Questions for study with ideas for answers.

Question : During the telling of this tale, both Ralph and Jack lead the boys.  Name the factors, which influence the boys in following these, two.

Ideas : Ralph : He uses a conch shell to summon the scattered boys and clearly this impresses them. He has shown intelligence (although this was suggested by Piggy) and together with his charm, good looks, common sense, thoughtfulness for the others, these make him an attractive leader for these still civilized boys.

Jack : As the island changes from a playground to a savage world inhabited by a beast, Ralph’s sensible leadership loses its sparkle and Jack’s hunting expertise seems more appropriate and he starts to gain the loyalty of the other hunters in the group. Jack is the one, who can protect them from the beast, being the best hunter, but he uses fear to increase his power on the island and he has no redeeming characteristics, but is merely the means to keep them safe and provide them with meat.

Both these leaders needed a good lieutenant to bolster their position. Ralph uses Piggy’s intelligence whilst Jack needs Roger’s bullying tactics.

Question : What do you think The Lord of the Flies represents?

Ideas : The sow’s head on a stake firstly represents the evil side of life on the island.  Its erection was a form of appeasement to the beast. It could either represent the power which the tribe has over the living things in the jungle, but perhaps a boar’s head would have been more effective, but Jack was not brave enough to take on a boar, instead he picked on a defenseless sow suckling her young, or it could be a message to the beast that the tribe has a similar evil nature, and as such pose no threat to the beast.   Secondly, as Christians have a cross as their symbol, Jack’s tribe has a sow’s head on a stake, Jack being the head and the boys being the flies, which buzz around. The boys are attracted to Jack because he can keen them safe from the beast.  As the flies find the head irresistible, the boys have to follow Jack because of the power he has over them.

Question : What are the key factors that bring about the transfer of power from Ralph to Jack?

Ideas : Ralph starts off from a position of power by saying all the right things about what should be done on the island in order to make them safe and secure a rescue.  What is not emphasized is the amount of work, which needs to be put in to achieve this, and the boys would rather play than do work.  What Jack offers them is all play and no work as the boys view hunting as exciting, whereas the building of shelters, collecting fresh water etc. is boring.  Once the idea of a mythical beast being loose on the island is introduced, this further undermines Ralph because Jack seems to be the only one who can resolve this problem. The beast is a product of the littluns nightmares, which sow a seed in all the boys, which grows into fruition when the dead parachutist arrives close to the position of the signal fire. The collective view of the tribe is that if you are not with us, you are against us, and will, therefore, be eliminated.

Question : Although Piggy comes up with useful ideas; the other boys frequently bully him.  Why do you think this is?

Ideas : The way in which Piggy puts forward his ideas annoys the other boys because although they know he is right, they wish they had thought of it first. The fact that he has a whiney voice, bad eyesight, and asthma and is overweight makes him an object of ridicule, yet he has something, which they do not have – intelligence.  They resent him for this.  Piggy realizes this himself and that is why he conveys his thoughts to Ralph for him to implement, which Ralph is quite happy to do.  After all, the use of the conch shell was a deciding factor as to who would become leader.