Lord of the Flies
Chapter 2 Quotes
‘…most of the children, feeling too late the smart of sunburn, had put their clothes
on.’ Here is an example of the boys being their own beast and learning a consequence
for an action.
‘Silence now.’ A short sentence brings attention to what Ralph is about to do.
‘Then Piggy was standing cradling the great cream shell…’ Piggy understands the
delicacy of democracy and the conch. ‘Cradling’ emphasises that it needs nurturing.
‘The man with the trumpet thing-’ They still respect a leader from their past life.
‘He was a shrimp of a boy…’ The boy is described as an animal.
‘ “I bet it’s gone tea time,” said Piggy.’ He wishes to maintain a normal timetable.
‘Trees, forced by damp heat, found too little soil for full growth, fell early and
decayed: creepers cradled them, and new saplings searched a way up.’ This is open
for interpretation.
‘Then with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless
ebullience of the children, he [Piggy] picked up the conch…’ Piggy is shown not to fit
with any group on the island. Also, he will become a sort of ‘martyr’.
‘Their black caps of maintenance were slid over one ear like berets.’ Notice the
military connotation of ‘berets’, as if the hunting party is an elite squadron.
‘We’re English; and the English are best at everything.’ The boys still feel a British
identity.
‘The separate noises of the fire merged into a drum-roll…’ This is like the hunting
chant.
‘Tall swathes of creepers rose for a moment…’ Nature reacts to the boys’ actions. A
sense of being watched is created.
‘…the assembly shouted with laughter.’
‘Ralph laughed, and the other boys laughed with him.’
‘The twins giggled together.’ Many more examples of laughing etcetera exist. The
boys can take little seriously.
Brennan-McMahon