Lord Of The Flies Quotes and Analysis

'there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil.'

This suggests Ralph has no hidden depths or unhealthy character traits

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'They'll see our smoke'

Ralph believes that rescue from the island is essential. His efforts are directed to keeping the fire going. He is annoyed when jack and he hunters allow it to go out.

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'new understanding that Piggy had given him'

Ralph's ability to think things through is attributed to Piggy, whose qualities Ralph begins to admire. Ralph listens to Piggy's advice

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'Don't you understand, Piggy? The things we did-'

Only Ralph is able to come to terms with the reasons why Simon was killed. He is willing to share the blame and responsibility for Simon's death. this shows his true leadership qualities.

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'Better Piggy than Fatty... I'm sorry if you feel like that'

Having upset Piggy by using his nickname to get a laugh Ralph realises he humiliated Piggy which sets him apart from Jack as he does not have malice (intent to harm)

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'This is the voice of one who knew his own mind'

this suggests that Jack is someone who does not want to obey

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Jack had a 'compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up'

Although Jack provides the boys with meat, he has an almost addictive urge to kill. He represents Man the Hunter and exhibits a basic, primeval instinct to hunt

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'Do our dance! Come on! Dance!'

Jack turns hunting pigs into hunting people. He is the one who sets in motion the sequence of events that lead to Simon's death

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'the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness'

When painted, Jack feels he can act as he wishes. The mask makes him act in an extreme or evil way.

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'He was shorter than the fair boy and very fat'

Piggy's size sets him apart from the other boys and makes him different

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'Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ***-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for manual labour'

Piggy appears to have little in his favour when survival on a desert island is at stake. He is an outsider immediately loathed and bullied by Jack. IRONY although he seems the least educated he is the most intelligent.

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'them that haven't got no common sense'

Piggy, for all his physical problems, is intelligent. Here, he is able to see the cause of the trouble among the boys.

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'We could find out how to make a small hot fire and then put green branches on to make smoke'

Piggy can solve problems using rational thought. He addresses the problem of making an easily tendered fire with sufficient smoke to attract a ship. Despite seeming the least educated (accent) Piggy has the most knowledge when it comes survival IRONY

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'batty' 'queer' 'funny' 'cracked'

Simon is prone to fainting fits and spends time alone. His 'strangeness' is never made explicit. The short quotes show the boys lack of vocabulary to define him.

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'What is the dirtiest thing there is?'

Simon is unable to explain the notion of evil which manifests itself in the idea of 'the fear' and 'the beast'. He has the intelligence and maturity to understand the concept, but lacks the necessary language skills to express it.

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'the beast was harmless and horrible'

Simon understands the nature of the beast (the dead parachutist) and the significance of this for the boys... that there is nothing to fear and that there is life outside of the island.

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'In Simon's right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain'

Simon had considerable strength of mind but his body was frail. This shows his perceptiveness and individuality but also his vunrabliity.

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'always about'

omnipresent, parallel with God. Also shows his loyalty. However he does spend time alone.

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'You don't know Roger. he's a terror'

Roger is the boy who most obviously turns from a choirboy in to a pre-meditated killer. He outstrips Jack in barbarism.

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'Maurice still felt the unease of wrong-doing'

When Roger and Maurice kick sand in Percival's eyes, Maurice feels guilty. He retains a sense of sin.

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'Roger advanced upon them as one wielding a nameless authority'

Roger is the person who administers torture. He appears to enjoy his role and will be backed up by Jack.

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'-only Roger-'

Jack and Roger are described as 'terrors' here but the suggestion is the Roger will go further than Jack. Roger shows no remorse for the death of Piggy. He is willing to kill Ralph and place his head on a stick.

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'stick sharpened at both ends'

Roger had a stick sharpened at both ends to show he was prepared to kill Ralph and then put his head on the stick as it could go into the ground easier.

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'the twins shook their heads and pointed at each other and the crowd laughed'

The twins are so alike nobody can tell them apart. At first, this brings humour into the novel.

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'By custom now one conch did for both twins, for their substantial unity was recognized'

When Sam and Eric tell of their encounter with the beast, it is as if they are telling the tale in stereo, which adds a frightening impact to the story.

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'You lemme go-' '- and me'

The twins are brave when confronted by Jack. They refuse to join the tribe and only give in when Roger forces them to. Even so, they do not wear tribal face paint.

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'They're going to hunt you tomorrow'

The twins warn Ralph that he will be hunted and killed, which suggests they would like to be on his side. They retain civilised values but are made to do what Jack wants.

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'breathed together' 'grinned together'

Shows Sam and Eric as one person. It is not really ever made clear who is speaking out of the two of them.'ljhhh

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'And we want shelters. Besides, the rest of your hunters came back hours ago. They've been swimming'

Shows the good and evil between Jack and Ralph. Jack wants to hunt for meat but Ralph insists that the shelters are built.

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Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones'

Roger's evil intentions are shown early on, he willfully destroys the littluns' game.

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'Simon found form them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands.'

Could be compared to Jesus feeding the hungry and poor.

