Lord of the flies (Relationships and Community)
by Maci Garner
1. "Then, to his surprise, Ralph went to Piggy and took the glasses from him. Not even Ralph knew how a link between him and Jack had been snapped and fastened elsewhere" (Golding, 73).
1.1. I enjoyed your use of symbolism whilst reading this. "Budding" is the perfect word, because it's sprouting out of something less than beautiful, and growing into a lovely flower. Also, I liked that you caught that the friendship between Ralph and Piggy destroyed the friendship between Ralph and Jack.
1.2. This quote reveals a progression in Ralph and Piggy's relationship and marks the beginning of their friendship. Ralph is no longer friends with Jack because they disagree about what the priorities are on the island, leading to the deterioration of their friendship. Since Jack and Ralph are no longer friends, Piggy becomes Ralph's friend in lieu of Jack, even though Ralph barely tolerated Piggy before. This is demonstrated by the fact that Ralph goes to Piggy and politely takes Piggy's glasses instead of Jack forcefully taking them. Ralph is the one who takes the glasses from Piggy, not Jack, which implies that he and Piggy are friends. Not only does Ralph take the glasses from Piggy, implying a bond between the two, but he also does it nicely.This takes everyone by surprise, and not even Ralph quite understands how suddenly he is friends with Piggy but not friends with Jack anymore.
1.2.1. I like how you state that its a "budding" friendship between Ralph and Piggy. I also like how you said that Ralph is surprised and doesn't quite know that as soon as Ralph and Piggy became friends, that Ralph and Jack were no longer friends.
2. "If you're hunting sometimes you catch yourself feeling as if--" He flushed suddenly. "There's nothing in it of course. Just a feeling. But you can feel as if you're not hunting but...being hunted, as if somethings behind you all the time." (Golding, 53).
2.1. This is the first time Jack really shares his feeling or shows any kind of fear. He may have appeared to be tough at first, but he may be a softy at heart. This quote changed our view of Jack as a character significantly.
2.2. I like how you add that this is the first time Jack shows fear. this is really showing the relationship between Jack and himself. It shows the battle of trying to be something you really aren't.
2.3. I like how you state that Jack is showing feelings, especially the feeling of fear, in this quote. This quote and analysis change our view of Jack, making him seem more vulnerable and more human, because fear is a very human, very vulnerable emotion. Eunice Chen
3. "They looked at each other, baffled, in love and hate. All the warm water of the pool and the shouting and splashing and laughing were only just enough to bring them together again." (Golding 55).
3.1. Ralph and Jack have already had several disputes. They're only going to get worse, and more likely than not, pretty soon a pool of water and a bath won't be enough to calm them down.
3.2. Playing in a lagoon I added a picture to help the reader visualize this scene. It is easy to see why playing in the lagoon together would bond the boys together again because it is clear that the boys are having fun in this picture. However, even playing together in the pool is just barely sufficient to fix Jack and Ralph's friendship this time, so they will probably not be able to repair their friendship the next time they argue just by playing in the lagoon together. Eunice Chen
4. " '[Jack] hates me [Piggy]. I dunno why. If he could do what he wanted-- you're all right, he respects you... I'm scared of him,' said Piggy, 'and that's why I know him. If you're scared of someone you hate him but you can't stop thinking about him... he hates you too, Ralph. You got him over the fire; an' you're chief an' he isn't'" (Golding, 93).
4.1. A lot has changed from the beginning of the novel. Not only are Jack and Ralph no longer friends, but Jack hates Ralph because Ralph is chief and Jack is not. Normally, one would expect that Ralph and Jack would bond over their shared burden of power, as Ralph is chief and Jack controls the choir, who are the hunters, and at the beginning of the book they are friends and have in common their burden of leadership. However, this ultimately is also what drives the two apart. Jack resents the fact that Ralph is leader and he is not because Jack is power-hungry and believes that he would do a better job as leader than Ralph would. Jack also resents Ralph because Ralph made him look bad in front of all the boys because he let the fire go out, missing a chance to be rescued, simply because he wanted to hunt. This quote also reveals that Jack hates Piggy, which is evident throughout the book, probably because Piggy is the voice of reason and civilization, speaking out against savagery and tyranny, while Jack represents savagery and tyranny. Because Piggy is scared of Jack, he thinks about him a lot, and he realizes that Jack hates Ralph, shedding light on Jack's treatment of Ralph.
