Literature: Lord of the Flies (William Golding)
Lord of the Flies is William Golding's 1954 novel, a GCSE English Literature modern prose set text (AQA Paper 2 Section A, or the equivalent Edexcel component) about a group of boys stranded on a deserted island whose attempt at self-government collapses into savagery. Exam questions give a printed extract and ask how Golding presents a character or theme in that extract and across the whole novel, testing knowledge of the text (AO1), analysis of Golding's symbolism, structure and narrative voice (AO2), and understanding of its post-war context and ideas about human nature (AO3).
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Read the printed extract closely, annotating Golding's symbolism, imagery and narrative voice before planning your answer.
- Identify two or three techniques with a clear, explainable effect, such as symbolism, foreshadowing or the third-person narrative voice, rather than simply listing quotations.
- Move outward from the extract to the whole novel, choosing moments that develop or contrast with what the extract shows, tracking the boys' shift from order to savagery.
- Link analysis to post-war context and Golding's ideas about human nature, where it genuinely deepens the point.
- Use precise subject terminology, such as symbolism, allegory, foreshadowing and juxtaposition, accurately rather than for decoration.
- Plan a clear structure, with an introduction stating your line of argument, points moving through the extract then the novel, and a brief conclusion, before you start writing.
Worked example
As the boys hunt and kill a pig, Golding gives them a chant built from three short imperative sentences, each naming a more violent act than the one before. Explain how this moment presents the theme of savagery.
- Identify the technique: the short, imperative sentences strip the language down to bare commands, mimicking a ritual chant rather than ordinary speech.
- Note the escalating violence in the three verbs, each naming a more graphic act than the last, building intensity through repetition.
- Explain the effect: chanting in unison shows the violence has become a shared, communal act rather than an individual one, marking the boys' loss of separate moral judgement.
- Link to the wider novel: this same chant is later repeated during the ritualistic circle that leads to Simon's death, showing the hunting ritual has turned against one of their own.
- Link to context: Golding, writing after witnessing violence in the Second World War, uses the chant to suggest that savagery lies dormant in ordinary people, not only in wartime enemies.
- Final answer: the chant presents savagery as ritualistic and communal rather than accidental, using stripped-down, escalating imperatives and unison chanting to show the boys descending into a shared violence that Golding later turns fatally on one of the group itself.
Practice questions
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Q1What object does Ralph use to call meetings and establish order?Show answer
Answer: The conch shell.
Q2Which character is killed by a boulder pushed by Roger, at the same moment the conch is destroyed?Show answer
Answer: Piggy.
Q3Identify the technique in the description of Piggy's glasses being needed to light the signal fire.Show answer
Answer: Symbolism - representing science, rationality and civilisation as a fragile, contested resource.
Q4Which boy discovers that the 'beast' the others fear is really a dead parachutist, and is then killed by the group mistaking him for the beast?Show answer
Answer: Simon.
Q5True or false: an adult authority figure arrives to stop the boys before anyone is killed.Show answer
Answer: False - a naval officer only arrives at the very end, after Piggy and Simon are already dead and Ralph is being actively hunted.
Q6Give one piece of evidence of Jack's growing obsession with hunting over rescue.Show answer
Answer: He lets the signal fire go out while he is off hunting, at the exact moment a ship passes that could have rescued them.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
State four ways order on the island breaks down as the novel progresses.
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Tick each line you got. Your score builds from the marks on the scheme.
Nothing ticked yet - 4 available
Explain how Golding presents savagery in the hunting chant from the worked example above.
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Nothing ticked yet - 6 available
'Piggy's death marks the point of no return for the boys.' To what extent do you agree?
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Nothing ticked yet - 5 available
See real English past-paper questions, with official mark schemes →
Free printable worksheet
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