3.2.1.7The text at a glance
British boys are marooned after a plane crash. Ralph is elected leader and prioritises rescue; Jack takes the choir hunting. The group splits, the signal fire is neglected, and fear of a beast grows. Simon discovers the beast is a dead airman and is killed bringing the news. Piggy is killed with the conch. Ralph is hunted until a naval officer arrives.
Published in 1954. Golding had served in the Second World War and rejected the view that civilisation is a stable achievement. The novel deliberately inverts Ballantyne's The Coral Island, in which British boys behave impeccably.
- allegory
- a narrative in which characters and objects stand for ideas
- atavism
- reversion to a more primitive state
- the conch
- the shell that confers the right to speak, and the novel's emblem of ordered democracy
3.2.1.7Characters
Ralph is a decent leader who is not equal to the situation, and his participation in Simon's death denies the reader a clean moral centre.
Piggy is reason without authority: his glasses make fire and are steadily appropriated, and he is never given a name.
Jack offers meat and excitement where Ralph offers rules; the painted face releases him from shame, which the novel presents as the decisive step. Simon is the only character who understands the beast, and is killed carrying the truth.
3.2.1.7Themes
The breakdown of civilisation is shown as gradual and plausible at every step, which is what makes the argument persuasive. The beast changes form throughout, showing it is projected rather than observed, and the pig's head names it as internal. Power shifts from persuasion to fear and spectacle.
Common mistake
Writing that the boys become savages because they are children. Golding's argument is about human nature generally; the naval officer arrives from an adult war.
3.2.1.7The writer's methods
Each symbol is introduced as a practical object before it acquires meaning, which keeps the allegory grounded, and the destruction of each marks a stage in the decline. The boys' language degrades from assembly speech to chanting. Descriptions of the island move from beauty to heat, decay and smoke.
Worked example
Answer:
- The descent is gradual and plausible at every step
- The conch and the glasses are practical before they are symbolic
- The beast is projected outward and located within
- The rescuing officer comes from an adult war
AO1-AO4How this text is examined
This text is examined in Paper 2, Section A. The question is worth 34 marks and two essay questions are offered on your text and you answer one; no extract is printed, so quotations must come from memory. Allow about 45 minutes.
The marks are divided as AO1 12 marks, AO2 12 marks, AO3 6 marks, AO4 4 marks. AO1 rewards a clear argument supported by well-chosen references. AO2 rewards analysis of how the writer achieves an effect, which means writing about choices rather than about events. AO3 rewards context used to deepen a reading of the text.
Common mistake
Retelling the plot. Narrative summary earns nothing under any assessment objective, however accurate it is. Every paragraph should be making a point about how or why, not about what happens.
Four of the marks are for AO4: vocabulary and sentence structures used to control meaning, and accurate spelling and punctuation. These are the cheapest marks on the paper and the easiest to lose by rushing the final paragraph.