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Various Incarnations of the Beast
Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are constantly faced with various fears. However, there is nothing on the island which they fear more than THE BEAST!
Fire Beast Boar BeastWater Beast Creeper BeastAir Beast
Island Beast Smoke Beast Reptile BeastMan Beast Ape Beast
LORD OF THE FLIESMASK PROJECT & ESSAY - 60 Points! DUE Fri. Oct. 29, 2010
In Chapter 4 of LOTF Jack seems to become a different person when he paints his face, creating a mask. Masks allow us to choose how the world sees us. In a sense, we put on a “mask” every day: the way we present ourselves to the world – school, public places, work. Maybe only those closest to us see us as we really are. The face we give to the world lets us show – and hide – specific things about ourselves, just like Jack can hide behind the paint on his face..
Your task is to create your own mask. Like the masks in Lord of the Flies, your mask also needs to be symbolic. It needs to hide certain aspects of yourself while selecting other aspects to display.Use symbolism in the colors and composition of your mask. Illustrate your mask based on the character traits of the person who you selected. (Jack, Ralph, Piggy, Simon, Roger, etc.) Decorate your tribal face with the materials of your choice.
Steps
Create a mask that has elements of the “face” that the public sees and elements of the “face” that depicts how you feel you really are. Think of Two-Face from the Dark Knight (Batman) Films (40 pts)
Write a 3-paragraph essay describing your mask(20 pts)
Paragraph 1 (minimum of 8 sentences)– Describe what you wanted to show and hide about yourself in your mask, and explain how your mask accomplishes this. What does your “public” face depict? What does your “real” face depict? For instance, explain the symbolism in your mask. What do the shapes represent? (If you have used any) What do the colors represent? Is the size of the mask important? Do the materials (leaves, feathers, glitter, etc.) that you have used represent something?
Paragraph 2 (minimum of 8 sentences) – Describe the manner of masking. When do people wear masks? Why do they? What do the masks give them, or how do the masks change them? You will be discussing yourself and the character from Lord of the Flies that you have selected.
Paragraph 3 (minimum of 8 sentences)– What characteristics about the boy from Lord of the Flies that you have chosen does your mask show and hide? Choose three different characteristics of that person and write about each one. Also write about the characteristics that you possess. Consider the following: How do the boys in Lord of the Flies use their masks? How do you use your mask? What do these masks show or hide? Analyze their transformation. Make sure you use a minimum of one quote from the character that you selected.
Who is the Lord of the Flies?
LORD OF THE FLIES: STORY QUESTIONS
Chapter 1 - Sound of the Shell Questions 1-24 Due Wednesday 10/7/09
1- What are "Screwed up eyes"?
2- What are the first intimations that Piggy is a rather lower-class person? How does he tell us by speech, movement and social action with Ralph?
3 - How does Ralph treat Piggy? Coiuld this be a personal reaction, or a class consciousness reaction? How would you be able to know?
4 - What is the setting that you are given in the first chapter? How would the word "Idyllic" be brought to bear?
5 - What is the forshadowing you receive that all may not be well in paradise? Give specific details.
6 - What role do adults fill in the boys' lives? What do the boys do when there are no longer any adults available to be present?
7 - Are people basically sheep or goats in your view? What makes you support this opinion?
8 - The explorers go up... way up... but they only go up to see and claim the island as their own. What other historical figures have done this same sort of thing? Thus, are the boys typical or a-typical?
9 - What could indicate that some people in the tattered little band want power? Give some detail in your answer.
10 - What is the evidence of the plane wreck? What seems to be missing?
11 - If Piggy doesn't want to be Piggy anymore, why does he confess that this has been his hated name all along? What does this revelation get him?
12 - The conch shell fulfils a ritual need for many of the boys. Describe it. How do you know that Piggy has never tried to blow a musical instrument?
13 - What is the diet of fruit doing to the boys?
14 - The three boys go exploring and topple a huge rock into the jungle below a precipice. Using parallels to the society you are a part of, would you say that this is an adult or youthful thing to do?
15 - What is Piggy's reaction to Ralph's nakedness?
16 - What is a "cirque"? A "coign"?
17 - "The blade continued to flash at the end of the bioys arm..." What sort of thing seems to be going through Jack's head? What does he do or not do? What is his promise?
18 - How do you know the pig is terrified?
19 - "This toy of voting..." For the boys, voting seems to be a popularity contest, or one where the vote cast is pre-ordained. Why do the boys who vote for Jack, or for Ralph, vote the way they do? Could this be a reflection of voting in our "democratic" society? What could be the responsibility of a voter before voting?
