Literature | High school » William Goldings Lord of the Flies, Exploring Human Nature

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Exploring Human Nature English 10R Ms. Arena ANTICIPATION GUIDE/PRE-READING Directions: For each of the following statements decide whether you tend to agree or disagree. In the left column write agree or disagree Me Before reading General Statement Being stranded on a tropical island would be paradise. Children can naturally organize themselves. Our environment can greatly impact the course of our lives. Leaders rarely dominate weaker people. People tend to follow a charismatic leader. People often misjudge things they don’t understand. Children act differently from grown-ups. There is usually a clear-cut winner in most conflicts. Me After reading POST READING Go back to the anticipation guide and see if your views have changed and mark them in the right column. Examine how Lord of the Flies either supports or doesn’t support each statement. Use quotes (textual evidence) to back it up General Statement Lord of the Flies

Text Evidence/Quotes (pg #) Being stranded on a tropical island would be paradise. Children can naturally organize themselves. Our environment can greatly impact the course of our lives. Leaders rarely dominate weaker people. People tend to follow a charismatic leader. People often misjudge things they don’t understand. Children act differently from grown-ups. There is usually a clear-cut winner in most conflicts. Writing Assignment: Choose three of the statements and write a paragraph for each that explains whether Lord of the Flies supports or doesn’t support it. Use quotes gathered from the text to back up the argument in each paragraph. Due: Lord of the Flies Journals You are in Lord of the Flies. A. Character analysis: After you read each chapter, consider what is going on in your character’s mind. Write two or more paragraphs for each chapter describing the character’s reaction to the events in the novel. In this part you are

reflecting on the dilemmas the character faces, not plot summaries. You should write this in first person point of view or “I” form since you are the character. B. Personal connection: After each chapter, discuss how the events in the novel connect to your own life or the world around us. This may be either a positive or negative connection. C. Quote analysis: Select a significant quote from the chapter and discuss why it is important. How it relates to a character, theme, conflict, setting, simile, metaphor, symbolism, or real life. Each entry should be dated at the top of the page with the Chapter #. How will the journals be graded? • Journals will be checked regularly for completion as homework grades. At the end of the novel I will collect the journals for a test grade. There are a total of 12 chapters in the novel, therefore you must write 12 journal entries. * Each entry is worth 10 points x 12 = 120 total points • If you are absent from class, I will ask to see your

journal with an entry completed for the last day you were in class. It is also expected that you keep the journal updated with the missing entries in the same manner as all absent work. Exploring Human Nature Lord of the Flies Essential Questions: How do social, physical, and cultural environments affect human behavior? How do people exhibit paradoxical qualities? Are humans inherently good or evil? Lord of the Flies Vocabulary Chapter 1 Efflorescence: Enmity: Hiatus: Chapter 2 Recrimination: Tumult: Tirade: Chapter 3 Oppressive: Vicissitudes:

Tacit: Chapter 4 blatant: Taboo: Malevolently: Chapter 5 Ludicrous: Ineffectual: Jeer: Chapter 6 Leviathan: Mutinously: Chapter 7 Crestfallen: Chapter 8 Glowered: Rebuke: Chapter 9 Corpulent: Chapter 10

Compelled: Chapter 11 Luminous: Myopia: Parried: Talisman: Chapter 12 Acrid: Cordon: Apaulettes: Characters in Lord of the Flies Ralph: Jack: Piggy: Simon: Roger: Samneric (Sam & Eric): The littluns: Lord of the Flies Guiding Questions Chapter 1: Sound of the Shell 1. What is “the scar”? 2. How did all the kids get to the island? 3. How is Ralph unfriendly to Piggy? Why? 4. Where is the darkness on the island? What is the darkness a metaphor for? 5. What does Piggy want to do with the boys? Is

Ralph interested? Explain. What does Ralph think is going to happen? 6. What is all over Ralph and his face in the first chapter? Why is this important? 7. Who is Jack? How do you know he is up to no good? 8. What makes Ralph attractive as a leader? Is this a good quality? 9. Why do they make only one person a leader? How could this be a problem later? 10. What does the Conch symbolize? What does the knife symbolize? Chapter 2: Fire on the Mountain 1. What do all the kids run off to do in this chapter? What does Ralph want the kids to think about verses Jack? 2. How do the kids work? When they are given a task, how do they behave? Why doesn’t Piggy like it? 3. How do they light the fire? 4. Who comes up with the idea of using the glasses and what are they used for? 5. Why is Jack important to the group? 6. How is Piggy a little useless? How does Piggy feel and how does he act as a result? 7. What sensible things does Piggy say? Why don’t Ralph and Jack like Piggy

very much? 8. Which should the boys have done first, the shelters or the fire? Chapter 3: Huts on the Beach 1. What is Jack doing and what is he being compared to? 2. What is the Jungle like? What is the most oppressive part of the Jungle? Since Jack is starting to become comfortable in the Jungle, what does that show? 3. What are Jack and Simon trying to do? Why aren’t they successful? What are the Littl’uns doing? Why are the shelters important? 4. How are Ralph and Jack similar? How does Ralph annoy Jack? Why do they want meat? 5. What are the littl’uns afraid of? What is Ralph’s solution? What is Jack’s? 6. Where does Simon go? What role is Simon starting to take on in the story? 7. How is the jungle for Simon different than the jungle for Jack? 8. If Jack represents darkness and chaos, then Ralph represents . What does Simon represent? Chapter 4: Painted Faces and Long Hair 1. How do the boys measure time? What does this show about

