General questions
What comes to the island that all the boys think is a beast?
A parachutist
What are the three main themes that Ralph represents in the novel?
civilisation, order, responsibility
What character is the first one to be introduced?
Ralph
What do the boys go looking for in the middle of the story (at the start of chapter 7)?
The beast
The Lord of the Flies is symbolic of?
Men's inherent savagery, fear, evil, the devil
Who says: "We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages."?
Jack
What are the twins called?
Sam and Eric
What do the boys cling to when they first arrive on the island?
The rules and order from their old life
What do the boys use the conch for?
They use the conch to call meetings and to decide who is talking. It is a way to maintain order.
What does Ralph think when he joins in on the pig hunt?
He feels that he gets carried away.
The conch is symbolic of?
civilisation ans rules
Who says: "Which is better—to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?"
Piggy
What is the name of the character who loves to throw stones?
Roger
How does Jack first react to rules on the island?
He says they need rules as they're "not savages". He also looks forward to punishing anyone who breaks the rules.
What happens when the boys first build a fire?
They get carried away and it gets out of control. It burns up loads of firewood and kills a littlun.
What does Jack do with the pig's head and why?
He leaves it on a stick for the beast.
What does the signal fire represent?
rescue/hope
"I should have thought that a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that."
Who is the first to die on the island?
The little boy with the scar on his face
What does the boys' increasing levels of violence show?
Their gradual slip from civilization and into savagery.
Roger throws stones at a little boy on the beach, but what prevents him from directly injuring this boy?
He is still holding onto civilization and rules
What ironic event leads to the boys' rescue?
The fire set by Jack to hunt Ralph, intended to kill him, ends up signalling a naval officer and saving all the boys.
What does Piggy's character represent?
logic and reason
Who says: "We must go as we are"?
Ralph
What real-world event inspired Golding to write Lord of the Flies?
World War II
What does Golding use to represent the ongoing change of the boys in the novel?
He uses their appearance to represent their descent into savagery. He uses cleanliness, clothing, hair, and the use of paint and masks to show this.
What does Simon mean he says "what I mean is...maybe it's only us."
He is suggesting that the beast is themselves - he realizes that everybody has evil inside them.
What does this quote mean at the end of the novel - "Ralph wept for the end of innocence"?
Ralph has seen that (part of) the true nature of mankind and has witnessed two blameless characters being killed by savage mobs.
Jack repeating at the beginning of the novel that they are not savages is an example of what?
irony
Who says: "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!"
The Lord of the Flies (the pig's head)