Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was published in 1954. It is deeply allegorical and
symbolic, and another one of our texts this year which ponders our Essential Question for
the semester: “What is justice?” In Golding’s novel, is justice really determined by
reason, or by force?
Some other Guiding Questions to consider while reading the novel:
Is evil innate (already exists), or must it be taught (nature vs. nurture)?
Are children “naturally” innocent?
Does evil come from people, or from society?
Possible themes of the novel:
 Civilization and savagery are in constant conflict – and once outside authority is
removed, savagery wins.
 Innocence will always be lost.
 Innately, human beings are evil.
CHAPTER 1

The setting of the story is on a deserted island in the near future. What outside
events (directly and indirectly) caused their plane to crash?
 Describe the three main characters of the novel.
RALPH
Physical/external characteristics:
Personality/internal characteristics:
PIGGY
Physical/external characteristics:
Personality/internal characteristics:
JACK
Physical/external characteristics:
Personality/internal characteristics:
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II

What are some early indications of the civilized society the boys just left? (Think
of objects, actions, and behaviors.)

What do Piggy and Ralph discover to call the other survivors? What are some
things this item could symbolize?

Jack is the leader of what school group? How are they dressed?

Who is elected leader? Why do you think he won the vote? What is one
characteristic that he is not superior in compared to others in the group?


The leader makes Jack the head of the _______________________.
Ralph, Jack, and Simon go up the mountain to investigate. Describe Simon’s
personality.

What happens when the boys meet the wild pig tangled in vines? What might
this foreshadow later?

CHAPTER 2
Upon their return, Ralph calls a meeting. What are some immediate dangers for
the boys?
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II

What are some future, long-term dangers and problems?

A young boy with a mulberry-colored mark on his face steps forward. What did
he see the night before? What might it symbolize? What effect does this have
on the boys?

What does Ralph propose they do on top of the mountain?

What possession of Piggy’s is essential for the above proposal? What are some
things this item might symbolize?

What is the ominous discovery at the end of the chapter? How do the boys react?
What might this foreshadow?

CHAPTER THREE
What activity is Jack trying to do at the beginning of the chapter? Is he
successful?
 Things aren’t going well on the island!
A. Ralph wants to use wood to build ________ and for the _____________, but Jack
and his hunters use wood to make ____________________.
B. Contrast what Ralph sees as problems with Jack’s sense of priorities.

The ways Jack and Simon view and interact with the jungle mirror their own
personalities and reveal character. Explain each character’s outlook, attitude,
and interaction with the jungle.
JACK:
SIMON:
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Lord of the Flies
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Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 4
What are the younger boys now called? What might it mean that new slang
phrases are being developed on the island?

___________ and Roger, two older boys, torment a few younger ones by tearing
down a sand castle. But Roger goes even further. What does Roger do?

“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting
child was the protection of parents and school and policeman and the law” (62).
How does this tie into Roger’s actions above? What does this say about the boys’
morals and culture at this point in the novel?

What do Ralph and Piggy see in the horizon? What is the problem that the
negligent hunters have caused?

What has Jack and his hunters finally succeeded at?

What happens to an item of Piggy’s when Piggy and Ralph confront Jack? What
might this “damage” symbolize?

What does Simon do that embarrasses him?

As they eat, what happens around the fire? What is the chant the boys create?

What does Ralph do at the end of the chapter?

Discuss how the boys’ lives on the island are a microcosm of society.
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 5

Explain Ralph’s frustrations as he walks along the beach.
 Ralph berates the boys at the meeting.
A. According to Ralph, what are responsibilities that the others are not doing, and
rules they are not following?
B. What fear is threatening to rip the group apart? How does Jack manipulate this
fear?
C. As much as Simon hates to talk in front of all the boys, he proposes a possibility
for what B really is: “What I mean is . . . maybe it’s only us” (89). Explain Simon’s
point.
 At the end of the meeting, only Ralph, Piggy, and Simon remain on the beach.
A. Piggy wants Ralph to blow the conch again, but he does not. Why?
B. What might you infer what is happening to the island’s culture by the end of the
chapter?
 Give examples from Chapters 4 and 5 how the boys are:
BECOMING SAVAGES:
STILL CIVILIZED PEOPLE:
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Lord of the Flies
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Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 6
What happens high above the island during the night? Why might Golding
include this in his narrative, especially at this point in the novel?
No one notices what is happening above, because _______ and _________ are
supposed to be watching the signal fire, but they fall asleep. When they awake,
what is the true source of the “monster” that frightens them? How does the
“monster” seem to move?

The characters above run back and tell Ralph about the monster. He calls a
meeting.
A. What does Jack accuse Ralph of being?
B. What is the repeating phrase of Ralph’s that finally – but barely – gets the boys
refocused on the most important thing they should do (relighting the signal fire)?

Who leads the expedition to the mountain?

On the way up the mountain, what fears and concerns of Simon are revealed?
What happens to Simon when he’s not paying attention?

By this point in the novel, it is clear the point of view is __________________.
How do you know this?

Jack and the hunters delay and play around a “fortress” they discover on an
outcropping of rock. What are ways the boys show the fortress could be
defended?

Name one theme mentioned at the beginning of the study guide and describe how
it is depicted so far in the novel. Give at least two examples / explanations.
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Lord of the Flies
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Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 7
Ralph muses on the state of the boys’ hygiene and appearance. What are some of
his observations?
Water is referenced several times at the beginning of the chapter: sweat, washing,
and the ocean. Water is therefore seen as positive and negative, depending on its
form or use. What are two different things that these references could symbolize?
 On the way up the mountain, the boys have a boar hunt.
A. What is Ralph’s realization in the middle of the chase?
B. The hunt is unsuccessful. What happens to Robert in their “reenactment” of the
hunt?
C. The boys suggest making the reenactment a new ritual. Describe what the boys
think they need for this ritual. What does Jack suggest they use for the pig?

