Intermediate Revision Booklet

Intermediate Revision Booklet

Mrs McAleer

Prose: Lord of the Flies

You should re-read the novel before the exam to make sure you know it was well as you possibly can.

The first section is filled with questions and activities designed to help you as you read the novel again.

You will also find BBC Bitsize very useful:

BBC - GCSE Bitesize - Lord of the Flies

Chapter One

1.  Write down five key events from this chapter.

2.  Then rank them in the order of importance and make notes about why the top two are so important.

3.  What are Ralph and Piggy like at the start of the novel? Pick out two quotations which support your ideas.

4.  How is the island described at this point? Find 2 quotations which really help the reader to picture what it looks and feels like.

5.  What is Jack like in this chapter?

6.  Why is the election of Ralph as chief both inevitable and important?

Chapter Two

1.  Why is ‘Fire on the Mountain’ a suitable name for this chapter?

2.  There is the first mention of the beast in this chapter. Find a quotation which describes this moment.

3.  What part does Piggy play at the end of the chapter?

4.  What do we learn about Piggy’s character and how the others respond to him?

5.  Why is the ‘disappearance’ of the littleun so significant?

Chapter Three

1.  What does Jack fail to do?

2.  What does this suggest about the boys at this point?

3.  What do we learn about Simon?

Chapter Four

1.  Why does Jack change in this chapter?

2.  Why is Ralph so angry?

3.  What do we learn about Roger?

4.  Find at least one quotation for questions 1, 2, and 3.

5.  What do you think the breaking of Piggy’s glasses symbolises?

Chapter Five

1.  Explain how the boys feel about the beast in this chapter?

2.  Who is the only character who understands what the boys should be afraid of?

3.  Why could calling the assembly at night be a mistake by Ralph?

4.  Why could this chapter contain a shift towards the boys’ society breaking down?

Chapter Six

1.  What does the reader know is happening, which the boys are unaware of, at the start of the chapter?

2.  What does this tell us about the world adult world outside the island?

3.  What happens on the boys search for the beast?

4.  Who is in charge of the search?

5.  Why is their discovery of Castle Rock significant?

Chapter Seven

1.  Why is the game of hunting so significant?

2.  Find 3 quotations to support your ideas.

3.  What happens to Simon?

4.  What would have happened if Simon had been there when the others found the parachutist?

Chapter Eight

1.  Describe how the tension between Ralph and Jack reaches a climax.

2.  What is the affect of this moment?

3.  How has Piggy and Ralph’s relationship changed?

4.  Why is Simon’s fit so significant?

Chapter Nine

1.  What does Simon discover in this chapter?

2.  Why does Golding include Ralph, Piggy and SamnEric at the feast?

3.  Pick out 3 quotations which show how violent and savage the death of Simon is.

4.  Why is the death of Simon so significant?

5.  Who is to blame for Simon’s death?

Chapter Ten

1.  How does Jack rule his tribe?

2.  Why does Jack’s tribe attack what is left of Ralph’s group?

3.  Why is the fact that Jack’s tribe leave the conch so significant?

Chapter Eleven

1.  Who is to blame for Piggy’s death?

2.  Is this a surprise? Why?

3.  What does the smashing of the conch symbolise?

4.  Who should the boys be most afraid of: Roger or Jack? Why?

5.  Who is left completely alone? Why?

Chapter Twelve

1.  Describe what the boys are like as they hunt Ralph.

2.  Find 3 quotations to illustrate their violence.

3.  Why is the fire on the island symbolic?

4.  Who would have killed Ralph if he had been caught?

5.  What is the officer a symbol of?

6.  Why do you think Jack hangs back and is quiet at the end of the chapter?

7.  What is Ralph weeping for at the end of the novel?

Activities

1.  Turn the important events of the novel into a timeline.

2.  Think about the main themes of the novel. Choose one and mindmap all your ideas, finding quotations as evidence for them.

3.  Create a table for each key character. On one side write down ideas about them and on the other, find quotations to support your ideas.

Essay Questions

You should try and time yourself. You can hand them in after the holidays to be marked. 45 minutes for one essay!

DO NOT just recycle an old essay. You should come to these questions with a fresh viewpoint, to try and push your knowledge and understanding.

Intermediate 1

1. Choose a novel or a short story or a piece of non-fiction in which there is a person towards whom you feel a strong emotion such as sympathy or hatred or admiration.

Say how you feel about the person, and explain why you feel this way.

2. Choose a novel or short story which has an important relationship between two people, or between a person and a place.

Say why the relationship is important and explain what happens to it by the end of the story. Go on to say what you feel about the ending.

3. Choose a novel or short story which has an important turning point.

Say how the turning point was reached and go on to show how it affects the characters and the ending of the story.

Intermediate 2

1. Choose a novel or a short story which gives you an insight into an aspect of human nature or behaviour.

State what the aspect is, and show how the characters’ actions and relationships lead you to a deeper understanding of human nature or behaviour.

2. Choose a novel or a short story in which a character is in conflict with his or her friends or relatives or society.

Show how the conflict arises and what effect it has on the character’s fate in the novel or short story as a whole.

3. Choose a novel or short story which has a turning point or moment of realisation for at least one of the characters.

Briefly describe what has led up to the turning point or moment. Go on to show what impact this has on the character(s) and how it affects the outcome of the novel or story.

