Lord of the Flies
William Golding’s
Recall Packet
Name_________________________________________________
Period ______
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Lord of the Flies
Character
Description
Actions that
Support Description
Ralph
Jack
Piggy
Simon
Sam and Eric
Roger
Little Ones
Beastie
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Chapter One
Vocabulary and Language
1. Conch
2. Asthma
3. Ill-omened
4. Strident
5. Defiles
6. Hiatus
7. Immured
8. Specious
9. Enmity
10. Pliant
Reading Question
1. Why is Chapter One entitled, “The Sound of the Shell”?
2. What is Ralph’s attitude towards Piggy in this chapter?
3. What is the significance of Piggy’s plea to join the expedition?
4. Why is Ralph elected chief?
5. What is the “scar” that is frequently mentioned?
6. Why is Jack unable to kill the pig?
7. What do Piggy, Simon, and the boy with the birthmark have in common?
8. How is Jack presented to the reader?
9. Why does Golding use British school boys in his novel?
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10. How is Piggy indirectly responsible for the blowing of the conch?
Extension Questions
1. Compare the characters of Ralph, Piggy, and Jack. What are they like? What is
their relationship like? What do you think their relationships will be as the book
progresses?
2. How does social order come about on the island?
3. Of the boys introduced in Chapter One, who do you think would make the best
leader? What qualities of the boy, supports your position.
Chapter Two
Vocabulary and Language
1. Gesticulated
2. Ebullience
3. Officious
4. Recrimination
5. Pall
6. Presage
7. Tumult
8. Tirade
9. Errant
10. Festooned
Reading Questions
1. What question does the boy with the birthmark raise?
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2. How do Ralph and Jack answer his question?
3. What is the significance of the chapter’s title, “Fire on the Mountain”?
4. How do they start the fire?
Extension Questions
1. Golding provides clues as to when this story might be taking place. What time period
do you think the story takes place? What are the clues given?
2. Why do you think children imagine monsters? Why do you think the island triggered
the fear of beastie in the small boy’s mind?
3. What are some of the rules that Ralph introduces to the assembly? Explain how you
think he thought of these rules, and why they make sense (or why they don’t makes
sense).
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Chapter Three
Vocabulary and Language
1. Abyss
2. Tacit
3. Perceptible
4. Foundered
5. Susurration
6. Tendril
7. Opaque
8. Declivities
9. Oppressive
10. Avidly
11. Pallor
12. Inscrutable
13. Vicissitudes
14. Contrite
15. Audible
Reading Questions
1. What is the significance of the title, “Huts on the Beach”?
2. Why does Ralph become upset with Jack?
3. What two groups with different goals are emerging on the island?
4. Why does Simon go to his “special place”?
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Extension Questions
1. Jack says that sometimes he feels as if he’s being hunted when he is alone in the
forest. Explain why he feels this way?
2. What do you think Golding means when he writes that Ralph and Jack “walked along,
two continents of experience and feeling, unable to communicate”?
Chapter Four
Vocabulary and Language
1. Malevolently
2. Myriad
3. Detritus
4. Parody
5. Camouflage
6. Blatant
7. Belligerence
8. Impalpable
9. Ravenously
10. Gyration
Reading Questions
1. What is the significance of the title, “Painted Faces and Long Hair”?
2. Why does Roger, while throwing stones at Little Ones, aim to miss?
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3. What definite stand does Ralph make and why?
4. Why does Jack refuse to give meat to Piggy?
Extension Questions
1. Why do you think Jack’s personality changes when he applies the colored clay
to his face? What unspoken reason could he have for needing a mask?
2. Why does Golding have the boys re-enact the pig hunt?
Chapter Five
Vocabulary and Language
1. Solemnity
2. Lamentation
3. Decorum
4. Inarticulate
5. Discursive
6. Improvisation
7. Speculation
8. Perilous
9. Effigy
10. Incantation
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Reading Questions
1. What is the significance of the title, “Beast from the Water”?
2. What is the paradox of the boys’ attitude toward the beast?
3. Why does Ralph call a meeting?
4. Why does Piggy convince Ralph not to give up his position as chief?
Extension Questions
1. What do you think Simon means when he says, “Maybe there is a beast”?
2. Piggy says, “What’s grown-ups going to think?” when he sees what the boys are
doing. Why is the opinion of grown-ups important to Piggy? What relationship
does the adult world have to the boys’ world on the island?
3. What is meant by “……..every path was an improvisation”?
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Chapter Six
Vocabulary and Language
1. Diffidently
2. Bastion
3. Stupendous
4. Leviathan
5. Chasms
6. Polyp
7. Taut
Reading Questions
1. What is the irony of the dead parachutist landing on the island?
2. Why is Simon the only one to doubt the existence of the beast?
3. Why do Ralph and Jack both insist on going after the beast?
4. Why does Jack say they don’t need the conch any longer?
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Extension Questions
1. Why is it necessary for Golding to prevent Piggy from going on the hunt for the
Beast?
