Lord of the Flies - Example questions - CCEA

Use these questions to hone your knowledge of Lord of the Flies, and to practise using your notes and analysis in organised paragraphs that focus on how particular characters, themes or ideas are shown in the novel. There is an example answer in the following section to demonstrate how you can do this.

• How does Golding explore the themes of power and leadership in Lord of the Flies?
• To what extent is Jack a dangerous person in Lord of the Flies?
• In what ways does the island change the boys in Lord of the Flies?
• In what ways is the conch important in Lord of the Flies?
• Examine how Piggy is presented as a target for cruelty in Lord of the Flies.
• How does Golding present group dynamics in Lord of the Flies?

Below is a demonstration of how to use your revision material to answer an example essay question. The answer below is not a full essay, but only an extract of a longer answer showing some of the points that could be made.

Q: Examine how Piggy is presented as a target for cruelty in Lord of the Flies.

A: Golding wrote his 1954 novel Lord of the Flies as an examination of human nature. Golding had fought in World War Two and seen dreadful scenes of human suffering, but he was also a schoolmaster and knew how horribly young boys could treat each other. This concern with how easily people could turn cruel and violent towards each other led him to set his novel on a deserted island and explore how an adult-free environment could influence the boys stranded there. In this setting, the group dynamics between the children settle into a pattern of leaders, followers and outcasts. Piggy is by far the most obvious of the outcasts, due to his physical appearance, his seemingly lower social class, his afflictions of asthma and poor eyesight and especially his attitude. He is clever and loyal, but also sometimes impatient and condescending because he has little in common with the other boys. These factors, as well as his role as Ralph’s closest companion on the island, combine to seal his fate as a victim of murder. He is killed not just because the boys dislike him, but because they dislike what he represents; when order breaks down among the group, he is the obvious target.

Piggy is the second character introduced in the novel, yet we never learn his real name. This dehumanises him from the start, while Ralph’s early betrayal in giving away the nickname Piggy told him as a secret shows he is an easy target for ridicule, even by those who seem benign. The epithet “Piggy” not only implies him being overweight, but also suggests laziness and greediness, qualities the other boys dislike and do not seem to display themselves – this sets him apart from them again. Piggy is further dehumanised by being likened to the pigs on the island that the boys hunt and kill. The wild pigs are metaphorically referred to as “bloated bags of fat”; Golding later repeats this image deliberately when describing how Roger views Piggy as a “bag of fat”. This dehumanisation is a vital factor in making Piggy Roger’s target later.

This essay could go on to make the following points, backed up by evidence from the novel and analysis/interpretation of that evidence:

• Piggy’s physique, specs and asthma make him seem physically inferior to the other boys, even though his glasses are the key to them making fire on the island for cooking and signalling; this physical difference as well as his inability (and sometimes unwillingness) to do manual labour make him a target for cruelty.
• Piggy is knowledgeable and rational, identifying the conch and explaining how it is unlikely the beast really exists. He is intellectually superior to the rest of the group, but this also makes him a target as he can be condescending when he explains things.
• Piggy’s rational nature also makes him serious and sensible, traits the boys dislike as a marker of adulthood. Piggy represents their old lives of following rules and being told what to do; unsupervised on the island, they feel they can have freedom and fun but Piggy keeps forming barriers to this, demanding they respect the conch (order) and do things in particular ways. He is exasperated by them, calling them “a bunch of kids” in a critical way and wearing the “martyred expression of a parent” – this air of superiority repels the others, casting Piggy out of favour and making him a target of cruelty as they can feel how he disapproves of them and their ideas of a good time.