LITERATURE SECTION A: Post 1914 prose Lord of the Flies

In the GCSE Literature examination you will be asked to write one question about the novel you have studied in class. You will have 45 minutes. You will need to: - Analyse the decisions the writer has made - Explore the techniques used by the writer - Understand how context can change our perception of the novel

1. Characters in the book tend to be a symbol for an idea in the book. The events and actions that they are a part of tell us what they might be a symbol for. However, the strength of the book is that we also get them know them as individuals and their actions make us wonder at their motivations. Fill in the table below.

Event in the novel What does this suggest the character is a symbol for?

What is the characters motivation for acting this way?

Jack He leaves the scar and the beach to command Castle Rock with Roger and the choir.

Ralph He is the first one to call a meeting and is voted leader by the boys.

Piggy He wants to count the boys and make lists.

Simon He goes into the jungle and speaks to a pigs head before fainting.

The Little ‘uns They run around eating fruit and getting sick, waiting for the big un’s to make decisions.

The exam board wants you to be able to talk about the characters in the novel. It wants you to explore the different interpretations of their personalities and the possible motivations for their actions.

2. We can also get to know these characters by looking at their relationships with other characters in the book. Fill in the boxes summarizing the character then write on the on the arrow exploring what we learn about the characters from the relationships they share. You may wish to copy this diagram onto A3 paper.

Ralph Jack

Piggy SamnEric Roger The Choir

Simon

The little ‘uns

Plot The plot is the events in the novel, the story that is being told. It is important to know the plot well, as it will help you provide evidence to support any of your arguments. However, in your examination essay you need to avoid retelling the story. 1. Below is a list of events from the novel. They happen over a three day period. Number them

to put them in the order they appear in the novel. You will then have an overview of the plot of the novel. The first stage in the novel has been done for you.

Events Plot Roger loosens a boulder that rolls, pushing Piggy off the cliff

1.

Jack and Roger hunt Ralph, setting the island on fire

2.

SamnEric are kidnapped by Jack’s gang 3. A little ‘un dies 4. A ship passes the island 5. Jack kills a pig 6. The conch is broken 7. Jack steals Piggy glasses 8. Simon goes into the jungle alone 9. A parachutist falls onto the island 10. The little ‘uns are scared of the beastie 11. Simon is killed and drifts out to sea. 12. A naval officer rescues the boys 13. Piggy and Ralph find the conch 14. Jack, Ralph and Simon go on a journey to the top of the mountain

15.

Structure The structure of the novel is the way it is organised. This is much more important than the plot when answering examination questions, as it tells us a lot about the intentions of the writer, as they choose the way we hear about the events. The examiner is interested in your interpretation of how the structure of the novel changes our perspective of events.

2. How important are the chapter headings? What do they tell us about what the book is about?

1. Lord of the Flies is an allegoric book. Therefore everything has a symbolic meaning.

This means the setting of the book is important as different parts of the island represent different ideas in the book. Label the island below – saying what the place is called and what it might represent in the novel.

Setting and context are often thought to be the same thing. They both are defined as the time and place the book is set in. However there are important differences and they produce different responses to the book. Setting is the actual places the character visits and what the time is when he does this. They tell us something about the character and the effects of the environment on the character. Context is the time and place the writer produced his novel and how this is different to ours. This changes the ideas, beliefs and attitudes of the reader to the events. This is a much more important idea, as it is part of the grade descriptions for the higher grade.

2. To explore the context of a book it is important to do some research. Using the internet or books find something out about the topics introduced below. You should then try to explain how this knowledge helps us understand Golding and “Lord of the Flies” better.

Idea Researched facts Relevance to “Lord of the Flies”

The book is set during the second world war.

Golding wrote the book in the 1950s when people began to question what happened.

The book is set on an island somewhere in the South Pacific with English Public School boys.

3. Lord of the Flies was set on an island that is a microcosm. Find out what the word

microcosm means and work out how it might apply to the book.

1. What does Golding have to say about each of the following ideas? For each idea that you suggest you need to say which part of the book makes you think this.

Theme 1: Types of leadership.

Theme 2: Civilisation Vs Savagery

Theme 3: Loss of innocence

2. Which of these do you believe to be the most important message in the novel? Sit down for 45 minutes and form an extended answer to this question.

These are the ideas behind the novel. Golding wanted to tell a story but importantly he wanted to communicate important messages about the way he saw things.

1. The novel is written with an omnipotent (god-like) narrator. Therefore we view the

events from this narrator’s perspective, which could be argued to Golding’s view point on the events. Can you pick out three examples of where this has a real impact on how we see the events in the novel? a) b) c)

2. The most important part of the book is Goldings’ use of symbols and motifs. A good

revision activity would be to draw a picture that represents each of the symbols and motifs listed below and explore their part in the book.

- The glasses - The conch

- The fire

- The pigs head

- The beast

- The painted faces

The most important part of writing an essay on a novel is making sure you answer the question. It is easy to fall into telling the story; therefore you need to pick out the key word(s) and use topic sentences effectively.

1. Finding the key word(s) in the question is the first step to success. Look closely at some possible examination questions:

Pick out the key idea(s) from each of the questions above. The first one has been done for you:

a) Ralph/ Jack b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j)

1. Explore the characters of Ralph and Jack 2. How does the island help us to understand what Golding was trying to say in

Lord of the Flies? 3. The theme of savagery and civilisation is important in the novel. What does

Golding have to say about this theme? 4. Explore Goldings’ use of symbols in Lord of the Flies? 5. How does Goldings’ opening chapter prepare us for the events in the novel? 6. How does Goldings’ closing chapter help to resolve the events in the novel? 7. Explore the characters of Piggy and Simon. 8. Which type of leadership does Golding seem to prefer? 9. Does Golding suggest that we are all evil in his novel Lord of the Flies? 10. What is the role of the beast in the novel?

