Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies

• William Golding

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Literary Terms

• Plot Diagram
• Exposition
• Inciting Moment
• Rising Action
• Climax/Turning Point
• Falling Action
• Denouement
• Setting time and place
• Mood feeling or atmosphere that the author
  creates
• Tone authors attitude towards a subject

• Protagonist Central character of the story
  should go through a change in the story
• Antagonist character or force that works
  against the protagonist
• Characterization techniques used to develop
  characters
• Physical description
• What a character says/does
• Other characters
• Narrators comments

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Literary Terms

• Theme The central idea or message in a work of
  literature not to be confused with the plot
  theme is a perception about the human condition
  that is shared with the reader
• Human condition physical, emotional, and
  spiritual components of human existence shared by
  all

• Conflict struggle between opposing forces
• Person v person
• Person v nature
• Person v society/machine
• Person v God
• Person v self (internal)
• Foil a character who provides a striking
  contrast to another character

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Literary Terms

• Imagery words and phrases that create vivid
  sensory images
• Foreshadowing Hints and clues of events that
  will occur later in the story
• Motif reoccurring ideas

• Symbolism person place or object that
  represents something beyond itself
• Allegory a story in which every object is a
  symbol used to teach
• Microcosm a small group of people that are
  symbolic of how the author is trying to portray
  society

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Why So Many Literary Terms?

• Authors use literary devices (terms) in order to
  better communicate their themes.
• What is the theme of Lord of the Flies?
• The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of
  society back to the defects of human nature.
• William Golding

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William Golding

• Born in 1911 in Cromwell, England
• Father was a teacher, and a scientist
• Mother stayed at home and dabbled in womans
  rights
• Went to college at Oxford and started by studying
  science.

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William Golding

• After two years he changed
• his major to English
• After college he was a writer, actor, and
  playwright
• Married in 1939 to Ann Brookfield, a scientist
  herself
• Then Golding became an English teacher

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William Golding

• During World War II he served in the Royal Navy
• Present when the Bismarck was sunk
• Saw action against battleships, submarines, and
  aircraft
• Took his ship to France on D-Day
• But I went through war and that changed me.

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Lord of the Flies

• Motifs
• Biblical parallels
• The bullying of the weak by the strong
• The outward trappings of savagery (face paint,
  spears, etc.)
• Themes presented in the novel
• Civilization v Savagery
• Loss of Innocence
• Innate human evil