Reading Homework Schedule - be sure of your group number!
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Free audio files for Lord of the Flies chapters www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ISlpkvWOFc&feature=youtu.be (scroll down for the other chapters)
Summary: (page numbers are approximate since there are different versions)
Lord of the Flies – Chapter 1 Summary Notes:
- Setting = tropical island, very isolated
- Characters =6-12 year old school boys from England, power dynamic between Piggy, Ralph and Jack obvious already
- ‘Wizzoh/wizard’ etc. = dialect for ‘cool’, ‘creepers’ = vines
p. 14 – Piggy brings up good questions about rescue = maturity and intellect
p. 16 (13)– Use conch shell to call others (Piggy’s idea) à it gathers the kids together
p. 20 – Unique dynamics in choir (mid. p. 20 to the top of p. 21)
p. 22 – big paragraph at bottom = election and conch as Symbol
p. 25 – Ralph – choice revealing his character = “Stillness descended on them … So long.”
p. 31 – 1st Pig Hunt = reveals about their humanity? Resounding shame…
Lord of the Flies – Chapter 2 Summary Notes:
p. 32 ‘evacuation’
p. 33 “Jack slammed the knife into a trunk and looked around challengingly.”
P. 34 Ralph points out nobody knows where they are
p. 35 “Coral Island” … “[…] until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.”
Crying little ones à piggy sympathizes and helps à we hear about the beastie thing that in the day has ropes in the trees?
p. 37 Child-like plans for rescue include hopes of parents showing up
p. 43 – Choir is set to take control of the signal fire and watch out for boats (a group within the group)
Make a fire, gets out of control
- twice Piggy is told to shut-up though he’s got the conch
p. 44 “Piggy glanced nervously into hell and cradled the conch.” = adult-like understanding of consequences – head count, he points out their errors which embarrasses them and isolates himself – he figures out the littleun with the birthmark on his face is missing.
Lord of the Flies – Chapter 3 Summary Notes:
First few pages – some time has passed. no mention of the missing boy? We learn that Jack is advancing in his hunting skills, they drink water out of coconut shells, and they are building shelters but it’s harder than they expected (many aren’t contributing … but they’re also very young)
p.51 – Jack’s thoughts: “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.” And read down to near end of p.52 (tensions)
next pages = Jack’s obsession with the hunt and disagreements with Ralph
- We meet Simon more –he’s an introvert and he’s motivated to help Ralph…
- Unity? Growing Fears
Lord of the Flies - Chapter 4 Summary Notes:
p.59 – separate experiences of biguns and littluns (afraid, left to their own devices) ex. Percival is sick? Crazy? Made fun of?
p.61 – sand castle destruction by big kids just for fun - second paragraph à explanation of power
p.62 – Roger = mean à stone throwing at henry (smaller kid) and before he destroyed little kids’ sand castles
p.63 – Jack paints face – snaps and orders others around [qualities of a hunter vs. gatherer becoming more obvious --- Jack vs. Ralph]
p.64 bottom to top of p.65 “[…] the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” [hide behind a mask and can unleash true nature] Symbol
p.65 Interaction with Piggy à isolation even from Ralph as ‘outsider’
p.66 Ship spotted by Ralph – no smoke signal?
Sand throwing at Percival continues [weaker continue to get picked on]
p.69 pig caught “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood.” (Chant from Jack and hunters)
p.69 “‘I cut the pig’s throat,’ said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it […] ‘There were lashings of blood,’ said Jack, laughing and shuddering, ‘you should have seen it!’”
à transformation of Jack?
p.70 Hunt obsession- Jack: “His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge that had come to them when they closed in on the struggling pig, know-ledge that they had outwitted a living thing, imposed their will upon it, taken away its life like a long satisfying drink.”
p.70-1 Piggy and Ralph berate Jack
p.71 Jack hits Piggy, calls him ‘Fatty,’ hits his head and breaks his specs (Simon helps retrieve them)
p.72 Jack apologizes after comic chase of Piggy
p.73 New alliance of Ralph and Piggy – away from Jack
p.74 Piggy not given meat – Simon give him his, Jack gives Simon meat and yells at him as if giving his to Piggy means he’s ungrateful “Jack looked round for understanding but found only respect” à authority now = showing aggression
p.75 drama of hunt acted out and we find out they beat the pig until Jack slit the throat, Ralph calls meeting
CHAPTER 5: LORD OF THE FLIES - Summary
P.77-78 Ralph is becoming philosophic
p.78 – leader needs to be wise (Ralph thinking) – recognizes Piggy is
p.80 - Ralph trying to set out order in the camp
p.82 – Ralph – thinking of role of fear in breaking up camp
Jack – blames little ones and berates them
p.84-5 description of fear from littluns – Simon wandering around at night?
