Reading Log- Lord of the Flies

Elif Eylül Küçükbulut

10-C 465

Contents:
1. Character Sheets
a) Ralph
b) Piggy
c) Jack
2. Chapters 5&8 Summaries
3. My Favourite Quotes
4. What would I tell if I were Simon?
5. My personal thoughts about the ending
6. 2 Symbols
Voluntary Tasks:
7. Book Review
8. 10 Questions about the book + Answer Key
9. My distilled impression of the novel

1. Character Sheets:
a) Ralph:
Ralph is the protagonist of the novel “Lord of the Flies”. He is 12 years old, making him one of
the older boys among the group.
- He has fair hair (p.4) and generally good looking. This is one of the features that
makes him an ideal leader for the group.
- He is athletic and fit: In the first chapter his physical appereance is contrasted with
Piggy. While Piggy is described as “the fat boy”, Ralph is described as “the fair boy”.
- Ralph is also described as a strong boy with wide shoulders (p.6 ll. 33-34).
- Opposing his strong and fit physique, he has an innocent look in his eyes (p.6 ll.34-
35)
- Ralph’s dad is a commander in the navy. On their first days on the island he thinks
that his father will come to rescue them (p.9 ll. 15-16). But that trust eventually wears
off.
 - Ralph is elected as the leader by the other boys in the first chapter. With being the
one who brought all the boys together by using the conch he is chosen as the leader.
(Chapter 1)
- Throughout the chapters Ralph tries to establish a peaceful enviroment. He
represents order and civilization.
- Ralph is the only boy, that identifies Simon’s death as a murder. Although he tries to
keep himself away, he is affected by the other boys’ violence and savagery.
- Ralph was a faithful boy with innocent thoughts. He was first excited by the idea of
living with no adults. With getting to know the nature of the humankind and seeing
how violent the boys can be he loses his faith and innocence.
- By the end of the novel Ralph has learned that, the devil is present in each person.
When the naval officer comes on the island, Ralph isn’t relieved, rather is
uncomfortable with his dirty appereance, which now represents him losing his
innocence compared to his first description “the fair boy”.

b) Piggy:
Piggy is a twelve year old boy, whose real name is not mentioned in the novel. He is one of
the most important members of the group.

- Within the first few pages of the book the reader can guess that, Piggy will be an
outcast. He is introduced as “the fat boy”, who also has asthma and thick glasses (p.
5)
- He is a very talkative boy, which makes Ralph a little uncomfortable as they first met.
- The reader can understand that he comes from a lower social class than the other
boys by the way he talks.
- Piggy mentiones his aunt, she takes care of him. Piggy says that, his father is dead.
There is no information about his mother.
- Piggy is a smart boy. He is behind most of Ralph’s ideas. For example he was the one
who told Ralph that, the conch can be used as a trumpet to gather everyone on the
island.
- Piggy tried to keep everyone under control and stay civilized. He knew that Jack
would be a terrible leader and wanted Ralph to stay as the leader.
- Piggy had a hard time making the other boys listen to him. Altough he had great ideas
the other boys never cared about him.
- Piggy was aware that, there was no beast but he also knew that, if there were a
beast, it was in the boys.
- Piggy was the real hero of the group. Ralph listened to his ideas and moved according
to them. Without Piggy’s ideas Ralph wpuld have been a much worse leader. If the
other boys valued his ideas it would have been more obvious that, Piggy was the real
hero.
C) Jack:
Jack is the antagonist of the novel.

- Jack is a tall, thin boy with red hair, blue eyes and freckles but his face is described as
ugly.
- In the election he wanted to be the leader because he already is the head of the
choir boys. He has a dominant personality. Ralph made him the head of hunters.
- It is foreshadowed that Jack has a dark personality. He and the choir boys, later
hunters, are seen with long black capes with hats.
- As time goes on Jack gives in to the savagery more and more. On his first attempt to
kill a pig he failed. But after he killed many.
- He was very rude. He broke Piggy’s glasses.
- Jack was jeaolus of Ralph. When Ralph was elected for chief he got upset. Later on
he started a second election to become the leader but lost again.
- He uses excitement to make the other boys go on adventures.
- Jack is an essential character in The Lord of the Flies as he influences the theme of
savagery and evil in the novel. In this regard, his compulsion to kill and his violent
attack on Ralph are evidence of evil in the story.