What question does Ralph ask Jack that makes the rest of the boys “[stir]
uneasily, as though something indecent had been said”?

Who finally first ventures alone to the top of the mountain to confront the
“beast”?

At the end of the chapter, Ralph, Jack and ____________ go back to the top, see
the “beast” and run away. Why is it ironic that the boys do not follow Ralph’s
original advice to confront the beast during the daytime?
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 8
 When the boys return to the beach, Jack calls a meeting.
A. How does Jack manipulate the truth about the beast and what Ralph said and did?
Give three examples.
B. What does Jack fail to do by the end of the meeting? How does he react to this
failure?

“Only Piggy could have the intellectual daring” to suggest what?

What does Simon do while Ralph and the others eat fruit?

Jack and his new tribe of hunters finally kill a sow. This part of Golding’s novel
is vivid – and ominous. What makes the passage disturbing? Why do you think
Golding chooses the specific words and stylistic imagery for this passage?

What does Jack tell the hunters to do with the head of the pig?


From a hidden spot, who has overseen the killing of the pig?
What has happened to the twins’ names? What might this symbolically
represent?

The conch is now losing its original symbolic significance. When Jack and his
hunters raid the camp for fire, what does Piggy do? What does it say about the
new reality of the island that Piggy’s suspicion was incorrect?
 At the end of the chapter, Simon has a conversation with the Lord of the Flies.
A. Is the conversation real or imagined? Explain.
B. Quote a few sentences from the Lord of the Flies’s speech that you think are a
significant comment on the novel at this point. Be sure to explain your choices.
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Lord of the Flies
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Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 9
Simon awakes from his faint and goes up to the top of the mountain to confront
the beast. He discovers the truth, and “[takes] the lines in his hands; he free[s]
them from the rocks and the figure from the wind’s indignity” (146-147). What
does Simon next decide to do?

Ralph and Piggy go to check out Jack’s tribe. What are other words besides
“leader” that Jack could now be called? Find examples from the text as proof.

It begins to storm. (Symbolic, perhaps?) What does Jack do when Ralph points
out, “Where are your shelters? What are you going to do about that?”

What do the boys now chant? How is it different than the end of Chapter 4?

In the middle of the actions above, “A thing [crawls] out of the forest”: Simon.
What do the others do to him?

What happens to both the dead parachutist and the body of the “thing” by the end
of the chapter?

By this point of the book, Simon has symbolically transformed into a Christ-like
figure. Give three examples (from this and/or previous chapters) as evidence.

Discuss why Golding uses children to enhance his allegorical assertions.
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
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CHAPTER 10
What is the difference between Ralph and Piggy’s opinions and attitudes about
what happened to Simon the night before?

What is Castle Rock?

What happens to Wilfred? How does this show what kind of leader Jack is?

At this point to Ralph, “the attraction of wildness had gone” (164). What does he
think and dream about that disturbs him?

After the hunters attack, what is ironic about Eric’s brag about getting “his knee
up” and hitting a hunter “in the pills”? What might the reality of this symbolize?

What do the hunters steal from Piggy? Why is this a problem?
CHAPTER 11
Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric plan to confront Jack at Castle Rock.
A. What are the things Ralph feels they must do to show they’re not savages?

B. For the last two chapters, Ralph is having difficulty remembering what? Why might
this be significant?
 Piggy is now essentially blind.
A. What might Piggy symbolize at this point in the novel?
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Lord of the Flies
Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
B. Remember that Golding was knowledgeable about ancient cultures. Can you
think of a Greek character that Piggy might be similar to? (Think of The Odyssey
and Antigone.) What usually happens to such characters in Greek drama?

What does Roger do when Ralph and the rest first approach Castle Rock? How
does this tie into earlier in the novel?

Jack and Ralph first fight to a standstill, but then Jack orders his hunters to grab
Samneric. When Ralph’s temper breaks, what does he scream at Jack?

What happens when Piggy stands up for himself?
Who is responsible?
 Carefully read the paragraph beginning “The rock struck . . .” on page 181.
A. What does the fate of the conch symbolize?
B. What is Piggy’s twitching arms and legs compared to?
C. How does the end of the paragraph echo an event earlier in the novel?

What is the fate of Ralph at the end of the chapter?

What is the fate of Samneric at the end of the chapter?
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Lord of the Flies
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Study Guide
Mr. Watson
English II
CHAPTER 12
As Ralph ponders what to do next, what object does he come across? What does
he compare the “whiteness” to? How might this be a symbolic comparison?
Ralph goes back to Castle Rock, and has a whispered conversation with Samneric.
A. What do they physically give to help Ralph?
B. The twins warn Ralph that the tribe will be hunting him tomorrow. What do
they specifically warn about Roger? What do you infer the tribe plans to make of
Ralph?
C. What information does Ralph give that compromises himself (and the twins)
later?

In order to flush Ralph out, Jack does something that has a large impact on the
island. What is it? What is self-destructive about the choice?

When faced by the cordon, what two choices does Ralph debate?
 Finally, and desperately, Ralph flees to the beach.
A. Who does Ralph find on the beach?
B. In your own words, paraphrase the gist of their conversation.
C. Explain why this functions as an example of deus ex machina.
 There are several ironies by the end of the book. Explain the following:
A. The irony of the “smoke”:
B. The irony of the insult, “I should have thought that a pack of British boys – you’re all
British, aren’t you? – would have been able to put up a better show than that”:

What does Ralph weep for at the end of the novel?
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