The author successfully puts across a paradise image of the island for the reader by including long, in depth, descriptions of the island full of adjectives and metaphors along with a few similes. He also includes dialogue between Ralph and Piggy, which informs us of Ralph’s excitement of the situation and the enormity of the dream he is living. Certain words in which the author includes also suggest a paradise setting “ palm trees, palm terraces, coral, water, coconuts etc ” A description of the lagoon gives a clear paradise image, “ the lagoon was still as a mountain lake blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple,” together with reference to the shore being “ fledged with palm trees” implying a sense of paradise.
Golding also shows another; more sinister side to the island referring to the “ dark trees” and “ darkness of the forest” This gives a sinister, eerie feeling about the island. In addition to this the author also describes the coconuts as “ skull like coconuts with green shadows from the palms forest.” Another effective method, which the author uses to create a baleful atmosphere is the contrast of light and dark. He describes the idyllic setting and the paradise sense of the island before contrasting it with the darkness of trees and the shadows. This is an extremely effective way to create a sinister feeling about the island. The sound of the conch over the island, attracting every child to one place could be described as ominous, however, the sound of the conch alone demonstrates a sinister atmosphere. The main way in which Golding puts across the sinister feeling is by referring to darkness “within the diamond haze of the beach something dark was fumbling along.” Giving an unpleasant image and a eerie feeling. The very last page of the chapter reflects the most sinister part of the chapter, this being when they find a pig. They are at the beginnings of thick forest when “they heard the noises – squeakings - and the hard strike hoofs on a path.” Once they find the pig the author relates to it as it being “ caught on the curtains of creepers, throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror.” this gives a sinister, scary feeling and a sense of the unknown. This idea, in which the author has included, puts across this feeling to the reader to capture the interest and ensure that they are feeling the sinister emotion as well as the paradise side of the island.
The following represents references to the chronological setting of the novel in the first chapter. The dialogue is the key clue to reveal the time setting of the novel. The language, which the characters frequently use implies it is set a while ago, “ whizzoh!” is a common occurrence of language in which the characters use, as well as “wacco”, “smashing” and “golly.” All of these unusual words are very rarely used these days and the verbal communication lacks variety with the characters just sticking to the basic “whizzoh” and “wacco.” This is the main give away of the time setting of the novel and the author has introduced this area of the setting effectively by doing it in this way.
The author also uses dialogue between characters to gradually reveal details about the events which led to their arrival on the island. At the very beginning of the chapter, when piggy and Ralph are trying desperately to figure out the situation, the author introduces minor details about how they may have got on the island. He does this through opinions of the characters and through conversational revelation. We find out from piggy that it must be something to do with a plane when he states “ but he wasn’t in the passenger tube, he was up in the cabin front.” The key words here being “passenger” and “cabin.” Later on, Piggy then says, “he must have flown off after he dropped us. He couldn’t land here. Not in a plane with wheels,” This is a major clue to the events, and gives us a good idea what is happening in one sentence. It seems to be mostly Piggy who has caught onto the reasoning behind their unusual visit to an unknown island,who informs Ralph rather hastily after figuring out some key facts about the event. He then goes onto say “ I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it” Piggy also reveals that there was a storm and this may be the way in which the plane suddenly disappeared- through the storm dragging it out to sea. The author may have wanted to slowly reveal the main events through dialogue to create atmosphere, suspense and reality to the situation or to demonstrate how the characters feel about the situation. These all being valid and perfectly understandable reasons for the effects of revelation through dialogue to the reader.
In conclusion after fully analysing the text of chapter one and considering the chronological and geographical aspects, it is clear that the author has effectively opened the novel with a clear image of all areas of the setting through different ways. These being the dialogue, a contrast of a paradise island to a more sinister side, along with the language which has been successfully used to create an incredibly clear image in which the reader can use to understand the novel in a more enhanced manner.
