Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies In a Conch Shell
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The Island
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Chapter 1http//www.bookstove.com/Book-Talk/Lord-
of-the-Flies-A-Quick-Summary.335347

• Middle of a war, transport plane with English
  boys from Britain shot down over Pacific Ocean
  (crashed in thick jungle on a deserted island)
• Story starts with Ralph meeting a chubby boy
  named Piggy
• Ralph and Piggy look around the beach for other
  boys (find a large cream coloured conch shell)
• Piggy convinces Ralph to blow through the shell
  to find the other boys (other boys hear it and
  walk to the beach)
• Oldest around 12 and youngest around 6
• A choir led by Jack shows up, the boys decide to
  elect a leader
• Ralph is elected chief but Jack opposes it
• Ralph makes Jack and his choirboys hunters (to
  make Jack happy)
• He then takes Simon and Jack to explore the
  island
• They find a mountain and explore the land and
  they return to the beach

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Chapter 2

• Ralph returns tells everyone that the island has
  no adults, they have to learn to live together
• Agreed on meetings whenever the conch is blown
• Boy holding the conch shell will speak others
  will listen silently until they receive the shell
  in their turn
• Jack agrees with this idea
• Little kid says he saw a "beastie" on the island
  (creates fear and scares everyone)
• Ralph tells group to build large signal fire on
  top of the mountain (any passing ships might see
  fire and know that someone is on the island)
• Jack and his hunters are in charge of the signal
  fire
• Piggy tries to reason with group about survival
  but all ignore him

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Chapter 3

• Jack follows/tries to kill a pig but fails
• He returns and finds Ralph busy building huts
  with Simon
• Ralph is annoyed that boys are unwilling to work
  on huts
• Jack promises Ralph that they will have better
  luck with the pig next time
• Ralph implies Jack and hunters are using their
  hunting duties as an excuse to avoid real work
• Jack responds to Ralph's complains by saying the
  boys want meat
• Jack and Ralph continue to bicker and grow
  increasingly hostile toward each other
• Simon goes off by himself and finds a place where
  he can peacefully stay (in jungle)

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Chapter 4

• Little kids now called "Littluns"
• They play all day long, at night have frightful
  experiences
• Ralph is worried about this
• Large amounts of fruit eaten causes them to be
  sick
• Roger and Maurice torture little kids by
  destroying their sand castles
• Jack is obsessed with killing pigs goes off with
  hunters to find pig
• While gone, Piggy and Ralph spot a ship passing
  by
• They find that while the boys were out hunting
  the fire on the mountain went out
• Ship passes by without their rescue
• Ralph is angry but the boys brought the pig back
  from the hunt and roasted it and gave it to
  everyone
• Jack is now resenting Ralph and his leadership

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Chapter 5

• Ralph goes to the beach and calls meeting in
  order to bring the boys into line (go over rules)
• Ralph tells them about their failure in duty and
  that they should do their duty
• Ralph tries to tell the young boys that there is
  no beast
• They should not be afraid but it failed
• Beast hides at day and at night come out of the
  ocean to haunt the kids and that they are in
  danger
• Jack says that if there is a beast then he and
  his hunters will hunt it down and kill it
• Ralph tells Piggy and Simon that he might stop
  being leader but they tell Ralph that he needs to
  be leader or Jack might go on a rampage (only
  hunt)
• Piggy tells Ralph that Jack hates him

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Chapter 6

• At night military planes fight in the air above
  the island
• Boys were sleeping so they miss it and miss when
  a parachute lands with a dead person on the
  island
• Samneric wake up, in the flickering firelight,
  they see the twisted form of the dead parachutist
• Mistake the shadowy image for the figure of the
  dreaded beast
• Rush back to the camp, wake Ralph, tell him what
  they have seen
• Ralph calls for a meeting, at which the twins
  claims that a monster assaulted them
• Look for the monster they go to the place where
  they have not explore before (tail-end of island)
  Castle Rock
• Boys start to play around, pushing rocks in the
  water
• Ralph gets angry with them
• Go and light signal fire

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Chapter 7

• Boys eat, Ralph looks at the sea without hope,
  Simon reassures him they will get home safe
• Boys go pig hunting
• Ralph gets excited when he gets a shot at the
  boar's snout with his spear
• Group frenzied with the hunt re-enacts the hunt
  with a boy named Robert as the pig
• He is almost killed before the boys realize what
  they are doing
• Ralph sends Simon back to Piggy to tell him that
  the group will be back after dark
• Group climbs to the mountain and Jack goes to the
  summit while Ralph and Roger wait at the mountain
• Jack tells Ralph that he saw the beast and Ralph
  also checks it out and sees a beast too, they go
  warn the group