5. "Assembly after assembly had broken up in laughter when someone had leaned too far back and the log had whipped and thrown half a dozen boys backwards into the grass. Yet now, he saw no one had the wit-not himself nor Jack nor Piggy-to bring a stone and wedge the thing. So they would continue enduring the ill-balanced twister, because, because...again he lost himself in deep waters." (Golding, 77).
5.1. I really like your perspective on this, it opens a new level or way to see this. I like how you said "Why isn't anyone helping, you might ask." it really gives a look into how the boys react after they kill Simon.
5.2. This quote shows how the community has developed a herd-mentality, which is to say that they all more or less do the same things and don't do the same things. If no one else does it, why should you? And if you don't do it, someone will come along, right? Wrong. Herd-mentality is the reason why we stare at people lying in the street bleeding after an accident instead of helping them. Why isn't anyone helping, you might ask. The same reason you aren't; the idea that someone else will do something, and this is tearing the boys apart.
6. "He's like Piggy, he says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief... He's a coward himself... Who thinks that Ralph oughtn't be chief? He looked expectantly at the boys ranged round, who had frozen. Under the palms there was deadly silence . Hands up, said Jack strongly,who ever wants Ralph not to be chief? The silence continued, breathless and heavy, and full of shame." (Golding 126-127).
6.1. I like how you state that it is not good for Ralph in the long run because Jacks points are starting to get through to the boys and may persuade them into thinking that Jack may be a better leader, and result in Ralph being over thrown.
6.2. Throughout the book, Jack continues to attempt to persuade and sway the boys into voting him into power and knocking Ralph out. no one listens to him, however. He finally snaps and directly states that Ralph should not have power. This is not good for Ralph because what Jack is saying could actually be getting through to them. In order for the community to continue to thrive, Ralph needs to maintain his followers and not lose them to Jack's savage ideals.
6.2.1. I like that you decided to address the fact that Jack just snapped, as if all this time these emotions have been bottled up inside of him. He just couldn't hold them in any longer.
7. "[Ralph] argued unconvincingly that they would let him alone, perhaps even make an outlaw of him. But then the fatal unreasoning knowledge came to him again... there was that indefinable connection between himself and Jack, who therefore would never let him alone; never" (Golding, 184).
7.1. Ralph realizes that the boys will hunt him for the rest of his life until they finally catch him and kill him, although he does not fully realize that the boys intend decapitate him and put his head on a stick. He knows instinctively that Jack will not be content just to make him an outlaw and outcast, but will never stop until he is dead. Jack and Ralph are connected because of the power each wields, or used to wield. In the beginning of the novel, this burden of power set these boys apart from the others and connected them. This burden of power is also what drives Jack and Ralph apart because they cannot agree on how to run the island and what their priorities are. Jack wants to hunt all the time and misuses his power, while Ralph tries to be responsible with his power and wants only to rescued. In essence, Ralph and Jack are two sides of the same coin. They are similar: both are leaders and popular among the boys. Both have power, but they use it in completely different ways. Jack perceives Ralph as a threat to his power because Ralph used to be leader, and thus is a likely candidate for leader if the boys ever decide they do not like Jack and want a new leader. Because of the connection between Jack and Ralph, Jack will not stop until he kills Ralph. As long as Ralph lives, he is a threat to Jack's power, or at least Jack thinks so, and so Jack seeks to hunt and murder Ralph.
7.2. The power struggle. One of the most obvious forms of conflict on the island. But I think it's more personal between these two than just a power struggle. Something deeper, something like hatred, drives these two to war.
8. "Before them, something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between its knees. Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness, and the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face. Ralph found himself taking giant strides among the ashes, heard other creatures crying out in the night, and dared the impossible on the dark slope." (Golding 123).
8.1. Jack and Ralph were willing to put their differences aside for one thing; finding the beast. When they do find the beast, they share another thing; fear. Not the kind of fear you get from sitting on the hill at the top of the roller coaster, but pure, primal fear, that only a beast in the night could cause. Golding doesn't really discuss this fear, but he clearly shows it, establishing the beast as a possible game changer in the boy's lives.
8.2. "There are only two forces that unite men-fear and interest" -Napoleon This quote by Napoleon is very true of this analysis. Jack and Ralph are united by their fear of the beast and by their common interest, which is to ensure that they are safe from the beast.
9. "At the return Ralph found himself alone on a limb with Jack and they grinned at each other, sharing this burden. Once more, amid the breeze, the shouting, the slanting sunlight on the high mountain, washed that glamour, that strange invisible light of friendship, adventure, and content" (Golding, 39).
