Here's the prompt for the letter-essay you'll write in class on Monday

Imagine that you are William Golding. From his point of view write a letter to the students of Gloucester High School explaining how the character(s) you have been assigned (Ralph, Piggy, Jack, Simon, Roger, Sam and Eric, the littluns) and the motif you have been assigned (the island itself, shell, glasses, fire, rocks, pigs, or the boys’ appearance) contribute to the meaning of the novel. You will write one letter explaining the significance of both the character and the motif.

Support your explanation of the character’s and the motif’s significance by citing at least three specific places where you, as Golding the author, use the character to contribute to the novel’s meaning and three specific places where you, as Golding, use the motif to contribute to the novel’s meaning. Make sure you explain how the parts -- the particular uses of the character & motif -- contribute to the meaning of the novel as a whole.

When thinking about Golding's point of view and Golding’s purpose in constructing the novel, consider some things Golding has written about the novel.

“I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”

“The theme (of Lord of the Flies) is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical mature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable.”

FOR THOSE OF YOU LOOKING TO EARN AN ADVANCED SCORE…

Also perhaps consider William Golding's life. The following is an excerpt from the Nobel Prize website. (Golding won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1983.)

"Taught at Bishop Wordsworth's School, Salisbury. Joined the Royal Navy in 1940 and spent six years afloat, except for seven months in New York and six months helping Lord Cherwell at the Naval Research Establishment. He saw action against battleships (at the sinking of the Bismarck), submarines and aircraft. Finished as Lieutenant in command of a rocket ship. He was present off the French coast for the D-Day invasion, and later at the island of Walcheren. After the war he returned to teaching [until 1962], and began to write again. Lord of the Flies, his first novel, was published in 1954."

And for more of Golding's views you'll find his Nobel Lecture at nobelprize.org.

Notes for Reviewing Lord of the Flies

Looking more closely at Lord of the Flies

the first half

Characters are in italics; motifs and symbols are in bold; connections to the world off the island are underlined

Chapter One: “Sound of the Shell”

7 Discussion of context off the island & scar on the island

15-17 Discovery of conch. Ralph’s role. Piggy’s role

18-22 Introduction of other characters including Jack, Simon, Roger, littluns…

28 Exploration of island: rock as “monster” & “bomb”; Jack not killing the pig 31; how characters react to “candle buds” (the island itself) 30; Ralph: “this [island] belongs to us” 29

Chapter Two: “Fire on the Mountain” (island’s appearance)

33 Conch = order, voice for voiceless (?)

35 Introduction of the beast concept by the littlun with the birthmark

40 Fire: Piggy’s glasses, first failure, second “success”: squirrel to panther (beast) 44; boy w/ birthmark missing 46

Chapter Three: “Huts on the Beach” (island’s appearance)

48-50 Jack “dog-like” “like a shadow under darkness of the tree and crouched” “compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up” / “not hunting, but—being hunted” (at meeting) > beast talk (52-53)

Simon considers beast “as if…the beastie…was real” (52); fruit to littluns 56; off by himself: “candle-like buds” and “scent spilled into the air and took possession of the island” (vs. this is our island)

Chapter Four: “Painted Faces and Long Hair”

60-62 Roger throws rocks around Henry (littlun) but doesn’t his because of “the taboo of the old life” (62) “protection of parents and school and policmen and the law” (62) in Roger’s head: “Roger’s arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.” (62)

63-64 Painted Faces/ “Mask” (the boys’ appearance) : Jack w/ Roger: “Like in the war”: “the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” “The mask compelled them.” (64)

64 Piggy’s appearance “the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow.” Long hair.

66+ Fire out; Pig caught. Ralph’s priority ignored; Jack’s priority indulged.

“link between him [Ralph] and Jack had been snapped…fastened elsewhere” (73) Where? (Jack & Roger???)

