Lord Of The Flies Chapter 1 Summary

3 Questions- Questions

1.) At the end of chapter one in the novel, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, Jack hesitates to kill the piglet, therefore letting the piglet escape. After this happens, he gets angry and the book quotes- “Next time there will be no mercy.” Do you think this has any important significance in the development of the plot? If so, why is it important? If not, why do you think it isn’t important?

2.) In the novel, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, all the boys except Piggy and the littluns play a game. Robert is the “pig” and the rest are the “hunters”. But the boys take this game too far and hurt Robert as they are “killing” him like they would an actual pig. Ralph says it is “just a game”, but what do you think?

3.) In the novel, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, Jack’s Tribe leaves the hunted pig’s head on a stick for the beast. Simon finds this pig head and has a “conversation” with it where he calls it the “Lord of the Flies”. After reading this scene, why do you think William Golding named his novel “Lord of the Flies”?

3 Questions- Answers

1.) I think the scene at the end of chapter one in “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is important in the development of the plot because it might be foreshadowing future events. In a lot of stories I’ve read online, the ending of each chapter either: leaves you wondering; ends the chapter peacefully; or plays an important role in the future of the book. I chose the latter because the blurb of the book says, “their (the boys) behaviour starts to take on a murderous, savage significance.” Since I interpret the scene as jack having no future mercy when killing an animal (or even a human) later on in the book, this means that Jack could kill someone, maybe even an important character. Or maybe it just means that Jack will hunt a pig next time and kill it, but a book this good wouldn’t have a scene like this be shallow.

2.) In the novel, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, I don’t think it is “just a game”. I think that by playing this “game”, the boys have unlocked their primitive and beastly behaviour. Even Ralph is unsure if it is just a game because he said that phrase, “Just a game,” uneasily in the book. And during the game, Ralph “was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hunt was over-mastering.” This proves that their beastly side is shining through and that they (all the bigguns except Piggy were trying to get at Robert) wanted to get to Robert himself. They also blocked out Robert’s pleas for help to continue their game and satisfy their desire. The boys have played this game the first time they hunted a pig but they didn’t take it so far as to make the “pig” cry, as they did to Robert. By comparing these two events of this game I can see how the boys want to hunt and how they perceive hunting. They want to kill and establish their dominance, because through daily events in school and in movies, hurting others can prove to you that you have the power and courage to hurt the other person. You can also see this in the real world where people hurt others mentally by downgrading them. The boys are breaking apart, they held on to their morals by stopping, but this “game” won’t stay a “game” for long.

3.) I think William Golding named his novel “Lord of the Flies” because of the content of the conversation between the Lord of the Flies and Simon. During their conversation, the Lord of the Flies says, “Aren’t you afraid of me?... Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!... I’m part of you… I’m the reason… why things are what they are” (pg. 177-178). All of these sentences, and the fact that the chapter title is “Gift for the Darkness”, tells me that the pig’s head represents the fear the boys have- the darkness that they’ve created. Using this fear, they created the Beast- something that could justify why they were scared and why they did what they did. Since the boys created the Beast, they can’t hunt or kill it because it is part of them. Also, the fear of not providing for his friends and showing he is powerful and that he can remove the fear of the Beast led Jack to become obsessed with hunting. This fear and obsession started to slowly break the boys, turning them batty, tuning them into savages. Obsessions and fears can change people, like Cady’s obsession with Regina changing her attitude in Mean Girls. And, if none of the fears or obsessions happened, the boys would have probably been saved after the first ship passed because Jack wouldn’t have needed the “fire watchers” to hunt. Then there would be no book! The whole story revolves around the Lord of the Flies, the fear the boys have created, and that’s why William Golding’s book is called “Lord of the Flies”.

2 Journal Responses

Chapters 1-2

In the first two chapters of the novel, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, a group of boys crash onto a deserted island, appoint one of the boys named Ralph as chief, and build a smoke signal while having numerous bickering sessions. William Golding writes these two chapters beautifully and with a lot of detail, which can get confusing at times, but that’s what Google is for.

After reading the first bit of the book and getting to know some of the characters, I realized how calm and sure they were, mostly Ralph. If I crashed on a deserted island, I would be freaking out. I don’t think I would be swimming or exploring, I would probably be crying wherever I found myself or woke up. Also, when Ralph and Piggy found the conch, I thought they were very lucky. Piggy’s idea to use the conch to call the other boys was also very smart of him, it made me think that Piggy is actually a very intelligent character. The other boys were also smart to follow the conch sound and gather together, if I were them I would most likely faint because I would realize that other “creatures” were on the island too.