p.88 ‘beast comes from sea’
p.88-89 Simon – is afraid of public speaking. Also has a revelation (p.89) “Maybe there is a beast.” … “What I mean is… maybe it’s only us.” … Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness.” -- he gets laughed at à “Simon’s effort fell about him in ruins: the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank away defenseless in his seat.”
p. 90 wrestle for the conch (breakdown of democracy)
p.91 “ The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.”
- direct confrontation between Jack and Ralph
- R. “You’re breaking the rules!”
J. “Who cares”
R. “Because the rules are the only thing we’ve got.”
p.92 Piggy – “What’s grownups going to say?” = reflection on judgment – kids running around, chanting, crying = chaos
p.93 Simon – “Go on being chief” - when he talks it’s important (like an oracle)
CHAPTER 6 : SUMMARY
p.95 – airplane dogfight nearby – parachutist lands on island and is dragged up mountain p.96 – body would fold and jump with wind
p.98 –Sam and Eric were on night fire duty – see something that horrifies them – they flee
p.100 –meeting held by Ralph: Sam and Eric describe beast and that it chased them, had teeth, wings and claws, moved about
p.101 – Ralph and Jack argue about what to do
p.101-2 Jack “We don’t need the conch anymore. We know who ought to say things. What good did Simon do speaking, or Bill, or Walter? It’s time some people knew they’ve got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us.” à end of democracy, dictator style
p.102 – Ralph wins face-off against Jack by reminding everybody of desire to be rescued
p.103 – Simon – amazing reasoning skills re: beast - “Simon, walking in front of Ralph, felt a flicker of incredulity – a beast with claws that scratched, that sat on a mountain-top, that left no tracks and yet was not fast enough to catch Samneric. However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.”
p.105 “Simon mumbled confusedly: “I don’t believe in the beast.”
p.106-108 – description of place Ralph and Jack tried to find beast – Jack impressed with it as place to make a fort, later Jack and boys like rolling rocks off the cliff- upsets Ralph who says they should go make sure the signal fire is going well.
Foreshadow Jack points out that it would be a great place for a fort and that you could roll rocks onto enemies
CHAPTER 7
P.109 – all the kids are hunting for the beastie, Ralph is stressed out and this shows as he bites his nails
p.110 – Ralph thinks – he is getting used to life there (somehow)
p.111 – Simon anticipates Ralph’s thoughts of hopelessness and comfort him with a few words
p.112 Ralph has a flashback (happy to daydream because he’s unhappy with reality)
p.113 – Ralph threw spear in pig/boar’s snout and felt pride
p. 114 - the boys play out the drama of the hunt using Robert as the pig and chant “kill him, kill him”
p.118 – Ralph asks Jack “why do you hate me?” – boys around get uncomfortable as this has never been said out loud
p.119 Showdown of fear/pride to check for beast at the mountain (Jack makes fun of ralph for being afraid) – as a result Ralph agrees to go with Jack to the mountain even though it’s dark and they have no specs to make a fire when they’re there
p.120 ralph realizes what they’re doing is futile and Jack mocks him for being afraid
p.121 “A stain in the darkness, a stain that was Jack detached itself and began to draw away” – this shows the literary tools of the author- references to Jack with dark things
- Jack is shaken and reports that he saw something bulging
p.123 ‘Green lights of nausea appeared for a moment and ate into the darkness’ à the light filtered through the parachute and made everything look dark and sickly green
- Ralph bravely moves forward and there’s a gust of wind – then there’s a mangled face staring at him and so they run away
CHAPTER 8:
-p.126 Jack has called a meeting with the conch, and twists Ralph’s negative comment into an attack on the usefulness of the hunters and lies that Ralph called the hunters ‘cowards’ – J. à “He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief.” … “He’s a coward himself.”
- p. 127 J. forces a vote for if Ralph should be chief – Jack is mortified to see that none of the boys will vote against Ralph, he’s red in the face and trembling “I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” - we’re reminded that these are only children playing adult games – Ralph didn’t really react or comfort the group (Piggy points this out on p.128)
-p.128 Simon takes the conch nervously and says they should climb the mountain (to face the beast) “What else is there to do?”
