Feedback on Lord of the Flies
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Make sure you discuss the words that are used in the quotation and link it to Golding’s
message.
Prioritise your ideas and focus on the big points first…Make a plan
Make reference to the whole novel – beginning, end and middle.
Learn the order of events to ensure that you can find meaningful evidence
Write more
Always have a point that answers the question
Use short evidence that you understand and can analyse
LEARN what Golding is saying
Essay plan
Introduction:
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Refer to the question and give a response to it
Show that you have understood the question
Make a brief comment about how you are going to answer it
Explain if there is an alternative interpretation
Middle:
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Prioritise your ideas, start with the most important point first NOT the first chapter.
Use evidence and analyse what the evidence is saying
Ensure that the paragraphs link and you stay focused on the question
Useful connectives: however, yet, despite this, nevertheless, nonetheless, on the other hand, by
contrast, similarly, another example, in addition, above all
Conclusion:
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Draw all your points together to sum up the response (don’t just repeat what you have
written)
Have a one line summary that is your belief about Golding’s message
Themes
Good versus evil: ‘Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to thorw them. Yet there was a
space round Henry…into which he dare not throw…Round the squatting child there was the
protection of parents and school and policemen and the law.’Pg 64-65
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Golding mixes good and evil. What is he trying to say about human nature?
Think about key events and how they show the characters in different ways. Why is this?
Good: Ralph builds the shelters to help the boys, Jack gives the boys a share of the first pif
he catches
Unclear: Ralph tells the boys Piggy’s nickname, Jack plays the hunting game with a real boy
Evil: Roger kills Piggy, Jack orders the death of Ralph
The heart of darkness: ‘darkness of man’s heart’
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Fear of being primitive – Ralph tries to stay ‘British’
Jack does not set out to become the wild savage he turns into it – some of his behaviour
might be learnt (bullying, bossy, aggressive), but some exists in him and has the opportunity
to escape (ceremony with the hunting, dancing around the pig)
Primitive behaviour is driven by instinct
Rules and society: ‘The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away.’ Pg 98
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Beginning of the book, rules of their former lives exist
These old ties disappear as the clothes fall apart, hunters discard theirs and paint themselves
instead
No adults to enforce the rules, the island falls apart
Roger is free once the conch has been smashed, Golding releases the evil side of Roger
Microcosm (small scale version) of what happens in the real world
Nature vs nurture: ‘You were outside. Oustide the circle. You never really came in. Didn’t you see
what we –they did?’ Pg 173
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Roger is naturally evil
Murder of Simon shows the influence of evil
Some of the boys have a tendency to be good, why does Golding do this?
Survival of the fittest: ‘Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’ pg 200
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Golding was influenced by Darwin, Ralph is the best leader as he is the most ‘civilised’ but he
cannot face Jack’s brutality…Is Jack therefore suited to his surroundings?
The conclusion shows that Jack is not more of a survivor that Ralph as he sets the island on
fire, if the novel had continued, would the boys have starved to death?
Fear of the beast: ‘Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind’s essential illness’ pg
96
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‘Littleuns’ vs the older boys
Naturalistic references – snake, it comes from the sea, it is an ape. Golding is referring to the
tradition of making a monster from what we know
Why is the reader ahead of the boys in terms of whether the beast exists or not?
Humans and nature: ‘The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps in
its belly towards a line of birch-like saplings…’ pg 44
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Idyllic environment to survive – surroundings. Pigs cause conflict.
Destruction of the island in chapter two – what should be the reaction? So, why does
Golding have the fire in chapter 12?
Boys destroy environment, what might Golding be saying?