Close Reading Lord of the Flies

Close Readings Close reading exercises are intended to take us deeper into selected passages, exploring themes as fully as possible and extracting maximum information One paragraph of text could hypothetically yield pages of commentary, exploring language, imagery, and connections to the text as a whole

Microcosms and Macrocosms As the island in Lord of the Flies represents the world at large, a single paragraph may contain nearly all the elements that are present in a novel

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another.

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. The novel’s starting point is innocence, and Golding describes Ralph’s youthful good looks. Our protagonist is a fair-featured boy who is still untouched by the corruption that is to come.

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. The middle of the paragraph mimics the boys’ transformation into savages, and the removal of the uniform represents the shedding of their old rules and restrictions.

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. The author then describes man’s destruction of his surroundings, with the scar and broken tree trunks mentioned specifically. This is to foreshadow the greater destruction to come in the novel, such as the boulder that smashes through the jungle canopy and the two fires that destroy much of the island.

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. The imagery of the bird could signify a few things. It could represent man’s disturbance of nature, as the taking off of birds follows the first blowing of the conch and the dropping of the boulder.

The Book’s Opening Paragraph The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another. It could also refer to something more supernatural, as suggested by the words “vision” and “witch-like.” Perhaps this foreshadows Simon’s death, as Simon is a Christ figure in the novel, and after Jesus died he ascended (“flashed upwards”) into heaven in a blaze of light.

Questions to Approach Your Passage With Are there any interesting word choices in the passage (scar, vision, etc.)? Are any images used prominently in this passage? To what effect? (Imagery being any language that appeals to the five senses, most commonly sight) Does this passage provide exploration of one of the novel’s major themes? (You may refer to your notes for major themes)

Part 1 “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” The movement became regular while the chant lost its first superficial excitement and began to beat like a steady pulse. Roger ceased to be a pig and became a hunter, so that the center of the ring yawned emptily. Some of the littluns started a ring of their own; and the complementary circles went round and round as though repetition would achieve safety of itself. There was the throb and stamp of a single organism. The dark sky was shattered by a blue-white scar. An instant later the noise was on them like the blow of a gigantic whip. The chant rose a tone in agony.

Part 2 “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” Now out of the terror rose another desire, thick, urgent, blind. Again the blue-white scar jagged above them and the sulphurous explosion beat down. The littluns screamed and blundered about, fleeing from the edge of the forest, and one of them broke the ring of biguns in his terror. “Him! Him!” The circle became a horseshoe. A thing was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. The shrill screaming that rose before the beast was like a pain. The beast stumbled into the horseshoe.

Part 3 “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” The blue-white scar was constant, the noise unendurable. Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill. “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!” The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws (page 152-153).

Last Question… Do they know it’s Simon?

Perform a close reading of Page 71. Follow-Up Homework Perform a close reading of Page 71.