Chapter 2
What is decided at the second meeting when the boys return from exploring the island?
First of all, Ralph introduced the groups’ need for hunters to get meat. To keep meetings organized, one was only allowed to speak if he’d hold the conch after he put his hand up and Ralph gave him permission to talk. Noone would be allowed to interrupt the person holding the conch, except the leader, Ralph, himself. One of the most importants rules or ideas was to have a fireplace so that, in case a ship or plane is in sight, they could draw attention to themselves with the fires smoke. The fire had to be supervised 24/7 to make sure that if a ship or plane should actually occur, they can do everything possible to get the pilots or captains attention.
What things happen that indicate that the leaders are not able to control the behaviour of the boys?
The meeting gets out of control several times, boys are talking without the conch in their hands and it comes to little argument between – mostly – Piggy and Ralph at which, whenever Piggy says something, he gets shut down by Ralph or Jack.
What responsibilities is Jack eager to undertake with his choir boys and why is this so important to him?
The choir boys are now responsible for the fire and they are also hunters to provide food. As they are responsible for the fire, Jack suggests that they could take the position of the lookout as well, which they finally do.
Providing food and keeping the fire under control are two of the most important “jobs“ to do on the island as the food is necessary for survival and the fire might be their lifesaver. This gains Jack some respect from the others, as he is the one to take over control of the bigger duties, and that’s all he wants, attention and respect from others.
The boys see the fire on the mountain as thrilling and exciting but it appears to the reader as something far more ominous. Explain.
The fire might get out of control which could then burn down all trees and eliminate all species on the island, then resulting in the starvation of the boys if they would not be rescued real soon after the fire.
What new concepts are introduced into the island society with the discussion of the “snake-thing“ and the disappearance of the mulberry faced boy?
It is the first time that the boys feel danger and fear. They are responsible for the “mulberry-faced boy“’s death as everyone got so excited about their rescue, about the bonfire, and that guy just gets lost, dies. This is the first time they feel death, but their “childish“ reaction to it is that they start laughing and say that there is no such thing as a big snake, although they in the end all realize that they are in danger, that they all are scared and that they have to take care of themselves carefully, no parents or teachers, no grown-ups at all are around.
Chapter 3
What two reasons are there for builiding the huts and for Jack’s hunting?
- practical
- psychological
In both cases, use a quotation from the text to support your answer.
Both reasons apply to both, on one hand they need the huts to protect themselves from rain and maybe animals and on the other they are useful to offer a feeling of “security“ and “protection“ to the guys by having those little homes.
“So we need shelters as a sort of -“
“Home.“
Pg. 53
The hunting does, of course, have practical reasons, it provides the people with meat, and it might be good in a psychological way as especially Jack might then realize that he can be successfull with his hunting. But there is a problem with the hunting, as Raplh wants Jack to focus on the important things – in his oppinion the huts – instead of waisting all day trying to kill a pig and then not even being successful.
“I was talking about smoke. Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig.“
“But we want meat!“
“And I work all day with nothing but Simon and you come back and don’t even notice the huts.“
“I was working too!“
“But you like it!“ shouted Ralph.“You want to hunt! [...]“
Pg. 55
In a paragraph long answer indicate how well the society the boys have created is running.
Their society is not running great. Ralph and Jack, the self-announced “leaders“ yell at each other for not doing the things they want each other to do. Those two plus Simon are the only two really working, Jack and Simon hunting all the time and Ralph building the huts.
The leaders themselves are questioning their rules, with their meetings being held twice a day, saying that it would be pointless having the meetings because all it would end up with would be discussions about how to build a jet or a TV stream which could eventually rescue them.
Acccount for Simon’s behaviour at the end of the chapter.
Simon does not really fit in any group, neither the hunters, littluns or any of the others, he is mostly by himself and never really talks to anyone except Ralph, but this only because he is nice to him.
Simon directly leaves Ralph when he starts talking to Jack about the situation, Simon does not think that he fits in the group at all.
Chapter 4
Consider Golding’s description of the “littluns“ on page 59-65 or 54-55 (depending on your text) and describe the life they lead.
The littluns are all the small and youg boys on the island, they do not really care about what’s going on as long as they can live their lives, playing in the sand, swimming in the sea and just eat all day, anything they can get. As Golding says, they are used to diarreha. Littluns do not have an oppinion, they are happy with what they have and what they can do, and they will always be happy as long as no rules and no one is destracting them.
In what ways can they be seen as the lowest element in the island’s society?
Littluns are the ’left-outs’, do not have to do anything as no one really cares about them but do not have any real rights either. Littluns basically life on their own, get their own food, have their own little “empire“, the beach and the sea, and get the least respect.
Roger and Maurice both commit acts of aggression against “littluns“ in this chapter when they kick over sand castles and throw stones at them. Why do they now feel free to commit these acts and what restrains them from carrying their violence any further?
The Littluns are the, as mentioned, lowest group, Roger and Maurice are members of the powerful, high-ranked, do not have respect of the Littluns and do what they want, destroy the Littluns’ sand castles, but they don’t care since they are not using those any more to play with. Roger and Maurice are recalling civilization, remember that they would be punished by parents or even law (unlikley in this case) which then makes them restrain from going any further.
Offer two reasons, psychological and practical for the use of masks.
The group feel a boost in their power, as they now look scary and frightening to each other, now hope they can scare animals. Another reason might be so that they can change their “identity“, momentarily they are scared of the things going on and feel the will to abuse power, and if they’d wear masks, no one would see and identify them.
How are the hunter affected by the act of killing? What does their reaction tell us about their changing values?
The hunters now know that they can kill and that there is something to kill out there.