Essay Questions And Answers For Review I. The Ideas Of Golding
1. What is the theme of "Lord of the Flies"?
Answer: Theme, as a critical term, refers both to the truth about human life, which an author wants to emphasize in a piece of fiction, and to the idea that controls the climactic action in a story. In "Lord of the Flies" the theme is that evil is present as a destructive influence in man, operating counter to the forces of reason and civilization. This idea is not only revealed in several scenes where the boys perform destructive acts. It is present as the reason why things happen the way they do in the central portion of the novel, where the forces of Jack triumph over the forces of Ralph. It is present in the brutal destruction of the sow, in the ritual sacrifice of Simon, and in the wanton murder of Piggy. It is the truth about human life that one is forced to accept as an explanation of the destruction of the society of the boys.
2. According to Golding, what are the limitations of the boys?
Answer: Not only are the boys frustrated in their attempt to establish an island society because of their evil natures. They also lack the traditional restraints of society that can sometimes control evil; for example, a coherent religious code, or an effective legal code. They are also too immature to harmonize their various differing members into a functional whole. They lack the self-control, perserverance, and cooperativeness necessary to the development of any social organism, whether it be a basketball team or the United Nations.
3. What is Golding's opinion of modern society?
Answer: The parallels between the society of the boys and modern civilized society, such as the competitiveness, destructiveness, and violence existing in both, suggest that the problems that plague the boys are those that are present in more sophisticated communities. There is the same proneness to evil, the same fear of the unknown, the same use of technology for inhuman purposes. At the same time, there is the same potential for civilized advancement, provided that human reason is allowed to flourish in company with, but not stifled by, a strong moral sense.
4. What is the author's attitude to history?
Answer: History is a record of ironic recurrences of human error. The same errors that were made by primitive man are made by the boys, and are made by civilized societies, even to the point where human sacrifices are still being offered to appease the gods of terror and fear. Golding seems to be pointing out that the blood lust of the primitive hunter is prevalent in modern man, as witness his warships, bombers, and rockets.
5. What does Golding say about human destiny?
Answer: At first glance, the future seems gray. Society is disintegrating. Anarchy and violence thrive at the expense of reason. At the end of "Lord of the Flies", however, there is some hope for the future in the new knowledge that Ralph has acquired. He understands the conflict of good and evil, ideal and real, that exists in man. And, unlike Simon and Piggy, he is resourceful enough to elude death and to carry this knowledge back to civilization, there to have some influence of his fellow man. He will be a wise leader when he is a man. He will be a man of reason, but also a man aware of the darkness lurking in the most innocent person. And he will have some positive effect on civilization.
6. What is the ethical view expressed in "Lord of the Flies"?
Answer: Ethics, in this novel, are complex. The good man is not necessarily one who intends to perform good actions. He is certainly not one who accepts the mores of a society, because the mores on the island include murder and torture. Rather, he is the person who works for his fellow man, who answers the dictates of reason, who accepts a personal responsibility for the evil in the world, and is able to function as a harmonious human being. Simon is perhaps the most holy person in the novel, but he does not function effectively in society. Ralph, the leader who best coordinates his activities, is the most ethical character.
7. What is Golding's concept of a hero?
Answer: Conventional heroic types like the dashing naval captain are satirized. The hero is the leader who works for the creation and advancement of society, who recognizes and challenges the evil existing in himself, and who is capable of enduring in a complex and often savage environment.
8. What is the significance of the title?
The title, "Lord of the Flies", is a reminder for the reader of who it is that the boys are submitting to as they become more savage and superstitious. The expression is a translation of Beelzebub, the name of a devil, which suggests that the boys are becoming more evil as they establish the "Lord of the Flies" on a stick, and begin to worship the mysterious forces of the jungle. Further, the title suggests that the boys are like flies, mere instinctive beings swarming to the kill.
9. What is the meaning of Simon's encounter with the "Lord of the Flies"?
Answer: Simon, who represents the highest aspirations of the human spirit towards beauty and holiness, participates in a symbolic dialogue with the "Lord of the Flies" who represents the lowest part of man, the source of violence, hatred, fear, murder. The meeting represents the recognition of these forces in all men, even the saintly. The episode refutes benevolent and optimistic theories of man and the universe.
10. What is the meaning of fire?
Answer: In the novel, fire represents a hope for the future. Fire has distinguished man from the beasts for as long as he has been building fires for cooking and warmth. Here, the fire denotes a peculiarly human action, the use of a signal to win the aid of fellow men. As long as the signal fire is lit, the boys are confident of their place in the community of civilized people. Fire is a contrast to the symbol of darkness that represents the barbarism within the boys.
11. Explain the meaning of the hunt.
Answer: The hunt is a formalization of the destructive passions that exist in the boys. It gives these passions an outlet. This, however, is dangerous because the more these passions are indulged, the more violent they become.
12. What is the significance of the corpse and the parachute on the mountain?
Answer: The corpse and parachute are evidence of the subjective nature of human fear. Distorted by the imaginations of the boys, these harmless objects become so frightening that the signal fire is allowed to go out. They are an illustration that man has nothing to fear but himself.
13. What is the relation of the individual to the state according to Golding?
Answer: Each individual should contribute to the total harmonious operation of society.