20 - The boys show an insistant need for certainty in their lives whether on the island or not. Describe some of the evidence you find for this.
21 - Jack Merridew is the leader of what? What are his qualifications in his eyes? What might be his qualifications in the eyes of the person/people who appointed him?
22 - Piggy accepts Jack's telling him to "Shut up, fatty". Why?
23 - Jack collects power for himself. Ralph gets it by delegating responsibility. Find evidence for both their styles.
24 - There was a "Communion of shining eyes in the gloom" after pushing the huge rock down. What is the communion about?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 3 Questions - Due Wednesday 10/14/09
1. What sort of weapon is Jack using to hunt pigs?
2. How does Jack know there is a pig in the creepers ahead of him?
3. How are the boys collecting drinking water?
4. Who helps Ralph with the hut building?
5. How many huts have the boys managed to build?
6. What does Jack claim to feel behind him when he hunts?
7. What does Jack suggest will make him a better hunter?
8. Which boy does Jack view as odd?
9. Where does Simon go in the jungle?
10. When do the candle-buds that...
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 4 Questions and Answers- Due Wednesday 10/14/09
1. Which three littluns are playing on the beach as the chapter opens?
2. Who destroys the littluns’ sandcastles?
3. What does Roger do to cruelly bother Henry?
4. What substances and colors does Jack use to paint his face?
5. What item does Piggy suggest they build with a stick?
6. What does Ralph spot on the horizon?
7. Why is the signal fire out?
8. What violence does Jack commit toward Piggy?
9. How did the hunters kill the pig?
10. Who gives Piggy meat despite...
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 5 Questions and Answers- See Handout
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 6 Questions and Answers- Due Wednesday 10/28/09
1. What details in the description let you know that the figure is dead before it hits the ground?
What sort of message is this?
Why didn't the twins see the body fall?
2. Who sees the beast?
What have they just done?
How do they react?
3. Complete the quote "The silence was full of ________________"
Explain.
4. How was this a good meeting for Ralph?
How does he get the attention of the meeting away from Jack
Do the boys want to be rescued?
Explain
5. How was Simon embarrassed?
What wasn't he able to do?
Who does Simon imagine the beast to be?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 7 Questions and Answers- Due Thursday 10/29/09
1. Remember the Yeats poem. What happened to the "best"? How about the "worst"?
How is that happening in this story?
2. What is Ralph thinking as he walks behind Jack?
How does Golding use hair again?
Why does Ralph want to clean himself up, symbolically?
3. What do the boys look like?
What disturbs Ralph about this knowledge?
4. What is the other side of the island like?
What depresses him?
What does the phrase "brute obtuseness" mean?
5. Simon gives him a prediction. What is it?
What is ominous in Simon's prediction?
6. What does Jack find?
What unusual simile is used when he finds them?
Why does Ralph give up the leadership role?
What does Ralph think about while he is hunting?
What does that show about him?
7. When the boar turns, who gets the first shot in at him?
Why is that a good thing for Ralph?
How does he feel about that?
8. How do the boys play with Robert?
Why is that not play?
How does Ralph react to the game?
What do they chant?
How does a chant affect them?
When have you heard a chant?
How does it affect a group?
9. What decision does Ralph make?
How does he mess up the peace he has had between himself and Jack?
How does Simon solve the problem?
10. What embarrassing question does Ralph ask?
Why is it embarrassing?
11. What challenge does Jack issue?
Why does he feel that he needs to do this?
What is the strongest emotion that Jack feels?
12. Who are the three that go up the mountain?
Why is it appropriate that Roger comes along?
13. Who sees the beast first?
How does he react?
14. Who fully confronts the beast?
What happens then?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 8 Questions and Answers- See Handout
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 9 Questions and Answers- Due Wed. 11/04
1. How has the weather changed?
a. Why did Golding do this?
2. What does Simon do when he finds the pilot?
a. Why does this show his humanity?
b. Why isn't he scared?
3. How do the boys treat Jack?
a. Why might they be more comfortable doing this than the democracy Ralph practiced?
b. Is this similar to the school they were once at?
4. Why won't they look at Ralph?
a. How does Ralph and Piggy defuse the scene?
5. How has the Conch lost some of it's power?
6. Instead of trying to protect themselves from the rain, the boys begin their dance.
a. Why?
b. What does the dance protect them from?
