Lord of the Flies - Form, structure and language test questions - Edexcel

Read this extract in which Roger kills Piggy while Ralph helplessly watches. Then answer the questions which follow.

Ralph heard the great rock before he saw it. He was aware of a jolt in the earth that came to him through the soles of his feet, and the breaking sound of stones at the top of the cliff. Then the monstrous red thing bounded across the neck and he flung himself flat while the tribe shrieked.

The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist. Piggy, saying nothing, with no time for even a grunt, travelled through the air sideways from the rock, turning over as he went. The rock bounded twice and was lost in the forest. Piggy fell forty feet and landed on his back across the square red rock in the sea. His head opened and stuff came out and turned red. Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed. Then the sea breathed again in a long, slow sigh, the water boiled white and pink over the rock; and when it went, sucking back again, the body of Piggy was gone.

What happens early in the novel which foreshadows this event?

Which expression is an example of personification?

'The conch exploded into a thousand white fragments' - what does this symbolise?

Which literary device is Golding using when he writes 'Piggy’s arms and legs twitched a bit, like a pig’s after it has been killed'?

Which other character's dead body ends up in the sea?

Read this extract in which Simon hallucinates that the pig's head is talking to him . Then answer the questions which follow.

"Come now," said the Lord of the Flies. "Get back to the others and we’ll forget the whole thing."

Simon’s head wobbled. His eyes were half-closed as though he were imitating the obscene thing on the stick. He knew that one of his times was coming on. The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon.

"This is ridiculous. You know perfectly well you’ll only meet me down there—so don’t try to escape!"

Simon’s body was arched and stiff. The Lord of the Flies spoke in the voice of a schoolmaster.

"This has gone quite far enough. My poor, misguided child, do you think you know better than I do?"

"I'm warning you. I’m going to get waxy. D'you see? You're not wanted. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island. Understand? We are going to have fun on this island! So don't try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else—"

Simon found he was looking into a vast mouth. There was blackness within, a blackness that spread.

"—Or else," said the Lord of the Flies, "we shall do you? See? Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph. Do you. See?"

Simon was inside the mouth. He fell down and lost consciousness.

The chapter this extract comes from is called Gift For The Darkness. Why is it called this?

Many of the sentences in this extract have been deliberately constructed as very short. Which statement is not a reason why Golding does this?

Which literary device is Golding using when he writes 'The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon'?

When the pig's head says 'So don’t try it on, my poor misguided boy, or else—', Golding uses a dash at the end to show what?

What event earlier in the novel foreshadows the end of this extract?