2) Summaries:
Chapter 5: Beast from Water:

The chapter 5 of the novel “Lord of the Flies”, written by William Golding, published in 1954,
is about the boys on the island splitting into groups.

Ralph calls a meeting, where he wants to talk about serious and important topics. During the
meeting he compliants that nobody is doing their assigned chores. Nothing is getting done,
the shelters aren’t built, the signal fire doesn’t get the attention it needs, the boys are not
even using the designated toilet areas. Ralph is not happy with the situation. There is no
order on the island. The littluns are having nightmares about a beast. Ralph and Jack try to
tell them, that there is actually no beast but it doesn’t work. Simon, on the other hand, is
now beginning to understand that the actual beast is them, but no one listens to him. One of
the littluns claims that he acctually saw the beast. The meeting turns into chaos as the
littluns get more and more terrified. Jack doesn’t want Ralph to be the leader. He points out
that he can’t hunt. Suddenly Jack claims, that if there is a beast, the hunters will kill him. The
hunters leave the meeting area while singing and chanting.
Chapter 8: Gift for the Darkness:

The chapter 8 of the novel “Lord of the Flies”, written by William Golding, published in 1954,
is about the hunters sacrificing a pigs head to the beast and simon encountering it.

Ralph tells Piggy about “the beast” the saw but Piggy isn’t still sure. Jack interferes and tells
them, that the hunter will kill it. Piggy criticize the hunters and Jack gets annoyed. Jack calls a
meeting to vote Ralph out of power but it doesn’t work. Him and his followers leave the
area. Piggy thinks, that the boys can live without Jack then he suggests they light another
signal fire. The others agree and they build the fire. Ralph notices that the majority has left
with Jack.

Jack and his followers hunt a pig but they don’t have any equipment to start a fire to cook it.
He wants to use Piggy’s glasses. They cut the pigs head and use it as a sacrifice for the beast.
While walking around the jungle, Simon sees the pigs head with flies all over it. He sees
hallucinations that the pigs head is talking to him. The head tells him that the beast is among
them. Then he faints.

3) My favourite Quotes:
- “That was Simon… that was murder.” (Chapter 10, Ralph)
Here Ralph is the only one who is aware of the brutality and the savagery of the boys. Ralph
now also understands what Simon was always talking about. The actual beast is the boys
themselves.

- “And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and
unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the
darkness of man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true,
wise friend called Piggy.” (Chapter 12)
Ralph was running from the boys as they were trying to kill him. But then a naval officer
ccame and the boys got rescued from the island. Ralph couldn’t be relieved and excited
about leaving the island. He lost all of his innocence and also lost a friend.

- “Didn't you hear what the pilot said? About the atom bomb?
They're all dead.” (Piggy, Chapter 1)
In this quote, we get information about the time the novel happens in. The readers can
understand how the children get affected by the cold war.
4) What would I tell if I were Simon?
At this point in the novel, Simon already tried to tell the other boys that, the actual beast
was in the boys. Even though the things he heard during his encounter with the Lord of
the Flies wasn’t real and was a hallucination, it felt real to him. Simon is a spritual boy
and believed in the same thing from the beginning. Also after understanding that the
thing boys thought was the beast was the dead pilot and not a beast, he was sure. If I
were Simon and if I had the chance to tell the boys about the encounter with the Lord of
the Flies, I wouldn’t say anything. I wouldn’t warn them. I think it was already too late,
the savage and brutal sides of the boys were already out and in my opinion there was no
going back. I would calmly go down to the beach and let the boys discover the pilots
body themselves. Maybe if he went to the beach calmly, then they wouldn’t attack and
kill him.

