Golding is considered by many to be a master of prose. He won a Nobel Prize for this book and, because he sold so many copies, lived a more than comfortable life. Show and respond to an example of a masterfully-written section of setting, narrative, or dialogue. An example that helps you feel, visualize, clarify, question, predict, or otherwise be involved with the book. See the first comment--the one I posted--as an example of what to do. And do include page number, as I have done. (One comment here from each of you is due February 14.)
99 comments:
"Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth. The tree trunks and the creepers that festooned them lost themselves in a green dusk thirty feet above him, and all about was the undergrowth. There was only the faintest indication of a trail here; a cracked twig and what might be the impression of one side of a hoof. He lowered his chin and stared at the traces as though he would force them to speak to him. Then dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward five yards and stopped. Here was loop of creeper with a tendril pendant from a node. The tendril was polished on the underside; pigs, passing through the loop, brushed it with their bristly hide" (48). This is a spectacular description of a boy on the hunt. The picture is vivid and the tone is serious, slightly tense. I can see the jungle, the trail; I can feel the heat and mist and bugs; I can experience the caution and precision he is using in his efforts to track the pigs. I know Jack's persona is changing from choir boy leader to... Jack is becoming something else in this scene; he is truly a dynamic character. What a book! No wonder Golding won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983!
Well, in this paragraph Jack is metamorphosing. Not in the nice way a caterpillar forms into a chrysalis, and then breaks its way out of its shell. No, I'm afraid that Jack is becoming the "pack leader". He's reverting back to our primitive past because he knows little to nothing about it. He was one of those school boys that didn't really care about learning. He probably memorized facts and figures in school but he never really learned them. So, he ended up forgetting that humans survived and thrived because they relied on each other's help. The few humans who ended up on Jack's path may still be living in cannibalistic tribes in the amazon, but i doubt any where else.
This book impresses me how much color and visualness there is in the writing. One spot I found where I can really picture and relate to similar feelings is when the little boy is about to tell about the snake "The older boys first noticed the child when he resisted. There was a group of little boys urging him forward and he did not want to go. He was a shrimp of a boy, about six years old, and one side of his face was blotted out by a mulberry-colored birthmark. He stood now, warped out of the perpendicular by the fierce light of publicity, and he bored into the coarse grass with one toe. He was muttering and about to cry."
"Signs of life were visible now on the beach. the sand trembling beneath the heat haze, concealed many figures in its miles of length. boys were making there way to the platform through the thick dumb sand." while reading this passage i can see all of this going on in my mind. i can see the beach on the island and the deep blue ocean and the waves dancing on the sand. i can see the hot sand not being reached by the tides and the heat coming off of it. the boys walking back to the beach on the sand slowly but surely getting tired and all the creatures on the island, hiding or not.....
"the owner of the voice came backing out of the undergrowth so that the twigs scrathced on a greasy wind-breaker. the naked crooks of his knees were plump, caught and scratched by thorns... he was shorter than the fair boy and very fat." i think this is a terrific way to be introduced to piggy. It reveals to you all of his "qualities" in the first couple sentences of seeing him.
"He jumped down from the terrace. The sand was thick over his black shoes and the heat hit him. He became conscious of the weight of his clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely, and ripped off each stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement. Then he leapt back on the terrace, pulled off his shirt, and stood there among the skull-like coconuts with green shadows from the palms and the forrest sliding over his skin. He undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked, looking at the dazzling beach and the water." (Pg. 10) The personification that Golding uses, such as the skull-like coconuts and snake-clasp of the belt, really helps me to visualize this scene.
"Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at hte sounds of the island. Evening was advancing toward the island; ht sounds of hte bright fantastic birds, hte bee-sounds, even hte crying of hte gulls that were returning to their roosts among the square rocks, were fainter. The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made an undertone less perceptible that the susurration of the blood."(57)...Golding is revealing the characteristics of the late evining on the island. He explains all of his immediate surroundings and also the deep sea miles away. He even lets you know of the sounds occuring on the island. He reminds us that there is an abundance of life besides the boys on the island and he helps you imagine it so much it feels like your there too.
"The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock. They flapped at teh first of the trees, and the branches grew a brief foliage of fire. The heart of flame leapt nimbley across the gap between the trees and then went swinging and flaring along the whole row of them. Beneath the capering boys a quater of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame. The separate noises of the fire merged into a drum-roll that seemed to shake the mountain." (44) From this passage I can, in my mind, see exactly what the fire looks like to the boys. How the fire is slowly creeping along eating any thing in it's sight. I love how he uses the jaugar to explain the motion of the fire.
(41)"On one side the air was cool, but on the other the fire thrust out a savage arm of heat that crinkled hair on the instant. Boys who felt the evening wind on their damp faces paused to enjoy the freshness of it and then found they were exhausted. The flung themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks. The beard of flame diminished quickly; then the pile fell inwards with a soft, cindery sound and sent a great tree of aparks upwards that leaned away and drifted downwind. The boys lay, panting like dogs." I like how he describes the fire with some personification " the beard of the flame." It really brings the fire to life, it is easier to see in my mind the way he describes it.