14. What is man's relation to nature?
Answer: Nature "red in tooth and claw" represents a threat to man, unless, by the use of reason, he understands and controls its powers.
15. Comment on the importance of self-discovery in the novel.
Answer: It is only insofar as a character knows himself that he can do anything to improve conditions in the novel. All of the attempts to civilize the island, to erect huts, to organize a parliament, to sustain a signal fire, fail because of not allowing for the limitations of the boys. It is only at the end of the novel, when Ralph recognizes the loss of his own innocence, that knowledge paves the way for progress.
16. To what extent is man free according to Golding?
Answer: Freedom is always qualified by forces inside and outside of man. Society imposes restrictions on the freedom of man and these may be the helpful rules that Ralph establishes, or they may be the rites of a savage tribe that Samneric are forced to conform to. But even more strongly, the dark side of man controls his desires and actions and limits his powers of choice. It is only as man recognizes the threat to his liberty, without and within, that he can begin to define his rights as a free being and proceed to control his destiny. Freedom is dependent upon self-knowledge.
II. The Form Of "Lord of the Flies"
1. Discuss Golding's handling of point of view.
Answer: In this novel Golding uses the omniscient author point of view, permitting his to enter any mind. However, he often presents his material with cool objectivity. He does not let his reader involve himself completely with his own, or his characters' feelings. His tone in cool and analytical. Even in the most violent scenes, he will detachedly observe butterflies at the same time that he presents the central action. He seems to be encouraging his reader to decide on the issues with calmness and reason, the same qualities that the author himself exhibits as he narrates the story.
2. Analyze the use of symbolism in the novel.
Answer: The author gives to almost every detail in the story a meaning of its own and a representational meaning in terms of the theme of the development of evil on the island. The boys themselves are representative of different ways of life-the intellectual, the adventurer, the bully, the torturer-so as to give the impression of diversity that is found in an actual society. The places represent human potentials; for example, the jungle the darkness of the human spirit, the sea the destructiveness of man, the platform reason, the mountain hope. Objects like the boulder and Jack,s knife represent powers of violence inside the boys. The conch shell stands for order and stability. Incidents, for example the several hunting rituals, symbolize the increasing powers of evil.
3. Is Golding in any sense a realistic writer?
Answer: He seems less interested in the reality of external events than in spiritual and moral reality. Although he writes concretely, the experiences are not likely to ever actually occur. He is realistic in the presentation of the psychology of violence. His projections of the impulses to hunt and destroy, as they exist in modern man, are based on accurate interpretation.
4. What is the structure of "Lord of the Flies"?
Answer: The general organization of the novel is chronological order, with a concentration on the successive by the boys to organize their lives on the island and the successive attempts failures. The novel moves from hope to frustration to hope to frustration-with each new hope dimmer and each frustration greater as the society disintegrates into a state of anarchy.
5. What is the advantage of using boys as characters?
Answer: The boys, with their outward innocence and inner corruption, represent, quite readily, the theme of the intrusion of evil in man. Much of the irony in the novel derives from the discrepancy between pleasant appearances and horrible realities. Even the relatively civilized boys, Piggy and Ralph, join in the slaughter of their friend Simon.
6. What are the methods of characterization?
Answer: Golding uses the conventional methods of revealing character, presenting the thoughts, speech, and description of a person, describing characteristic action, and reporting the observations of others; all of these are used with great economy. The boys are created with a few deft strokes, rather than by a multiplicity of details, with the result that all of the boys, except perhaps Simon and Ralph, are simple characterizations. This makes them serve better as representative types in the symbolic narrative. Even with Simon and Ralph, Golding gives greatest emphasis to one characteristic of Simon-his spiritualism-and two characteristics of Ralph-his dreaminess and his common sense-to make each of them also symbolize a way of life.
7. Do the characters of the boys develop?
Answer: The personalities of the boys do change. In general, there is the gradual flowering of evil that warps their characters. In some boys there is a change for the better. Piggy at the end is more dignified. Simon is filled with an adult wisdom. Ralph is serious and sombre.
8. Comment on style and tone.
Answer: Golding writes with great virtuosity. At times he describes the details of the jungle so concretely and vividly that the reader is convinced of the reality of the experience. Other times he lyrically presents the imaginative experience of the boys, as in Chapter 4 where he depicts the illusions that beset the boys, or in Chapter 8 where he brings Simon face-to-face with the "Lord of the Flies". His tone ranges from a romantically enthusiastic response to the beauty of the jungle, to a satiric juxtaposition of incongruous elements like the childish chatter and vicious expressions of hatred by the boys.
9. How does the author sustain interest?
Answer: It is the physical, emotional, and moral conflicts of boy against boy, and boy against nature that arouse and sustain interest.
10. What is the advantage of using an island setting?
Answer: The island is a completely isolated world, where the possibility of instituting a new society can be tested. The island, too, will take whatever geography the author wants to impose. Here, Golding molds the island to his symbolic purposes, giving it a beach, platform, jungle, mountain, and rocky extremity, each of which can be used to represent human potentials and aspirations.
Copyright 1963-1990 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Golding, William, Works of William Golding: Character Analyses., Monarch Notes, 01-01-1963.
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