Lord of the Flies (Ch 10-12)

On page 155, what does the author mean by "impaired vision," referring to Piggy and Ralph?
Then, on page 156, I like the line, "The green light and the glossy patterns of sunshine played over their befouled bodies." I like the contrast between the beauty and innocence of the sunshine and the "befouled bodies" because of what they did the previous night.

Thinking about the previous events, and how the boys acted, would it be the same if they were left on the islands as adults? Would they still create two groups and end up killing one of their own, even if they were matured and should know how to act?

Jack seems crazy now, in a mentally unstable psychotic way. Now you can't just blame it on the power, that it just went to his head, because now he's doing things that make him seem completely insane- like beating Wilfred for no reason and convincing the boys that Simon was the beast- especially when you compare him to Ralph. Ralph doesn't seem completely normal either (with the clutching of the conch and laughing hysterically), however he's not acting as crazy as Jack. I think the best way to describe Jack would be to call him a savage tyrant because of the insane way he's acting and the way he is abusing his power.

I'm surprised that Ralph was able to keep his head around the littluns after Jack's attack, when he told them to simply go to sleep. He seems to be maturing, rather than going insane, as Jack has done.

I thought it was funny when Piggy said "I thought they wanted the conch" referring to Jack's tribe because he still thinks the conch is very important.

What is the "moving streak of phosphorence" on page 168?

Why is it cold on the island? Because I assumed that they were on a tropical island, since they had a jungle, and I didn't know that it got cold on tropical islands with jungles.

Why were the fruit trees devasted on page 172?

I thought this was an interesting line on page 180, "Below him, Ralph was a shock of hair and Piggy a bag of fat."

I like how the author compred Pggy to a pig when he died (omg that sounds so mean).

I think the conch symbolized civility and order, so when it broke when the rock hit Piggy, it signified the complete end of any civility.

Where are the littuns of Ralph's group/tribe?

At first I was mad at the twins for acting so rude to Ralph, telling him to "push off" and leave and it made it seem like they just didn't want to leave because they really had joined Jack's group, but then I realized when they gave the meat to Ralph that they joined because they were afraid of Jack coming after them, and what he could do to them because he held so much power of a tribe of boys.

What is the "slow spilt milk" on page 190?

I like on page 196, "Most, he was beginning to dread the curtain that might waver in his brain, blacking out the sense of danger, making a simpleton of him."

On page 199, when the author uses the term "A savage peered..." I began to picture Jack and his tribe as the natives from King Kong because of the paint on their faces and the way the act with their battles cries and such.

I thought that the naval officer would have had more of a grand entrance or introduction. Or maybe the author did that purposely because he wanted to symoblize the fact that the boys had forgotten their main goal, which was being rescued.

I'm not sure that I understand exactly why the officer is there. Well I do, because he said he was there for the fire, but how did he know it wasn't a fire of the enemy, as there is a war going on, and it seems that he came alone, so I don't exactly trust him.

On page 202, the author writes, "And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and inwiped nose, 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." I like the line, because I think it is well written, however, with the way Ralph is feeling as a child and in his situation, I don't think it really fit because it was just too smooth and "stable minded," which I doubt is what Ralph was really feeling, and I doubt that's how most people think when they cry like that.

Lord of the Flies (Ch 8-9)

On page 125, the fact that Jack "inexpertly" blows the shell and keeps on doing so until he feels he has everyone's attention made me think differently of Jack. It seems that he really wants the power (took the conch and blew it- only Ralph does it), but since he doesn't know how to use it as well, it made him seem like he would go possibly crazy with power.

With the boys splitting (Jack leaving Ralphs' "lot"), it made it seem like they forgot their priority on the island, which was getting rescued. Now it has become about who has more people in their group, or the better group, or what they can do.
And it's especially worse when the boys sneak away in the night.

Do you think the boys chose a sow, rather than a piglet, because it was bigger? Or because they couldn't bring themselves to kill a baby pig? (because with the sow gone, the piglets may not be able to survive) Do you think it adds that they haven't been living with parents for a while, so killing a sow, isn't that bad?

I think the killing of the sow scene was disgusting, and the boys seem to comfortable with what they did. But I guess that's how they have to be to survive, but the way they killed the pig seemed odd, in a disturbing way.
But then comparing them to hunters, such as Native Americans, who must also kill animals themselves to survive, but the way the Native Americans do it, they still respect the animal. With the boys coming from boarding schools and rich families, I doubt they respect the animal.

I'm confused about the "lord of the flies." I think it is the speared pig head, but I don't understand why it talks, and what it is talking about, and if Simon is only dreaming this.
And I don't understand the line on page 144, "Simon was inside the mouth."

However, I like the line on page 143, "Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill."

Ralph is such a hypocrite- first the joining of the hunt, and admitting the adrenaline frenzy he had, and then joining the crazy dancing of Jack's group.

Now the mob mentality, really got to the boys, and they didn't realize to stop what they were doing. Robert was lucky when they stopped, because they hadn't gone that "crazy" yet, but unfortunately for Simon, the boys were going crazy with the beast, the pig, the weather, and the dancing, and they killed him.

Lord of the Flies (Ch 6-7)

On page 95, the first line, "There was no light left save that of the stars," my first thought was eery and dark, though, that line may not usually be interpreted that way. However, due to the circumstances and situation of the boys, I thought it was much darker, especially how the author used, "no light left."

