Lord of the Flies Chapter 6 Response: Prompt 7

Chapter six of “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, depicts further rising action, for the events in this chapter do not change the course of the novel but simply adds to the conflict. The entire first segment of this chapter is describing the scene through the use of imagery. The picture that Golding paints with the descriptive language about the sky foreshadows what is to come for these boys. The imagery used in the statement, “There was a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky; then darkness again and stars” (Golding 95). This foreshadows an imminent threat as the sudden bright explosion could be interpreted as the plane crash that was sudden, and how everyone was positive and civil immediately after the crash. While the darkness represents the savagery between the boys and the unwanted fate of death, that will occur long after the crash.

Another quote on this page that foreshadows the boy’s fate is, “The figure fell and crumbled among the blue flowers of the mountain side, but now there was a gentle breeze at this height too and the parachute flopped and banged and pulled” (Golding 95). This illustrates how once the boys started to lose insight and positivity that their concept of civility and rationality was lost because of the obstacles they had to face. The obstacles of the wind and the mountains banged up their innocence and turned them into savage animals. The author decided to use quotes like these to show, though figurative language, the events that will lead to the climax of the novel. I used these two quotes, because they vividly portrayed the obstacles to me; optimistic views at the beginning of each sentence, then a catastrophic ending, which is likely a microcosm of the entire novel.