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'Simon's always about.'

God is omnipresent, everywhere, Simon could be compared to this.

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Roger 'threw [a stone at Henry] to miss' 'Taboo of old life'

Shows that Roger still feels the barrier of civilisation, a sense of wrong and right, what not to do. Could also foreshadow Piggy's death, demonstrates break down of civilisation.

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'"I cut the pigs throat," said Jack, proudly, and yet twitched as he said it' 'grimaced' when the blood was on his hands

Shows Jack still has the innocence and is not completely okay with having killed a pig.

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'Laughing and shuddering' when Jack mentions about the blood from the pig

Shows jack is not completely barbaric. He still feels remorse and uneasy at the fact he killed the pig.

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'Simon... shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy'

Giving away his food to others that have none, could be compared to Jesus.

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'Maurice pretended to be the pig and ran squealing into the center, and the hunters, circling still, pretended to beat him.'

Foreshadowing of Simon's death, thinking he was the beast.

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'There was a ship' 'We needed meat.'

Ralph wants to go home and go back to normal where as jack is more relaxed an=bout it and isn't as bothered about getting rescued

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'scar' 'reef' 'lagoon' 'deflies' ;cirque' 'roughly boat shaped' 'a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry'

Description of the island.

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'We'll have rules!' 'Then when anyone breaks 'em-'

Suggests anyone who breaks the rules will be punished, shows jacks

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'Jus' blurs, that's all. Hardly see my hand'

IRONY Piggy's foresight (perception and understanding of his actions) is strong but his eyesight is weak

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Jack 'snatched' Piggy's glasses to light the fire

Snatched suggests rough treatment but also has connotations of children not playing nicely. Reminds the reader of the boys' youth.

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the boy with the scar 'must have had a nightmare'

The bigguns at first dismiss the idea of a Beast and think one of the youbnger boys must have dreamt it. The reader can relate to this because all young children have nightmares.

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Piggy says they only evil on the island is the evil inside they boys' minds.

Golding suggests that evil is not external but internal

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'This meeting must not be fun, but business'

Shows Ralph is a good leader, wants to get things done and not waste time or opportunity's

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However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.

Simon knew that the only beast lay inside the human soul. Simon interprets humanity with the capacity for good and evil. Humans are capable of kindness but also possess a sickness. Could also be saying he was 'sick' to be fighting in a war.

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'the divider, the barrier'

Golding uses the description if natural elements to show the reader the barrier between the world of adults and they boys' world

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'uncompromising' 'sheer' 'impossible'

Golding uses words such as these to suggest the boys' isolation. The word choice suggests the island is more of a prison rather than a 'Coral Island' type paradise.

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'Boys with sticks'

When Ralph describes the hunters as this, Jack gets really annoyed for he sees his hunters as strong and necessary whereas Ralph deems them unimportant and sees them for what they are.

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'Now you done it. You been rude about his hunters'

Piggy realises something is going to happen when Ralph offends Jack

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'a body on a hill'

Christian Imagery. It has clear parallels to the image of Jesus on the cross at Calvery. Simon is seen as a visionary and a prophet.

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'can't tell what he might do'

Jack denies killing the Simon and shifts the blame into the beast.

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'arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it had been killed'

Clear parallel between the death of a pig and the death of Piggy. His name foreshadows his death.

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Piggy is 'the center of social derision'

Previously the humour had been caused by slapstick (Piggy falling off the 'twister' log at the assembly) but fun and mimicry is not seen after Piggy's death.

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'The conch is gone-'

The old rules are over; childhood innocence and order is lost.

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Jack hurls a spear at Ralph 'viciously, with full intention'

Jack clearly wanted to hurt Ralph. he went from being uneasy about killing a pig, to accidentally killing Simon to hunting down Ralph.

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Ralph was 'scratched and bruised from his flight through the forest'

Despite Ralph previously calling the island a 'good island' it ends up wounding him.

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The hunters 'had rushed back to the sunny rock as if terrified of the darkness under the leaves'

Reminds the reader of their youth and how they are afraid of the dark and the beast that may come with it although they do not want to show this fear and seem weak to the other boys.

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in the final chapter light and dark are used to describe the trees and foliage.

This could be representing the good and bad inside us all.8

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'Evening was come, not with calm beauty but with the threat of violence'

This is how this island is described before Simon's death. A storm is brewing and is seems the island is in harmony with the feelings and actions of the boys.

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'The movement became regular while the chant lost its first superficial excitement and began to beat like a steady pulse'

The boys act as one, losing any type of individuality, therefore absolving themselves of any direct blame for their actions.

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'You let the fire out'

The stark confrontation between Ralph and Jack is reminiscent of the Cold war and feeling often go unsaid and therefore you don't really know is something will happen or not.

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'I didn't expect nothing'

Piggy uses working class language for example double negatives. This sets him apart from the other boys.

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'Shut up you fat slug'

Jack is very rude and confrontational. Towards the end of the novel he starts to use worse language.

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Lord Of The Flies Quotes and Analysis

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