Lord of the Flies
Comprehension Check Questions
(these will be assigned as homework and collected after each night's reading)
(these will be assigned as homework and collected after each night's reading)
Discussion Questions
(these may be addressed in class--you do NOT need to complete them for homework)
(these may be addressed in class--you do NOT need to complete them for homework)
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 5: “Beast from Water”
Chapter 6: “Beast from Air”
Chapter 7: “Shadows and Tall Trees”
Chapter 8: “Gift for the Darkness”
Chapter 9: “A View to a Death”
Chapter 10: “The Shell and the Glasses”
For each answer, write down the page number where you found your answer.
Chapter 11: “Castle Rock”
Chapter 12: “Cry of the Hunters”
- Make a chart for Ralph, Piggy, and Jack Merridew. Identify three quotes for each that represent the dominant traits of each boy.
- What are the names of the other characters we meet in the first chapter?
- Chapter 1 presents some potential conflicts. First, find three examples of potential conflicts. Write down the examples and explain your ideas. Also write down the page number and highlight/underline the evidence in your book.
- Explain the title of chapter one. Why would the author choose that phrase for the entire chapter?
- Write three quotes that relate to either savagery or civilization. Write the quote, page number, and explain why your reasoning.
- Consider the characters' names. What is the effect of Piggy's name? Why do you suppose the author chose to have the characters call him that name instead of his real name?
Chapter 2
- What main conflicts are developed by the end of chapter 1?
- What is the significance of the chapter’s title, “Fire on the Mountain”?
- How do they start the fire?
- What is the concern of the “littleun” with mulberry-colored birthmark?
- How do Jack and Ralph each respond to the concern that there is a "beastie" on the island?
- How is the character of Ralph further developed?
- What is your opinion of Jack? Explain your answer. Also, include one quote that led you to come to this conclusion.
- What new conflicts are developed in chapter 2?
- Identify one quote that shows the boys are still following rules of a civilized society. Write the full quote and the page number.
- Identify one quote that shows the boys are beginning to behave in a more savage manner. Write the full quote and the page number.
Chapter 3
- How is Simon different from the other boys. Identify two examples to support your ideas.
- What groups emerge by the end of chapter three? Describe each of the groups.
- What might Simon symbolize at this point in the novel?
- Why does Ralph become critical of Jack?
- Explain the importance of the title of chapter 3
- How do you see the theme of civilization vs. savagery developing?
Chapter 5: “Beast from Water”
- What change has come over Ralph as a result of the signal fire incident? How have his values changed?
- What points does Ralph make at the meeting? Why are these points so significant?
- What does Jack say in response to Ralph‟s comments?
- After this comment, Ralph's mouth drops open in surprise over Jack's comments. Why do you think Ralph is shocked?
- Identify one example of savage behavior (other than Jack's behavior after he paints his face). What do you think triggers this behavior?
- Identify one example of a character or a group of boys trying to maintain civilized behavior. Why do you think they are able to adhere to these accepted rules of normal society?
- What does Piggy mean by his claim that “life is scientific”? What does he mean when he suggests that “there isn‟t no fear, either[…]unless we get frightened of people”?
- What does Percival say when Jack asks him where the beast lives? Why do you think he says this?
- What does Simon say about the beast, and what do you think he means? How does everyone else react to what he says?
- Why are the rules so important to Ralph? What are the consequences of breaking them?
- Why does Piggy say that Ralph should blow the conch to call everyone back, and why does Ralph decide not to?
Chapter 6: “Beast from Air”
- What is the “beast from air”? How is it appropriate that the boys mistake it for a beast—what connection does it have with the novel‟s themes, and what does it symbolize?
- What does Sam and Eric‟s description of the beast tell us about human psychology?
- How does Ralph overcome Jack's challenge during the discussion about what to do about the beast?
- What significant thoughts does Simon have about the beast while the boys are walking to the “castle”?
- Why do you think Ralph doesn't really expect to encounter the beast?
- How do most of the boys react to their discovery of the “castle”? What foreshadowing takes place at the end of the chapter?
Chapter 7: “Shadows and Tall Trees”
- What embarrassing thing does Ralph say to himself near the beginning of the chapter that he's afraid someone might have overheard? What does he mean by it? What change in Ralph does the act of talking to himself demonstrate?
