In Chapter One of the novel, the boys explore the jungle and look down on the island, and

Golding uses their journey to give the reader an aerial perspective on the island. Re-read
the description of the island from their viewpoint:

What is the ‘It was roughly boat-shaped: humped near this end with behind
significance
of the boat
them the jumbled descent to the shore. On either side rocks,
shape? cliffs, tree-tops and a steep slope: forward there, the length of
Journey?
the boat, a tamer descent, tree-clad, with hints of pink: and then
the jungly flat of the island, dense green, but drawn at the end What
to a pink tail. There, where the island petered out in water, was does this
become?
another island: a rock, almost detached, standing like a fort, Castle
Rock
What facing them across the green with one bold, pink bastion.
does this
remind The boys surveyed all this, then looked out to sea. They were
you of?
Devil? high up and the afternoon had advanced; the view was not How does
Hints at a this
snake in
robbed of sharpness by mirage.
paragraph
paradise? present the
”That’s a reef. A coral reef. I’ve seen pictures like that.” island as
isolated?
The reef enclosed more than one side of the island, lying They are
hemmed in
perhaps a mile out and parallel to what they now thought of as by the reef
their beach. The coral was scribbled in the sea as though a giant
had bent down to reproduce the shape of the island in a
‘Astern’
flowing, chalk line but tired before he had finished. Inside was means
backwards.
peacock water, rocks and weed showing as in an aquarium; Is this
outside was the dark blue of the sea. The tide was running so important?
How are They’re
humans that long streaks of foam tailed away from the reef and for a going to
presented moment they felt that the boat was moving steadily astern … regress to
as their
destructive natural
here? Beyond falls and cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; ‘evil’ state
The arrival there were the splintered trunks and then the drag, leaving only
of man
causes the a fringe of palm between the scar and the sea. There, too, jutting
destruction
of the
into the lagoon, was the platform, with insect-like figures
moving near it.’ (pp.26-7)

When we think about Lord of the Flies symbolically, the island is a presented is as a small-
scale version of society and the description of the island as a sort of paradise makes us
think of an Eden, where the boys are the first settlers. Isolated from the world and
uninfluenced by outside forces, they are true to their primitive selves, and the ‘types’ of
humanity they represent.
Consider the significance of each of these ‘places’ in the novel. What do they represent or
stand for in the boys’ lives, either before or after their arrival on the island? Some of the
key quotations have been given to start you off. Use your copy of the text to find a
suitable quotation where none has been provided.

Significance of
Place Key quotations
the place
The island is good and
The water was warmer than his perfect.
blood.
The bathing-pool /
lagoon

‘a criss-cross pattern of trunks,

very convenient to sit on.’ (p.7) The island is benign and
The platform welcoming
’the palms that still stood made a
green roof’ (p.7)

Ineffective
‘The shelter might fall down if the
The shelters on the rain comes back.’ (p.85)
beach ‘He saw a shelter burst into
flames’ (p.222)

‘The long scar smashed into the Man’s arrival is destructive

The ‘scar’
jungle’ (p.1)

Unknown, threatening
The darkness of the forest
The jungle
 Significance of
Place Key quotations
the place
‘more sunshine fell’ (p.58)
‘a pair of golden butterflies
danced round each other’ (p.58)
‘the bars of honey-coloured
sunlight … passed over the green
Like a church. A sanctuary.
Simon’s clearing candle-like buds … the candle-
Holy
buds stirred.’ (p.59)
‘The candle-buds opened their
wide white flowers glimmering
under the light that pricked down
from the first stars.’ (p.59)
‘The rock of the cliff was split and
the top littered with great lumps
that seemed to totter’ (p.113)
‘Soon, in a matter of centuries,
the sea would make an island of
the castle’ (p.114)
‘There was one flat rock there,
spread like a table, and the
waters sucking down on the four
Threatening, dark, powerful,
Castle Rock weedy sides made them seem
frightening
like cliffs. Then the sleeping
leviathan breathed out – the
waters rose, the weed streamed,
and the water boiled over the
table rock with a roar.’ (p.115)
‘“This is a rotten place.”’ (p.116 –
Ralph says it)
‘Beneath him, the death rock
flowered again’ (p. 210)

The top of the island

where the parachutist
comes to rest
Try to explain why each of these features of the island may be important.

