Focus on Words

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.
‘Him with the shell’
‘Ralph! Ralph!’
‘Let him be the chief with the trumpet-thing.’
Ralph raised his hand for silence.
‘All right. Who wants Jack for chief?’
With dreary obedience the choir raised their hands.
‘Who wants me?’
Every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy,
too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air.
Ralph counted.
‘I’m chief, then.’
The circle of boys broke into applause. Even the choir applauded; and the freckles
on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification. He started up, then changed
his mind and sat down again while J the air rang. Ralph looked at him, eager to offer
something.
‘The choir belongs to you, of course.’
Read the short summary of the story. Would you be interested in reading the book?
Why (not)?
What’s grownups goin’ to think?
Ralph, Jack, and a black-haired boy named Simon soon become the supreme trio
among the children. Piggy, the most sensible of the bunch, is outcast by his fellow
“biguns” (the older boys) and is laughed at by all. Simon, is busy with the project of
constructing shelters and feels an instinctive need to protect the younger boys. They
hunt animals to survive. But soon they turned from hunters into the hunted and some
of them are cruelly killed. Simon is a character who represents peace and tranquility
and positivity. He is very in-tune with the island, likes listening to its sounds. He also
has an extreme disgust to the pig’s head, the “Lord of the Flies,” which haunts Simon
in his dreams. Simon’s death represents the loss of truth and common sense.
“What’s grownups goin’ to think?” asks Jack as if he is not so much mourning the
boys’ deaths as he is mourning the loss of values, ethics, discipline, and decorum that
caused those deaths, and eventually, his death too.
Work on Words
maintain v 1. to make sth stay the same: maintaining your weight through exercise
and heavy eating is important. Syn: keep 2. to continue to communicate
with sb: maintain contact/relations/links: He maintains close relations
with his friends. 3. to make sure that something stays at the same level,
rate, or standard. 4. to make regular repairs to a building, roads, etc. so
that it stays in good condition: The boat was well maintained. 5. to
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