This brings me back to the fact that the boys were very smart to gather and make a smoke signal for passing ships to notice them. They are also very smart for nominating a chief. Through classroom activities, I have realized that having a leader is a very good idea so that the leader, Ralph, can keep everyone organized and keep them from panicking. Hopefully Ralph will be a good and smart chief, one that thinks of everyone in the group and tries his best, although I am not so sure.

I am not sure about Ralph’s leadership skills because of the way he treats Piggy. He, along with Jack, seems to abuse their power because Ralph is always telling Piggy to “shut up” and Jack is bossing his choir around. This makes me mad at them because they don’t seem to be thinking of how the other boys feel. I also want to scream at Piggy and toss him some courage because he seems like the smartest out of all the boys but is treated with disrespect. I want him to stand up for himself and tell Jack and Ralph to “shut up”. This makes me feel like Ralph and Jack represent the fortunate and pretty people in the world who misuse their power and treat the Piggy’s in the world who are unfortunate like a lesser person. Ralph and Jack are fortunate because Ralph doesn’t have asthma so he could blow the conch and he looks handsome and Jack was already the leader of the choir. Piggy is unfortunate because of his name, his asthma, and his size.

The subject of power brings me to the topic of what the conch symbolizes. It symbolizes power because Ralph is the chief, a position of power, and he holds the conch. Also, whoever holds the conch has the power to speak, although Ralph can overrule that because he has the most power.

Overall, the novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding is a very interesting and exciting book that I didn’t want to put down.

Chapters 6-7

In chapters 6 to 7 of “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, I feel as if the boys are starting to break down mentally.

They are terrified of the “beast from air”, which is actually just a dead pilot with a parachute, Ralph has entered the world of a hunter and enjoyed it, and the boys play a game where they hurt Robert. The boys also become more focused on the Beast, Simon reassures Ralph that they’ll be rescued, Ralph has a flashback about his parents, and Jack taunts Ralph about going to see the Beast at the top of the mountain.

At the beginning of chapter 6, the book says that the “beast from air” is a sign from the grown-up world. Only reading this once, I didn’t quite understand how the man with the parachute was a sign. He only caused the boys to become scared again and think he is the beast. That caused trouble (the boy’s game, Ralph and Jack fighting) and it didn’t seem like something helpful. So I reread the part when the man lands on the island and remembered that in chapter one the boys were flying in a plane when they crashed and their pilot said something about an “atom bomb”. This could hint that the man with the parachute was shot down in his plane, ejected and used his parachute, but still died. Maybe then it could be a sign that even the grown ups fight and anyone’s world is never

perfect.

In chapter 7 the boys go and hunt the pigs during their main hunt of the Beast. During this hunt, Ralph hits a pig with his spear and gets very excited about it. If I were Ralph, I too would be very excited because I haven’t hunted before and I had just snapped out of a flashback, but I still hit the pig. Although I congratulate Ralph for succeeding and protecting Jack, I don’t think it’ll lead to something good because after that when the boys play their “game”, Ralph wants to get in on the action of killing Robert- whoops- I mean the pig. The boys are developing a want to kill a pig, the Beast, or even a human. It is starting to get in the way of building the huts, establishing necessary rules, and working on the fire. I think this is the starting point of the downfall of the boy’s happy utopia.

When I think about it again, I think the “Beast” that the boys made up is really, like Simon said, only in the boys. Everyone has a beast deep within him or her, but the boys’ beasts are starting to surface. They’ve created this beast out of fear, and that fear is haunting them and driving them to do activities that they haven’t done before, like hunting. If you think about it, the idea of the Beast started with a little boy who was scared. It caught on like a disease and now everyone is frightened. Although I think Simon has the cure- the idea that the Beast is only deep within them.

When Simon says that Ralph will get back in chapter 7, I was wondering why he only said “you” to Ralph and not “we”. This could just be a minor thing with Simon wanting to reassure Ralph. Or maybe it foreshadows that Simon doesn’t make it back to civilization and dies.

Jack and Ralph’s relationship is going down the drain. I think Jack feels more empowered now that he “knows” that he is a “hunter”. Since Ralph hasn’t hunted, or has barely hunted, he feels as if he now holds more power and courage than Ralph. He shows this when he asks Ralph if he wants to go see the Beast from Air atop the mountain. But Ralph fires back and say he’ll go if Jack “doesn’t mind”. If I were Jack, I would also be taken aback and would also try to act as if nothing happened. Ralph also asks Jack why he hates him, to which Jack doesn’t respond instead of saying “I don’t hate you”. This really proves the beginning of their silent war that can explode and change the whole story.

Chapter 6 to 7 were really good, it gave me a lot to talk about.