Lord of the Flies: Key Quotations (Edexcel GCSE English Literature)

Key Quotations

Remember the assessment objectives explicitly state that you should be able to “use textual references, including quotations”. This means summarising, paraphrasing, referencing single words and the referencing of plot events are all as valid as quotations in demonstrating that you understand Lord of the Flies. It is important that you remember that you can evidence your knowledge of the text in these two equally valid ways: both through references to it and direct quotations from it. 

Overall, you should aim to secure a strong knowledge of the text, rather than rehearsed quotations, as this will enable you to respond to any question you may be set. It is the quality of your knowledge of Golding’s novel which will enable you to select references effectively.

If you are going to revise quotations, the best way is to group them by character, or theme. Below you will find definitions and analysis of the best quotations, arranged by the following themes:

• Civilisation versus savagery

• Good versus evil

• Religion

• Power and leadership

Civilisation versus savagery

Perhaps the central concern of Lord of the Flies is a question: is it more natural for human beings to work together and create a community (civilisation), or do people naturally tend towards their individualistic impulses (savagery)? 

 “And another thing. We can't have everybody talking at once. We'll have to have 'Hands up' like at school" - Ralph, Chapter 2

Meaning and context

• This quotation comes as Ralph attempts to settle the group of boys down in one of their first meetings

Analysis

• At this point in the novel, the boys are presented as unruly and excitable, full of nervous energy

• Ralph and Piggy attempt to establish order in the group by convening meetings and instituting rules (such as “hands up”)

• In Lord of the Flies, meetings and rules symbolise society: 

• Meetings and rules also represent an attempt to create a community with shared values:

Paired quotations:

 “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood." - The hunters, Chapter 4

"At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore." - Narrator, Chapter 9

Meaning and context

• The first quotation is a refrain that Jack’s choir chant after their first successful hunt

• The second refers to the actions of the entire group of boys during the murder of Simon

Analysis

• These two quotations show the boys’ descent into savagery

• As soon as Jack’s hunters make their first kill, they become more primal, and begin ritual dances, ceremonies and chants:

  • This can be seen as “uncivilised”, akin to savagery

  • This chant is monosyllabic, suggesting that the boys’ own language is less civilised

  • It is also visceral (“throat”, “blood”) and violent, again suggesting savagery

• As the novel progresses, the actions of the boys towards each other becomes more violent and savage:

  • Before Simon’s murder, a boy called Robert is almost killed when a ritual dance becomes violent

  • Here, during Simon’s murder, the boys descend on him – no longer a boy but a “beast” – in an animalistic manner:

    • They use “teeth” and “claws” and “bit, tore” at Simon

“The mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness." - Narrator, Chapter 4

Meaning and context

• This quotation describes Jack when he is on his own in the jungle, using soil as face paint to create a kind of mask

• It suggests that once he is hidden by the face paint, he feels free from the normal rules of civilised society

Analysis

• At this point in the novel, the boys (even Jack’s emerging tribe) still feel constrained by society’s rules regarding behaviour:

  • Golding suggests that these social norms give us a healthy dose of “shame” and “self-consciousness”

  • He is suggesting that without these social norms guarding our impulses, we can easily become savages

• This quotation marks a turning-point for Jack, because it signifies that he is turning his back on the rules and conventions of civilised society:

  • From now on, he feels free to act however he pleases

“The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist." - Narrator, Chapter 11

Meaning and context

• This quotation describes both the killing of Piggy and the destruction of the conch shell when Ralph and Piggy look to reason with Jack on Castle Rock

Analysis

• Golding deliberately decides to kill off Piggy and the conch shell at the same time in Chapter 11, as both represent a symbolic death:

  • He is the island’s intellectual and always urges Ralph to think logically when making decisions

  • His death, therefore, represents the death of a chance at reconciliation or negotiation between the two camps of boys

  • This links to Charles Darwin’s ideas of survival of the fittest

  • With it now destroyed, no other voice but Jack’s has authority

  • This represents a victory of autocracy over democracy (which has “ceased to exist”)

  • Piggy’s death represents the death of rational thinking, of reason:

  • Piggy’s death also represents the ultimate victory of the strong over the weak:

  • The destruction of the conch represents the death of free speech and democracy on the island:

Good versus evil

In many ways, Lord of the Flies is a morality tale exploring the two sides of human nature. Golding is exploring whether evil is inherent in human beings, or whether it is learnt. Ultimately, his view is a pessimistic one: he seems to suggest that all human beings have a natural capacity for evil. 

