Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield?

February 2023
Lord of the Flies: Chapter 4
Painted Faces and Long Hair
Roger and Maurice
Roger and Maurice came out of the forest. They were relieved from duty at the fire and had
come down for a swim. Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over,
burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones. Maurice followed, laughing, and added to the
destruction. The three littluns paused in
their game and looked up. As it happened,
the particular marks in which they were
interested had not been touched, so they
made no protest. Only Percival began to
whimper with an eyeful of sand and
Maurice hurried away. In his other life
Maurice had received chastisement for
filling a younger eye with sand. Now,
though there was no parent to let fall a
heavy hand, Maurice still felt the unease of
wrongdoing. At the back of his mind formed the uncertain outlines of an excuse. He muttered
something about a swim and broke into a trot.

Roger remained, watching the littluns. He was not noticeably darker than when he had dropped
in, but the shock of black hair, down his nape and low on his forehead, seemed to suit his
gloomy face and made what had seemed at first an unsociable remoteness into something
forbidding. Percival finished his whimper and went on playing, for the tears had washed the
sand away. Johnny watched him with china-blue eyes; then began to fling up sand in a shower,
and presently Percival was crying again.

When Henry tired of his play and wandered off along the beach, Roger followed him, keeping
beneath the palms and drifting casually in the same direction. Henry walked at a distance from
the palms and the shade because he was too young to keep himself out of the sun. He went
down the beach and busied himself at the water's edge. The great Pacific tide was coming in and
every few seconds the relatively still water of the lagoon heaved forwards an inch. There were
creatures that lived in this last fling of the sea, tiny transparencies that came questing in with the
water over the hot, dry sand. With impalpable organs of sense they examined this new field.
Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings,
insects perhaps, any of the strewn detritus of landward life. Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw,
the transparencies came scavenging over the beach.

STEVEN DAVIES 1
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
Task 1: Multiple Choice
Answer the multiple choice questions

1. An appropriate adjective to
describe Roger and Maurice
behaviour in the first paragraph
would be…
a) Friendly
b) Destructive
c) Murderous
d) Bizarre
2. Why does Maurice feel as if he
has done something wrong?
a) Because all human beings
know right from wrong
regardless of where they live.
b) Because he instinctively
realizes that kicking sand in a child’s eye is unjust.
c) Because he is a very well-behaved boy normally and this is not how he truly is.
d) Because once he did the same thing and a parent punished him for it.
3. What is the point that author William Golding makes?
a) That we know our values because they are taught to us by civilized society.
b) That values and ethics occur naturally because human beings instinctively know right from wrong.
c) That you need strong leaders like Jack to show you how to behave properly.
d) That Maurice is simply a bad child with no hope of ever being responsible.
4. What is happening to Percival in the second paragraph?
a) He is playing with Johnny.
b) He is being bullied by Johnny.
c) Roger is bullying Percival and Johnny.
d) Roger throws sand in Percival’s face.
5. What does the second paragraph show?
a) That bullying is a completely random event.
b) That Roger is a coward because he does not stop Johnny from being hurt.
c) That Johnny and Roger are working together to incite bullying.
d) That due to the effects of masculinity, boys inevitably bully those who they perceive as weaker.
6. In the second paragraph, what difference is implied in the descriptions of the boys.
a) That Johnny is much taller than Percival, who he bullies.
b) That Roger, despite being a bully, is not physically strong.
c) That Roger, one of the bigguns, is markedly different in appearance than the two littluns.
d) That Percival cries because Johnny called him a name.
7. What does the relationship between Roger (a biggun) and Henry (a littlun) in the third paragraph
suggest?
a) That the group of boys are already splitting into distinct social groups.
b) That they both have the same kind of habits.
c) That Roger is interested in becoming friends with Henry.
d) That Roger is a much better swimmer than Henry.

STEVEN DAVIES 2
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023

Task 2: Vocabulary
Match the words below to the definitions. They are highlighted in bold in the text.
1. Duty ______ a) Miserable
2. Scattering ______ b) Praise
3. To whimper ______ c) Pile
4. Chastisement ______ d) Cry
5. Gloomy ______ e) Choice
6. Impalpable ______ f) Criticism
g) Laugh
h) Brilliant
i) Obvious
j) Obligation
k) Intangible
l) Sprinkling

The Race to the Signal Fire

Simon put out his hand, timidly, to touch Ralph; but Ralph started to run, splashing
through the shallow end of the bathing pool, across the hot, white sand and under the
palms. A moment later he was battling with the complex undergrowth that was
already engulfing the scar. Simon ran after him, then Maurice. Piggy shouted.

