lord of the flies

“I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us.” Ch.1

 “Piggy! Piggy, his nickname is Piggy” Ralph danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned as a fighter plane, with wings swept back, and machine-gunned Piggy.” Ch.1

“Ralph sat on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before...before him small children squatted in the grass.” Ch. 2

“This is our island, it’s a good island. Until the grown-ups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.” Ch.2

“Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another.” Ch. 5

“I was the only boy in my school with ***-mar” Ch.1

“He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat…looked up through thick spectacles.” Ch. 1

“Piggy asked no names. He was intimidated by this uniformed superiority and the off-hand authority in Merridew’s voice” Ch. 1

“Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ***-mar, and specs, and had a certain declination to manual labour” Ch.1

“I got the conch, you let me speak” Ch.2

“with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children” Ch. 2

“acting like a crowd of kids” Ch.2

“How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put things first and act proper” Ch. 2

“When his party was about ten yards from the platform he shouted an order and they halted, gasping, sweating, swaying in the fierce light” Ch. 1

“We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.” Ch. 2

“Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth. … he lowered his chin and stared at the traces as though he would force them to speak. Then, dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward” Ch. 3

“If you're hunting sometimes... you can feel as if you're not hunting, but -- being hunted, as if something's behind you all the time in the jungle.” Ch. 3

“He’s always throwing a faint” Ch.1

“like candles. Candle bushes. Candle buds” Ch.1

“Then he turned his back on this and walked into the forest with an air of purpose” Ch. 3

“Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for the fruit they could not reach... passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.” Ch. 3

“Maybe there is a beast.... maybe it's only us.” Ch. 5

 “There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled common sense.” Ch. 4

“Jack began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” Ch. 4

“Conch, conch!” Shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore” Ch. 6

Ralph suggests “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” Ch.1

“That’s what this shell is called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he is speaking” Ch.2

“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law” Ch. 4

 “There was the brilliant world of hunting, tactics, fierce exhilaration, skill; and there was the world of longing and baffled common sense.” Ch. 4

“Jack began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling” Ch. 4

“Conch, conch!” Shouted Jack. “We don’t need the conch anymore” Ch. 6

Ralph suggests “Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things.” Ch.1

“That’s what this shell is called. I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he is speaking” Ch.2

“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school and policemen and the law” Ch. 4

“Ralph grasped the idea and hit the shell with air from his diaphragm. A deep harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back from the pink granite of the mountain” Ch. 1

"Shut up," said Ralph absently. He lifted the conch. "Seems to me we ought to have a chief to decide things. A chief! A chief!? I ought to be chief! said Jack" Ch. 1

“Let him be chief with the trumpet thing” Ch.2

"A fire! Make a fire!" At once half the boys were on their feet. Jack clamored among them, the conch forgotten. "Come on! Follow me!" Ch. 2

Ralph pushed Piggy to one side."I was the chief, and you were going to do what I said" Ch. 4

“He patted the palm trunk softly; and forced at last to believe in the reality of the island, laughed delightedly again and stood on his head” Ch. 1

“Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.” Ch. 5

What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?” Ch. 5