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Chapter 8

• Next morning, they call a meeting
• Jack tells everyone that there is really a beast
• Jack tells everyone Ralph is a coward and a
  scared loser
• Jack tries to vote Ralph out of power and be the
  new chief but no one cares to remove Ralph
• Jack goes off with his own followers
• Boys want the fire back so Piggy suggests
  building a fire on the beach and they build one
• At night, many boys go off to join Jack
• Piggy tells Ralph that it is good that the
  deserters left
• Jack declares himself chief of his tribe and hunt
  a pig and impale its head on a stick
• Jack invites Ralph and Piggy to his tribe for a
  feast (so that they can raid their camp for fire)
• Simon sees the pig head on the stick and feels as
  if it is talking to him (he faints)

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Chapter 9

• Simon sees the dead body of the parachutist and
  he sees how the boys where mistaken about the
  beast
• He takes the parachute to the feast by Jack
• At the feast boys eat and have fun and Jack
  invites Ralph's followers to join his tribe
• Many do even though Ralph tries to stop them
• Ralph also tells them that in the storm, where
  will his tribe stay and Jack ignores him
• As the boys are dancing and re-enacting the pig
  hunt, Simon comes to the party with the parachute
• Boys did not see him but sees his shadow and
  thinks he is the beast and kills him
• Wind blows the parachutist's body unto the beach
  and they run off scared

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Chapter 10

• Next day, Ralph is feeling guilty over the death
  of Simon while Piggy claims it as a small
  accident
• Many of Ralph's followers join Jack's tribe and
  now Ralph and Piggy are almost alone
• Jack made his base at Castle Rock and acts as the
  true ruler
• He commands his tribe to be on the guard against
  the beast since it can assume anyone's shape
  (they believe Simon is the Beast) and it is not
  truly dead
• He also tells Roger and Maurice to go to Ralph's
  camp and steal the fire
• Jack's hunters steal the fire and Piggy's glasses
  and beats Ralph and his tribe

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Chapter 11

• Ralph's tribe tries to light the fire but fails
• They go to Jack's tribe where they encounter Jack
  coming back from the hunt with a pig
• Jack tells Ralph to leave but Ralph tries to
  reason with him but ends in failure
• They fight
• Jack orders the twins Sam and Eric to be tied up,
  leading Ralph into rage causing another fight
• Piggy tried to reason with them but they
  continued fighting
• Roger pushed a boulder at them and Ralph doges it
  but it breaks the couch and knocks Piggy off the
  mountain side into the rocks (he dies)
• Ralph runs into the jungle as Jack and others in
  the tribe attack him
• Sam and Eric are forced to join Jack and his tribe

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Chapter 12

• Ralph hides in the jungle and then goes back to
  Jack's camp
• The twins, who were the guards, see Ralph and
  give him food
• They tell him that Jack is going to send the
  whole tribe after him tomorrow
• Ralph hides in a jungle thicket
• Boys try to get through but the thicket was too
  dense, Jack sets it on fire
• Ralph come out and fights his way past Jack and
  his hunters
• He runs and at last collapses on the beach after
  frantically trying to find a hiding place
• Ralph looks up and sees a Navy officer standing
  there
• The officer tells him that he saw the smoke and
  came to check the island out
• Jack and his boys arrive on the beach and Ralph
  tells the officer everything that has happened
• Officer was amazed how civilized boys turned into
  nothing more than barbaric savages
• They get saved

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Ralph

• Fair hair
• Largest most physically powerful boy on island
• About twelve years old
• Character type Model boy
• Motivation To be rescued
• Actions Forms democracy lights the signal fire
• Attributes Dreamer easygoing, but very
  responsible
• Beginning Happy excited by adventure
• End Hunted like an animal
• Symbolizes law, government, and civil society.

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Jack Merridew

• Probably the same age as Ralph, maybe older
• Thin and boney
• Jack has red hair
• Character type Ruthless leader
• Motivation To hunt
• Actions Splits boys into two groups hunts down
  Ralph
• Attributes Hatred a natural leader
• Beginning In charge of a boys' choir
• End The chief of a band of savages
• Symbolizes human love of dominance and power.