7. Complete the quote "They were glad to touch____________________"
a. How is the circle a fence?
b. Why do Piggy and Ralph join it?
c. What do they chant?
8. Complete the quote "there was only the sound of ___________."
a. What claws?
Explain.
b. Who else takes part in the killing?
c. What else leaves the island?
9. How is Simon's body taken away from the island?
a. Why does the author dwell on the bioluminescence
b. What is he trying to compare it to?
c. How is that fitting for Simon?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 10 Questions and Answers- Due Friday 11/06/09
1. Who is left among the boys that remain loyal to Ralph?
2. What rationalization do Ralph and Piggy arrive at concerning their role in Simon’s death?
3. What does Jack plan to do in order to enable his followers to have another feast?
4. Why is Roger so excited at the prospect of the beating of Willard?
5. What sacrifice to the beast does Jack order?
6. Why will it be so difficult for Ralph’s group to keep the fire going?
7. How does Ralph suggest Piggy contact his aunt?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 11 Questions and Answers- Due Tuesday 11/10/09
1. In the beginning of the chapter, what does Piggy tell Ralph to do with the conch?
2. What reason will Piggy give Jack for the return of his glasses?
3. What does Ralph declare their appearance will be when they approach Jack?
4. Who challenges the boys on their approach to Castle Rock?
5. When Jack appears, what has he been doing?
6. What does Ralph call Jack that provokes a fight?
7. What happens to Samneric after the fight?
Lord of the Flies | Chapter 12 Questions and Answers- Due Tuesday 11/10/09
1. Where does Ralph first hide from his pursuers? 2. Who gives Ralph meat from Jack’s feast?
3. Why did Samneric join Jack’s tribe?
4. What has Roger prepared for Ralph?
5. How does Jack’s tribe flush Ralph from hiding?
6. What does Ralph discover when he flees to the beach?
7. How does Jack appear on the beach?
8. What boy cannot remember his name?
9. Who takes responsibility for the events on the island?
10. Why is the naval officer disappointed in the boys?
Lord Of The Flies Summary - The Island Lord of the Flies is set during World War 2 on a tropical island in the Coral Sea. A group of boys survive a plane crash and are left stranded on a deserted island with no adults. At first the boys cling to the principles and laws they were taught during their upbringing. They call a meeting where they establish rules, set jobs, and democractically vote for a leader.
The boy who receives the most votes is named Ralph and he becomes the leader of the boys on the island. Ralph is the main protagonist of the story. The boy who received the second most votes is named Jack and he is the main antagonist of Lord of the Flies. Jack leads a group of choir boys. After Ralph becomes leader he designates Jack and the choir boys to be the hunters in order to pacify them. For the time being Ralph and Jack have a friendly relationship.
The second protagonist of Lord of the Flies is a boy named Piggy. Piggy is a nerdy boy who wears glasses and thinks rationally and wisely. Ralph and Piggy immediately become friends and remain allies through the rest of their time on the island. The boys use Piggy's glasses to light a fire on the island.
Ralph also found a conch earlier and the boys view it as a symbol of authority. Whenever the conch is blown, the boys meet together and only the boy holding the conch may talk while all others must listen and wait for their turn when the conch is passed to them. The boys also build a signal fire to hopefully alert passing ships. The hunters take responsibility for keeping the signal fire alight at all times.
Lord Of The Flies Summary - The Beast As Lord of the Flies progresses into the middle section the boys begin to lose their discipline and indulge in laziness and hedonism. This is the beginning of the break down of their before civilized society. The boys also start to believe in a "beast" hidden away somewhere on the island which stalks them. As time goes on the boys become more paranoid about the beast.
One day as Ralph is on the beach he notices a ship passing by on the horizon. He frantically races up the mountain only to find that the signal fire has not been kept alight and so the boys miss their chance to be rescued. When Ralph confronts the hunters about the missed opportunity they respond with little care, acting more interested in their hunting. As the book goes on Jack's group of hunters take on a more tribal appearance as they paint their faces and perform wild dances and chants.
Soon after this a fighter plane is shot down and the dead pilot's body floats down by parachute onto the island where it gets stuck in the trees. Later on the boys mistake this for the dreaded beast and mass fear and panic sets in.
Back at camp Jack rebels against the leadership of Ralph and tries to have himself made chief. When he fails he storms off taking the older boys with him to create another tribe. They perform a hunt where they kill a wild pig and stick its head on a pike as a sacrifice for the beast.