-p. 129 Narrator: “The greatest ideas are the simplest.” – Piggy says they can just make the signal fire on the beach so as not to go near the beast on the mountain. Piggy’s mood and even laziness lift with Jack gone
-p.131 Ralph and Piggy conclude that the hunters have snuck off to join Jack
-p.132 Simon is climbing the mountain alone. Piggy to Ralph: “Do alright on our own. It’s them that haven’t no common sense that make trouble on this island.”
p.133 Jack looking over his hunters and remembering them from “ages ago” as choir boys when “their voices had been the song of angels.” – interesting character transformation from singing gods’ songs to aggressive hunters/killers
- Jack tells his new group to ignore the beast and “They agreed passionately out of the depths of their tormented private lives.” – how emotionally unstable has life been for them?
- literary tools: Jack hunting for the first time with his group: “He was happy and wore the damp darkness of the forest like his old clothes.” (133-4) then, another dark description of Jack: “…practice had made Jack silent as the shadows.”
-p.135-6 Dramatic pig hunt scene- sometimes given from perspective of sow – perhaps to create sympathy
-p.136 – Jack instructs for the pig’s head to be put on a stick so that it’s left as an offering to the beast and for fire to be stolen from Ralph’s camp (even though they would surely share it)
- p.137 Simon comes across the head on the stick: “The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business.” – p.138 it’s referred to as the “Lord of the Flies”
p.139-140 Ralph and Piggy discuss how the other’s don’t care about the fire and how crazy that is because it’s the only thing capable of getting them saved. R. confides in Piggy that he’s scared and confused by all the group chaos and Piggy tells him it’s because of the influence of Jack
p.140 Jack and other’s storm in and seize branches from the fire and declare a feast that they’re welcome to join (and so join their tribe) J: “He was safe from shame or self-conciousness behind the mask of his paint and could look at each of them in turn.” Littluns are crying and running around
p.142 littluns want to play/be like savages and have fun, eat meat
p.143 Lord of the Flies is talking to Simon: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” said the head. … “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” – the devil in all of us
p.144 Simon gets warned by the beast/talking pig head that he’s unwanted and it foreshadows his doom and Simon has some sort of seizure or passes out
CHAPTER 9:
- read first paragraph
p.145 literary tools; description of island in dark and foreboding way as a storm is coming – “Even the air that pushed in from the sea was hot and held no refreshment. Colors drained from water and trees and pink sufaces of rock, and the white and brown clouds brooded. Nothing prospered but the flies who blackened their lord and made the spilt guts look like a heap of glistening coal.”
-p.146 Simon discovers the parachutist (interestingly the beast has switched idealistically to the head on the stick because it then represents what is wrong/evil about the boys instead of some evil that exists apart from them). Simon sees that it’s a man, “The tangle of lines showed him the mechanics of this parody…” he descends in order to inform the others
-p.148 Piggy and Ralph go to where now all the rest are – with Jack
p.149 Jack has himself setup as if he’s a king ‘like an idol’
Some boys go to give meat to Ralph but bump Piggy – “Immediately, Ralph and the crowd of boys were united and relieved by a storm of laughter. Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal.”
p.150 foreshadow – “Evening was coming, not with calm beauty but with the threat of violence.”
- Jack orders all around as if he’s a god “Power lay in the brown swells of his forearms: authority sat on his shoulder and chattered in his ear like an ape.”
- Jack and Ralph openly argue about being chief – J. “Who’ll join my tribe and have fun?” and thunder strikes (for mood effect)
P151 – Piggy warns Ralph to leave it be and go back but then rain begins and Ralph points out the shelters are at his beach but then Jack bursts in with making them do a war dance around the fire with Roger as the pig – they chant “there was the throb and stamp of a single organism” they get into a frenzy putting all their fear and rage into this circling dance. “Now out of the terror rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind.
p.152 - They murder simon while in their frenzy. The beast (in them) is unleashed, and at the same time, the parachutist (untethered by Simon) and released into the sea and soon after simon’s body gets pulled out to sea by the tide (p.154)
CHAPTER 10
-p.156 Ralph and Piggy talking – only Sam’n Eric and some littluns at their camp
R. says to Piggy “That was murder” referring to Simon – clearly it’s not something that has been said out loud
-p.157 Piggy tries to make sense of what happened to Simon – but can’t
- p.159 Tyranny of Jack as Leader: “The chief said we got to challenge everyone.” (to check their identities before they can enter) – Jack also has plans to beat one of the boys but nobody knows why, and the boy is left tied up waiting for the answer
-p.160 how Golding refers to kids has changed: “a savage raised his hand and the chief turned a bleak, painted face toward him.”