5) My Personal Thoughts about the Ending:

I personally liked the ending. Ralph’s change throughout the novel was applied beautifully
and the ending completes it. Him losing his innocence and learning that the devil lies within
all of the humankind made him a totally different person. Going through terrible incidents at
a very young age changes him. The naval officer rescues him of being killed but as he saw the
officer he wasn’t relieved, he was sad. He lost his friend. Ralph also always wanted to get out
of the island so he always tried to keep the fire signal, but the fire Jack started to kill him
rescued them, so there is an irony there. The ending also represents that the humankind is
made to self destruct and we can’t escape from the reality. I also thought it was realistic.

6) 2 Symbols from the Novel:

- Piggy’s Glasses: Piggy’s glasses represent looking at things objectively and
realisticly. When the lens cracks, this is a sign indicating that the boys are losing sight
of civilization. They are losing their previous vision of what life should be like and
what actions they need to take in order to avoid losing their civility to savagery.
- The Signal Fire: The signal fire represents the boys' hope to reconnect to
civilization. Early in the book, while the boys are hopeful of being rescued, the fire is
very important. As they become comfortable with their lack of civilization, though,
they focus more on the savagery of their life on the island than keeping the signal
going in the hopes of being found. After all, they would have to give up their savage
ways if they were rescued.
Voluntary Tasks:
7) Book review:
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a dystopian novel about a group of teenage boys
stranded on an island. During their time on the island the boys let out the savage sides in
them and surviving gets harder and harder. In my opinion Lord of the Flies is a great book to
read. It might be a little difficult to read sometimes but the massage is very important. The
main idea is applied greatly. My favoutite character was Simon and his death made me very
sad. Nobody listened to him and his warnings and at the end they realized he was right.

8) 10 Questions about the Book+ Answer Key

1- What does Piggy suggest they use to start a fire?

A) Matches
B) Lighter
C) Glasses
D) A stick

Answer: C) Glasses

2- What does the "Lord of the Flies" represent in the novel?

A) The boys' fear of death

B) The power of authority
C) The desire for freedom
D) The inherent evil in humanity

Answer: D) The inherent evil in humanity

3- What does Simon's encounter with the "Lord of the Flies" symbolize?

A) The boys' descent into savagery

B) The boys' fear of death
C) The futility of trying to escape from the island
D) The triumph of evil over good

Answer: A) The boys' descent into savagery

4- Ralph best represents which aspect of human nature?

A) Moral Choice
B) Instinct
 C) Spirituality
D) Intellect

Answer: A) Moral Choice

5- How do the boys end up on the island?

A) A shipwreck
B) Plane crash
C) A field trip
D) Teleporter

Answer: B) Plane crash

6- What are the three main policies set forth at the first meeting?

A) Eat, pray, love

B) Learn how to swim, build shelters, make a radio
C) Have fun, survive and maintain the signal fire
D) Stay alive, find a treasure, make a boat

Answer: C) Have fun, survive and maintain the signal fire

7- Who do the boys mistakenly beat to death?

A) Sam
B) Eric
C) Ralph
D) Simon

Answer: D) Simon

8- What is the "Lord of the Flies?"

A) Jack
B) A pig’s head on a stick
C) Ralph
D) The beast

Answer: B) A pig’s head on a stick

9- Who kills Piggy?

A) Roger
B) Jack
C) Sam
D) He commits suicide

Answer: A) Roger
10- Which boy treats the littluns with the most kindness?

A) Eric
B) Ralph
C) Simon
D) Piggy

Answer: C) Simon

9) My Distilled Impressions (Exactly 50 Words):

The main idea of this novel is very important. Everyone should read it because it is real. We
all have an evil part in us and it is our cahoice if we want to let it out or not. So I woul
reccomend this book to everyone of all ages.