Lord of the Flies Review Questions

Practice "Quest" for Review.
Write down your answers and bring them in on Tuesday (1/19).

Looking at Lord of the Flies through an anthropological model for a balanced society by William Irwin Thompson, Kathleen Woodward, and your intrepid English teacher…

In the novel…

1. ____________________ and ____________________ are both ideational.
2. ____________________ and ____________________ are both operational.
3. ____________________ and ____________________ operate best on a subconscious, irrational level.
4. ____________________ and ____________________ operate best on a conscious, rational level.

5. In the society, Piggy fulfills the role of ____________________.
6. Jack fulfills the role of ____________________.
7. Ralph fulfills the role of ____________________.
8. Simon fulfills the role of ____________________.

*** The model originally referred to a successful Kalahari society as seen in John Marshall’s anthropological film The Hunters. Why then is the society of marooned boys so unsuccessful in Lord of the Flies? (In your answer refer to the roles, the characters, and the events of the book.)


Author’s Biographical Context
9. What two experiences may have influenced William Golding to write Lord of the Flies? Briefly explain how the experiences may have influenced the novel.

Symbols & Motifs

10. ____________________ seems to symbolize democracy, rationality, order, authority.
11. ____________________ is paradoxically a symbol of destruction and a symbol of hope.
12. ____________________ is a “sign [that] came down from the world of grownups,” representing the consequences of violence in the adult world beyond the island.
13. ____________________ helps Simon understand the true nature of the beast.
14. ____________________ frees the boys from “shame and self-consciousness,” compelling them to do things they otherwise would not.
15. To what does the title literally refer? ____________________
16. How does the answer to #6 symbolically represent what happens to the society?
17. What does the title refer to in translation? ____________________
18. Piggy is most closely associated with what symbol? ____________________
19. Simon is most closely associated with what symbol? ____________________
11. Who says, “‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift?’” ____________________
20. Roger is most closely associate with what motif? ____________________
21. Who discovers the “beast from air”? ____________________
22. Name four things that at least some of the boys think of as “the beast” at one point or another in the novel.
23. In the quotation, “‘What I mean is…maybe it’s only us;” who is peaking and what is it?
24. “____________________ was the only boy on the island whose hair never seemed to grow.
25. After he reminisces about home in England, many readers are surprised to read that “____________________ too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh.

• Explain how one motif evolves or changes in three different scenes in the novel.
• How might the conch shell and the long hair be seen as opposing symbols?
• How might the scar, the fire, the storm, and the rock be connected as symbols?
• What is the symbolic significance of Piggy’s name?
• What is the relationship between the pigs, the pig’s head, the beast and Golding’s statement that “man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature.”

END OF PRACTICE "QUEST"
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More to review:

Lord of the Flies:
characters and motifs

Characters
Understand the significance of Golding’s characterization of each, the significance of each character’s development, the significance of each character’s role in the plot. When thinking about significance think about allegory and theme.

Ralph, Piggy, Sam and Eric, Jack, Simon, Roger, littluns (Johnny, Henry, Percival, mulberry-colored birthmark, etc.)

Motifs
Motifs are objects, ideas, etc. that are repeated in a work of art.
Understand the literal and allegorical (symbolic) significance of each motif as it develops through the novel.

PHYSICAL OBJECTS
• scar and other symbolic descriptions of the island:
o the island as alive;
o as an inanimate object: car, boat, bomb, etc.;
o as light or dark, calm or stormy, etc.
• conch/shell,
• glasses,
• fire,
• rock,
• pig/boar,
• monsters/beasts/animals (other than the pig/boar),
• uniforms, painted faces, masks, hair and other descriptions of the boys’ appearance