-p.161 Jack’s camp is trying to convince themselves that they attacked the beast, not Simon
p.166 Piggy and Ralph hear something outside their hut (Jack, Maurice and Roger were planning to raid them for fire) – Ralph’s thoughts “Desperately, Ralph prayed that the beast would prefer littluns.” Question of morality here!
- p. 167 outside the hut they call for Piggy, jump in the hut where Piggy, Ralph, Sam’nEric are and there’s a big fight – biting, punching, kicking etc. Ralph: “began to pound the mouth below him, using his clenched fist as a hammer; he hit with more and more passionate hysteria as the face became slippery.”
-p.168 Jack, Maurice and Roger stole Piggy’s glasses (now Piggy isn’t able to see – so it’s a really selfish act on their part)
CHAPTER 11
-p.169 Piggy needs to be led around – he’s effectively blind
-p.170 Ralph “Are we savages or what?” - ‘we would have given them fire’
-p.171 Piggy – “there’s them on this island as would laugh at anything.” – Piggy wants to go to Jack with conch and morally confront him to get glasses back
à Sam timid of Jack because “he’ll be painted.”
p.172 Ralph, Piggy, Sam’nEric want to confront others and want to appear groomed (hair combed, body clean in order to represent rationality and society standards)
- “they understood all too well the liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.”
-p.173 Ralph is a bit touchy about forgetting things (foreshadow ! second last sentence)
-p.175 Roger throws stone = “Some source of power began to pulse in Roger’s body.”
-p.176 “laughter shivered outwards from among them” (awkward laugh = discomfort)
-p.177 Jack attacks Ralph = stick fight but they don’t use pointed end on each other (there’s still some line of morality)
p.178 – show of power, Jack has Sam’nEric tied up
p.180 second time mentioned – Roger’s hand is on a lever
“By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell. The storm of sound beat at them, an incantation of hatred. High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment leaned all his weight on the lever.”
-p.181 Piggy struck by rock from chin to knee and is dramatically killed à his last words (p.180) “Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”
-p.181 “The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist
Jack reacts much faster than most and threatens that that can happen to Ralph and throws spear that hits Ralph on ribs, more spears are thrown by others and Ralph runs away
-p.182 Sam’nEric resist joining Jack’s tribe “Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority.”
Chapter 12:
p. 183 – the ‘war’ against Ralph helps to solidify Jack’s tribe
p.184 – Ralph’s thinking: “These painted savages would go further and further.”
-p.185 Ralph has nowhere to turn, comes across pig skull on a stick – “The skull regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won’t tell.”
p.186 Ralph thinks: I’m an outcast “’Cos I had some sense.”
p.187 Ralph talks to Sam’nEric – they tell him to go “They made us. They hurt us” … “Nevermind what’s sense, that’s gone”
-p.188 Ralph warned by Sam’nEric there’s a plan to attack him tomorrow “They’re going to hunt you tomorrow.”
-p.190 Sam’nEric Ralph meat. Ralph- “What are you going to do to me?” Answer- “Roger sharpened a stick at both ends.”
-p.192 We come to understand Sam’nEric were tortured and gave away Ralph’s hiding spot.
-p.193 Jack’s tribe try to roll a rock onto Ralph – but it crushes the thickets instead so they’re now able to get at him
p.195 – they try to also smoke Ralph out –(p.197 island is on fire)
p.198 – Ralph realizes the fire’s almost at the fruit trees “what would they eat tomorrow?”
p.199 – Ralph’s hiding spot is detected, “they were all running, all crying out madly.”
p.200 tribe is in hot pursuit of Ralph
p.201 Officer jokes about the kids playing war and asks if there are any dead bodies, Ralph responds matter of factly – “Only two. And they’ve gone.”
p.201 “Who’s boss here?” “I am,” said Ralph loudly à Jack is now referred to as ‘a little boy…’ as we see him from the perspective of the officer
“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.”