"Ralph climbed on to the platform carefully. The coarse grass was still worn away where the assembly used to sit; the fragile white conch still gleamed by hte polished seat. Ralph sat down in the grass facing the chief's seat and hte conch. Piggy knelt at his left, and for a long minute there was silence." (154) This is a perfect visualization of the deserted old beach after one critical point changes in the book. It portrays a sense of sadness, of lonelyness and everyone being lost, but the upbeat description of the conch shows there may still be some hope, some sense of order.
"His feet left prints in the soft soil and the creepers shivered throughout their lengths when he bumped into them." (56) Simon appears to have some great power over the jungle, for he seems to be above its terror and intimidation the other boys craddle. He's probably not moved by the "skull-like coconuts" and the potentially frightening "beastie" (36). I predict he'll be crucially significant later in the novel...if he were to be disconnected to the jungle or the boys, there'll be more danger and greater chaos/disorder among the jungle/lost boys.
"Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed w/ him. The small boy twisted further into himself."
~Ralph puts this young boy down not allowing him to speak of his fears. They are on an unknown island and this is a genuine fear that the boy is having. Ralph shoudn't just blow off the fear as something to be laughed at.
"Either the wandering breezes or perhaps the decline of the sun allowed a little coolness to lie under the trees, the boys felt it and stirred restlessly.
~Fear has come over the boys, all but Ralph and Jack seem to realize the realism of the little boys fears. Ralph feels that this island is perfect and that they have nothing to fear, it never occured to him that there could be danger for them on this island.
"In the west, and unheeded, the sun lay only an inch or two above the sea. Their faces were lit redly from beneath. Piggy fell agaist a rock and clutched it w/ both hands" "That little 'un that had a mark on his face-where is-he now? I tell you I don't see him"(p.46)
~Now everyone has realized that his fears where real. And the red glow on their faces is symbolic of the death that had just taken place under their noses.
"now the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea. the candle-buds opened their wide white flowers glimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars. their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island."(57)
The way golding wrote this narrative was magnificent, he was a master at writing especially in narrating and coming up with the settings and this quote is a perfect example. Golding made sure to make you feel as if you were there smelling the flowers as the boys could and taking in the darkness that engulfed the island as nightfall grew closer and closer.
"Now the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. Darkness poured out, sumberging the ways between the tree still they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea. The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers glimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars. Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island"(57). The passage starts to set the mood of night-time at night. It shows how the light pricks down, how everything is "strange as the bottom of the sea", and the flowers possess the island.
"Ralph did a surface dive and swam under water with his eyes open; the sandy edge of the pool loomed up like a hillside. He turned over, holding his nose, and a golden light danced and shattered just over his face. Piggy was looking determined and began to take off his shorts. Presently he was palely and fatly naked." (13)
In the whole book is an abundance of rich description that puts you right alongside Ralph, Piggy and the other boys. This section in particular I enjoyed how Golding used "the golden light danced and shattered", because it allows a person to really visualize the manner of the something so simple. His description makes an ordinary event in which the boys are just swimming into a world of beauty and intellect.
"The droppings were warm. They lay piled among turned earth. They were olive green, smooth, and they steamed a little. Jack lifted his head and stared at thhe inscrutable masses of creeper that ley across the trail."(p.49)This really drew me into the book it made me feel like i was there.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees...The flames, as thought they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock" (44). By his use of words it allows you to picture just what is happening and what might be coming next. In this passage you are able to see that they were able to start their fire, though it is getting out of control fast. Just what is it going to do to the island is the question. How much damage is it going to do and at what cost.
A sliver of moon rose over the horizon, hardly large enough to make a path of light even when it sat right down on the water; but there were other lights in the sky that moved fast, winked, or went out though not even a faint popping came down from the battle fought at ten miles height. But a sign came down from the world of grownups, though at the time there was no child awake to read it. (95)What is captured here is the possiblility of these boys to find out about something supposable from the adult like world. the mood is calm and collected and after the beast iccedent all the kids are asleep. They have seen a parachute like figure climb the mountain due to a cool breeze.
Then he bent down and wormed his way into the center of the mat. The creepers and the bushes were so close that he left his sweat on them and they pulled together behind him. when he was secure in the middle he was in a little cabin screened off from the open space bya few leaves. He squatted down, parted the leaves, and looked out into the clearing. Nothing moved but a pair of guady butterflies that danced round each other in the hot air. Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sound of the island.This pick of writing really make me get into the book because i could feel my self in the book the imagery i so amazing it felt like i was doing every thing Simon was. it brought me back to my childhood when i would go hid out side to get away from the world.I found my information on page 57.
"The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air. The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen tress, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar."(10) This describes the landscape of the island in the begining of the book. It shows there are many palm trees that stand up high. The ground below them was covered with torn grass from fallen trees. Behind all this is the forest and where it opens up to the scar.
