Lord of the Flies Notes 

Chapter One:
- ‘The ​long scar smashed​ into the jungle’ = metaphor for the plane crash. Shows the impact of war and
violence and humanity on the pristine natural environment.
- ‘Witch-like cry’ of the birds = suggests something sinister
- Nature is wild, untamed and dangerous = ‘clambering heavily among the creepers’.
- ‘Where’s the man with the megaphone?’ = the megaphone is a symbol of authority, control and
civilisation which has been lost.
- Puts kids into categories/archetypes = the fat kids, the popular kids, the athletic kids
- Unfamiliar environment
- Some gothic language is used to describe the natural environment, creating an ominous atmosphere.
- ‘​Snake clasp​ of his belt’ = animalistic imagery
- Ralph taking all his clothes off for a swim symbolises him stripping himself of civilisation and its
expectations, returning to his primitive state.
- Ralph treats piggy dismissively as if they are not on the same level.
- Ralph is the golden boy; athletic, good-looking, leader, etc.
- Piggy is intelligent, understands the purpose of things e.g. that they could use the conch to draw out all
the boys.
- ‘You try, Ralph. You’ll call the others.’ = Piggy is essentially handing over leadership to Ralph.
- The ominous and harsh sound of the conch = pathetic fallacy (weather, nature reflects an ominous event
or note). This is the start of the sequence of events.
- ‘The birds cried, small animals scuttered.’ portent: omen
- The conch represents authority – whoever has the conch has power and leads; they become adults with
the megaphones.
- Some kids have already moved the trappings of civilisation (nude) while others maintain these rules and
expectations.
- ‘Marching approximately in step in two parallel lines…’ Like an army; disciplined; reminiscent of Nazi
soldiers.
- Jack is the commander, he shows his status with a gold badge.
- The words toys, play and games, are used frequently to illustrate their immaturity. They don’t
understand the severity of their situation (in denial).
- The motif of ‘games’ - the conch shell described as a “plaything”. The process of voting a leader as the
“toy of voting” = reminds us they are children and the seriousness of their situation is not yet apparent.
- Foreshadowing and gothic imagery are used throughout the opening chapter to establish an ominous
tone.

Chapter Two:
- “The choir, noticeably less of a group, had discarded their cloaks.” This symbolises them leaving
civilisation and Jack’s authority.
- Conch represents leadership
- Creating a microcosm
- Keeps repeating Ralph is fair
- “The pink live thing struggling in the creepers” represents them being strangled by devolution. The pig
being hunted foreshadows them going to hunt each other. Also piggy and pig.
- Silence is used in the word “Sun-slash” and created a sinister and ominous tone
- Piggy wiping his glasses on his shirt symbolises him trying to see more clearly
- Piggy is the only sensible one who realises the gravity of the situation
 - Piggy uses a more colloquial language in comparison to the private boys
- When building the fire “some of the little ones had lost interest” this foreshadows their inability to keep
up with the other boys and their lack of order.
- “After all we are not savages. We’re English; and the English are the best at everything”
- Piggy is dismissed no one listens to him, however right he may be.
- The fire growing in the woods symbolises how the children originally were controlled and ordered but
then grows wild.
- The boy with the mulberry mark on his face goes missing, this is the turning point as there become
consequences to the boys' actions.

Chapter Five:
- Piggy isn’t listened to as he isn’t a role model
- Piggy’s glass represents his insight whilst although ut is important, the other boys don’t value him
- Ralph is losing his sense of influence, people aren’t following through with his leadership, order, control
and decisions, the structure is beginning to fall apart
- They are laughing, dismissing his speech at the assembly, no one is talking Ralph’s efforts to survive
seriously
- The littluns laughing show their lack of maturity, the basics are falling apart
- Fire represents survival and destruction
- Foreshadowing: gives you a clue about what happens later
- “What would a beast eat?” “Pig.” “We eat pig.” “Piggy!” - Foreshadowing that they attack/hunt Piggy
- Piggy is pragmatic, practical, responsible, doesn’t allow himself to be
- “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What’s grown-up going to think? Going off–hunting
pigs–letting fires out–and now?”
- Loss of individuality, a hunting pack of animals, if one leaves the rest turn on that one