 Sharks swim in the sea around the island. Emphasises that they are hemmed in,
claustrophobic, cannot escape
 Jack’s side of the island is not protected by the reef. This is ‘the other side of the
island’ described on p.120. Emphasises that they are wild, exposed, unprotected
 We are constantly reminded of the heat: ‘with that word the heat seemed to increase
till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding
effulgence.’ (p.9) / ‘the diamond haze of the beach’ (p.11) Hellish inhospitable climate
remeniscient of colonial countries

At the beginning of the novel (in Chapter 2) Ralph is sure that

‘this is a good island’ but by the end of the novel the island
has become a violent force that acts against him when he is
being hunted by Jack’s tribe. Read this pair of quotations,
one from the beginning and one from the end of the novel,
and use the questions that follow as a starting point to think
about what happens to the island over the course of the
whole novel.

‘The three boys walked briskly on the sand. The tide was low and there was a strip of
weed-strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road. A kind of glamour was spread
over them and the scene and they were conscious of the glamour and made happy by
it. They turned to each other, laughing excitedly, talking, not listening. The air was
bright. Ralph, forced by the task of translating all this into an explanation, stood on his
head and fell over. When they had done laughing, Simon stroked Ralph’s arms shyly;
and they had to laugh again.‘ (Chapter 1)

‘Ralph looked at him dumbly. For a moment he had a picture of the fleeting glamour
that had once invested the beaches. But the island was scorched up like dead wood –
Simon was dead – and Jack …’ (Chapter 12)

 Why does Golding repeatedly refer to ‘glamour’? Suggests it will not last, it’s fake but it
initially ‘seduces’ them.
 Why is Simon mentioned in both extracts? He symbolises goodness and then the death
of goodness.
 What is the significance of the island having been burnt up? Nucelar holocaust, man’s
innate destructiveness
How does Golding present The Island and the significance of
setting in Lord of The Flies?

Introduction: Present your thesis statement using words from the

question.
Golding uses the island to represent ideas about….
At the beginning the island is ….
Later on the idea is developed when….
Finally …..

PETAL 1
Point: Initially the island is presented as…
Evidence:
Analysis of effects: This suggests/ this implies/ this seems to suggest/ this highlights/ this draws the
reader’s attention to….
For 6 – 9 development: Furthermore, the use of/ reference to/ the development of … another
quote(s), more detailed analysis
Link: Zoom back out to context and Golding’s big messages (themes).

PETAL 2
Point: Later the island is presented as…
Evidence:
Analysis of effects: This suggests/ this implies/ this seems to suggest/ this highlights/ this draws the
reader’s attention to….
For 6 – 9 development: Furthermore, the use of/ reference to/ the development of … another
quote(s), more detailed analysis
Link: Zoom back out to context and Golding’s big messages (themes).

PETAL 3
Point: By the end of the novel, the island is presented as…
Evidence:
Analysis of effects: This suggests/ this implies/ this seems to suggest/ this highlights/ this draws the
reader’s attention to….
For 6 – 9 development: Furthermore, the use of/ reference to/ the development of … another
quote(s), more detailed analysis
Link: Zoom back out to context and Golding’s big messages (themes).

Evaluation/ Conclusion: Evaluate what Golding is saying and link it to

themes or your own opinion:
Ultimately Golding seems to present the reader with a world where…
The pessimism of this novel reflects the world from which is sprung….
Golding presents a truly damning indictment of the human condition but….
It is clear that in Golding’s opinion…..