Lord fo the Flies _ Quotes 7-9

Lord of the Flies
Quotes Chapters 7-9
Directions:
1. Locate the quotes in the book and highlight or underline them in the book.
2. Write down the page number on this sheet.
3. Be prepared to discuss why these quotes are important to the plot, foreshadowing, symbolism, or character development.

Chapter 7

_____ Page “Ralph planned his toilet. He would like to have a pair of scissors and cut
this hair—he flung the mass back—cut this filthy hair right back to half an inch. He would like to have a bath, a proper wallow with soap. He passed his tongue experimentally over his teeth and decided that a toothbrush would come in handy too. Then there were his nails”

_____ Page “He discovered with a little fall of the heart that these were the conditions he took as normal now and that he did not mind”

_____ Page “one might dream of rescue; but here, faced by the brute obtuseness of the
ocean, the miles of division, one was clamped down, one was helpless, one was condemned”

_____ Page “ ‘It’s so big, I mean’ Simon nodded. ‘All the same. You’ll get back all
right. I think so, anyway’ ”

Notice all of Ralph’s memories of home (civilization) on pg. 112. No need to highlight, but note his homesickness in the margin.

_____ Page “Ralph was full of fright and apprehension and pride. ‘I hit him! The
spear stuck in’ . . . He sunned himself in their new respect and felt that hunting was good after all”

_____ Page “Robert squealed in mock terror, then in real pain”

_____ Page “They got his arms and legs. Ralph, carried away by a sudden thick
excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at Robert with it. . . All at once, Robert was screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy. Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. Behind him was Roger, fighting to get close”

_____ Page “Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown,
vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering”

_____ Page “Once more Ralph dreamed, letting his skillful feet deal with the difficulties of the path. Yet here his feet seemed less skillful than before”


_____ Page “Simon pushed his way to Ralph’s elbow. ‘I’ll go if you like. I don’t
mind, honestly’ ”

_____ Page “There came the sound of boys scuttling away. Astonishingly, a dark
figure moved against the tide. ‘Roger?’ ‘Yes’ ”

_____ Page “Before them, something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head
between its knees. Then the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness, and the creature lifted its head, holding toward them the ruin of a face”

Chapter 8

_____ Page “ ‘As long as there’s light we’re brave enough. But then? And now that thing squats by the fire as though it didn’t want us to be rescued’. . . ‘So we can’t have a signal fire . . . We’re beaten’ ”

_____ Page “The sound of the inexpertly blown conch interrupted them. As though he
were serenading the rising sun, Jack went on blowing till the shelters were astir and the hunters crept to the platform and the littluns whimpered as now they so frequently did. Ralph rose obediently, and Piggy, and they went to the platform”

_____ Page “ ‘He’s like Piggy. He says things like Piggy. He isn’t a proper chief’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘He’s not a hunter. He’d never have got us meat. He isn’t a prefect and we don’t know anything about him. He just gives orders and expects people to obey for nothing’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘Hands up,’ said Jack strongly. ‘whoever wants Ralph not to be chief?’ The silence continued, breathless and heavy and full of shame. Slowly the red drained from Jack’s cheeks, then came back with a painful rush. He licked his lips and turned his head at an angle, so that his gaze avoided the embarrassment of linking with another’s eye. . . . The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye. . . . ‘I’m not going to be a part of Ralph’s lot’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘I think we ought to climb the mountain.’. . . ‘What else is there to do?’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘We got no fire on the mountain. But what’s wrong with a fire down here? A fire could be built on them rocks. On the sand, even. We’d make smoke jus the same.’ . . . Only Piggy could have the intellectual daring to suggest moving the fire from the mountain”


_____ Page “The greatest ideas are the simplest. Now that there was something to be
done they worked with passion. Piggy was so full of delight and expanding liberty in Jack’s departure, so full of pride in his contribution to the good of society, that he helped to fetch wood”

_____ Page “ ‘We could experiment. We could find out how to make a small hot fire and then put green branches on to make smoke. Some of them leaves must be better for that than the others’ ”

_____ Page “Then for the first time he saw how few biguns there were and understood why the work had been so hard”

_____ Page “ ‘I thought perhaps . . . we ought to have a feast, kind of’. . . The three
boys sat down. They had a great mass of the fruit with them and all of it properly ripe. They grinned at Ralph as he took some and began to eat”

_____ Page “ . . .he reached the great mat that was woven by the open space and crawled inside. . . . Soon the sweat was running from his long, coarse hair. He shifted relentlessly but there was no avoiding the sun”

_____ Page “Jack was standing before a small group of boys. He was looking brilliantly happy. . . . Each of them wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of angels. ‘We’ll hunt. I’m going to be chief’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘I’m going to get more of the biguns away from the conch and all that. We’ll kill a pig and give a feast’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘When we kill we’ll leave some of the kill for it. Then it won’t bother us, maybe’ ”