"Simon paused. He looked over his shoulder as Jack had done at the close ways behind him and glanced swifitly round to confirm that he was unterly alone...Then he bent down and wormed his way into the center of the mat...When he was secure in the middle he was in a little cabin screened off from the open spaces by a few leaves." This place where Simon goes is his hiding place, his place to get away from his "parents" (Jack and Ralph)and their fighting. Every child who has had parents that fight finds some sort of way of dealing with the unsettling emotions, so Simon found a clearing in the jungle.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing. One patch touched a tree trunk and scrambled up like a bright squirrel. The smoke incread, sifted, rolled outwars. The squirrel leapt on the wings of the wind and clung to another standing tree, eating downward. Beneath the dark canopy of leaves and smoke the fire laid hold on the forest and began to gnaw. Acres of bleck and yellow smoke rolled steadily toward the sea. At the sight of the flames and the irresistible course of the fire, the boys broke into shrill, excited cheering." (44) This paragraph is very descriptive. So descriptive that when I read it I felt like I was right there with the boys. I could imagine all the flames and the smoke just growing larger and larger untill it was out of control. Then at the end when it talks about the boys letting out the shrills it was as if I could almost hear them myself.
Becky--Like it's Valentine's Day, with the flowers owning the whole place. The imagery is first-rate; this book is often referred to by many art teachers and description experts. So rich in color, texture, and all the sensory perceptions.
"He became conscious of the weight of his clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely, and ripped off each stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement. Then he leapt back on the terrace, pulled off his shirt, and stood there among the skull-like coconuts with green shadows from the palms and the forrest sliding over his skin. He undid the snake-clasp of his belt, lugged off his shorts and pants, and stood there naked, looking at the dazzling beach and the water." Page 10. This peice is written with such intensity and emotion that it really allows you to feel what this boy is feeling.
"Now the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. Darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea. The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers flimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars. their scen tspilled out into hte air and took possession of the island." (57) This paragraph is describing the scene as day turns to night. It helps me visulize what it would be like actually being there, what it would feel like, and what I would see. It helps me understand the book better, and what the boys are dealing with.
"Life became a race with the fire and the boys scattered through the upper forest. To keep a clean flag of flame flying on the mountain was the immediate end and no one looked further. Even the smallest boys, unless fruit climed them, brought little pieces of wood and threw them in." pg. 41 This shows how everyone helped with the building of the fire. It gives you a visual of how everyone in the beginning helped out. The little ones could have been distracted by the fruit, but others were helping to build the fire.
Simon dropped the screen of leaves back into place. The slope of the bars of honey-colored sunlight decreased; they slid up the buses, passed over the green candle-like buds, moved up toward the canopy, and darkness thickened under the trees. With the fading of the light the riotous colors died and athe heat and urgency cooled away. The candle buds stirred. Their green sepals drew back a little and the white tips of the flowers rose delicately to meet the open air (57). Simon is in his alone place acting as though a christian figure. The words are very realistic and bring the story to a higher level.
"Jack took up a coconut shell that brimmed with fresh water from among a group that was arranged in the shade, and drank. The water splashed over his chin and neck and chest. He breathed noisily when he had finished."(50) This paragraph described how Jack was feeling right when he got back from his hunt. It describes what kind of kid Jack is and that he doesn't care much for the others because he is pouring half of the water on himself and the ground. Jack could easily go swim in the ocean to cool down, but instead he decides to splash half of their drinking water all over himself.
"They found a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers, throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror. It's voice was thin, needle-sharp and insistent." (31) I can almost hear the squealing and see the green lush vines. This moment in the book really pulls you into the story.
A child had appeared among the palms, about a hundred yards along the beach. He was a boy of perhaps six years, sturdy and fair, his clothes torn, his face covered with a sticky mess of fruit. His trousers had been lowered for an obvious purpose and had only been pulled back half-way. He jumped off the palm terrace into the sand and his trousers fell about his ankles; he stepped out of them and troted to the platform.
This is when Johnny appears into the book. He comes out of the jungle and walks down the beach. He was guessed to be about six years old and had straight hair and ragged clothes on and his face was full of sticky fruit as if he had just finished eating some. His pants were also down because probably just went to the bathroom in the jungle. He jumped off an high area and his pants fell down, so he just got out of them and ran.
"Nothing moved but a pair of gaudy butterfliesthat danced round each other in the hot air. Holding his breath he cldked a critical ear at the sounds of the island. Evening was advancing toward the island; the sounds of the bright fantastic birds, the bee-sounds, even the ctying of the gulls that were returning to their roosts among the square rocks, were fainter. The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made and undertone less perceptible than the susurration of the blood."(57) Golding is setting the mode for the nighttime where you can hear everything and arent sure what it is because you cant see it but you can hear it getting closer to you. he lets you know that the boys arent alone on the island and that there are many other animals on the island competing with one and other to survive.
Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square modif of the landscape; a great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through forest and terrace and sand and lagoon to make a reaised jetty four feet high. There was not enough soil for them to grow to any height and when they reached perhaps twenty feet they fell and dried, forming a criss-cross patter of trunks, very conveniant to sit on. This paragraph is very descriptive. It shows the varying landscape of the desolate island. He uses many descriptive words and phrases so i can picture this landscape in my head and it helps me understand the book.
"Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square modif of the landscape; a great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly through forest and terrace and sand and lagoon to make a reaised jetty four feet high. There was not enough soil for them to grow to any height and when they reached perhaps twenty feet they fell and dried, forming a criss-cross patter of trunks, very conveniant to sit on"(12). This paragraph is very descriptive. It shows the varying landscape of the desolate island. He uses many descriptive words and phrases so i can picture this landscape in my head and it helps me understand the book.
"He was a small, skinny boy, his chin pointed, and his eyes so bright they had deceived Ralph into thinking him delightfully gay and wicked. The coarse mop of black hair was long and swung down, almost concealing a low, broad forehead. He wore the remains of shorts and his feet were bare like Jack's. Always darkish in color, Simon was burned by the sun to a deep tan that glistened with sweat." (pg. 55-56) I think this description made me really see what he looked like and how some of the guys must think there is something about him that could be gay. I can picture him very easily in my mind because of the awesome description Golding has put in this book.
"Small flames sturred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing. One patch touched a tree trunk and scrambled up like a bright squirrel. The smoke increased, sifted, rolled outwards. The squirrel leapt on the wings of the wind and clung to another standing tree, eating downwards."(44) This section shows how the island was burned up. It describes the fire as a sqirrel that eats the jungle one tree at a time and uses the wind to get from one tree to the other.
"It was roughly boat-shaped: humped near this end with behind them the jumbled descent to the shore. On either side rocks, cliffs, treetops and a steep slope: forward there, the length of 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 to a pink tail. There, where the island peteered out in water, was another island; a rock almost detached, standing like a fort, facing them across the green with on bold, pink bastion."(29) To me this is the point where these three boys really realize where they are and what they are about to face in the coming days. With these words I can put myself up on top of that mountain surveying the island as if I was in it with them.
"Life became a race with the fire and the boys scattered through the upper forest. To keep a clean flag of flame flying on the mountain was the immediate end and no one looked further. Even the smallest obys, unless fruit claimed then, brought little pieces of wood and threw them in. The air moved a little faster and became a light wind, so that leeward and windward side were clearly differentiated. On one side the air was cool, but on the other the fire thrust out a savage arm of heat that crinkled hair on the instand. Boys who felt the evening wind on the damp faces paused to enjoy the freshenss of it and then found they were exhausted. They flug themselves down in the shadows that lay among the shattered rocks. The beard of flame diminished quickly; then the pile fell inwards with a soft, cindery sound, and sent a great tree of sparks upwards that leaned away and drifted downwind. The boys lay, panting like dogs"(41).
I love the last sentence in this descriptive paragraph because you can actually hear them breathe when the author says dogs..everyone knows what a dog sounds like breathing. This paragraph shows that everyone is working together as of right now. I liked how the author put if your standing on one side of the fire it's cool and on the other side of the fire it's hot. The paragraph just shows how hard the boys are working at camp so far and working with each other well. We will have to see how long that lasts though.
"Beyond falls cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; there were the splintered trunks and then the drag, leaning only a fringe of palm between the scar and the sea. There too, jutting into the lagoon, was the platform, with insect-like figures moving near it"(29). Well this paragraph is very descriptive and shows how condensed the island is with the thick forests and creepers. And it also talks about how there is an open area by the scar or where the plane crashed. I really like the part when it tells how much of a nunsiance the insects and flies are and i can picture the scene in my head
"Jack crouched with his face a few inches away from this clue, then stared forward into the semi-darkness of the undergrowth. His sandy hair, considerably longer than it had been when they dropped in, was lighter now; and his bare back was a mass of dark freckles and peeling sunburn. A sharpened stick about five feet long trailed for his right hand, and except for a pair of tattered shorts hild up by his knife-belt hi was naked"(48). This passage helps us to see the changes happening in Jack. He is no longer a proper English boy, he has become a savage hunter; examining fecies, and carring a sphere, just waiting to make a kill. This also shows us a length of time the boys have been on the island. They have probably been there for about 3-4 weeks because Jack's hair is longer and blonder. This passage is one of the firsts that starts to describe the changes that the boys are going through.
"Simon turned away from them and went where the just perfeptible path led him. Soon high jungle closed in. Tall trunks bore unexpected pale flowers all the way up to the dark canopy where life went on clamorously. The air here was dark too, and the creepers drooped their ropes like the rigging of foundered ships. His feet left prints in soft soil and the creppers shivered throughout their lengths when he bumped them." Pg 56. In this paragraph it seems as if Simon is drawn to this path and as he follows it he comes upon an enlosed part of the jungle almost like his own room. It talks about how he leaves his feet prints in the soft soil and as critics related Simon to a Christ figure, this sympbolizes taking the path of Christ and following in his footsteps will lead you to a sort of sanctuary.
