On-my-honor-statement for Lord of the Flies, Chapter One
On my honor, I read 25 of 25 pages of “The Sound of the Shell.” I underlined passages on nearly every page and wrote notes in the margins. I did not look up any words in the dictionary this time.
Passages and Literary Technique
Example #1 Diction
Page 7: The boy with fair hair…
“Hi!” it said. (referring to Piggy as a voice)
“Wait a minute,” the voice said.
The fair boy (referring to Ralph)
The owner of the voice
The fair boy shook his head.
Page 8: The fat boy (continual references to Piggy as the fat boy and Ralph as the fair boy until the top of page 9 when Piggy finally asks Ralph’s name and Ralph says, “Ralph”)
Golding is using careful, scientific diction here to suggest an objective, detached point of view and to create an impersonal tone as of a researcher observing phenomena through a microscope.
Example #2 Plot Manipulation
Pages 7-8: “Where’s the man with the megaphone?” … “That storm dragged it out to sea. It wasn’t half dangerous with all them tree trunks falling. There must have been some kids still in it.”
Golding is using plot manipulation to explain how the boys got on the island. Significant passages within the above are “No grownups!” “We was attacked!” “I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it.” The sketchy details suggest a crash landing in war time. But the plane is gone, the grownups are gone, and these boys are safe and sound (no plane-crash injuries) on the island. Golding creates a world without adult influence beyond what the boys can remember, without tools (except Jack’s knife, characterizing him as leader by force and fear), without adult guidance (or misguidance). These boys are on their own to make of their lives what they will.
Example #3 Symbolism
Page 22: None of the boys could have found good reason for this; what intelligence had been shown was traceable to Piggy while the most obvious leader was Jack. But there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out: there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. The being that had blown that, had sat waiting for them on the platform with the delicate thing balanced on his knees, was set apart.
Golding describes the power of the conch; he makes it his first symbol, a symbol of organization and authority, of democratic authority because Ralph is duly elected chief because of the influence of the conch on the boys.