To what extent does Golding use foreshadowing in Chapter 1 of Lord Of The Flies?
Foreshadowing in Chapter 1 of Lord of the Flies
Chapter 1 of Golding’s book ‘Lord of the Flies’ establishes the novel as a political allegory. As a general over view the novel dictates the need for political organisation and amplifies the main differences between human nature and human nurture. The opening chapter of the novel establishes the idea that group of the boys abandoned on the island have no society, rules or concerns beyond individual survival. It is clear from the beginning of the novel that this new found ‘society’ was bound to deteriorate as the plot of the novel continues. This is foreshadowed by the varied use of dark imagery to suggest the idea of trouble to be coming in later events in the book. When Ralph decides to go swimming in the lagoon located on the island he describes the lagoon to be ‘warmer than his blood’; Connotations of blood suggests concepts of war, violence and sinister acts such as murder – which can then be seen to foreshadow the following murders of Piggy and Simon in the latter chapters of the novel. This can be also supported by the re-occurring defective weather in the opening chapter – it could suggest that later events will follow the same degree of defectiveness (such as the murder of Simon). The use of aphotic language continues throughout the chapter such as when the island is primarily described to the reader by the narrator. When Piggy and Ralph meet it is described that ‘the ground beneath them was covered with sparse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and open pace of the scar’. Although no fear is present within the boys, the exaggerations of the negative aspects of the island inform the reader subtly that there will be something ‘to fear’. The use of the words ‘decaying’ and ‘fallen’ can be seen to foreshadow the idea of the created camaraderie between the boys will also follow the
Chapter 1 of Golding’s book ‘Lord of the Flies’ establishes the novel as a political allegory. As a general over view the novel dictates the need for political organisation and amplifies the main differences between human nature and human nurture. The opening chapter of the novel establishes the idea that group of the boys abandoned on the island have no society, rules or concerns beyond individual survival. It is clear from the beginning of the novel that this new found ‘society’ was bound to deteriorate as the plot of the novel continues. This is foreshadowed by the varied use of dark imagery to suggest the idea of trouble to be coming in later events in the book. When Ralph decides to go swimming in the lagoon located on the island he describes the lagoon to be ‘warmer than his blood’; Connotations of blood suggests concepts of war, violence and sinister acts such as murder – which can then be seen to foreshadow the following murders of Piggy and Simon in the latter chapters of the novel. This can be also supported by the re-occurring defective weather in the opening chapter – it could suggest that later events will follow the same degree of defectiveness (such as the murder of Simon). The use of aphotic language continues throughout the chapter such as when the island is primarily described to the reader by the narrator. When Piggy and Ralph meet it is described that ‘the ground beneath them was covered with sparse grass, torn everywhere by the upheavals of fallen trees, scattered with decaying coconuts and palm saplings. Behind this was the darkness of the forest proper and open pace of the scar’. Although no fear is present within the boys, the exaggerations of the negative aspects of the island inform the reader subtly that there will be something ‘to fear’. The use of the words ‘decaying’ and ‘fallen’ can be seen to foreshadow the idea of the created camaraderie between the boys will also follow the