"Ralph! Please--Ralph!"

Then he too started to run, stumbling over Maurice's

discarded shorts before he was across the terrace. Behind
the four boys, the smoke moved gently along the horizon;
and on the beach, Henry and Johnny were throwing sand
at Percival who was crying quietly again; and all three
were in complete ignorance of the excitement.

By the time Ralph had reached the landward end of the

scar he was using precious breath to swear. He did desperate violence to his naked
body among the rasping creepers so that blood was sliding over him. Just where the
steep ascent of the mountain began, he stopped. Maurice was only a few yards behind
him.

"Piggy's specs!" shouted Ralph. "If the fire's all out, we'll need them--"

He stopped shouting and swayed on his feet. Piggy was only just visible, bumbling up
from the beach. Ralph looked at the horizon, then up to the mountain. Was it better to
fetch Piggy's glasses, or would the ship have gone? Or if they climbed on, supposing
the fire was all out, and they had to watch Piggy crawling nearer and the ship sinking
under the horizon? Balanced on a high peak of need, agonized by indecision, Ralph
cried out:

STEVEN DAVIES 3
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
"Oh God, oh God!"

Simon, struggling with the bushes, caught his breath. His face was twisted. Ralph
blundered on, savaging himself, as the wisp of smoke moved on.

The fire was dead. They saw that straight away; saw what they had really known
down on the beach when the smoke of home had beckoned. The fire was out,
smokeless and dead; the watchers were gone. A pile of unused fuel lay ready.

Ralph turned to the sea. The horizon stretched, impersonal once more, barren of all but
the faintest trace of smoke. Ralph ran stumbling along the rocks, saved himself on the
edge of the pink cliff, and screamed at the ship.

"Come back! Come back!"

He ran backwards and forwards along the cliff, his face always to the sea, and his voice
rose insanely.

Task C
Answer the comprehension questions below.
1. Which character is the most desperate to make contact with the ship?
2. What do the three littluns do as Ralph, Maurice, Simon, and Piggy run towards the
signal fire?
3. What does Ralph realize is an extremely
important object that they must get?
4. When Simon stops to catch his breath,
what does Ralph do?
5. What does the fire symbolize? Why?
Task D
Answer the multiple choice questions based on the
section above
1. What noun best describes this passage of
the novel from Ralph’s perspective
a) Excitement
b) Depression
c) Endeavour
d) Desperation
2. What does ‘the smoke of home’ refer to?
a) The signal fire
b) The campfires the littluns made on the beach
c) The tree that caught fire
d) The ship on the horizon
3. When Golding describes the horizon as being ‘impersonal’ he is expressing that,
a) The boys chances of being rescued have almost gone.
b) The horizon is a hostile presence in their world.
STEVEN DAVIES 4
 Unit 4: Is the World a Battlefield? February 2023
c) Nature is still a caring, mother-like force.
d) The ship is going to turn round and find the boys.
4. When Piggy is described as ‘bumbling up’ from the beach, it is implied that his
movements are…
a) Graceful
b) Athletic
c) Powerful
d) Clumsy
5. When it says that Ralph ‘saved himself on the edge of the pink cliff’, it means that…
a) Jack saved his best friend Piggy from falling.
b) Jack encourages the three other boys to run faster.
c) Jack almost fell off the cliff in his desperation to get to the top.
d) Jack was in complete control of his actions.
6. What happens to Ralph during his ascent up the mountain?
a) He gets stronger and stronger.
b) He starts bleeding.
c) He becomes weaker and exhausted.
d) He jumps over a crevasse.
7. What is an antagonistic force as the boys climb the mountain?
a) Nature
b) Maurice, the bully
c) Jack, the hunter
d) The ship
8. When the ship is referred to as ‘a wisp of smoke’, this is an example of a…
a) Metaphor
b) Simile
c) Metonomy
d) Synecdoche
9. When Ralph is described as ‘savaging himself’, this is concerning because it shows…
a) Ralph is really tired and getting exhausted.
b) Even Ralph could be losing his grip on civilization and becoming like Jack and his
hunters.
c) Ralph is not physically strong enough to be considered leader.
d) Ralph is mentally unstable and unsuited to leadership.

Task E
Write a list of five important things that happen in Chapter 4, ‘Painted Faces and Long Hair’.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5. STEVEN DAVIES 5