https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr en-us 2022-02-13 20:21:18 UTC 2026-01-17 06:18:33 UTC hello@padlet.com 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2044925894 2022-02-13 20:22:42 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2044925894 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2044931261 <sub>1. Describe the major characters: Ralph, Piggy, and Jack. Ralph is introduced as the first character and as the protagonist. He acts mainly as a leader, one to keep the order among the group as a society. He is intent on survival until someone comes to save them, hoping to safely get out of their hasty situation. Ralph wants to make sure that nothing gets too out of hand and believes reflecting the organization of society with a leader and a system are the way to survival. Jack on the other hand, represents the complete opposite. Just in the beginning, he shows a clear hunger for power. He desperately wanted to be elected as the leader and shows a glimpse to the fact that he is willing to kill. Finally, Piggy is introduced as the intelligence within the group. He is the ideal representative of the rational and reasonable side of humanity. "'We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They'll come when they hear us...'" (Golding 16). Piggy's ideas are intelligent and show how his knowledge and use of resources.
3. What do the boys' attitudes and actions reveal about human nature? The boys as a group embody the ideas of human nature and the constant fight between savagery and society. As the boys quickly realize there is no adult leadership, they start to act differently, some trying to keep peace, while others show signs of descending into disorder. For example, "He snatched his knife out of the sheath and slammed it into a tree trunk. Next time there would be no mercy. He looked around fiercely, daring them to contradict." (Golding 31). Jack's short spurt that shows such animosity just begins to encounter the ideas of savagery that humans can take with a lack of societal influence. Others start to show the want for organization, but their true actions truly show the human instinct of order vs. chaos.
5. What do you think the "sound of the shell" and the conch itself might symbolize? The conch shell represents one side of human nature that is shown throughout the first chapter. This side would be societal organization, acting as a type of government to build a community within this island. "'Let him be the chief with the trumpet thing.'" (Golding 22). The conch shell immediately acts as a means of leadership, of speaking freely within the group as a source of civil justice throughout this community the boys are creating.</sub> ]]> 2022-02-13 20:28:42 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2044931261 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2045010335 <sup>3. What do you think Piggy‟s glasses might represent? Consider their normal function, the use they have in this chapter, Piggy‟s intelligence, and Piggy‟s helplessness without them. Firstly, the glasses act as a symbol of Piggy's rationality and intelligence. Since they are what created the fire, it shows how necessary Piggy is to the group. His intelligence and input (mostly taken from Ralph) are what are most likely going to keep the group alive. As Piggy loses his glasses and acts helpless, it shows what would happen to the group if Piggy were not there to enlighten everyone with his intelligent ideas. "His voice rose to a shriek of terror as Jack snatched the glasses iff his face." (Golding 40). The glasses also represent the divide that is forming through the fight of civilization vs. chaos. Since Jack is the character that most represents animosity, and he is the one to tear Piggy's glasses away from him, it further shows the divide that is becoming more apparent in the story.
4. What hypocritical irony is there in the boys‟ treatment of Piggy in contrast with their treatment of Ralph and Jack? What does this fact suggest about human nature? The boys follow the ideas of Ralph and Jack, even with their differing personalities. As Ralph acts as the leader of the group, they likely listen to him, even when he reiterates Piggy's ideas. They also listen to Jack because of his blunt confidence, causing people to trust him. Piggy's timidness decreases the likelihood of the rest of the group following his thoughts, only to follow the words that come from Jack and Ralph. This shows how blind society can be in following leaders who could even lead them in the wrong direction. For example, when Piggy mentions a fire, no one listens, however, when Ralph mentions this seemingly groundbreaking idea everyone jumps on board. Continually, as Ralph is influenced by Jack, the fire gets out of hand and starts to put the whole island in a fit of flames. This just shows how seemingly "powerful" influence can often lead society to follow blindly, even though the intelligence comes from elsewhere.
5. What is ironic about consequences of the boys‟ decision to light a fire? In light of these consequences, what do you think it and the “drum-roll” represent? As originally suggested by Piggy, everyone follows Ralph's lead to create a "small fire". However, with Jack's influence and his overpowering personality, the fire soon grows out of hand. "...'we must make smoke on top of the mountain. We must make a fire.'" (Golding 38).  The fire had been thought up as a means of communication to signal to others that they needed help. It is ironic, because the fire got so out of hand that it ended up most likely killing a boy. This boy had mentioned a "beastie", to which people denied, however he is the one that died likely representing the reality of this encroaching "beastie". The "drum-roll" also represents the encroaching fire slowly burning through the island, likely foreshadowing the hell that will later arise in the story.</sup> ]]> 2022-02-13 22:16:25 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2045010335 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2049342900 2022-02-15 19:05:50 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2049342900 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2049358875 Chapter 4 Video Entry ]]> 2022-02-15 19:13:11 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2049358875 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2067624977 <sup>5. What does Percival say when Jack asks him where the beast lives? Why do you think he says this? Percival is one of the littluns, who all claim to feel this beast that seems to be overtaking the boys within the island. Percival is one to stand and say that he has actually seen it, stating that it comes from the ocean. The idea that this beast emerges from the sea each night allows an emergence of unknown fear throughout each boy. The sea has such an ominous stigma as most of it is unknown and the vastness that is so overwhelming. The boys relay this fear, "'Daddy said they haven't found all the animals in the sea yet.'" (Golding 88). The older boys felt contempt in knowing they hadn't truly seen the beast on their island, proving that it wasn't real. However, with the uncertainty of the ocean, each boy begins to feel unsettled. Since the beast most likely represents the animosity that resides in each human conscience, it is understandable that the vastness of of the ocean reflects this parallel.
