parents have been thinking about pulling her out of school. She's seeing a
counselor at Glenbrook, and is still suffering headaches and memory loss. Her folks hope the damage will not be more
serious than that.
©2011 The Newsweek/Daily Beast Company LLC