2. Simon has logical reasons why he can’t believe in the Beast. What are they?
3. Explain why Ralph considers the area called the castle to be a “rotten place.”
Chapter Seven
Vocabulary and Language
1. Coverts
2. Obtuseness
3. Furtively
4. Impervious
5. Ritual
6. Luxuriance
7. Accessible
8. Brandished
9. Taunt
10. Bravado
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Reading Questions
1. Why does Simon tell Ralph “You” will get back all right?
2. What happens when Ralph wounds the boar?
3. What does Ralph ask Jack and why?
4. Why do the boys run from the dead parachutist?
Extension Questions
1. What part of civilization plays a role in dictating a need for good grooming?
2. When Ralph gets caught up in the pig hunt, what does his reaction tell you about him?
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Chapter Eight
Vocabulary and Language
1. Prefect
2. Taboo
3. Demoniac
4. Rebuke
5. Sanctity
6. Obscene
7. Sensuously
8. Demented
9. Sodden
10. Illusive
11. Iridescent
12. Vexed
Reading Questions
1. Why do the boys refuse to vote for Jack as chief, but slip off to join him later?
2.
What does Jack tell his new tribe?
3.
Why is the killing of the sow discussed in such detail?
4.
What does the Lord of the Flies tell Simon?
Extension Questions
1. Jack says, “I’m not going to play anymore.” Are the boys playing? What is the
difference between playing and reality for these boys?
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2. How does Jack use the idea of the Beast to control and direct the boys in his
tribe?
3. Why does Golding have Simon “communicate” with the Lord of the Flies?
Consider what Simon’s character might represent in the novel.
Chapter Nine
Vocabulary and Language
1. Corpulent
2. Succulent
3. Abominable
4. Cascading
5. Mimed
6. Phosphorescence
Reading Questions
1. What reason does Ralph give for the boys’ defection to Jack’s tribe?
2. What kind of leader is Jack and why?
3. How does Jack propose to rule without the conch?
4. Why do Ralph and Piggy join the dance?
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5. Why is Simon’s dead body carried out to sea in terms of glorification?
Extension Questions
1. Re-enacting the killing of the pig and wearing face paint have become rituals to the
boys. Why are rituals an important part of this culture?
2. Why do Ralph and Piggy feel the need to be part of “this demented but partly secure
society”?
Chapter Ten
Vocabulary and Language
1. Assimilating
2. Theological
3. Befouled
4. Feverish
5. Torrid
6. Burrowed
Reading Questions
1. What is the significance of the title, “The Shell and the Glasses?”
2. Why do Ralph, Piggy, and Samneric lie about their part in Simon’s death?
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3. How is Wilfred punished and why?
4. How does Jack account for the death of Simon?
Extensions Questions
1. When Ralph says, “I’m frightened. Of us….” What do you think he means?
2. Jack is called “Chief” by the boys now. Why is important that he no longer uses his
given name?
3. Why do you think Jack wants to make the boys believe the Beast is still alive?
Chapter Eleven
Vocabulary and Language
1. Myopia
2. Luminous
3. Talisman
4. Irony
5. Sniveling
6. Multitudinous
7. Derisive
8. Cessation
9. Pinnacles
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10. Menace
11. Parried
12. Writhing
Reading Questions
1. Why do Ralph and Piggy decide to visit Jack’s camp?
2. What is the reaction of Jack’s tribe to Ralph’s talk of rescue?
3. What happens when Piggy holds up the conch and tries to talk?
4. Why does Roger shove his way past Jack, only just managing not to edge him
aside?
Extension Questions
1. What do you think is meant by ‘they understood only too well the liberation into
savagery that the concealing paint brought”?
2. What symbols does Golding use to show that civilization has been destroyed on the
island?
3. How does Golding use Roger and Jack to show that the disorder they have created
will lead to more disorder?
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Chapter Twelve
Vocabulary and Language
1. Antiphonal
2. Ululation
3. Crepitation
4. Goaded
5. Rouse
6. Gibbering
7. Elephantine
8. Lair
9. Ensconce
10. Suppressed
Reading Questions
1. How does Ralph learn of Jack’s plan for him?
2. What does Ralph say to the twins when they refuse to help him?
3. Does Ralph understand why he must be killed? Why or why not?
4. What is the irony of Samneric’s behavior?
5. How does the author describe Ralph’s flight across the island?
6. What is the irony of the fire?
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7. Why is Percival unable to remember his name and address?
8. Why is Piggy’s fall emphasized?
9. Why does Ralph say that he is in charge of the island?
10.What comparison is implied at the end of the novel?
Extension Questions
1. How does Golding change his boys from savages back to little boys in the eyes
of the reader? (Notice that Ralph cries at this point, though he hasn’t cried up
until this time) How does this point-of-view shift affect the reader?
2. What is the purpose of the naval officer’s presence in the surrounding waters,
and what is the irony of this in the light of his reaction to the “fun and games”
of the boys?
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