7. Why are the rules so important to Ralph? What are the consequences of breaking them? Ralph is the chief of the island because his countenance showed great leadership and responsibility. Ralph follows his instinct with the idea that order and reason is the way to successfully survive life on the island and eventually be rescued. These rules represent Ralph's personality and how he shows the orderly side of humanity that creates a strict system to live by. These rules also represent Ralph's hope. He is very hopeful of survival and going back to the real world as opposed to continuing life on the island. Without rules, Ralph would have lost his senses and lost his belief that he would survive and get back home. At the beginning, many boys seem to follow this idea and worship Ralph as the leader. However, as Jack's violent influence affects them, the rules become less of an importance. So, as the rules keep getting broken the consequence in disorder and chaos. Many of the boys have gone off the rails and simple survival as well as being rescued seems to be less of a priority to most of the island.
8. Why does Piggy say that Ralph should blow the conch to call everyone back, and why does Ralph
decide not to? Piggy is much more of an optimistic and believing character, trying to see that the boys will eventually understand that Ralph is a good leader. Therefore, he wants Ralph to call them back to fix their issues. However, Ralph thinks it's best not to. He believes that at this point, the boys wouldn't even listen to the conch, that the shell has lost all meaning on the island. Ralph finds it useless. This act would just further cause disorder and show the chaos ensuing on the island. Ralph also probably feels his leadership slipping away, which he doesn't want to admit. If he blows the shell and no one comes, it just proves the fact that his orderly influence on the island has been lost and Jack's power has truly pursued.</sup> ]]> 2022-02-26 16:45:23 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2067624977 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2067659088 <sup>1. What is the “beast from air”? How is it appropriate that the boys mistake it for a beast—what connection does it have with the novel‟s themes, and what does it symbolize? This "beast from air" describe in the chapter is actually a person that has fallen from the sky. There is a battle taking place just above the island between military airplanes during the night. As this battle occurs, a parachutist is killed and lands on the island near Sam and Eric, as the two boys are sleeping. The man and his parachute create a a shape that frightens the boys when they wake up, convinced it is the beast that has been the talk of the island. This battle that takes place above the island shows the setting and what is happening in the world outside of the one that the boys have created. On the island, the boys are having the conflicts within themselves as well as between each other of differences in humanity (order vs. chaos). This parallel can be reflected in the real world during this time as there is also a war occurring. The boys may not full comprehend this as it is outside the realm they have created for themselves, but the conflicts of war relate to the animosity creeping over them, represented by the beast.
5. Why do you think Ralph doesn't really expect to encounter the beast? At first, when exploring and hunting for the beast, Ralph tries to convince himself that there really is something to be afraid of. However, once it is clear that the beast was not there, he realizes he was never truly scared of this creature. "He noticed that the sweat in his palms was cool now; realized with surprise that he did not really expect to meet and beast and didn't know what he would do about it if he did." (Golding 105). The beast that has become a prevalent symbol in the novel represents the part of human psychology that tends to chaos and entropy. Many of the boys, by Jack's influence, have tended to this side of conscientiousness that evolves in extreme violence and animosity. However, Ralph has not. He represents the other side of human psychology that tends to order and systems. Therefore, the beast does not truly scare him. He does not feel this overwhelming sense of madness, as he has kept his sense of organization.
6. How do most of the boys react to their discovery of the “castle”? What foreshadowing takes place
at the end of the chapter? As the boys decide to pursue an adventure to the "castle", Ralph choses to be the first to enter in search of the beast. During this process, there seems to be a common ground between Jack and Ralph, a lack of bickering. As Ralph enters, they quickly realize the beast does not inhabit this part of the island. The other boys, not including Ralph see this as a new place to mess around, exclaiming they want to build a fort, and throwing the rocks into the ocean. This quite angers Ralph as they don't stay on task. He tries to get them to cooperate, but they don't listen. They finally refocus onto the task at hand. "Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering. Jack led the way down the rock and across the bridge." (Golding 108). The fact that the boys start to express mutiny and Jack leads the way, most likely shows foreshadowing. It is probable that Ralph loses all power, and is overthrown as the majority relate more to Jack and his chaotic method of leadership.</sup> ]]> 2022-02-26 17:47:47 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2067659088 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2068407083 2022-02-27 19:20:52 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2068407083 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2068409605 2022-02-27 19:24:43 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2068409605 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2070513901 <sup>1. What are the purpose and effect of Jack‟s generosity with the meat he and the hunters obtained? What do you think his decision to give meat to even Ralph and Piggy is meant to show? The act of Jack asking the other boys, especially Ralph and Piggy, if they would like any of the meat they hunted is to show an act of confidence and leadership over his "tribe". He uses it as an act of mockery, proving that he was successful in creating his own tribe. He then continues this act when the boys come to his side of the island and he is being treated like a king, "...a great log had been dragged into the center of the lawn and Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol." (Golding 149). Jack invites the members of Ralph's tribe (mostly the littluns) in order to bribe them into coming to his side, proving how lovely his tribe is and how they can eat wonderful meat. He also brings Ralph and Piggy to almost rub it in that he has been so successful and is such a great leader on the island. It also proves the power that Ralph has lost, and how the overall animosity is what truly rules the island now, everyone has strayed away from civilization.