"Strange things happened at midday. The glittereing sea rose up, moved apart in planes of blatant impossibility; the coral reef and the few stunted palms that clung to the more elevated parts would float up to the sky, would quiver, be plucked apart, run like raindrops on a wire or be repeated as in an odd succession of mirrors. Sometimes land loomed where there was no land and flicked out like a bubble as the children watched." (58)
I like this paragraph because initially it makes no sense, because it is describing a mirage, and to someone who had never heard of, or experienced a mirage it wouldnt make sense. But if you were to read it without knowing what a mirage was, it might be a good way to "experience" it.
"Every point of the mountain held up trees-flowers and trees. now the forest stirred, roared, flailed. the nearer acres of rock flowers fluttered and for half a minute the breeze blew cool on their faces."pg 30 This brings me back to scotland when i was walking now the mountain tops feeling the breeze and seeing the landscape that i have never seen before.
"Then he bent down and wormed his way into the center of te mat. The creepers and the bushes were so close that he left his sweat on them and they pulled together behind him. When he was sucure in the middle he was in a little cabin screened off from the open space by a few leaves. He ssquatted down, parted the leaves and looked out into the clearing. Nothing moved but a pair of gaudy butterflies that danced round each other in the hot air. Holding his breath he cocked a critical ear at the sounds of the island." pg 57
Golding is setting up where Simon is exacting. He is telling you every detail you need to almost be where he is at. He is also setting the mood for the night to come.
"At length he let out his abreath in a long sigh and opened his eyes. they were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad. He passed his tongue across dry lips and scanned the uncommunicative forest. then again he stole forward and cast this way and that over the gorund." In this paragraph Golding shows how frustrated Jack is with hunting the pigs. But what i really like about this paragraph is how he shows us Jacks eyes. Everytime I read about the bolting blue eyes in the frustrated face, I can imagine the dark green undergrowth of the jungle surrounding this boy with a speer with lighting blue eyes that almost shine out of the jungle. It's awesome.
"Acres of black and yellow smoke rolled steadily roward the sea. At the sight of the flames and the irresistible course of the fire, the boys broke into shrill, excited cheering."(44) These couple of sentences help me to visualize the fire and just how excited and proud the boys are of their fire.
"The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made an undertone less perceptible then the susurration of the blood"pg 57
This shows that Simon is really feeling the symptoms of his epilepsy...even the huge ocean waves crashing onto the reef were minor compared to what he was feeling on the inside...nothing was greater than the susurration of his blood pounding within his own body.
"The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air. The ground beneath them was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar." (10) This quote is awesome because we actually feel as if we're stuck on this island with Ralph. Golding could've just said that the shore was sandy and had a lot of coconuts, but instead he takes us to the island.
"He was old enough, twelve years and a few months, to have lost the prominent tummy of childhood and not yet old enough for adolescence to make him awkward. You could see now that he might make a boxer, as far as width and heaviness of shoulders went, but there was a mildness about his mouth and eyes that proclaimed no devil (10)." This is a good description of Piggy and what he looks like. i can knid of picture what he'll look like in the movie.
"The tide was coming in and there was only a narrow strip of firm beach between the water and the white, stumbling stuff hear the palm terrace. Ralph chose the firm strip as a path because he needed to think, and only here could he allow his feet to move without having to watch them. Suddenly pacing by the water, he was standing with astonishment. he found himsilf understanding the wearisomeness of this life, where every path was an improvisation and a considerable part of one's waking life was spent watching one's feet" (76). Goldind is truly an amazing author in that he is showing how a twelve year old boy has change so much in such a short period of time. Perhaps it is the enviroment he was thrown into or mabey Ralph is just getting to that age and is maturing quickly...
"The creepers and bushes were so close that he left his sweat on them and they pulled together behind him. When he was secure in the middle he was in a little cabin screened off from th eopen space by a few leaves.(570)" This is a great explanation of imagery and the surrounding area of the environment over Simon. He is very secluded and alone to think about his troubling situation and jack and ralphs disagreement.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing (44)." This goes into detail into describing the fire and how is starting to burn and destroy the area.
"Jack crouched with his face a few inches away fromt his clue, then stared forward into the semi-darkness of the undergrowth. His sandy hair, considerably longer than it has beenw hen they dropped in, was lighter now; and his bare back was a mass of dark freckles and peeling sunburn. A sharpened stick about five feet long trailed from his right hand, and except for a pair of tattered shorts held up by his knife-belt he was naked. He closed his eyes, raised his and breathed in gently with flared nostrils, assessing the current of warm air for information. The forest and he were very still.
- I belive this paragraph is written very well. it gives discriptive details about how he is crouched down and how far; and his hair. I can picture how he looks and what exactly he is doing.
"Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him. Soon high jungle closed in. Tall trunks bore enexpected pale flowers all the way up to the dark canopy where life went on clamouously. The air here was dark too, and the creepers dropped their ropes like the rigging of foundered ships. His feet left prints in the soft soil and the creepers shivered throughout their lengths when he bumped them.(56)
Simon is a good man and he likes to be alone some times to think without the older ones thinking for him. this passage wonderfully describes the jungle, it shows how thick and tangled it is and it shows how easy it would be to lose yourself or someone your looking for.
"Now the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. Darkness poured out, submerging the ways between the trees till they were dim and their wide white flowers glimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars. Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island(57)." This excellent description creates an image of darkness and and a solitary feeling. Simon is taking in his surroundings and everything that is happening is being recorded beautifully. As it gets darker the flowers bloom and you feel as if you are actually there watching them come out.
"The reef enclosed more than one side of the island, lying perhaps a mile out and parallel to what they now thought of as 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 flowing chalk like but tired befor he had finished."(pg 29) Golding makes me feel like im the one looking down and the coral reef. He is very discriptive.
"Ralph took the shell from Piggy and a little water ran down his arm. In color the shell was a deeo cream, touched here and there with fading pink. Between the point, worn away into a little hole, and the pink lips of the mouth, lay eighteen inches of shell wiht a slight spiral twist and covered of the deep tube (16)."
This paragraph is describing how the shell looks. While reading that paragraph i can just picture the shell.
"The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat. He was clambering heavily among the creepers and broken trunks when a bird, a vision of red and yellow, flashed upwards with a witch-like cry; and this cry was echoed by another."
This is a great attention grabber! I remember walking home from the bus stop in the summer dragging my bag and sweater because of the heat. Since we don't yet know what the creepers are here it builds suspense. I can hear the witch-like cry screeching in my ears. This paragraph makes me wonder where this is taking place and who this boy is and why he is there.
"Then the trail, the fustration, claimed him again and he searched the ground avidly. By the trunk of a vast tree that grew pale flowers on its grey bark he cheked, closed his eyes, and once more drew in the warm air; and this time his breath came short, there was a surge of blood again. He passed like a shadow under the darkness of the tree and crouched, looking down at the todden ground at his feet."(49) In this example I can see how Jack is moving through the jungle and how he is being transformed from a school boy to an aggressive predator. Its as though the jungle itself is swallowing the old Jack and infecting his body with with only the basic instincs of a wild animal.
"The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or reclined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up on the air. The ground beneath was a bank covered with coarse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen tres, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and the open space of the scar. Ralph stood, one hand against a grey trunk, and screwed up his eyes against the shimmering water. Out there, perhaps a mile away, the white surf flinked on a coral reef, and beyond that the open sea was dark blue. Withing the irregular arc of coral the lagooon was still as a mountain lake-blue of all shades and shadowy green and purple. The beach between the palm terrace and the water was a thin stick, endless apparently, for to Ralph's left the perspectives of palm and beach and water drew to a point at infinity; and always, almost visible, was the heat." (9-10)
"Now the sunlight had lifted clear of the open space and withdrawn from the sky. Darkness poured out, submergeing hte ways between the trees till they were dim and strange as the bottom of the sea. The candle-buds opened their wide white flowers glimmering under the light that pricked down from the first stars. Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island(57)."
Writing that is this descriptive makes you feel and visualize that you are really there. It makes us picture darkness taking over an island and helps us remember some night when we have looked up at the stars and how bright they looked.
" One by one, as they sensed that the pile was complete, the boys stopped going back for more and stood, with the pink, shattered top of the mountain around them." Golding is talking about all the fruit they collected in the jungle. He says that there is a bunch of fruit hanging from the trees. Then he talks about the pink shattered moutain top I think it is nightfall and they are seing the sun glaring off the mountain, I think it would be really cool looking at it. It makes me want to be there to see them.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing. One patch touched a tree trunk and scrambled up like a bright squirrel. The smoke increased, sifted, rolled outwards. The squirrel leapt on the wings of the wind and clung to another standing tree, eating downward. Beneath the dark canopy of leaves and smoke the fire laid hold on the forest and began to gnaw. Acres of black and yellow smoke rolled stadily towar the sea...(44)" I can see the flames taking over the trees, going from one to another. I can see how quickly the flames are doubling in size. He gives the fire real qualities.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared ar the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through the leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing. One patch touched a tree trunkand scrambled up like a bright squirrel. The smoke increased, sifted and rolled outwards." This describes how a fire is started and begins to take over the forest around it. It is described very beautifully.
One part in the book that stands out as Nobel material is "The ground was hardened by an accustomed tread and as jack rose to his full height he heard something moving on it. He swung back his right arm and hurled the spear with all his strength. From the pig-run came the quick, hard patter of hoofs, a castanet sound, seductive, maddening--the promise of meat. He rushed out of the undergrowth and snatched up his spear. The pattering of pig's trotters died away in the distance." The descriptive words he uses paints the picture perfectly, its almost like im sitting in a tree watching him miss the pig.
