Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
Solving Quadratic Equations by Factoring
- Why does Golding end Lord of the Flies with the rescue of the boys? Does this ending change the realistic nature of the novel?
- Check out the scene where we meet all the boys in Chapter One. How do the various introductions of each character set up the story that follows? Are there any big surprises?
- Do the chapter titles do anything for you?
- How could this novel be described as an allegory? If it is an allegory, what message does Golding seem to want to get across to his readers? What allegorical roles are the characters playing?
- What is the role of religion in the lives of the boys? Is their religion based on Christianity, or does it seem more pagan?
- Lord of the Flies was published in 1954, although it is set in some fictional future. In what ways does its message seem to speak to the violence that is present in 1954? What about violence today?
- Only one female voice is presented (very briefly, and in recap) in this novel, that of Piggy's aunt. Would this story have been different in any important ways if there had been both boys and girls on the island? In other words, is this a story about the capacity of humans for violence, or is it a story about the male capacity for violence? Or is there simply not enough evidence to make an argument either way?
- Similarly—why does it matter that these are kids? Would adults in the same situation act any differently?
- How are the characters in Lord of the Flies presented as both "heroic and sick" (6)? As both sane and insane? As both good and evil?
- What role does fear play in Lord of the Flies? How does fear affect the boys as the story progresses?