9.1. In this quote, the author explores the relationship between Ralph and Jack. Jack and Ralph bond because they share the burden of the log and are both working together to move it. When people face a challenge or bear a burden together, they tend to bond as a result of that experience. This statement is true of Ralph and Jack in this instance: they tackle the burden of the log together, and by doing so, bond. Another burden that Jack and Ralph share is the burden of power. Because Ralph shares power with Jack, Jack likes him because he is power-hungry. This shared burden of power also connects Jack and Ralph, setting them apart from the other boys and making them into friends. The boys all bond together because they share the common experience of being stranded on an island. They view being stranded as an adventure and do not understand the seriousness of the situation, and so bond because they are in an "adventure" together. All these factors combine to bring Jack and Ralph closer together.
10. Key:
10.1. blue- Maci
10.2. red outline- Andrew
10.3. red highlight- Jake
10.4. normal- Eunice
11. "Ralph spoke again hoarsely. He had not moved. You let the fire go out. This repetition made jack uneasy. He looked at the twins then back at Ralph. We had to leave them in the hunt, he said, or there wouldn't have been enough for a ring. He flushed conscious of a fault... There was a ship. Jack faced with too many implications, ducked away from them." (Golding 70).
11.1. Ralph is filled with so much frustration that he can spit out only few words. Ralph's main goal is to be rescued while Jack has no regard for such action. Everyone on this island needs to be on the same page for things to run smoothly whether they are rescued or if they are to create o community that is supposed to thrive . Jack and Ralph dont get along and this sure doesn't help either one.
12. "Piggy say the smile and misinterpreted it as friendliness. There had grown up tacitly among the biguns the opinion that Piggy was an outsider, not only by accent, which did not matter, but by fat, and ass-mar, and specs, and a certain disinclination for hard labor. Now, finding that something he had said made Ralph smile, he rejoiced and pressed his advantage" (Golding, 65)
12.1. The author describes Piggy's and Ralph's relationship in this passage. Ralph basically does his best to ignore Piggy, but is not usually actively mean and does not bully Piggy like Jack does. Other than Simon, Ralph is the nicest to Piggy, though they are not friends by any means. In the community as a whole, Piggy is an outcast, at best ignored and treated like a nuisance, and at worst, bullied. Piggy desperately wants to be accepted, but is not because he is fat, has asthma, does not like manual labor, and thus does not contribute much to the group, at least in the other boys' opinion. So, when Ralph laughs, Piggy seizes the opportunity and keeps talking, not realizing that Ralph was not being friendly toward him. This demonstrates just how desperately Piggy wants to be accepted, especially by Ralph, because all Ralph does is laugh at Piggy and basically make fun of Piggy, yet Piggy is willing to take this as a sign that Ralph is being friendly toward him.
13. "Ralph turned and smiled involuntarily. Piggy was a bore; his fat, his ass-mar and his matter-of-fact ideas were dull, but there was always a little pleasure to be got out of pulling his leg, even if one did by accident" (Golding, 65).
13.1. Ralph explains the relationship between himself and Piggy, and how the community really views Piggy.
13.2. Ralph barely tolerates Piggy and does not really want Piggy around, but he does have fun playing a joke on Piggy, even if by accident. Even though Ralph does not accept Piggy or like him, he thinks Piggy is occasionally entertaining.
14. "Apart from eating and sleeping, they found time for play, aimless and trivial, in the white sand by the bright water, They cried for their mothers much less often than expected; they were brown and filthy. They huddled together for comfort." (Golding 59).
14.1. I like how you state that the littluns have their own character as a society. I also like how you say that the littluns are important, more than just background noise, because often the littluns are forgotten or dismissed as unimportant by the reader, but in reality they also play an important role in the novel.
14.2. This passage shows us that the littl'uns all have several things in common, and that there's more to their character as a whole than just background noise. Apparently they're handling being on the island better than expected, more likely than not because, as younger beings, their brains get over their differences easier.
14.3. I like how you add that the younger ones are taking it easier than the older ones because their brains are more excepting to new things. It really has a much bigger impact on the older boys later on in the book rather than the younger boys.