"Jack was bent double. He was down like a sprinter, his nose only a few inches from the humid earth. The tree trunks and the creepers that festooned them lost themselves in a green dusk thirty feet above him, and all about was the undergrowth. There was only the faintest indication of a trail here; a cracked twig and what might be the impression of one side of a hoof. He lowered his chin and stared at the traces as though he would force them to speak to him. Then dog-like, uncomfortably on all fours yet unheeding his discomfort, he stole forward five yards and stopped. Here was loop of creeper with a tendril pendant from a node. The tendril was polished on the underside; pigs, passing through the loop, brushed it with their bristly hide" (48). Reading this paragraph, I can really visualize what Jack is doing. I can see a sprinter in the blocks, waiting for the gun shot to go. Nothing eles matters execept for the task at hand. In Jack's case it is to get meat. Jack is being very predatorial, relying on is subconscious instint, his Id. You can very much see Jack resembling a lioness stalking her prey. Also you can visualize Jack being nearly naked such as early humans were, and the sharpened stick to hunt with. As like early humans, hunts did not always go well, Jack did not get his MEAT. When Jack goes back to Simon and Ralph, all he really talks about how all he wants is MEAT, and that next time he will get MEAT.
"...when they heard the noises-squeakings-and the hard strike of hoofs on a path. As they pushed forward the squeaking increased till it became a frenzy. They found a piglet caught in a curtain of creepers, throwing itself at the elastic traces in all the madness of extreme terror. Its voice was thin, needle-sharp and insistent (31)."
This part of the book describes the sound that the frightened pig makes. I think Golding used great description and after reading this section, I could literally hear the squeaking sound in my head. I think he uses great description when he labels the shriek as "thin and needle-sharp." It shows the reader how scared the pig is and allows the reader to guess as to what might happen next--that the boys will let their hunger make the decision of trying to kill it for food.
The small boy held out his hands for the conch and the assembly shouted with laughter; at once he snatched back his hands and started to cry.
...Piggy knelt by him, one hand on the great shell, listening and interpreting to the assembly.
"He wants to know what you're going to do about the snake-thing."
I can relate to this because I am terrified of snakes, and if I saw one on the island I would want something done so we would be protected. I could have been that because of the heat and the terror that this little boy is going through he imagined the snake, but it’s obviously something he is very afraid of. Ralph is the one in charge and not being reassuring to the little boy. The way that Golding writes this section makes me feel sympathetic towards the little boy.
"The droppings were warm. They lay piled among turned earth. They were olive green, smooth, and they steamed a little. Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail. Then he raised his spear and sneaked forward. Beyond the creeper, the trail joined a pig-run that was wide enough and trodden enough to be a path. The ground was hardened by an accustomed tread and as Jack rose to his full height he heard something moving on it. He swung back his right arm and hurled the spear with all his strength"(49). I think this quote describes how Jack's id is starting to take control of his mind. It's amazing to me that one person (Willam Golding) can come up with all of this information and be able to really become the characters and portray exactly how they would act in a situation like this and in time how they would change. I'm anxious to see how Jack and Ralph will transform or stay static.
"At length he let out his breath in a long sigh and opened his eyes. They were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad. he passed his tongue across dry lips and scanned the uncommunicative forest. Then again he stole forward and cast this way and that over the ground" (48). When I read this passage I can picture Jack waiting and pondering when to attack his prey. I also can feel the excitement that he is experiencing and the intense urge to finally kill something and have meat. When it says "They were bright blue, eyes that in this frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad," I predict that maybe later on in the book Jack is going to get so caught up in hunting for food and surviving, that he may attack someone with in the group of boys.
"Smoke was rising here and there among the creepers that festooned the dead or dying trees. As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing"(44). This with great description, describes the fire. The fire was only supposed to be a little one, just to make smoke so they could be seen and then rescued. This fire turned into a big one, that could have ruined the entire island. It got much bigger than they planned. Piggy was upset about this because nobody took time to think about making the fire, but just ran up the mountain when they heard the word fire.
Is this fire a metaphor for nuclear war? (island = globe; fire = atomic bombs)
"At midday the illusions merged into the sky and there the sun gazed down like an angry eye. Then, at the end of the afternoon, the mirage subsided and the horizon became level and blue and clipped as the sun declined. That was another time of comparative coolness but menaced by the coming of the dark. When the sun sank, darkness dropped on the island like an extinguisher and soon shelters were full and restlessness, under the remote stars." pg.58 I like this paragraph because it gives alot of descripted words. I developed a picture in my mind when i read this of what is going on.
Does thinking a certain way spread like fire? Did a certain ideology spread among the Nazis like wildfire? How are ideas shared collectively? And when does a shared idea influence a whole mob to act?
"A tree exploded in the fire like a bomb. Tall swathes of creepers rose for a moment into view, agonized, and went down again. The little boys screamed at them." (page 46). This is a very descriptive paragraphs, when there isn't dialogue that is what the paragraphs generally look like. That is why this book is a nobel peace prize winner. That is why it sol over 10 million copies in print. This book makes you feel, visualize, clarify, guestion, predict and even feel like you are involved with the book it is hard putting the book down and the end of the chapter because he know when you end the chapter to keep you in suspense. He is among one of the better writers that I have ever read,
He picked his way up the scar, passed the great rock where Ralph had climbed on the first morning, then turned off to his right among the trees. He walked with ann accustomed tread through the acres of fruit trees, where the least energetic could find an easy if unsatisfying meal. Flower and fruit grew together on the same tree and everywhere was the sent of ripeness and the booming of a million bees at pasture. Here the littluns who had run after him caught up with him. They talked, cried out unintelligibly, lugged him toward the trees. Then, amid the roar of bees in the afternoon sunlight, Simon found them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest from up in the foliage, passed them back down to the endless, outstreched hands. When he had satisfied them he paused and looked around. The littluns watched him inscrutably over double handfuls of ripe fruit.