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Piggy

• Probably close in age to Jack and Ralph
• Physique is quite different (shorter than Ralph,
  very fat, wears glasses, and has asthma which
  does not allow him to do any work)
• Character type Thinker
• Motivation To be rescued
• Actions "Feeds" ideas to Ralph
• Attributes Serious thoughtful
• Beginning Apprehensive frightened
• End Murdered
• Symbolizes science and rationality.

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Simon

• Small, skinny, pointed chin, low broad forehead
• Coarse mop of black hair long and swung down
• Darkish in color
• Character type Mystic
• Motivation To know the truth
• Actions Talks to Lord of the Flies solves
  mystery of the beast
• Attributes Visionary brave
• Beginning Fainting, choirboy
• End Murdered
• Symbolizes a Christ like figure (he knows the
  truth). Also with his fits and spiritual
  insights, he stands for the mystics, prophets,
  and priests of all religions who confront and
  reveal the darkest aspects of human nature.

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Roger

• Black hair, gloomy face
• Quiet, brooding member of Jack's hunters
• Quiet, intense boy who seems to hide himself from
  the other boys
• Is cruel (throws rocks at Littluns, kicks down
  sand castles, kills a pig more viciously than
  necessary, kills piggy, tortures Samneric, and
  sharpens a stick with plans to stake Ralph's
  head)
• Roger loves to cause pain
• Symbolizes mankind's sadistic instincts the
  suppressed desire to hunt others

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Sam and Eric

• Identical twins do everything together
• Resemble each other so closely that the other
  boys call them Samneric
• Twins prove to be less influenced by fear of the
  beast or Jack than any other boys (except Ralph
  and Piggy)
• Perhaps, because they are twins they are less
  lone than any of the other boys
• Symbolize the idea of individualism.

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Symbols

• THE ISLAND
• Tropical island, with its bountiful food and
  untouched beauty symbolizes paradise (Garden of
  Eden from which the boys can try to create the
  perfect society from scratch). However, the boys
  were not successful as evil was allowed to enter
  the garden.
• CONCH SHELL
• Rule of law, order and civilization. The high
  hand of authority. Used to call meetings, it is
  magical to the boys, who for the most part
  respect it. In the end, when it is destroyed,
  authority on the island is gone and Ralph is left
  to fend for himself.
• PIGGYS GLASSES
• Allows the boys to create fire (necessity of
  survival). Represents science and mankind's
  power to transform and remake their environments
  to best suit its needs (intelligence). Also,
  shows a slow and inescapable descent into anarchy
  and evil (Piggy possess them, then broken,
  finally stolen by Jack).

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Symbols Continued

• LORD OF THE FLIES
• The Lord of the Flies, or the beast, inhabits
  the severed head of a pig staked into the ground.
  It symbolizes the evil that lies within every
  person. Lord of the Flies is a translation from
  the Hebrew word Beelzebub. In the bible,
  Beelzebub is the price of the devils. In the
  story the panic and decay that takes place is
  symbolized by this pigs head.
• THE SCAR
• A rip in the forest caused by the crash landing
  of the boys plane on the island. The scar
  symbolizes that man, and his savage nature,
  destroys paradise merely by entering it.
• SIGNAL FIRE
• The Signal Fire is a representation of
  commonsense and rescue from immorality. When the
  signal fire can no longer be lit, because Jack
  stole Piggys specs that light it, its beacon of
  hope and knowledge is no longer present to guide
  Ralph who must then be constantly reminded by
  Piggy about what is right.
• THE BEAST
• Represents the evil and fear that resides within
  man. The children were all aware that such a
  beast exists, but none of them realized (except
  Simon) that it lies within them. The Beast
  constantly plagues the Littluns who are the least
  conditioned by society.

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Themes

• Civilization vs. Savagery
• Man vs. Nature (individual basis)
• Individualism vs. Community
• Loss of Innocence
• The Nature of Evil
• Human Nature

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What makes us "civilized"?

• There is a fine line between
• civilized and uncivilized!
• (according to Golding)

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Time to test what you know!!!

• http//nobelprize.org/educational_games/literature
  /golding/lof.html

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TEST OUTLINE

• Section A (1 mark each)
• 6 fill in the blanks (word bank)
• Section B (3 marks each)
• 4 definitions (important ideas)
• Section C (4 marks each)
• Short answers
• 5 questions answer 3
• Section D (24 marks)
• Short essay
• Outline 4 marks
• 10 marks organization, spelling, grammar, and
  clarity
• 10 marks ideas and examples from novel
• 5 questions answer 1
• Section E (4 marks)
• Quotation identification