Chapter Six:
- Omniscient Narration, Third-person limited narration (doesn’t have complete insight to every character),
omniscient means all-knowing
- The outside world has intruded their reality when the man from the war falls from the sky
- Lots of personification w/ nature to make an association with nature and threat
- They are the BEAST
- “Ralph turned away from the ​red​ cliff” - red is a recurring motif in this book as red symbolises evil and
anger i.e. Jack’s hair, blood.
- Foreshadowing Jack’s evil nature when he finds the fort. He sees the violence in everything
- Malevolent; machiavellian
- Ralph is about survival, pragmatist vs. Jack wants to have fun

Chapter Seven:
- Dramatic Irony
 Power Resistance

- Jack shows a ​desperate​ need and desire for
power
- Power is symbolised by the conch shell
- Ralph is chosen as a leader due to his
appearance as well as the fact that he is in
possession of the conch
- The shattering of the conch is symbolic of the
power becoming imbalanced
- People deal with power differently. In their
roles, Ralph is very mature as chief
(democratic), whereas Jack feeds on the
power and then turns savage (tyrannical).
- The danger of power being in the wrong
hands.
- Power is delegated only to certain archetypes.
- Instilling fear in others creates power.
- Piggy resists taking on a leadership role. He
resists the influence of Jack (shadow).
- Ralph resists - unleashing his savage or more
primitive self, in contrast to Jack and the choir
boys.
- Piggy shows resistance to power although
best suited
- Resistance to savagery
- Some resits the fear + paranoid maintain
pragmatism (rationale)

Jack and the choirboys resist maintaining order and civility “the light” and choose to embrace their savage selves,
the “shadows”

Chapter Eight:
- The killing of the pig is barbaric, violent and horrific. It is seen as though it is done for fun. That fact that
they are fulfilled is ​sadistic
- Shadowing their descent into barbarism and inhumanity
- Becoming bloodlust
- Juxtaposition - “the butterflies danced..” beautiful nature in contrast with the inhuman actions of killing
the pigs
- Foreshadowing piggy’s death
- They are no longer killing their pig for survival but rather for fun, entertainment, sport
- By marking themselves with the pig’s blood, it shows that they are turning away from civilisation
- Psychologically, the murder of humans often start with animals for pleasure - an emotional disconnection
allows them to kill, they don’t feel sorry for the pig
- They are normalising this act by turning it into a dance, making it ritualistic
- There has been a division, they have resisted Ralph’s power, they choose to follow Jack who is an
anarchist and descend into savagery
- The Pig on a Stick symbolises Beelzebub and also Jack. The flies surrounding the pig symbolises dirt,
unclean, impure, death, decay. The description used is disgusting.
- Skewered the head, word choice demonstrates violence
- The Pig is an idol for the beast whom they worship now. They are worshipping an alliance with the devil.
- The natural world is in upheaval due to the unnatural acts of the hunters
- The flies are swarming Simon which is a metaphor to show that he is the next victim
- Pathetic fallacy: using the weather to foreshadow what's about to occur,
- Character development: Ralph accepts Piggy
- Piggy remains steadfastly scientific and rational at this point in the novel.
- Boys are naked
- The boys who are primitive and savage are parallel to the tribes in Coral Island
 - The conch is white - originally cream and pink. The colour of the conch is light/white/pearly as it shows
structure and civilisation
- The flies represent the devil/ the pig on the stick trying to get Simon to turn to evil
- Simon is like Jesus when he is tempted by the devil on Easter and gets sacrificed for the sins of others
- Ralph explain why the fire is important, forgets its use before Piggy reminds him. “Rescue”
- The best is in their imagination, they created the beast, they are the beast
- “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill.” You can’t kill the beast as it is deep
within you
- Hobb’s belief we are all intrinsically evil “I’m part if you? Close, close, close!”
- ”The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon”, a balloon can only blow up so much until it bursts