Later on a boy named Simon encounters the pig's head. As Simon looks at the pig's head it begins to talk to him in a hallucination. At this point Simon realises that there is no beast roaming the island. The real beast is the evil within their own hearts that the boys have been gradually giving in to. He also sees that what they mistook for the beast in the trees was really the dead parachutist.
As Simon races back to tell of his discovery, the rest of the boys are enjoying a feast. To overcome the fear caused by a storm that starts up they begin a tribal dance and work themselves into a frenzy. Once they see Simon they mistake him for the beast and in their frenzy they beat him to death. Even Ralph mistakes Simon for the beast and takes part in the killing. However unlike Jack's tribe, Ralph feels guilt afterwards and is repentant.
Lord Of The Flies Summary - Climax and Conclusion After this event, Ralph and Piggy go to Jack's tribe, who have stolen Piggy's glasses in a raid, to try to reason with them. Ralph tries to use the conch as a symbol of authority but the boys no longer respect it. From up on the cliff above them a boy named Roger pushes a boulder over the edge and onto Piggy. Piggy is killed and the conch is shattered.
Terrified, Ralph flees from Jack's tribe. Ralph is then hunted by Jack's tribe who sets the island on fire to smoke him out. Ralph desperately flees to the beach where he runs into a British naval officer. Ironically the fire had been seen by a passing ship and results in the boys being rescued from the island.
Lord Of The Flies Themes: Human Nature, Society, Fear
Lord Of The Flies Themes - Introduction Although published in 1954, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is still one of the most widely read and frequently challenged books today. The novel examines controversial aspects of human nature and the implications for society.
Lord Of The Flies Themes - Lord Of The Flies & The Coral Island Lord of the Flies was written as a response to the novel The Coral Island and is in many ways the anti-thesis of that book. In The Coral Island, a group of boys become stranded on an island in the Coral Sea and learn to happily live in peace and harmony with each other and their environment. Thus The Coral Island attempts to demonstrate that humans are born good at heart and that evil is an external force present in the world which tempts once innocent people. Once free of the temptations created by adults and society the boys are able to live happily ever after in a peaceful utopia.
Lord of the Flies takes the opposite view: that evil comes from within. Golding's message is that human nature has a wicked side and that without punishments to keep it in check society would degenerate into a barbaric anarchy. Lord of the Flies illustrates this theme through the story of a group of boys stranded on an island who must overcome not only the natural difficulties presented by the island but also the difficulties presented by their own inherent human nature. Throughout the novel we witness the gradual decline of the morals of the individual boys and therefore the eventual decline of their constructed society as a whole.
Jack and the Hunters in the 1990
film adaptation of Lord Of The Flies Lord Of The Flies Themes - Human Nature In Lord of the Flies, William Golding presents a Freudian view of the individual, namely that within each person there is a struggle between right and wrong. Initially the boys listen to their consciences and act according to the moral code they were taught during their upbringing. They set rules, allocate jobs, and democratically elect a leader. As time goes by, boys such as the elected leader Ralph, the rational Piggy and the kind Simon manage to remain disciplined, but others indulge and let their morals decay little by little, particulary the proud Jack and his group of hunters.
As the boys begin to fear a superstition they create called "the beast" it is Simon who realises that what they should really fear is the beast within themselves. "Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close!" (The Pig's Head talking to Simon). The culmination of the boys' fall from grace comes when Piggy is murdered by Roger deliberately and in cold blood. As Piggy is killed, the conch - a symbol of authority and order - is also destroyed symbolising the complete rejection of the moral code.
Lord Of The Flies Themes - Society From this view of human nature Golding draws deep implications for society. He believes that because of the fundamental potential in every person to commit evil acts there will always be criminals and wrong doers in society no matter how well intentioned a society's ideologies. Therefore a society without laws and law enforcement will inevitably fail.
Roger's behaviour is a good illustration of this point. Early on in the story he throws rocks at the littleuns. As he is still used to the rules and punishments of his previous society he is careful not to hit them though. By the end of the book Roger has realised that in their new society there are no consequences for misdeeds and so he is free to drop a huge rock onto Piggy.
William Golding: "the theme (of the book) is an attempt to trace back the defects of society to the defects of human nature...The moral is that the shape of society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system."
Lord Of The Flies Themes - Conclusion In Lord of the Flies William Golding conducts a sociological thought experiment. He takes a group of young boys and places them on a deserted island and asks what will the result be, a utopia or a distopia? His answer is the latter. His reason is man himself.
"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy"