Quotations Lord of the Flies

The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, was first published in 1954. This tale of schoolboys stranded on a desert island is the best-known work by Golding. The novel is now sometimes compared to The Cacher in the Rye as one of the popular books for high school and college students. Here are a few quotes from the novel.

Lord of the Flies Quotes: Analyse these quotations:
Who said them? What is their significance within the context?

CHAPTER 1

• "They used to call me Piggy!'"
  Why is Piggy called that way by his classmates? How does he feel about that nickname? Why does Ralph reveal this information to the group?
• "'You're no good on a job like this.'"
  Who was not good and at what job?

CHAPTER 2

• "Ralph sat on a fallen trunk, his left side to the sun. On his right were most of the choir; on his left the larger boys who had not known each other before...before him small children squatted in the grass."
  Who are the different groups? How do they differ? What is Ralph's role? In what way is it made evident in this scene?
• "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.'"
  Who says this? What does this show about the character? Is the writer being ironic? Why?
• "'You got your small fire all right.'"
  Who said this? What is his attitude?Why is the other character so concerned about the fire?

CHAPTER 3

• "Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found for the fruit they could not reach... passed them back down to the endless, outstretched hands."
  How does Ralph behave towards the littluns? What does this show about this character?
• "The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers... Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island.

What does the scent stand for?Who or what really took possession of the island?
CHAPTER 4

• "Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life."
  What does the writer mean by the taboo of the old life? Why does he use the word TABOO?
• "He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."
  How is this character depicted? The description would apply more to ...
• "'I painted my face--I stole up. Now you eat--all of you--and I--'"
  What does the painting of the faces represent? How were the kids changed?

CHAPTER 5

• "Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. Ralph was a specialist in thought now, and could recognize thought in another."
  What type of boy is Piggy? How was Ralph becoming more like him?
• "Serve you right if something did get you, you useless lot of cry-babies!"
  Who says this to the littluns? How does this character contrast with Ralph?
• "Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet."
  What does this tell us about the boy's background? What were the kids afraid of?
• "'Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us.'"
  This could be considered a moment of epiphany. Why? What does the character realise?
• "The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away."
  Which world does the writer refer to?

CHAPTER 6

• "Even the sounds of nightmare from the other shelters no longer reached him, for he was back to where came from, feeding the ponies with sugar over the garden wall."
  Who has this memory? Why?

CHAPTER 7:

• "'You'll get back to where you came from.'"
  This could be interpreted as going back to their origins. Which ones? Why?
• "'Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!'"
  What does the chanting show about the kids' behaviour? Their painted faces and the chanting give the impression of ....
• "The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering."
  Which side took over the boys at this point?
• "'We musn't let anything happen to Piggy, must we?'"
  Why was the character worried about Piggy? Why wasn't it advisable for Ralph not to have Piggy?

CHAPTER 8

• "He says things like Piggy. He isn't a proper chief.'"
  Why do they consider Ralph not to be a proper chief? Do you agree?
• "Piggy was... so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he helped to fetch wood." How is Piggy's role made explicit in this quotation?

• "'This head is for the beast. It's a gift.'"

Why do the hunters decide to leave a gift for the beast?

• "'You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close, close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are what they are?'"
  Who says this? Why?
• "'You're not wanted..."
  Who is not wanted and why?
• "'Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!'"
  How is the chanting different? What is its effect?

CHAPTER 9

• "They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable."
  What did the children need desperately?
• "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws."
  What does this description make you think of?Notice the use of words teeth and claws.
• "The water rose farther and dressed Simon's coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulder became sculptured marble."
  What was the effect of the water on the corpse? What is water a symbol for? Why did the children need it?
• "surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon's dead body moved out toward the open sea."

Why does the writer use the word INQUISITIVE to describe the kids? How do you think they felt after what they had done?
CHAPTER 10

• "We was on the outside. We never done nothing, we never seen nothing."
  What is the children's reaction to what they had done?
• "You can't tell what he might do."
  What does this foreshadow?
• "What could be safer than the bus center with its lamps and wheels?"

Who thinks this? Why?

• "'It's come... It's real!'"
  What does the child refer to?

CHAPTER 11

• "'This is 'jus talk... I want my glasses.'"
  Who had taken Piggy's glasses and why?
• "'after all we aren't savages really...'"
  Who believes this? Do you agree?
• "A single drop of water that had escaped Piggy's fingers now flashed on the delicate curve like a star."
  What could this be anticipating?
• "Behind them on the grass the headless and paunched body of a sow lay where they had dropped it."
  What is a sow? What had the kids done?
• "Ralph--remember what we came for. The fire. My specs."
  What is Piggy's attitude towards Ralph?
• "Samneric protested out of the heart of civilization"
  How were Sam and Erick different from Jack's group?
• "You're a beast and a swine and a bloody, bloody thief!"
  At this point the truth about the boy's complete change is voiced. By who? Why?
• "Which is better--to have laws and agree, or to hunt and kill?"
  Whose voice could this be?
• "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist."
  Together with Piggy's death, we see the destruction of the shell. Why did the writer include these two facts together? What do Piggy and the conch both represent? What will happen as a result of their disappearance?