_____ Page “A little apart from the rest, sunk in deep maternal bliss, lay the largest sow of the lot. . . .the great bladder of her belly was fringed with a row of piglets that slept or burrowed and squeaked”

_____ Page “. . . the sow staggered her way ahead of them, bleeding and mad, and the hunters followed, wedded to her in lust, excited by the long chase and the dropped blood”

_____ Page “Roger ran round the heap, prodding with his spear whenever pigflesh appeared. Jack was on tip of the sow, stabbing downward with his knife. . . .Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands”

_____ Page “ ‘ We’ll raid them and take fire’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘But we’ll leave part of the kill for. . .’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘This head is for the beast. It’s a gift’ ”

_____ Page “Even if he shut his eyes the sow’s head remained like an after-image. The half-shut eyes were dim with the infinite cynicism of adult life. They assured Simon that everything was a bad business”

_____ Page “. . . ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick”

_____ Page “Run away, said the head silently, go back to the others”

_____ Page “Even the butterflies deserted the open space where the obscene thing grinned and dripped. . . .The pile of guts was a black blob of flies that buzzed like a saw. After a while these flies found Simon. Gorged, they alighted by his runnels of sweat and drank. . .the Lord of the Flies hung on his stick and grinned”

_____ Page “ ‘But nobody else understand about the fire. If someone threw you a rope when you were drowning. If a doctor said take this because if you don’t take it you’ll die—you would, wouldn’t you. . . Without the smoke signal we’ll die here”

_____ Page “ ‘No, not it. . . I mean. . what makes things break up like they do?’. . .I dunno, Ralph. I expect it’s him.’ ‘Jack?’ ‘Jack’. A taboo was evolving round that word too.

_____ Page “The forest near them burst into uproar. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling, so that the littuns fled screaming”

_____ Page “ ‘Me and my hunters, we’re living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribe come and see us. Perhaps I’ll let you join. Perhaps not’ ”

_____ Page “The two savages looked at each other, raised their spears together and spoke in time. ‘The chief has spoken’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘When I saw Jack I was sure he’d go for the conch. Cant’ think why’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘The fire’s the most important thing on the island, because, because’--- He paused again and the silence became full of doubt and wonder. Piggy whispered urgently. ‘Rescue’. ‘Oh yes, Without the fire we can’t be rescued’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘Let’s go to this feast and tell them the fire’s hard on the rest of us. And the hunting and all that, being savages I mean-it must be jolly good fun’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘You are a silly little boy,’ said the Lord of the Flies, ‘just an ignorant silly little boy’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘you’d better run off and play with the others. They think you’re batty. You don’t want Ralph to think you’re batty, do you? You like Ralph a lot, don’t you? And Piggy and Jack?’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘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 the island! So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else--’ ”

Chapter 9

_____ Page “Nothing prospered but the flies who blackened their lord and made the spilt guts look like a heap of glistening coal”

_____ Page “The life-like movement would scare them off for a moment so that they made a dark cloud round the head. Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more”

_____ Page “he examined the white nasal bones, the teeth, the colors of corruption. He saw how pitilessly the layers of rubber and canvas held together the poor body that should be rotting away”

_____ Page “he freed them from the rocks and the figure from the wind’s indignity”

_____ Page “Even at that distance it was possible to see that most of the boys—perhaps all of the boys—were there”

_____ Page “The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible”

_____ Page “Piggy took off his glasses, stepped primly into the water, and then put them on again”

_____ Page “He laughed at Piggy expecting him to retire meekly as usual and in pained silence. Instead, Piggy beat the water with his hands”

_____ Page “ ‘P’raps we ought to go too. . .I mean—to make sure nothing happens’ ”

_____ Page “Jack, painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol. There were piles of meat on green leaves near him, and fruit, and coconut shells full of drink”

_____ Page “Immediately, Ralph and the crowd of boys were united and relieved by a storm of laughter. Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal”

_____ Page “Jack ignored them for the moment, turned his mask down to the seated boys, and pointed at them with the spear. ‘Who’s going to join my tribe’ ”

_____ Page “ ‘Come away. There’s going to be trouble. And we’ve had our meat’ ”

_____ Page “Piggy and Ralph, under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. They were glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable”

_____ Page “Roger ceased to be a pig and became a hunter, so that the center of the ring yawned emptily”

_____ Page “A thin was crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly. . . Simon was crying out something about a dead man on a hill. . . . It was crying out against the abominable noise, something about a body on the hill.”

_____ Page “There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws”

_____ Page “Only the beast lay still, a few yards from the sea. Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand”

_____ Page “On the mountaintop the parachute filled and moved; the figure slid, rose to its feet, spun, swayed down through a vastness of wet air. . .”

_____ Page “The water rose farther and dressed Simon’s coarse hair with brightness. The line of his cheek silvered and the turn of his shoulders became sculptured marble”

_____ Page “Softly, surrounded by a fringe of inquisitive bright creatures, itself a silver shape beneath the steadfast constellations, Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea”