Lord Of The Flies Reader Response Essay

Charisse Koscal

Ms. Kramer

World Humanities

September 9th, 2014

Reader Response on Chapter 2: “Fire on the Mountain” Throughout the first chapter in Lord of the Flies it was not made known the origin of any of the characters. In Chapter two Golding begins hinting at where these lads have come from. At this point in the novel there is a quite important event that helps readers understand more about the characters within. Piggy, one of the main character’s, had mentioned tea-time. With the mention of tea Golding had insinuated that the boy was of British decent, due to his fondness of tea. From that bit of text it’s also possible to decipher the time within the book. Tea-time most likely relates to a time in mid to late afternoon in which tea is served in most English places. Jack had stated in the second chapter “Fire on the mountain” that they were not savages, but English. That had confirmed any earlier assumptions of the boys being of British decent. Referring back to the text Jack had mentioned that they were not in fact savages, so they would install rules that would suit their elongated stay

In this chapter the conch Ralph had found at the beginning of the book was the most noticeable symbol. It symbolizes two important things: power and communication. The conch is described in the beginning of the chapter as fading into a stark white color. This symbolizes the fading of power that Ralph has and the loss of communication among the children. One of the events that helps readers realize this when Piggy and Jack begin fighting over the conch. The value of the conch as a communication tool is already losing its touch at this moment. This is extremely important, because with the loss of communication the conch will only represent power. Pure power in this book would equal dictation amongst the boys. In conclusion this chapter was important because of the symbols rooted deep