Paired quotations:

 “The creature was a party of boys" - Narrator, Chapter 1

"What I mean is ...maybe it's only us" - Simon, Chapter 5

Meaning and context

• The first quotation is the first description of Jack’s choir – later the hunters – as seen by Ralph and Piggy

• The second quotation is stated by Simon when the boys are discussing the possibility that a beast exists on the island

Analysis

• Throughout the novel, Golding suggests that any evil that exists on the island comes not from any external monster, but from the boys themselves

• Indeed, from the very first description of the characters in Lord of the Flies who represent human evil (Jack and his choir) we see them compared to a “creature”:

  • This metaphor foreshadows the evil that the boys will commit against each other later in the novel

  • It also alerts readers to the fact that there is no external monster at all

• Golding uses the character of Simon at express his own opinions:

  • Simon says that the creature is “only us”, suggesting that the boys are creating the monster in their own heads

  • However, it could also suggest that all evil on the island is perpetrated by “only” the boys themselves, and that the boys are a danger to each other

  • This is reflective of Golding’s larger argument that human beings have a natural capacity for evil

“Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry - threw it to miss" - Narrator, Chapter 4

Meaning and context

• This quotation describes an episode when Roger spies on a couple of littluns on the beach, and then begins to throw stones at one of them

Analysis

• Golding suggests that all humans have a capacity for evil, and no character encapsulates this more than Roger

• Here, Golding describes Roger’s desire to commit acts of violence

• However, he is still conditioned by society’s rules and social norms not to hurt the littlun Henry, but instead to throw to “miss”

• However, this episode foreshadows a later change to Roger’s inhibitions:

  • Later, Roger has no hesitation in committing acts of violence against the boys when he acts as Jack’s torturer-in-chief on Castle Rock

  • Golding’s deliberate reference to a “stone” here foreshadows the rock that Roger launches from Castle Rock that kills Piggy

• Golding is suggesting, therefore, that it is only society’s unwritten rules that prevent people like Roger committing acts of dreadful violence

“Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart" - Narrator, Chapter 12

Meaning and context

• This is a description of Ralph after he learns that a naval officer has come to rescue the boys from the island

Analysis

• Ralph – despite his occasional impulsiveness and immaturity – is one of the novel’s most reflective characters:

  • Earlier in the novel, the morning after Simon’s murder, he acknowledges his own part in the killing (unlike Piggy, who refuses to accept responsibility) 

  • Here, he reflects on the actions and behaviour of the entire group, and cries as he realises how terrible they have become (how far they have come from being “innocent” children)

• Ralph’s weeping is prompted by coming in contact with a figure who represents the society he tried – and failed – to recreate on the island:

  • The naval officer represents order, rules and all grown-ups (who are often referred to and symbolise the society they have come from)

• Ralph’s feelings are perhaps Golding’s own:

  • It could be argued that Golding believes that there is evil inherent in “man’s heart”

Religion

Some people assume that Lord of the Flies is a religious allegory, but this reading is perhaps too simple: instead, Golding seems to explore the complex relationship between the inner nature of human beings and external value systems, such as Christianity. 