Poetry

Visiting Hour

Norman McCaig

The hospital smell
combs my nostrils
as they go bobbing along
green and yellow corridors.
What seems a corpse
is trundled into a lift and vanishes
heavenward.
I will not feel, I will not
feel, until
I have to.
Nurses walk lightly, swiftly,
here and up and down and there,
their slender waists miraculously
carrying their burden
of so much pain, so
many deaths, their eyes
still clear after
so many farewells.
Ward 7. She lies
in a white cave of forgetfulness.
A withered hand
trembles on its stalk. Eyes move
behind eyelids too heavy
to raise. Into an arm wasted
of colour a glass fang is fixed,
not guzzling but giving.
And between her and me
distance shrinks till there is none left
but the distance of pain that neither she nor I
can cross.
She smiles a little at this
black figure in her white cave
who clumsily rises
in the round swimming waves of a bell
and dizzily goes off, growing fainter,
not smaller, leaving behind only
books that will not be read
and fruitless fruits.

The Situation

The poet is visiting a dying friend or relative in hospital, and tries to avoid his emotions on his way to the ward. When he arrives, he is overcome by grief and anguish, and leaves the visit feeling it has been pointless.

Themes

Facing Death (either the dying person, or the relative)

Isolation surrounding death/emotion

Imagery

1. “… nostrils/ as they go bobbing along” – Synecdoche is used, since not just his nostrils are moving along, as the image would suggest. This emphasises the overpowering nature of “the hospital smell”, since it has blocked out his other senses.

2. “white cave of forgetfulness” – Metaphor, suggesting the white curtains or sheets are cave-like (impenetrable). This conveys the isolation of the woman, and the poet’s exclusion from her.

3. “withered hand/ trembles on its stalk” – Metaphor, suggesting the woman’s body is brittle and frail, by comparing it to a dying flower. The image suggests the woman’s body has deteriorated, but contains hope for regrowth (afterlife), as well as showing the love with which the poet looks on the woman.

4. “glass fang” – Metaphor, suggesting the intravenous drip is vampire-like. The horror in this image is shocking, which shows the poet’s grief and distress at seeing the woman’s condition, and being unable to help her.

5. “black figure in her white cave” – Metaphor, referring to the universal image of Death, “figure” also suggesting the woman’s blurred vision. This emphasises the isolation of the woman, as well as her impending and unavoidable death.

6. “the round swimming waves of a bell” – Synaesthesia, as a visual image describes a

sound (signalling the end of the Visiting Hour?). “swimming” could suggest the poet’s dizziness (confusion) or tears. This is from the woman’s point of view, so further shows her isolation, and the poet’s isolation from her.

Structure

1. The verses deal with the poet’s progression through the visit, from his entering the hospital and making his way to the ward, up to him leaving after the visit. Also, each verse reveals more of the poet’s emotions.

2. The first line of the poem is effective in grabbing the reader’s attention, by referring to a very vivid and distinctive sensory image; “The hospital smell” which the reader can associate with.

3. “I will not feel, I will not/ feel, until/ I have to.” – Repetition is used to suggest the poet is chanting under his breath in order to avoid his emotions.

4. “here and up and down and there” – the unusual syntax (word order) is another example of the poet trying to lighten the mood, while also emphasising the number of nurses he sees. It suggests MacCaig is looking all around to find a distraction from his thoughts.

5. “so much pain, so/ many deaths …/ so many farewells” – Repetition of “so” stresses the frequency of the nurses’ unpleasant dealings, which supports the high esteem, perhaps envy, with which he regards the ability of the nurses to cope.

6. “Ward 7.” – The abruptness of this non-sentence jolts the reader, just as we can imagine it affected MacCaig; this effect is heightened by the caesura it causes. This is the turning point of the poem, as he has now reached his relative and must face his emotions.

Word Choice

1. “combs my nostrils” – gives a sense of the pervasive power of the smell, and his feeling of being invaded; showing his discomfort.

2. “green and yellow corridors” – colours have connotations of sickness, which further stresses the poet’s discomfort in these surroundings.

3. “corpse” – holds little relation to life, suggesting the finality of death. The harshness of the sound; with a guttural “c” and plosive “p”, shows the poet’s distress and the painful emotions he is facing.

4. “heavenward” – incongruous with the poet’s beliefs, expressed in the previous lines; simply an example of MacCaig using humour to avoid his emotions.

5. “miraculously” – suggests MacCaig’s admiration for the nurses’ abilities, while showing his own worry about the way he will cope with the emotions.

6. “farewells” – the ending of the verse on this draws attention to the word, which underlines the purpose of his visit. Defined as “good wishes on parting”, the word is suggestive of the possibility the people will meet again, and that those departing are going on some kind of journey – this perhaps shows the poet’s desire to believe in an afterlife, especially at such troubling times.

7. “white cave” – holds connotations of isolation through confusion or sensory blankness (eg “white noise”)

8. “not guzzling but giving” – the horror of the “glass fang” image is continued in the word “guzzling”, but is reversed by the positive word, “giving”. The use of the guttural “g” sound in the alliteration conveys the harshness of the poet’s interpretation; he clearly sees the process as intrusive and pointless.

9. “clumsily … dizzily” – shows the poet is overcome by his emotions, leaving him confused and dazed.

10. “fainter” – showing the woman’s vision is blurred; she can see him getting fainter with distance. Also a pun, since the poet may be so upset he is starting to feel faint.

11. “fruitless fruits” – the final words are an oxymoron: how can a fruit be fruitless? This captures the poet’s despair at the pointlessness of the woman’s death being prolonged, and his inability to help – bringing fruit has been “fruitless”, ie pointless.

In the Snack Bar

Edwin Morgan

Situation

The poem describes an incident in which one able man encounters a disabled man, and in helping him to the toilet, for a time enters his world.

Each inch of the floor they cross is dangerous to the man, who is blind, and Morgan comments on the desperate pity he feels for someone who is so dependent "on many who would evade him."