3. These key words are the words that should go in the middle of a mind map when you are planning. You are going to produce the plan for the first question in the list:

The mind map has been started for you, complete it with as many ideas as you can think of.

Select the best four or five ideas from this mind map. These will be the sections of your essay. Before beginning to write it is important to put these ideas into a sensible order. Try this before moving on.

Explore the characters of Ralph and Jack

Jack and Ralph

Jack is a bully Ralph is charismatic

4. When writing your essay you should use these key words and the ideas you have come up with to write topic sentences. These topic sentences should begin the different sections of your essay. Below is an example of a topic sentence for the essay on whether we should sympathise with Holden. Write topic sentences for the four or five ideas you have come up with.

The character of Jack is meant to represent the idea of a dictator in the novel therefore he appears as a bully in the novel.

Key words from the question The idea from the mind map

Here is the mark scheme that your examiner will use to mark the essay that you write.

1. Circle the key words in the mark scheme. Grade Description U Something specific about the text

Some specific features identified Some awareness of content of text

G Familiarity with specific part(s) of a text; Familiarity with the narrative sequence; Reference to some detail(s); Simple comment; Simple response to text and task

F Selection of appropriate material; awareness of explicit meaning(s); range of details, some inference/deduction; simple identification of a method or an effect; simple response to characters/ situations/ ideas

E Support points made; generalization(s) about text/ subject matter; some comment on specific details; some awareness of specific details; some awareness of a writer at work; supported response to characters/ situations/ ideas

D Some focus on question; awareness of feeling(s) and attitude(s); range of comment on specific details; awareness of effects intended/ achieved; explained response to character/ situation/ ideas.

C Structured response to question; sustained relevant knowledge; appropriate comment on meaning/ style; understanding of how effects are achieved; effective use of details to support answer; sustained response to situations or ideas

B Sustained and measured response to the question; some exploration; appreciation of writer’s concerns/ attitudes/ ideas; details linked to writer’s intentions and purposes; measured/ qualified response to writer’s ideas and/ or methods

A Exploratory response to terms of the question; insight into writer’s methods, purposes and characteristics; developed exploration of context/ meaning/ response; insight into structure and significance of patterns of detail; evaluative

A* Subtle/ forceful response to implications of the question; consistent insight; independent discovery and interpretation of significant details; convincing interpretation; close textual evaluation or analysis; independent, analytical, evaluative

2. In your own words explain what you have to do well to get the grade that you want.

Here is an answer to the question: 3. Think carefully about what grade you would give this essay and why. What grade would you give it? Why? How would they achieve the next grade?

Explore Goldings’ use of symbols in Lord of the Flies.

Lord of the Flies is an allegory. Golding used the characters, events, settings and objects in his novel as symbols for the themes and ideas that he was attempting to explore. Therefore, every part of the novel is important when answering this question. The characters in the book tend to lack depth but they are symbols for the different parts of society within Goldings’ microcosm. For instance, Ralph is a charismatic leader who is voted into office because of his vision and his personality but he is unable to make decisions. He is only able to function as a leader because of the practical but unpopular Piggy. Here Golding appears to be representing the idea of a democracy, where the weaknesses of this system are the flaws in the charismatic leaders, their inability to work on a practical level. This is contrasted by the bullying Jack, who only knows how to lead through hunting. This characteristic seems to be representative of the dictatorial leaders who know only how to get respect through war and aggression. These were important ideas at the time the novel was written, as the Second World War had just seen democracy, represented by the charismatic Churchill, pitted against the dictator of Hitler. Objects are also important symbols in the book. For instance, Piggy’s glasses are an important tool for bringing hope and food and are therefore a means of controlling the population of the island. They not only secure the safety of Piggy but also mean that those that hold the glasses hold power. These glasses bring hope because they can make fire and this is what fire represents in the novel. When the fire goes out on top of the mountain it marks the part of the book when the boys begin to lose control and hope of being saved. However, arguably the most recognised symbol in the book is the conch. It is passed around the boys as a means of taking turns and it is used to call meetings. This therefore becomes the symbol for democracy and when it is smashed Golding is indicating that the island has completely broken down from civilisation to savagery. Finally, the events in the book are important for symbolising Goldings’ ideas. The events slowly represent the deterioration from civilisation to savagery. The fire going out represents a loss of hope, the boys painting their faces represents the loss of individuality, the killing of Simon represents the loss of belief in moral or religious good. However, the final events of the book are the most significant in representing Goldings’ point of view. He ends his novel with the boys being rescued by a naval officer, a symbol of the war that is going on in the outside world. Therefore, we are reminded that the events on the island may have seemed like a giant game in the small microcosm of the island but they represent the larger evil of the violence that is happening in the world war. More disturbingly is the officer’s suggesting that they have had a game. This suggests that Golding believes that man will learn nothing from the events that they have just been though. This message is significant when you consider the book was written in the 1950s and people may have been forgetting the lessons that they should have learnt from the war. Golding builds a novel that on the surface seems like a boys’ adventure story. They hunt and fight and generally seem to have the game that the naval officer claims. However, in reality Golding as used these events, characters and objects as symbols for bigger ideas that he wishes people to learn from. His moral seems to suggest that we are all naturally savage and can never be free from our violent natures.