- What does Simon say to Ralph that makes them both smile? Think carefully about Simon‟s choice of words—do you think it foreshadows something that might happen later in the novel?
- What disturbing thing do the group of hunters and Ralph do immediately after their encounter with the pig? How is Ralph's behavior surprising? What does this behavior foreshadow?
- Why do you think Simon is so eager to volunteer to go across the island to tell Piggy and the littluns what they're doing?
- Why do you think Jack insists on going up the mountain to look for the beast even though it‟s already dark when they arrive? What internal conflict does Ralph feel about the decision to go up the mountain in the dark?
- Why do you think Golding (the author) plotted the story so that the boys would go up the mountain in the dark?
Chapter 8: “Gift for the Darkness”
- Why do you think the biguns wait until the other boys are occupied to leave instead of supporting Jack's challenge during the meeting?
- What unusual thing happens to Ralph after Jack leaves and after he realizes most of the biguns have left? What is the significance of his reaction?
- What suggestion does Simon make, and why do you think he makes it? What does he mean when he says, “What else is there to do?” What are the consequences of the group‟s decision not to follow Simon‟s suggestion?
- What do Jack and the biguns first decide to “do” about the beast, and what does this say about human nature? Think back to question # 2.
- What foolish decision does Jack make during the hunt, and why is it foolish?
- What happens to Simon after the hunters leave his clearing? What is the “lord of the flies”? What does it represent? What does it say to Simon; how does it talk to him?—what does its speech really indicate about Simon?
Chapter 9: “A View to a Death”
- What are the purpose and effect of Jack's generosity with the meat he and the hunters obtained?
- What do you think his decision to give meat to even Ralph and Piggy is meant to show?
- What psychological effect does dancing and chanting have on the boys? Think back to the effect that putting on makeup had on them in Chapter 4.
- How is Simon's death symbolically significant?
Chapter 10: “The Shell and the Glasses”
For each answer, write down the page number where you found your answer.
- How do Ralph and Piggy view Simon‟s death? How does each of them react to it?
- What explanations do they have for their behavior, and what excuses do they come up with? What do these reactions show about them and about human nature?
- How do the "biguns" seem to define a “proper chief”? What does this criterion suggest about human psychology?
- What does Jack do that causes Roger to have doubts about his leadership?
- What feelings, beliefs, and speculations do Jack's biguns have about what happened the night before at the feast? Can you explain why they did what they did?
- Why are they “half-relieved, half-daunted by the implication of further terrors”? Consider the significance of the quotes below, especially the second one.
- “But didn't we, didn't we—” “No!”‟
- “How could we—kill—it?”
- “Each savage flinched away from his individual memory.”
- “I expect the beast disguised itself.”
- What signs of stress and fear can we see in Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric's behavior in this chapter? Give a specific example and explain how it shows stress and fear.
- Explain why this is a fitting title for this chapter.
Chapter 11: “Castle Rock”
- In what way are the twins “seeing Ralph for the first time” before they all set off for Castle Rock?
- Why is the boys' attempt to get back Piggy's specs and get the other boys to maintain a signal fire bound to fail?
- Why do you think Roger pushes the rock off the cliff?
- How is the destruction of the conch symbolically significant?
- Identify another symbolic event in chapter 11. Describe the event and explain the symbolism.
Chapter 12: “Cry of the Hunters”
- Why does Ralph think that the boy he sees is “not Bill”?
- Why do you think Samneric decide to join Jack‟s tribe? Why do they tell Jack where Ralph is hidden?
- What do Samneric mean when they tell Ralph that Jack has “sharpened a stick at both ends”? What do you think the reason for Jack's hatred is?
- What does Ralph's hiding place symbolize?
- Explain the significance of this quotation: “Percival Wemys Madison sought in his head for an incantation that had faded clean away.”
- What is ironic about how these boys are saved?
- What is ironic about the fact that the boys, who have become savages, are British, and why do you think Golding chose to write about a group of British boys? Consider what the naval officer says: “I should have thought that a pack of British boys would have been able to put up a better show than that.”
- Why do you think the soldier looks away from Ralph?