This passage seemes to signify the eye of the storm. Simon had run off so that he wouldn't have to be in the middle of Jack and Ralph's argument. It showes his understanding of those weeker then he is. In a way i beleive that he was trying to comfort himself as much as he was trying to comfort the "littluns". It also shows that he likes to be in places he recognizes. Even though this spot isn't home, he comes here because it comforts him to be in a place he has been before. It is also probably why he has his sanctuary not to far away from this spot.
It was very easy for me to develop this paragraph into my mind and really see it. I don't know if this stuck out so much because it was one of the more recent ones that I have read, but I really enjoyed it. "At midday the illusions merged into the sky and there the sun gazed down like an angry eye. Then, at the end of the afternoon, the mirage subsided and the horizon became level and blue and clipped as the sun declined. That was another time comparative coolness but menaced by the coming of the dark. When the sun sank, darkness dropped on the island like an extinguisher and soon the shelters were full of restlessness, under the remote stars." (58-59).
ashlie copied me!
“Most of the wood was so rotten that when they pulled, it broke up into a shower of fragments and woodlice and decay; but some trunks came out in one piece” (p.39). This sentence really helped me visualize the wood the boys were gathering. In the grove beside my house I have seen wood exactly like this before. It is extremely light and often damp. This description allowed me to better relate to the story.
"This silence of the forest was more oppressive than the heat, and at this hour of the day there was not even the whine of insects. Only when Jack himself roused a gaudy bird from a primitive nest of sticks was the silence shattered and echoes set ringing by a harsh cry that seemed to come out of the abyss of ages. Jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape-like among the tangle of trees. (49)"
i think that the beggining of this passage does a good job of describing the forest. the heat was extreme however, the silence of the forest was even worse. i interpret the second part of the passage as a look at jack. he thinks that he is so big and bad because he is hunting. then, he is scared by a bird. (something he could eat) i just think that that part is ironic
"The flames, as though they were a kind of wild life, crept as a jaguar creeps on its belly toward a line of birch-like saplings that fledged an outcrop of the pink rock. They flapped at teh first of the trees, and the branches grew a brief foliage of fire. The heart of flame leapt nimbley across the gap between the trees and then went swinging and flaring along the whole row of them. Beneath the capering boys a quater of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame. The separate noises of the fire merged into a drum-roll that seemed to shake the mountain." (44) i love all the descriptive words and metaphores. his writing forms vivid pictures in my mind.
The boys were dancing. The pile was so rotten, and now so tinder-dry, that whole limbs yielded passionately to the yellow flames that poured upwards and shook a great beard of flames twenty feet in the air. For yards round the fire the heat was like a blow, and the breeze was a river of sparks. Trunks crumbled to white dust. (41)I really was grabbed by this slice of text. It uses alliteration to describe the fire and the atmosphere around the fire, it is just very intelligent writing and it really helped me visualize the boys dancing around the fire.
"They gazed intently at the dense blue of the horizon, as if a little silhouette might appear there at any moment. The sun in the west was a drop of burning gold that slid nearer and nearer the sill of the world. All at once they were aware of the evening as the end of light and warmth"(43). This allows you to really feel the desperation that they are going through. The boys are realizing that they might not be able to handle this time away from everything and completely on their own. The sunset stands as a symbol to them of another day that has gone by without them being rescued. Golding does an amazing job at describing each scene to the point where you can basically see each of them in exact detail.
"The subsoil beneath the palm trees was a raised beach, and generations of palms had worked loose in this the stones that had lain on the sands of another shore. Roger stopped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss. The stone, that token of preposterous time, bounced five yards to Henry's right and fell in the water. Roger gathered a handful of stones and began to throw them. Yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yards in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the awuatting child was the protection of and parents and school and policemen and the law. Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilzation that knew nothing of him and wasing ruins" (62). This shows that Roger knows that he has control, but does not use it as much as he could. Even though their on an island with no adults, the littluns are still protected by the civilzation thats not there.
Jack Took up a coconut shell that brimmed with fresh water from a group that was arranged in the shade, and drank. The water splashed over his chin and neck and chest. He breathed noisily when he had finished.
He is saying how jack is going back to cave men ways. it is different from what jack is used to , drink tea now drinks liquid from a COCONUT SHELL. and he is not acting sissy either like we all think they act because now he is thirsty and need something to drink and little sips(like he probably did when he drank tea)will not cut it anymore he need it now not later
I'm not sure I completely agree with what Chris has said here. I personally see this excerpt as a way to show the savage that is coming out of Jack. It displays how power-hungry Jack is and that he is willing to make everyone else suffer in order to get ahead.
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