Lord of the Flies
Mrs. Arnold
Chapter One
1. Discuss the style of the first paragraph. Explore the diction and syntax in this passage.
*diction- (n) choice of words in regard to correctness, clearness, or effectiveness.
*syntax- (n) the way in which words are put together to form phrases or
sentences.
2. What characters are introduced in this chapter? What are your first impressions of
each character? Write detailed responses in the space below.
3. What distinguishes a leader? In the story, how is the leader chosen?(22) Do you think
the group chose the correct person to lead them? Support your answer.
4. At the end of the chapter, Jack Merridew fails to kill a young piglet. He vows that he
will not fail again. How would you respond in this type of a situation?
Chapter Two
1. Note the rules that the boys develop (33 etc) How is the conch used?
2. William Golding noted that , “the whole book is symbolic in nature...” (204). In your
opinion, what details in the book can be interpreted as symbols?
3. What is “the beastie” ? (36) Do you think this beast really exists? What happens to
the boy who discussed “the beastie” at the meeting? ( 35) Analyze the significance of
this. (52)
4. Why is maintaining the fire so important to the boys? (40, 42)
5. “We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we are not savages...” (42) What
is a “savage” ? Do you agree that developing rules helps suppress the “savage” element
of human beings?
Chapter Three
1. Examine the first paragraphs of the chapter. How does Golding show the passage of
time? Pay close attention to diction and syntax. (48&49)
2. Note the tension between Jack and Ralph. What is the source of their conflict?
Chapter Four
1. Analyze the second full paragraph. Why wouldn’t Roger throw stones directly at
Henry? What does this suggest about human behavior? (62)
2. What is the role of the mask for Jack? (64)
3. Piggy is referred to as an outsider. (65) Why is he an outsider? Is the treatment of
Piggy realistic? What does it reveal about human behavior?
4. Why aren’t the boys rescued? (68) In your opinion, why might Golding juxtapose the
lack of rescue with the first successful hunt?
5. “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that came to
them when they closed in on the struggling pig, knowledge that they had outwitted a
living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink”
(70)
What does this passage reveal about the hunt?
6. What are the two worlds that seem to be in conflict? (71)
7. How are Piggy’s glasses broken? Explore this as a symbol. (71)
8. How does the relationship between Ralph and Piggy change? (73)
Chapter Five
1. In Ralph’s speech he complains that important chores have been neglected. What
chores have the children failed to do? (79-81)
2. What is fear ? How do different characters view the fear of the beast? (82 etc)
Fear is:
Piggy
Ralph
Jack
Simon
Percival
3.
‘ “What I mean is... maybe it’s only us...”
Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness...
“We could be sort of...”’ (89).
In this quote, Simon is struggling to express something important and universal about
the boys and their fear of the beast. What does Simon believe? Do you agree? (Hint:
Piggy expresses a similar idea on page 84)
4. Note that Ralph longs for a sign from the adult world. He will receive this sign in the
next chapter!
Chapter Six
1. What does the title of this chapter mean?
2. Discuss diction on page 95-96
3. What did Sam and Eric discover? (98)
4. “Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human
at once heroic and sick.” (103) What does Simon believe the beast is? What do you
believe?
Chapter Seven
1. Ralph has a flashback that is juxtaposed with a hunting scene. Examine the passage.
What is the effect of this juxtaposition? (112etc)
2. What type of a game do the boys play with Robert in the center? (115) Who
participates?
3. The boys believe that they have found the beast. Analyze the description. “Before
them, something like a great ape was sitting with its head between its knees.....ruin of a
face” Examine and discuss the diction of this passage on page 123.
Chapter Eight
1. What important shift in power takes place in this chapter? (127 etc) Discuss this
below.
2. Why do the boys decide to move the fire? (129)
3. Note that Simon separated from the group. How was he feeling? (132) Refresh your
memory about Simon’s health. (20 &22)
4. Analyze the hunt scene on page 134. Discuss the mother pig and the brutality of the
hunters on a symbolic level.
5. Closely examine Simon’s mystical experience on page 137 and 143. First of all, what
happens? Secondly, how do you interpret this information?
6. Who is referred to as the Lord of the Flies? (130)
*** Consider this
‘“The “lord of the flies” is a translation of the Hebrew Ba’alzevuv (Beelzebub in Greek).
It has been suggested that this ...gave us this pungent and suggestive name for the Devil,
a devil whose name suggests that he is devoted to decay, destruction, demoralization,
hysteria and panic...” (Epstein 205)
Chapter Nine
1. Simon discovers the parachute man. (146-147) He realizes that this is the beast the
boys had feared. Does it seem fitting that Simon made this discovery?
2. Examine the scene that begins on page 152. Who is killed? How is he killed? Who
participates? What does this reveal about Golding’s view of human nature?
Chapter Ten
1. The boys try to act as if they did not participate in the murder of Simon. What clues
reveal that the Ralph, Sam, Eric, and Piggy were all present? (157 etc)
2. “The beast might try to crawl in...you remember how he crawled” (160) What do
Jack’s words reveal about his leadership?
3. Describe the scuffle that takes place in the dark. How are Ralph and Eric wounded?
How is this significant? (167-168)
4. Analyze the stealing of Piggy’s glasses and his subsequent blindness as a symbol
(168)
Chapter Eleven
1. How is Piggy killed? How is the conch destroyed? Discuss the significance of both
events. Finally, why would Golding link the two events in this way? (180)
2. Discuss the struggles that Ralph endures in this chapter.