“Lord of the Flies” Essay Plan
Choose a novel which has incident of great tension.
Describe briefly what happens at this point in the story an go on to show how it is
important to outcome of the story as a whole.
** Look closely at second line of question… it tells us what to do. Here:
1) give brief account of incident
2) show how important to the outcome
Intro: TART and REBOOT (or BO)
Intention – briefly describe the brutal murder of Simon and how it affects
outcome of story
1st Para:
The incident is horrific and full of tension.
Describe context and what happens
Q = “screamed, struck, bit, tore … no words and no movement but the tearing
of teeth and claws”
Evaluate quotation
Golding used the weather to symbolise the seriousness of the event.
Q = “Revolving masses of gas piled up the static until the air was ready to
explode”
Evaluate quote
Q = “Like the blow of a gigantic whip … the blue white scar jagged above
them”
Evaluate
The eerie silence after Simon’s murder indicates the seriousness of the boys’ actions.
The event is full of tension and is a turning point in the novel
Para 2
The incident is so important because by killing Simon the boys have crossed a moral
line; they have killed a fellow human being. We certainly didn’t expect this when we
first met the boys. Ironically it was Jack who declared:
Q = “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all we’re not savages.
We’re English”
Evaluate
The murder of Simon shows how much they have changed. At first Jack couldn’t
bring himself to actually kill a pig (P) then go on to CQE. When we remember this we
are shocked by Simon’s death
Para 3
While we have seen the boys become increasingly savage but we still don’t expect
them to kill a friend.
1) “lashings of blood” quotation + comment.
2) They offer pig’s head to the Beast – peace offering – does suggest increasingly
like ancestors
These incidents serve to make murder of Simon believable as we can see how the
boys have changed. However, we are still shocked by murder.
Para 4
Simon’s murder has enormous importance for the outcome. Piggy tries to dismiss it as
an accident even though he has until now been the realist in the group. Ralph is
horrified by what they have done and is badly shaken. Jack and the others show no
remorse. Instead they seem more savage.
1) While Simon’s death could be described as an “accident” due to their
hysterical frenzy, Piggy’s murder is cold blooded. (Quote + comment). The
conch is smashed (Quote + comment on symbolism)
2) They hunt for Ralph with “a stick sharpened at both ends” Comment on the
significance and the suspense this creates.
Conclusion:
The death of Simon is a very tense moment in the novel and it is a turning point which
has enormous significance for later events. The boys’ brutality seems to have no
limits once Simon has been torn apart. The fear of what might happen to Ralph keeps
the reader on the very edge of their seats; the suspense is intense. Golding has
realistically portrayed the boys’ decent into savagery and we fear for Ralph’s life,
suspecting that his death will be painful and brutal. By exploring the depths to which
humans can fall, Golding has left us with a very powerful and haunting novel.