2. Why does Jack command the boys to dance and chant, and why is this an effective leadership tactic?What psychological effect does dancing and chanting have on the boys? Think back to the effect that putting on makeup had on them in Chapter 4. The act of dancing and chanting is very primal, and emerges a feeling of frenzy within the boys. Doing this, with the similar affect as the makeup, puts them in a type of psychological trance that completely takes them over into animals, a lack of human. All of the boys, including Ralph and Piggy, join in on this action which results in the obliterating, mangled death of Simon. "At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws." (Golding 153). They get so utterly taken over by this savagery that they lose all sense of humaneness, proving that all ideas of civilization and order are of no hope.
3. What is the “beast” that the boys kill? How is this event ironic and especially tragic (not only for the “beast,” but for everyone on the island)? How is it symbolically significant? The "beast" that they killed was actually Simon, who was mangled in such a brutal and inhumane way by the rest of the boys in the island. It is so tragic that it was Simon, as he was the only one left with a full sense of humanity and civilization. He had a connection to nature that no one else had, he could always act as a place of calm. A somewhat ironic feeling also emerges, as Simon was coming to tell them that the beast was not real, but the boys thought that Simon was the beast. They killed the only one with any sane knowledge and lack of the plague of violence, so the belief of the beast still lives on. The fact that as Simon is the one that died, no civilization is left on the island. Only chaos, animosity, savagery, it has fully taken over. As Simon tumbled down the mountain to conclude his brutal death, it symbolizes the loss of all humanity on the island. It has now been completely plagued and overrun with the raw animal madness that lives within the human subconscious.</sup> ]]> 2022-03-01 00:42:54 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2070513901 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2074247553 <sup>2. What does the narrator mean to suggest when he says, “Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively”? After the event that all of the boys took part in, killing Simon, they try to reconcile with their actions. Using the quote "Memory of the dance that none of them had attended shook all four boys convulsively", Golding explains how the four boys are trying their best to convince themselves they weren't part of the brutal murder of Simon. They are explaining that they weren't there, even though they were, and the brutal death will live on in their memories forever as they try to reconcile with this trauma.
3. How do the biguns seem to define a “proper chief”? What does this criterion suggest about human psychology? Most of the biguns seem to define a chief as someone who shows absolute power, with very forceful actions and violent motives. All of the biguns excluding Ralph, Piggy, Sam, and Eric, followed Jack to his new tribe that he created. Since Jack is so power hungry and has such a primal, animalistic personality, it shows the traits the most of the biguns value. They want someone that is forceful and violent to show absolute power and unwilling control over them. "The newly beaten and untied Wilfred was sniffing noisily in the background." (Golding 229). Jack tied up an innocent member of his tribe and had him beaten just to show the authority he had over the others. As most of the biguns follow Jack and his beliefs shown through his actions, it is apparent that they think a "proper chief" includes traits of a villainous animal. This shows that as humans spend more and more time away from society, it is likely that  psychology will begin to lean towards insanity and madness, taking a more primal nature.
4. What does Jack do that causes Roger to have doubts about his leadership? The idea of Jack as a chief has been fully developed by this point, with most of the boys on the island supporting him and his "leadership". Jack acts with immense savagery that seems to take over his and others' minds acting as a trance. This likely occurs due to the fact that they are young boys that have been separated from civilization for a long while. As the boys follow Jack and his ways, Roger seemed to worship Jack's ideals religiously, and acts the same if not worse than Jack. However, once Wilfred has been hung and beaten, almost to death, Roger starts to doubt Jack's role as a leader on the island. "Sitting on the tremendous rock in the torrid sun, Roger Roger received this news as an illumination. He ceased to work at his tooth and sat still, assimilating the possibilities of irresponsible authority." (Golding 229). It is apparent that Roger is beginning to question Jack's influence on the island and his actions he pursues as the new chief.</sup> ]]> 2022-03-02 19:09:21 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2074247553 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2089732547 2022-03-11 03:53:16 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2089732547 1095619 https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2089744621  ]]> 2022-03-11 04:01:39 UTC https://padlet.com/1095619/xwxl8kdzkagis1rr/wish/2089744621