Original artwork, not a still
Lord of the Flies • 1954
Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
This is where Golding says the monster is not on the island at all but inside the boys. The pig's head is a talking symbol, a devil with a schoolboy's contempt, and the line is why 'Lord of the Flies' (a translation of Beelzebub) has stood for the darkness in people ever since.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Lord of the FliesShow the scene
In Chapter 8, 'Gift for the Darkness', Jack's hunters leave a sow's head on a sharpened stick as an offering to the beast, and Simon, alone in a clearing, meets it. In his fevered vision the buzzing, fly-covered head speaks, announces that it is the Beast, and mocks him for thinking such a thing could be hunted and killed. It tells him it is part of him, the reason things go wrong on the island. Moments later Simon faints, and the book's title finally makes sense.
Sources (1)
- Lord of the Flies (Wikiquote)whole pageReference checked
Context reviewed