15. “With the memory of his somewhat clean self as a standard, Ralph looked them over. They were dirty, not with spectacular dirt of boys who have fallen into mud or been brought down hard on a rainy day. Not one of them was an obvious subject for a shower, and yet-hair, much too long, tangled here and there, knotted round a dead leaf or a twig; faces cleaned fairly well by the process of eating and sweating but marked in the less accessible angles with a kind of shadow; clothes, worn away, stiff like his own with sweat, put on, not for decorum or comfort but out of custom; the skin of the body, scurfy with brine- He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind" (Golding 110).
15.1. In this passage Ralph is saying how he sees the boys how they are dirty and savage compared to how you live in civilization. Ralph’s overall view on the boys and their hygiene is that for being stranded out in the middle of nowhere, on a hot island, and there’s not the necessities that you would need to have great hygiene on an island with pink rocks, sand, and pigs that you hunt for yourself if you want to eat. Ralph thinks that they are all turning savage on the outside with their long tangled hair with twigs and leafs tangled up in there and the clothes torn and dirty, but for being stranded for how long they have been Ralph thinks that their faces and their bodies look cleaner without all the dirt built up on them, even though they are only clean because of their sweat they look clean and Ralph is become more accustomed to how they look.
15.1.1. I like how you spotted that Ralph is sort of getting used to the boys being dirty. This desensitizing is the first step towards savagery in Ralph himself. Once you're OK with one aspect, it gets easier to become OK with the rest.
15.1.2. Basic hygiene is a representation of civilization and reflects the state of civilization on the island. Soap is a symbol of hygiene and cleanliness, while dirt is a symbol of savagery and the slow deterioration of civilization on the island. Often, people take simple hygiene for granted, not realizing what an integral part it plays in civilization, but often our physical appearance affects our actions. For example, Jack and the hunters are liberated by the masks and do things they might otherwise be ashamed to do without the masks.
16. In this passage it shows the leadership Jack now has over the boys now that he has become leader. Jack is showing off to Ralph that he is now the leader and that he has more control over the boys than Ralph ever did.
16.1. “The boys ranged themselves in rows on the grass before him but Ralph and Piggy stayed a foot lower, standing on the soft sand. Jack ignored them for the moment, turned his mask down to the seated boys and pointed at them with the spear. (Golding, 150)"
17. Ralph-“Who’s going to join my tribe?” Ralph made a sudden movement that became a stumble. Some of the boys turned towards him. “I gave you food,” said Jack, “and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?” “I’m chief,” said Ralph, “because you chose me. And we were going to keep the fire going. Now you run after food-“ “You ran yourself!” shouted Jack. “Look at that bone in your hands!” Ralph went crimson. “I said you were the hunters. That’s your job.” Jack ignored him again. “Who’ll join my tribe and have fun?” “I’m chief,” said Ralph tremulously. “And what about the fire? And I’ve got the conch-“ “You haven’t got it with you,” said Jack, sneering. “You left it behind. See, clever? And the conch doesn’t count at this end of the island-“ All at once the thunder struck. Instead of the dull boom there was a point of impact in the explosion. “The conch counts here too,” said Ralph, “and all over the island.” “What are you going to do about it then?” Ralph examined the ranks of boys. There was no help in them and he looked away, confused and sweating. Piggy whispered. “The fire-rescue.” “Who’ll join my tribe?” “I will.” “Me.” “I will.” “I’ll blow the conch,” said Ralph breathlessly, “and call an assembly.” “We shan’t hear it” (Golding 150 151).
17.1. The dialogue in the passage is showing the battling between Jack and Ralph, these two are battling it out in front of all the boys about whose tribe will be better. Jack is very harsh in this passage, he is trying to break Ralph down mentally, and he is using certain objects such as the conch to tug on him and make his anger level rise and rise. Jack and Ralphs relationship is now truthful with how each other really feel about each other. Jack never liked Ralph he was just trying to become leader the whole time, but Ralph didn’t mind Jack and Ralph thought Jack liked him.
18. "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from the chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, traveled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. the rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell fort feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. his head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy's arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig's after it has been killed. then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and then it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone" (Golding, 181).
18.1. This shows the relationship between all the boys and Piggy. Piggy fell off a cliff forty feet and cracked his head open and died, then his body was washed away and the boys never even brought it up or cared. This shows not only how savage they have turned but how much they disliked Piggy in the first place. The boys have gone completely savage and all they want now is to hunt and kill Ralph.
18.1.1. I like how you pointed out the this shows us the boys true feelings about Piggy. If they had liked him, they would have at least been a little deterred by it. But no, nothing from them. I guess Jack wasn't the only one that hated Piggy.