What does Golding mean when he describes Ralph as having a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil (10, bottom)?

Transcription

1 Lord of the Flies - Study Questions Chapter 1: The Sound of the Shell How does Golding use personification in the beginning of the novel? (7) How are the two boys in the opening described physically? What appears to have just occurred? (8) What compelling description does Golding use to describe the landscape? (8-10) What does Golding mean when he describes Ralph as having a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil (10, bottom)? What does Ralph think they should do first? 1 st impressions: How would you describe Ralph s relationship with Piggy? What is their dynamic (how they interact)? Sucks to your!

2 What are some possibilities of what may have happened shortly before the beginning of the chapter? (13-14) What phrase seemed to cause the heat to increase till it became a threatening weight (14)? What does the following passage mean?: Here at last was the imagined but never fully realized place leaping into real life (15, middle). What is significant about the conch? (16-18) List and describe the visitors which visit Ralph and Piggy at the lagoon. (17-20) How does Golding describe the visual appearance of Merridew and the choir? (19-21) List and describe the other set of boys we are introduced to after Jack s entrance. (21-22) What signs of conflict do you identify during the first meeting? (18-24)

3 What are everyone s duties on the island? Does Ralph show Piggy any signs of friendship, or is he outright cruel? (25) What is significant about when Ralph says, This belongs to us (29)? What is Jack s reaction to failing to kill the pig? Why do you think he feels this way? (31). Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain How is the second meeting different than the first meeting? (32) What rules does Ralph establish during the meeting? (33-) What leadership skills does Ralph seem to demonstrate?

4 Wacco! Bong! Doink! (Fill in your own G-rated expletive.) (33) Ralph says, This is our island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we ll have fun. If you were in charge of a group of children, would you say the same thing? Why/why not? What are the boys afraid of? How do they describe this fear? (35-36) Now we come to the most important thing. I ve been thinking. This is what I thought. We want to. And we want to (37). How do you speculate these two interests might conflict with one another? (37-38) How do Jack and Ralph show signs of teamwork? (39) How do they light the fire? Life became a race with the fire (41). How has fire become an essential component to Ralph forming an organized society? How does their British identity influence their view of the present situation? Do you think their sense of elitism is a source of strength or a false sense of hope? (42) What does Ralph decide are the major priorities of the camp?

5 Who is missing? Where do you suppose he went? (45-47) Chapter 3: Huts on the Beach What strong action descriptions and word choices does Golding implement? (48) Describe the aesthetic effect of the following phrases: The forest and [Jack] were very still (48). The silence of the forest was more oppressive than the heat (49). Only when Jack roused a bird from a primitive nest of sticks was the silence shattered and the echoes set ringing by a harsh cry that seemed to come out of the abyss of ages (49). How does Ralph put down Jack? (51) How is the identity of the island landscape beginning to shift? (52) How does Jack describe the sensation he feels when he is hunting by himself in the forest? (53) Jack seems to have lost any hope he once had of being rescued. How do you think this influences his stance against Ralph s decisions? (53)

6 How do the boys resolve their worries and disagreements? (55) Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair What strange things begin to happen to the landscape? (58) How do the boys Northern European traditions continue to play a role in their island culture? What determines social status in their society? What is Ralph s role toward the littluns? Why are the sandcastles important to the littluns? (Consider the connection they provide to the outside world.) Why is Roger s destruction of the sandcastles tragic? (Consider the effect of severing that connection.) (59-60) The boys are coping in different ways with their senses of loss through isolation and being separated from their identities in the outside world. How does the little boy, Henry, gain a sense of power over the present moment and become absorbed beyond mere happiness? (61). How does painting their faces change the boys behavior? (64)

7 Why has Piggy been labeled an outsider? What is his role in this society? (65) What do you think of Jack and the hunters behavior after killing the pig? What does it resemble? (69) There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled commonsense (71) What two worlds seem to exist between the boys? What is the essential difference between these two groups? How has Ralph asserted his chieftainship? (73). What hunting rituals have they adopted? (75)