71 Jack attacks Piggy: breaks one lens of glasses

74 Simon provides pig for Piggy

74-5 Dance (circle) vs. Meeting (shell & triangle)

Chapter Five: “Beast from Water”

Ralph’s meeting (with conch) to re-estabilish logic/order devolves into beast talk (Percival, littlun: beast from sea):

Simon: “…maybe it’s [the beast is] only us” 89

Ralph: What are we? Humans? Or animals? 92 (contrast with what Simon says)

Jack: Bollocks to the rules! (i.e. shell) We’re strong—we hunt! 92

Chapter Six: “Beast from Air”

“a sign came down from the world of grown-ups” 96

Sam & Eric see the “beast” (i.e. the dead parachuter) 98

Explore the unexplored part of the island (Castle Rock???): Simon “incredulity” re: beast: “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick” (103) Simon doesn’t believe in “beast” (105)

Boys (including Roger) roll rocks instead of tending to fire, says Ralph 107-08

Jack: seek beast instead of tending to fire (others do not answer “mutinously”) 108

Looking more closely at Lord of the Flies

the second half

Chapter Seven: “Shadows and Tall Trees” (island’s appearance)

111 Simon to Ralph: you’ll be saved; Ralph to Simon: you’re “batty”

113-115 Ralph attacks pig / Ralph participates in play hunt & dance

123 Ralph, Jack, Roger (ch 1 exploration Ralph, Jack, Simon) see beast / dead parachuter: “ruin of a face” (cf “civilization…in ruins” ch 4)

Chapter Eight: “Gift for the Darkness” (island’s appearance / beast)

127 Jack splits (cf. 73 and 108)

131 weather (island’s appearance) “in sympathy with great changes…”

135 sow rape leads to sacrifice (perverse new civilization w/ its own quasi-rituals quite different from the shell-ordered meetings)

140 Jack & mask; Ralph & fire; Piggy & shell (Samneric peer at edge of the forest)

137-8 & 143-4 Simon talks w/ pig’s head (which is the “lord of the flies” (beelzebub) & another form of beast) "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill...You knew didn't you? I'm part of you?..." (143); Simon loses consciousness in the blackness of its mouth. (cf. Simon's death)

Note “sea” “air” “tall trees” “shadows” “darkness” What’s the common thread in the chapter titles 5-8?

Chapter Nine: “A View to a Death”

146 Simon learns truth about “beast” / dead parachuter

150-153

Ralph & Piggy join Jack’s band for protection from weather / island and to eat pig;

the boys play dance in circle around Roger-as-pig (contrast w/ conch meetings); Roger leaves center which “yawned emptily” (mouth!!! Of a beast???) & boys chant (mouth!!!);

Simon / “the beast” appears from the forest; circle becomes horseshoe which Simon / beast enters; “mouth of new circle crunched & screamed” then “tearing of teeth and claws”

Storm (island’s appearance)

Parachuter / beast blown away

Simon’s body taken by sea

Chapter Ten: The Shell and the Glasses

157 Ralph & Piggy talk about beast / Simon: face what they did? Or forget it?

163 Sam & Eric’s role?

168 glasses not shell

Chapter 11: “Castle Rock” (Castle hmm… what kind of government?)

172 paint (boys’ appearance)

173 Sam & Eric’s role?

181 Piggy & shell; Roger & rock; Ralph v. Jack

Chapter 12: “Cry of the Hunters” (Is that a pun on “cry”?)

185 Ralph & the pig’s skull (cf Simon & pig’s head 143-4)

190 Sam & Eric’s role? Give pig to Ralph to eat. “stick sharpened at both ends” (cf pig’s skull)

192-3 Sam & Eric’s role? Twins split; one reveals Ralph to Jack & Roger; attack Ralph with destructive rock

200-2 Jack, Roger, etc. hunt Ralph; island on fire; naval officer arrives, wonders why the boys’ haven’t done better (“appalling ignorance of his own nature”); Ralph (who is not ignorant any longer of man’s nature) cries for the death & savagery

Lord of the Flies #11, #12, #13 (the last three chapters)

Chapter 10:

1. How is the conversation at the beginning of the chapter between Piggy and Ralph significant?

2. Explain what happens with the objects that are mentioned in the chapter title. How might what happens be thematically or symbolically significant?

