Group discussion of chapters 5-8 if you were absent

Lord of the Flies Characters and Irony Discussion
Response to Chapters 5-8

Part 1, Group Discussion in response to characters.

Rules for this discussion:

1. Everyone speaks
2. Everyone is heard
3. No one who has read ahead or seen the movie reveals what happens later in the story.
4. Please use your books in the discussion. Start out by opening them to the page of the statement (see below), so you can see the context in which it was said.

Instructions: In groups of 3 people, please decide if your group agrees or disagrees with each of the following statements from main characters in Lord of the Flies, and why or why not. See if your group can come to a consensus (an answer to which everyone agrees), or if you must split your answer. After each statement, please record your group’s final response, in one or two complete sentences (we agree because…. Or we disagree because…). Please rotate note-taking responsibilities so that a different person in your group writes the response to each of the three questions. Please sign the response that you record.

1. From Simon: “’Maybe,’ he said hesitantly, ‘maybe there is a beast.’…. ‘what I mean is…maybe it’s only us’” (Golding 89; ch 5).




2. From Jack: “’The thing is—fear can’t hurt you any more than a dream’” (Golding 82; ch. 5).



3. From Piggy: “’Life,” said Piggy expansively, “is scientific, that’s what it is” (Golding 84; ch 5).





Part 2. Examining text.

Instructions: Please reread the first three pages of Chapter Six: Beast from the Air (where the twins scramble away – stop at the spacebreak). You may have someone read aloud to the group, or choose to reread it yourself, as individuals. Then please answer these three questions. Again, rotate recorders and sign the response you record. I understand that two group members will record twice.

1. As a group, discuss what you think has landed on the mountain. Please write down, in one complete sentence, what you think it is, literally speaking, and why you think so.






2. Writer’s Inc defines a symbol as “A concrete object used to represent an idea” (Writers Inc 126). Imagining the thing that landed on the mountain (your answer to number 2), has not only literal, but also figurative, meaning, what do you think it could symbolize? Please give your answer in one complete sentence.






3. The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory defines dramatic irony as “When the audience understand the implication and meaning of a situation on stage, or what is being said, but the characters do not,” or “when a character’s words ‘recoil’ upon him.” (Cuddon 237). Remembering Ralph and Piggy’s conversation at the end of chapter 5, how does the opening to chapter 6 demonstrate dramatic irony? Write one or two complete sentences.











4. In Chapter 8, we follow the boys on a hunt where they brutally kill a sow. How have the hunters changed since their first hunt and what is the significance of leaving the pigs head in the clearing? What does “sharpen a stick at both ends” mean?








5. “I’m warning you. I’m going to get angry. D’you see? You’re not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island! So don’t try it on, you poor misguided boy, or else---“ We are introduced to the Lord of the Flies in chapter 8. He talks to Simon on two occasions. Reread these interactions. What does the head tell Simon? Why is it called the Lord of the Flies? How does the authors voice and syntax (syntax is the author’s use of punctuation to emphasize a point) change in these sections?














Scoring Guide

Names: ____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

Answered each question (1 point per question): /8

Wrote in complete sentences (1 point per question): /8

Rotated recorders: /4


Total: /20