 “Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach" - Narrator, Chapter 3

Meaning and context

• This comes after Simon has worked with Ralph building huts for the group – here, he is described picking fruit for the younger children

Analysis

• It can be argued that Simon is used by Golding not just to represent absolute human goodness, but also as a representation of Jesus Christ:

  • Here, Simon giving food to those who cannot feed themselves is reminiscent of the Biblical tale of the feeding of the 5,000

  • Like Jesus, Simon aims to help those less fortunate than himself, getting the fruit the littluns “could not reach”

• However, unlike Jesus, Simon cannot inspire others to perform good deeds:

  • Golding seems to be referencing the idea of divine grace, which is where the actions of God (or Jesus) inspires other good acts by those that witness them

• Like Jesus, Simon is killed by his peers, but this doesn’t result in a change of behaviour in the boys, nor does Simon return:

  • There is no resurrection; Simon’s death is final

  • This could be Golding suggesting that even external value systems like Christianity cannot shift the boys’ embracing of savagery

 “He's queer, he's funny" - Ralph, Chapter 3

Meaning and context

• Ralph calls Simon strange in a conversation with Jack, after Simon has walked off

Analysis

• It is telling that even though Ralph has consistently said that Simon is the only boy that has helped him, he refers to him pejoratively behind his back:

  • Simon has just helped Ralph build huts all day

  • However, he describes him as “queer”, meaning strange, which instantly isolates Simon from the rest of the group

• This rejection of Simon, despite his focus on community and his altruism, perhaps reveals Golding’s true feelings about human nature:

  • Instead of being embraced, Simon, this Christ-like figure, is marginalised

  • He is marginalised even by the character – Ralph – who sees the value in society and cooperation the most

  • This suggests that Golding believes that human beings naturally reject community in favour of individualism

Power and leadership

Golding uses the two characters of Ralph and Jack to represent two styles of leadership: Ralph symbolises democracy, while Jack represents authoritarianism. Ultimately, Golding seems to suggest that – although it does more harm than good – people are more attracted to the powerful rule of autocracy.

Paired quotations:

 “We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages" - Jack, Chapter 2 

"We'll have rules! ... Lots of rules! Then when anyone breaks 'em-" - Jack, Chapter 2

Meaning and context

• The first quotation comes during one of the first meetings held by the boys, where Ralph and Jack attempt to establish order

• The second quotation is stated by Jack later in the same meeting

Analysis

• This pair of quotations, both stated during the same episode of the novel, reveals Jack’s attitude to rules:

  • While Ralph and Piggy look to establish rules and responsibilities to benefit the group as a whole, Jack revels in the prospect of creating rules in the first place:

    • When Jack talks of creating rules he isn’t thinking about how they might benefit others

    • If Jack makes the rules then he gains authority

    • If anyone breaks these rules, Jack believes he has the right to punish the boys if “anyone breaks ’em–”

• These quotations foreshadow Jack’s authoritarianism and desire for absolute power later in the novel

• The second quotation also foreshadows his capacity for violence and torture

Paired quotations:

 “Which is better - to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? - Piggy, Chapter 11

"Bollocks to the rules! We're strong - we hunt!" - Jack, Chapter 5

Meaning and context

• The first quotation comes as Piggy and Ralph look to reason with Jack on Castle Rock, just before Piggy is killed

• The second quotation is stated by Jack in an argument he has with Ralph about how the island is being run

Analysis

• The first quotation neatly sums up Golding’s central question in Lord of the Flies: do humans naturally prefer to pull together for the community as a whole, or act as individuals following their base instincts?

  • Ralph and Piggy represent the first idea (“have rules and agree” = civilisation)

  • Jack, Roger and the hunters represent the second (“hunt and kill” = savagery)

• Piggy’s desperate plea here in Chapter 11 also allows Golding to contrast the leadership styles of Ralph and Jack:

  • Ralph has attempted throughout the novel to establish rules that work for all of the boys

  • Piggy also uses the word “agree”, which refers to the idea of consensus and democracy

  • Jack, on the other hand, prioritises personal freedom

  • He rejects the rules from early on in the novel (“Bollocks to the rules!”) in favour of his own individual desires (“we hunt”)

• Ultimately, Golding suggests that humanity’s desire for personal freedom wins out over the compromise, or sacrifice, involved with agreeing and having rules