Chapter Nine:
- Apotheosis = climax
- “The flickering light” - symbolism represents the goodness fading in the boys
- Pathetic fallacy - storm before Simon’s death = foreshadowing the boy's descent into savagery + evil
- “Do our dance! Do our dance.” = ritualism + tribalistic. Foreshadows the ritualistic falling of sacrifice of
Simon
- Bestial, digressing, devolving
- Adroit = clever or skilful
- Roger and the boys reenacting the killing of the pig is them legit acting like pigs and animals.
- Piggy and Ralph have not descended into savagery, they are trying to maintain a sense of order, trees/
fence are a metaphor of being trapped
- Golding has proposed a middle ground between the idea that all people are innately evil with two types
of characters seen in LOTF
- “Single organism”, tribe, pack = mob mentality loss of individualism “samneric” own values, beliefs,
experiences, they are now considered one person
- Aural (sound) imagery
- The idea of being blind lost their moral compass,
- Third-person limited narration “The beast stumbled into the horseshoe”, used to build tension, we don't
know whats about to happen, we don’t its Simon entering the horseshoe, suspension
- Tearing Simon to pieces, physically and metaphorically, the hunters don’t know that they are killing and
eating Simon
- Irony because Simon is being called the beast, but the hunters are acting as the beast
- Nature in upheaval
- “Between the flashes of lightning, the air was dark and terrible”
- “The boys rushed screaming into the darkness”
- “Incredible lamp of stars” = light/goodness. Simon sacrifices star rep. Heaven - biblical illusion
- “The water rose and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness” halo
- Boys are being described as devils, creatures “fiery eyes”
- “Simon’s dead body moved out towards the open sea.”

Chapter Ten:
-

Chapter Eleven:
- Light is a symbol for civilisation, symbolically how they are leaving civilisation behind as the light goes out
- “Painted anonymity” they have lost their individualism and they are now one group/pack/tribe
- Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’ is a seminal text for LOTF “Samneric protested out of the heart of
civilisation”
- Seminal text: a text the has gone on to influence many later texts
- “White magic shell”
- “Pack of paint niggers”
- “Mass of menace” sinister tone
- Sadism - the tendency to derive pleasure, especially sexual gratification, from inflicting pain, suffering, or
humiliation on others.
 Jack Ralph/Piggy

- Referred to as the chief (the dictator) - Democracy/good

- Past WW2

“Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong—we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll

hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat—!”
- Jack
Jack doesn't want conch because he doesn't want order
Fire originally represented --, but now it is in destruction mode

Assessment Notes:
- Link the quote to the theme
- Make sure the quote is clearly stated in intro
- You can use an acronym e.g. Lord of the Flies - LOTF
- Thesis statements - arguments or points of view (conceptual-based ​not​ plot or character-based)
- Must cover language features, literary techniques, forms
- Concerns/themes of the novel → linked to the quote and topic (power and resistance)
- Link to context (post-WWII world)
- Use whatever is relevant to the example you are providing
- E.g. if you are talking about ralph being a democratic leader, talk about the conch’s power
- Engage with two language features in each paragraph
- Dialogue can be used as a technique - its purpose is for characterisation. It can help portray a character in
a certain light.
- When talking about the text, ALWAYS link it to the ideas. You do not have to describe the plot, ALWAYS
assume that the marker has already read the book and is familiar with the plot.
- Contrast can also be used as a technique.
- Zoomorphism (morphing a person into an animal through behaviour) can be used instead of saying
animal/beast imagery.
- Anthropomorphism (when you give animals human-like characteristics) - opposite of zoomorphism.
- Make sure to really dive into the themes and concept of the quote/text.
- Important contextually to mention that the world had just suffered catastrophic events during WWII.
- What man was truly capable of was witnessed by William Golding (author).
- This text is an allegory for what happened in the war.
- Allegory: is when the story has a deeper meaning.
- Allegory: “an allegory is a metaphor in which a character, place or event is used to deliver a broader
message about real-world issues and occurrences.”
- Link in a more conceptual way, rather than a plot recount.
- The deeper meaning is more important than the actual story.
- Even when Ralph was on his own, he keeps fighting for what is right, he doesn’t lose that civilisation
within him and he still has the courage within him to stay true to himself.