Chapter 11:

3. What dramatic and violent event occurs in the chapter? Who is involved and how? How are two important motifs involved? How might the event symbolically represent changes on the island? (In other words what happens and what might it represent?)

Chapter 12:

4. Think about the chapter title. Who are the hunters? Who is the hunted? (What side are Sam and Eric on now?)

5. Think about the very end. What happens in the end and how might it be thematically and symbolically significant?

Lord of the Flies #10: O'Maley Experiment Turning Point (& #14 O'Maley Ending)

Use at least eight of the Lord of the Flies Vocabulary Words (part 2) to help you write a third-person narrative about a turning point in the O'Maley experiment that involves the character you have been assigned. (This is assignment #10)
Option: You can write an ending for the O'Maley experiment as part of your "turning point" narrative or you can write am ending in class on Wednesday. The ending is assignment #14

Lord of the Flies #7, #8, & #9

Lord of the Flies Assignments #7, #8, and #9

Chapter 7 “Shadows and Tall Trees”:
1. OPEN RESPONSE Explore the complexity of Ralph’s character development in this chapter. Consider his memories of life off of the island, his conversation with Simon, his participation in the “game” in this chapter, his participation in the search. What conflict is taking place within Ralph?
2. SHORT ANSWER What do Jack, Ralph, and Roger discover at the end of the chapter? How might it be symbolically significant that now it is Roger not Simon who explores with Jack and Ralph?

Chapter 8 “Gift for the Darkness”:
3. SHORT ANSWER What major turning point occurs in this chapter? For what reason? (Jack and Ralph)
4. SHORT ANSWER What literally is the “Gift for the Darkness”? How might the gift be significant?
5. OPEN RESPONSE Explore Simon’s role in this chapter. Where does he go? What does he experience? What does he learn? How might this be important?

Chapter 9 “A View to a Death”:
6. SHORT ANSWER What does Simon learn near the beginning of the chapter? How is this significant?
7. SHORT ANSWER What pivotal choice do Ralph and Piggy make? How is the choice important?
8. OPEN RESPONSE What is the significance of the title “A View to a Death”? In other words what happens at the end of the chapter? How is it significant? (When thinking about significance consider what the event has to do with Golding’s observation that “man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.” How does the event reveal “ignorance” of what Golding thinks is mankind’s “nature”?)

Lord of the Flies #6 (and study card format)

O'Maley Experiment: after several weeks...

We've now been trapped inside O'Maley for several weeks. Describe what it is happening from the perspective of the character you have been assigned. (You may incorporate other characters from Lord of the Flies. You may also incorporate people you know. Your character might even see your middle school self their too.) Use at least eight Lord of the Flies vocabulary words in your writing. (Use all twelve properly for an advanced score.)

Words, parts of speech, and definitions below. See Mr. Cook for full vocabulary list (including related words, antonyms, and etymologies).

Abominable	Adj.	detestable; loathsome unpleasant or disagreeable
Accord	Noun Verb	Agreement, harmony, settlement, compromise To bring into harmony, to bestow upon
Blatant	Adj.	1. Unpleasantly loud and noisy 2. Totally or offensively conspicuous or obvious
Clamber	Verb	To climb with difficulty, especially on all fours; scramble.
Clamor	Noun Verb	1. A loud outcry; a hubbub. 2. A vehement expression of discontent or protest 1. to cry out long and loudly 2. to demand, to complain
Contrite	Adj.	Feeling regretful and sorrowful
Corpulent	Adj.	Excessively fat.
Covert	Adj. Noun	1. Secretive 2. Covered A covering or cover (often a shelter)
Demoniac	Adj.	influenced by a demon resembling a devil; fiendish
Derisive	Adj.	Mocking, jeering
Discursive	Adj.	1. Covering a wide field of subjects; rambling.
Drone	Verb Noun	1. To make a low humming sound 2. To speak monotonously 1. Male bee 2. Idle person 3. Person who does tedious work

Study Card Format for Lord of the Flies

Front Back

Word	Synonym Antonym Definition Example Visual