their civilization? 2. How do the Littl’uns act in this chapter? How have they lost civilization? 3. What does Roger do to Henry and why? Why doesn’t he hit him? 4. How is Roger described? How is the author using the metaphor of darkness? 5. What does it mean to “exercise control over living things”? Why would Henry want to do that? 6. Masks are powerful things Why is this true? How does Jack show this? What does a mask allow you to do? How does Jack feel with the mask on? Find the quote that shows this. 7. What does Ralph see on the horizon? 8. Why do they know, even before they get there, that the fire went out? Why did Jack let the fire out? 9. Who are the hunters and what are they chanting as they approach? 10. What does the killing of the pig show? 11. How is savagery revealed in this part? 12. What do you think the kids will look like in another three months? Chapter 5: Beast from the Water 1. How is Ralph different now from the way he was in the

beginning? 2. Why does Ralph want to have a meeting? What does he want to talk about? 3. Where do the Littl’uns go to the bathroom? What does that show about them? 4. Ralph feels that smoke is more important than meat How is he right or wrong? 5. How is Jack being sensible at the meeting? 6. Simon comes up with a dangerous idea What is it? Who does he think the beast is? 7. How does the meeting end? 6. What do the kids wish for at the end of the chapter? 8. How might Ralph have kept the meeting focused? 9. Why is Piggy afraid? Chapter 6: Beast from the Air 1. Describe the figure that hits the ground How do you know it is dead? What sort of message is this? 2. Who sees the beast? How do they react? 3. How was this a good meeting for Ralph? How does he get the attention away from Jack? 4. Do the boys want to be rescued? Explain 5. How is Simon embarrassed? What wasn’t he able to do? 6. What does Simon imagine the beast to be? 7. Why must Ralph lead them onto the

rock? How is this a good thing for his leadership? 8. Why is this rock a good place for the fort? 9. Why don’t the boys want Ralph’s leadership? Why doesn’t Ralph want to be a leader? Chapter 7: Shadows and Tall Trees 1. What is Ralph thinking as he walks behind Jack? 2. What is the significance of the hair? 3. What do the boys look like now? 4. What is the other side of the island like? 5. What does Jack find? 6. Why does Ralph give up the leadership role? 7. How do the boys play with Robert? Why is this not play? How does Ralph react to the game? Why do the chant? How does the chant affect them? 8. How is the peace between Ralph and Jack messed up? 9. What challenge does Jack issue? Why does he do this? 10. Who sees the beast first? How does he react? What happens afterwards? Chapter 8: Gift of the Darkness 1. What does Piggy have a hard time believing? 2. Why did Jack call the meeting? What happens at the meeting? 3. Why is Piggy upset? 4. What does

Simon suggest? Why is that a good idea? In reality, what is he telling the boys to do? 5. What is Piggy’s idea? Why is it a practical idea? 6. What happens to the fire they build? 7. How does Jack propose to deal with the beast? Will this be successful? 8. Why is the hunt more important than the fire? 9. How does Jack kill the sow? 10. How has Jack changed? Why does he steal the fire? 11. Why are the Littl’uns going to join Jack? 12. What is the Beast, the Lord of the Flies? Chapter 9: A View to a Death 1. How has the weather changed? Why did Golding do this? 2. What does Simon do when he finds the pilot? Why does this show his humanity? 3. How do the boys treat Jack? Why might they be more comfortable doing this than the democracy Ralph practiced? 4. How has the Conch lost some of its power? 5. Instead of trying to protect themselves from the rain, the boys begin their dance Why? What does the dance protect them from? 6. Why do Piggy and Ralph join the circle

and chant? 7. Who is killed in this chapter and who takes part in it? 8. How is Simon’s body taken away from the island? How is this significant? Chapter 10: The Shell and the Glasses 1. At night, what does Ralph think of? 2. What does Piggy think will happen to them? 3. When they hear noises outside the shelter, what do they think of? How are they wrong? Right? 4. What happens in the shelter? 5. What is gone and why is this important? Chapter 11: Castle Rock 1. What does Piggy insist that Ralph do? What does Piggy still believe in? Does anyone else? 2. Why should Jack give Piggy his glasses back? 3. How are they going to get ready for the trip? Why is that important? 4. What is Ralph constantly forgetting? What does that show? 5. What does Roger do to the twins? 6. What does Ralph accuse Jack of being? How does Jack feel as a result of that? How does Ralph and Jack’s battle show a part of civilization? 7. How does Ralph become savage? How does Piggy stop it? Why

do the kids boo him? 8. How have things fallen apart? 9. What happens to Piggy? How do the kids react to this? 10. Where else in the book has Golding used the rolling rock? 11. What does Jack do to Ralph? 12. What do they try and get Samneric to do? How? Chapter 12: Cry of the Hunters 1. Complete the quote: “Feast today, for tomorrow ” Why does Ralph think that? What does the feasting allow him to do? What is ironic about the fire and the feasting? 2. Why won’t Jack ever leave Ralph alone? 3. Why does Ralph want to join the group? Why won’t he? 4. Who does Ralph talk to? What does he say to them? Why do they tell him to leave? 5. Where does Ralph hide? 6. How do the boys propose to get him out of the thicket? Are they being intelligent? What does this show about intelligence? 7. How do they finally get him out of the thicket? What does Ralph do on the way out of the thicket? What does this show? 8. What choices does Ralph have for

survival? What does he finally choose? 9. When Ralph hides, he acts like an animal How? The words of Simon appear here. Why? 10. Where does Ralph run to and how is he rescued? 11. The boys are called a “a pack of British boys” Why is this appropriate? 12. Why is Jack crying? What has he learned? 13. What do you think will happen to the boys one week after they are picked up from the island? Symbols Object/Character Piggy and the glasses Ralph and the Conch Simon Roger Jack Signal Fire Pig Hunting The Island The “Scar” The Beast Lord of the Flies Represents