I don't understand why they would leave Sam and Eric in charge of the fire. Even Jack couldn't "keep up" with the fire, and do they really think the twins could? The twins that make fun of/annoy the little ones and don't have the best of focus.

On page 100 when the twins are describing the "beast," they add a lot of new feautures to it, including teeth and claws and such, and relating it to the Fear Essay, it may seem that fear distorts things, as the essay claims, and what the twins did, but I think it was because that's what children do. They distort things for attention, though they know exactly what it looks like, but they want people to feel the same fear they do.

I like the phrase, "A knot of boys." It really seems like a knot, thinking about the boys as a mess that you can't undo.

I don't understand the line on page 108, "Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering." If the boys fell silent, doesn't that mean they gave in to Ralph, but since the author used the word mutinously, isn't that the opposite?

When Ralph thinks of how the boys have become undiscplined, I thought, why is it that Ralph has so little control over them, compared to the control held over them by adults?
I thought that possibly because Ralph is in the same position as them, and he can't fix the problem (of getting off the island) either, and that signifies child, because adults usually know how to "fix" things.

The incident wth Robert made me think of the scene in To Kill A Mockingbird where the mob of white men come to the jail for Tom Robinson, but when Scout talks to one of the men, he realizes what he is doing. Previous to his talk with Scout, he was in a mob mentality, where they weren't exactly aware of what they were doing, but they were going with the crowd. I thought it was similar to what happend with the boys and Robert, because the boys got so into their mob mentality and Robert acting as the pig, they forget their limits and that it was only a game.

Lord of the Flies (Ch 3-5)

On page 50, Ralph and Jack talk about how the "littluns" don't do any work, but rather swim or play on the beach. My first thought was that, Ralph and Jack should just make them do work, because if they want to survive, everyone must do their part, but then I realized these children were probably all rich kids who went to boarding schools, and they've probably never done anything for themselves.

I like the line on page 54, "The bottom part of their trickle, as though conscious of their gaze, thickened to a creamy blur which crept up the feeble column." It brings a feeling of a person to the jungle and its objects.

The nightmares that the small children are having make me think that the book is possibly sci-fi rather than just realistic fiction.

I wonder why the author chose to have Simon find the flower butterfly place (page 56). Possibly, there could be some kind of trick to it or Simon finds something odd there.

The author seems to be personifying the elements and the jungle, (page 58) "the sun gazed down like an angry eye." It makes the jungle even more creepy and disturbing.

On page 62 what does "a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin" mean?

The missing fire, that the hunters and jack should have tended to. Just another thing to fuel the enmity brewing between Jack and Ralph. (pun intended)

But since it's there's a war going on, couldn't the boat possibly be the boat of an enemy?

I like how Jack twitches when he proudly says he cut the pig's throat on page 69.

Why were they not sharing the pig with the little kids?

There seems to already be some sort of rankings on the island, as seen on page 78.

After watching the show Lost, I don't ever think I could sleep on an island in the boys' situation. I wouldn't know what could be in the forest or what might happen. I wouldn't trust myself or the jungle.

It's sad about Percival because he's in a traumatic situation and the boys' certainly don't know how to help him.

Lord of the Flies (Ch 2)

The author uses the word "creepers" a lot, and I think he's referring to vines and plants of the jungle, but since he chose that word (unless that was the common uses word for plants) it brings an eery and disturbing feel to the jungle.

I keep thinking of the show Lost and the jungle and characters on that show, especially Jack, because one of the main characters in the book is named Jack.

On page 34, I like the line, "The breezes that on the lagoon had chased their tails like kittens were finding their way across the platform and into the forest."

With the snake thing, I thought of the movie Anaconda.

On page 39, I like the phrase, "Their black caps of maintenence" referring to the choir boys.

I don't understand why Ralph had to stand on his head, on page 39.

I'm confused as to why on page 46, the boys all start yelling "Snakes! Look!" Does it mean they see snakes or something? And what is the drumroll on the other side of the mountain on page 47?

Lord of the Flies (Ch 1)

I don't understand the line on page 7, "All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat."

I found it odd, on page 8, and almost ironic that the fat boy said, "Perhaps there aren't any grownups around." The use of the word grownup make him seem young and naive, yet he used the word perhaps, which made him seem more mature, and I wasn't sure of his age anymore.

I don't understand the fair boy's explanation regarding the pilot on page 8...

How can both of the boys just drop the subject of the boys that were in the part of the plane that was burning? (page 8-9)

I'm confused as to why Ralph saw it necessary to take off his clothes. (page 10)

On page 14, I like the phrase "wrestling with the brilliance of the lagoon." However, I don't understand the whole metaphor.

So I guess I can assume the boys are from Europe, more specifically Britain, or at least Piggy is because he said "pounds" referring to payment.

For some reason, in the descprition of the choir boys, the fact that they wore a cross stood out to me.

Why on page 24 does Ralph accept Simon to go exploring with them, even though Simon had just fainted and he had heard of Simon's fainting spells?

On page 31, though I thougth Jack was a fool for wasting the opportunity to kill the pig, I understood because where he lived, he probably had every meal served to him and never had to kill an animal himself.