Exam Practice - Answers from the board

Exam practice question - answer

Roosevelt once said: “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself.” Using the novel as a whole, judge the ways in which this quote pertains to life on the island for the boys.

Thesis: If the boys would not have feared so many things they would have fonction better (with fewer conflicts) as a mini-civilization

1. Losing power
1. Jack
2. Ralph
2. Beast
1. Parachute
2. Simon’s death
3. Death
1. Fire → keeping it alive
2. Hunters → afraid of starvation

Mme’s comments: thesis could be reworded, but arguments are really good

Thesis: The quote “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself” pertains to the boys life on the island as fear causes erratic behaviours which puts them in dangerous situations.

1. Jack’s fear of losing power
1. kills piggy
2. almost burns down the island and kills ralph
2. Fear of the fire going out
1. Ralph’s “freak out” (p.111)
2. Hunters let fire go out on mountain
3. Fear of the Beast
1. Makes Ralph question himself
2. Kills Simon

Thesis: The boys in Lord of the Flies had much more to fear than fear itself considering the very real dangers they were exposed to throughout  the book

1. The boys had trouble meeting their foundamental needs
1. Maintaining a fire
2. Littluns access to food
3. Hunting/shelter building/heat...
2. Corruption within the group
1. Roger’s cruelty (littluns, Henry, …)
2. Jack abusing his power, abusing SamnEric
3. Consequences of anarchy/bad leadership
1. Ralph getting hunted
2. Moral disengagement (Simon’s death)

Other example of a good thesis: Hysteria shortly becomes the source of chaos as the characters learn that they need to fend for themselves

Practice Question for LOTF Exam

Assess the relevance in which the vision of a human "at once heroic and sick" is represented in the novel.

Struggle For Power | Think Before You Act | Piggy's Glasses

Struggle For Power:

• Jack asks the people to join his tribe and have fun "Who thinks Ralph oughtn't to be chief. (...) there was a deadly silence" (p.201)
• Piggy had the conch whe he would speak 'I got the conch,' says Piggy indignitly 'You let me speak!' 'The conch doesn't count on top of the mountain,' said Jack, 'so you shut up.' (p.42)
• Ralph was constantly in a battle with Jack to gain control of the tribe. 

Think Before You Act:

• Simon's death
• First thing they did when they got on the island was make fire.

Piggy's Glasses:

       Piggy is the most intelligent, rational boy in the group, and his glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavor in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. When Jack’s hunters raid Ralph’s camp and steal the glasses, the savages effectively take thePiggy's glasses are significant to the boys as they are the means with which the boys are able to get a fire started. Symbolically, the glasses are significant because they represent the intellectual and ordered side of humanity. The breaking of the glasses represents the breaking of the last tie to humanity that the boys have. After this event, it is a downward spiral into primal and animalistic behavior, culminating in Piggy's death. power to make fire, leaving Ralph’s group helpless.

Themes and symbol by Simon's Tribe

Fear:
-The Beast (afraid of what the Beast might be, they did not consentrate on what it actually was. It destroyed their common sense)
-Fear of not being rescued (Fire going out. Fire = life line, and rescue)
-Fear of the unknown (quote about being hunted while hunting p. 53)
-Fear causes Ralph to question all of his actions (p.100)


Wisdom and knowledge:
-It can be found in the most unexpected people (Piggy)
-Piggy had more knowledge and Ralph had more wisdom


Conch:
-Represents civilisation
-How frigile power/leadership can be
-Order
-Line between anarchy and society
-Authority

Fire and Smoke

Fire and smoke : This represents the last hope for a stable community, the common goal of being rescued. This goal however seem to get further and further away from them with the introduction of obstacles preventing them to keep it light. For example the “ beast “, the hunters not doing their job, and jack’s tribe now wanting to keep the fire going. These obstacles help represent the crumbling civilisations they have established.

Alex L.L

Themes-Loss of innocence

Loss of innocence is seen when young and inexperienced children are put in a difficult situation.  In the book LOTF, the boys who are in a plane crash are stranded on an island need to find a way to stay alive without adults.  No young child should see death from so close in such a cruel manner.  Children should also have someone older and wiser to rely on.  Since the boys are left alone on the island, they have to find ways to survive.  For ex. going hunting for food, building shelters and having important responsibilities like keeping a fire going.  Kids get distracted a lot and those are hard tasks for them to complete.

Abuse of Power, Good vs. Evil, The Beast, The Lord of the Flies

Abuse of Power

• Jack not wanting to share the meat with Piggy and Ralph after the first kill.    
• At Castle Rock, Jack abuses of his power as new chief by having the other boys bring him drinks, beating them (Samneric). In chapter 10, Jack ties up one of the boys at Castle Rock and leaves them hanging for hours.  
• The fact that abuse of power is so common on the island demonstrates how humans really are and what they are capable of.  It goes with the theme of Good vs. Evil.    

Good vs. Evil in Humans

-As the novel goes on, Jack develops a taste for violence and killing pigs

-Diffusion of responsability after Simon's death 

-Samneric still went with their instincts and helped Ralph after they switched tribes.   

-Ralph, Piggy and Simon used their power for "good" and protecting the littluns, whereas Jack and Roger were using their power for their own good. 

-The debate of whether humans are good or evil is reoccuring while reading The Lord of the Flies.  Even Ralph debates all of this after Piggy is killed.  

-Throughout the book, the good and bad things the boys depend on the situation.  The following quote come from chapter 10.                                                              

"They were savages it was true; but they were human, and the ambushing fears of the deep night were coming on."  (p 206) 

“If it were light shame would burn them at admitting these things.  But the night was dark.”  (p 209)

The Beast

-Represents the theme of fear creating hysteria.
-The Beast is a fear in the boys' heads.  Simon says: "Maybe the beast is us."  

-Though the boys want to hunt the beast, they never really can since evil is internal (explains why there were no tracks etc as Piggy mentions)

-The Beast also serves as foreshadowing since the boys were scared of themselves all along, even before they started to mutinise, murder, steal, etc.  

The Lord of the Flies

-Some people associate Simon to Jesus character-wise because of his purity and integrity.  Therefore the Lord of the Flies would be a symbol for Satan, considering it tries to tempt Simon into evil.  

-The Lord of the Flies could also represent human nature, which is why Simon is incredibly terrified of it and why Ralph immediately dislikes it and hits it when he finds it in the woods. It also explains the following quote:  

“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?”  -The Lord of the Flies 

-The Beast and the Lord of the Flies are connected pretty closely.