Lord of the Flies: The Novel Study

Synopsis

Jack calls an assembly, accusing Ralph of insulting the hunters. His attempt to have Ralph voted out as chief fails, so Jack breaks away to form a new group and invites the others to join. The breakaway group kills a pig, leaving its head on a stick as an offering to the beast. Simon, dehydrated and hidden away in the forest, sees Jack’s hunters leave the offering to the beast. He has a conversation with the head, which claims to be the Lord of the Flies.

Discussion
1. Jack misrepresents Ralph’s remarks about the hunters and distorts the events of their hunt for the beast. Do you see any similarity between Jack’s skewing of facts and modern political debate?

2. Look back at how Piggy’s circumstances change when Jack leaves. How does Piggy become empowered?

3. Consider the boys’ killing of the sow while she nurses piglets.
a) Does killing an animal nursing her young show responsible stewardship of resources?
b) Can you think of other instances where societies past or present have been irresponsible with their use of resources?
c) What role does or could the law play in managing natural resources, both on the island and in contemporary society?

4. What is to be made of the shift of gender identification of the pig’s head, from a female sow’s head to the male Lord of the Flies?

5. When Jack raids Ralph’s fire, he was “safe from shame or self-consciousness behind the mask of his paint” (p. 155).
a) Is Jack, behind his painted mask, similar to people on social media and other online discussions?
b) Is debating laws and issues of the public good best done behind a mask?
6. The Lord of the Flies tells Simon “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill . . . . You knew, didn’t you. I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go. Why things are what they are?” (p. 158).
a) Is the Lord of the Flies’ definition of the Beast similar to Simon’s original beliefs about it?
b) Do you think the Lord of the Flies is real, or just a hallucination brought on by Simon’s dehydrated, pre-fit state?