Chapters 8, 9

Assignment 6

I. Active Vocabulary. Translate these words into Russian and explain the contextual meaning of the underlined words:

to be astir

menace n

rebuke vt

derisive adj

derision n

to have the daring to do smth

to steal off

to unburden oneself

evolve vi

to raid smb / smth for smth

lame adj

demented adj

II. Exercises:

1. Arrange the lexical units into pairs of antonyms:

lame; sane; to threaten; sensible; to have the daring to do smth; to praise; demented; unreasonable; to funk; to be astir; valid; to quieten down; to rebuke; to menace

2. Study these words combinations:

a derisive word (laughter, reply, question), to excite (stimulate, provoke, escape) derision, to be an object of social derision, to deride inefficiency (clumsiness, ugliness, stupidity); a lame excuse (story, theory, argument); demented people (society, children), demented with frenzy (worry, alarm, panic); to have the daring to insist on justice (to contradict an authority, to stick to one’s opinion, to make an experiment); a menace to world peace (to life, to health, to civilization), to menace a nation by war, to brandish a spear menacingly

3. Translate into Russian:

1. The village was astir with alarm when the enemy forces got near. 2. A mystery evolved round the Baskerville family. 3. The boy needed sympathy but found only derision. 4. Nobody will have the daring to go to the party uninvited. 5. Does your mother rebuke you when you sit down to table with your hands dirty? 6. When adolescents raid orchards for fruit, they are after the excitement of risk rather than green apples or plums. 7. He was about to unburden himself, but saw unfriendly prim faces around, thought better of it and produced a lame story to incredulous ears. 8. When seeing the dog approach the kitten, the cat gave out a demented shriek and rushed to protect her little one.

4. Recall episodes from your life when:

1. somebody had the daring to do smth extraordinary; 2. you heard a lame story; 3. you felt a menace to common sense in smb’s behaviour; 4. you had to steal off to avoid wasting time; 5. you had to rebuke a child; 6. somebody tried to unburden himself to you at the wrong moment; 7. you resented somebody’s derision.

5. Quote the text to confirm the following:

1. Jack put the matter of being chief to the vote at the wrong moment.

2. Ralph openly declared his defeat.

3. Where Simon expected Piggy’s understanding he met with derision.

4. Piggy was the first to evolve a taboo round Jack’s name.

5. In Jack’s absence Piggy twice surpassed himself.

6. No one suspected Simon of stealing off.

7. Ralph was developing a nervous breakdown.

8. Ralph as chief was unused to honours.

9. Jack bought his followers with meat.

10. Roger was the worst sadist of all the hunters.

11. Simon’s talk with sow’s head was imaginary.

12. The head menaced Simon by death.

13. Jack’s followers are referred to as savages by the author.

14. Jack’s camp attached little or no importance to the conch.

15. Ralph’s laughter at Piggy in Jack’s camp was betrayal.

16. Ralph and Piggy witnessed Simon’s murder.

6. Say why this happened:

1. The sound of the inexpertly blown conch interrupted them.

2. The humiliating tears were running from the corner of each eye.

3. Piggy and the other two were by him. They were laden with fruit.

4. Fifteen yards from the drove Jack stopped; and his arm, straightening, pointed at the sow.

5. Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks.

6. Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling, …. …Ralph saw Piggy running.

7. The two savages looked at each other, raised their spears together and spoke in time. “The Chief has spoken.”

8. The Lord of the Flies spoke in the voice of a schoolmaster.

9. The beast was harmless and horrible; and the news must reach the others as soon as possible.

10. The beast was on its knees in the centre, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill.

III. Questions and topics for discussion.

1. Explain the meaning of the titles.

2. Jack blows the conch. Why did Jack choose that moment to seize power? Go over Jack’s arguments against Ralph’s being chief. Were all of them true? Why did the boys not vote against Ralph? Who is more like an adult/ a child?

3. Piggy makes a contribution to the good of society. Comment upon the change in his spirits after Jack’s departure.

4. Jack declares his programme to his followers. Why could Jack solve the problem of “the beast” so easily? Compare Jack’s treatment of the beast with savages’ treatment of natural phenomena causing fear.

5. Why does the author give a detailed description of the pig hunt? Compare what the hunters had been in the civilized world and what they were becoming under Jack’s leadership. How does the author stress the enormity of the proceedings? Write out the words and phrases describing their behaviour.

6. Which of the former choir-boys felt the enormity most acutely? What made him look for solitude in his shelter? Do you think Simon demented (“batty”) or over-sensitive to the wrong? What was Simon’s reaction to the sight of the sow’s head? Describe the head as we first see it.

7. Follow the sow’s head evolving into a symbol. Note the first mention of “the Lord of the Flies”. What does it stand for? Who is referred to as the flies? Why did the head pick out Simon, of all the boys, to preach before? Find proof that “the head” was afraid of Simon. Pay special attention to the use of pronouns showing the creatures “the head” identified itself with. Why did the Lord of the Flied insist on Simon’s joining the others? What kind of foreshadowing does the head give?

8. The savages’ raid for the fire and Jack’s speech. What tactics did Jack resort to win over new followers? What historical parallel can you draw when identifying the tactics?

9. Simon’s heroic deed, why did Simon succeeded in doing what Jack and Ralph had failed to do?

10. Jack’s party. Discuss Jack’s attributes of power and his new manner. Speak about the boys’ open betrayal of Ralph. What made Piggy feel a menace of violence in the proceedings?

11. The thunderstorm over the island. How does the weather change throughout these chapters? Jack organizes the boys restlessness into a savage dance. Compare the words of the chant with its original version. Discuss the dance turning into an orgy of violence, and its victim.

12. Simon’s death. Describe the way his body is washed away into the ocean. Simon is a Christ like figure. Why? How different is he from Jesus Christ?

13. Account for Ralph’s failure as chief. Compare Ralph’s and Jack’s ideas of power. Comment on the danger of Jack’s coming to power.

14. Follow all the referential meanings of the word “beast” in the chapters under discussion.

15. Note the author’s use of gradation and contrast in the developing the boys’ treatment of hunting. specify the stages of their human degradation resulting in a crime.

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