May 20, Hello Future Demons,

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1 May 20, 2013 Hello Future Demons, This letter is for all incoming freshmen who signed up to take accelerated English at Greenway. Every year students who are on the honors track are required to complete a summer assignment to prepare for the upcoming year. This way we can get started on the interesting work of learning to be better readers and writers. The amount of summer work required increases students move though the English portion of the college preparatory curriculum, so now is the time to develop good study habits. Set aside a certain time each week to work on these materials and do quality work so that you can come prepared to succeed. To prepare for honors freshman English, students must read Lord of the Flies written by William Golding and complete the enclosed assignment. This assignment is due the Monday of the second week of school; however, students will have a test the first week and they will have other assignments during that week, so this work should be completed before they come to class. In fact, students who turn it in on the first day of class will receive bonus points. If you do not have access to a book, you may use the online version available for free at I look forward to working with you this year and expect your high school experience to be an enjoyable one. Sincerely, Erik Johnson English Teacher, Honors 1-2

2 Vocabulary A strong vocabulary is necessary for students to be comfortable reading difficult texts. The more unfamiliar words you encounter, the harder the reading becomes. At this level, skipping words is not acceptable. You need to develop a strong vocabulary that will help you be a more fluid reader and that will promote success in both writing and on tests such as the SAT (university entrance exam). Before reading Lord of the Flies, consider the vocabulary you need to know. You may want to review the words for each chapter and then read that chapter. By reviewing the words first, the reading will become easier. Definitions are not provided but any dictionary or Google will get you high-quality definitions. The words that are bolded are common academic words that you should start using in your writing. These words will appear on the test, so you should study them. There are instructions for how to study at the end of this list. Chapter 1: motif: Here the beach was interrupted abruptly by the square motif of the landscape... specious: Ralph had been deceived before now by the specious appearance of depth in a beach pool and he approached this one preparing to be disappointed. effulgence:...the heat seemed to increase till it became a threatening weight and the lagoon attacked them with a blinding effulgence. enmity: He [Ralph] trotted through the sand, enduring the sun's enmity, crossed the platform and found his scattered clothes. decorous: Suddenly Piggy was a-bubble with decorous excitement. intricacies: A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest and echoed back... strident: The note boomed again; and then at his firmer pressure, the note, fluking up an octave, became a strident blare more penetrating than before. eccentric:...a party of boys, marching approximately in step in two parallel lines and dressed in strangely eccentric clothing. furtive: There was a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy. obscurely: There was a stillness in Ralph as sat that marked him out; there was his size, and attractive appearance; and most obscurely, yet most powerfully, there was the conch. mortification: Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack's face disappeared under a blush of mortification. skewed: Some unknown force had wrenched and shatter these cubes [rocks] so they lay askew, often piled diminishingly on each other. immured: Immured in these tangles, at perhaps their most difficult moment,... hiatus: There came a pause, a hiatus, the pig continued to scream...

3 enormity: The pause was only long enough for them to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be. (this word is NOT the same as enormous not at all) Chapter 2: gesticulated: He gesticulated widely. induced: At last Ralph induced him to held the shell but by then the blow of laughter had taken away the child's voice. compelled: Something he [Ralph] had not known was there rose in him and compelled him to make the point, loudly and again. errant: The noise of the errant assembly faded up the mountain. martyred: Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch... ebullience: Then, with the martyred expression of a parent who has to keep up with the senseless ebullience of the children, he picked up the conch... officious: There was pushing and pulling and officious cries. indignant: I got the conch, said Piggy indignantly. You let me speak! recrimination: His [Piggy's] voice lifted into the whine of virtuous recrimination. tumult: He [Piggy] paused in the tumult, standing, looking beyond them and down the unfriendly side of the mountain... tirade: By now they were listening to the tirade. Chapter 3: avidly: Then the trail, the frustration, claimed him again and he searched the ground avidly. inscrutable: Jack lifted his head and stared at the inscrutable masses of creeper that lay across the trail. seductive: From the pig-run came the quick, hard patter of hoofs, a castanet sound, seductive, maddening--the promise of meat. vicissitudes: Jack stood there, streaming with sweat, streaked with brown earth, stained by all the vicissitudes of a day's hunting. contrite: Simon's contrite face appeared in the hole. Sorry. compulsion: He [Jack] tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up. opaque: The opaque, mad look came into his [Jack's] eyes again. rapt: Ralph gazed bewildered at his [Jack's] rapt face. tacit: Jack nodded, as much for the sake of agreeing as anything, and by tacit consent they left the shelter and went toward the bathing pool.

4 perceptible: Simon turned away from them and went where the just perceptible path led him. riotous: With the fading of the light the riotous colors died and the heat and urgency cooled away. (Look at the root word riot inside this unfamiliar term) Chapter 4: whelming: They accepted the pleasures of morning, the bright sun, the whelming sea and sweet air... (In modern English, we use overwhelming, but whelming has largely vanished from our vocabulary) opalescence: Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed in pearl and opalescence; and the heat--as though the impeding sun's height gave it momentum--became a blow that they ducked... impending: Toward noon, as the floods of light fell more nearly to the perpendicular, the stark colors of the morning were smoothed in pearl and opalescence; and the heat--as though the impeding sun's height gave it momentum--became a blow that they ducked... blatant: Strange things happened at midday. The glittering sea rose up, moved apart in planes of blatant impossibility... generic: The smaller boys were know no by the generic title of 'littlun.' belligerence:...johnny was well built, with fair hair and a natural belligerence. chastisement: In his other life Maurice had received chastisement for filling a younger eye with sand. (If you have trouble finding it, look up chastise ) impalpable: With impalpable organs of sense they examined this new field. incursion: Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps any of the strewn detritus of landward life. detritus: Perhaps food had appeared where at the last incursion there had been none; bird droppings, insects perhaps any of the strewn detritus of landward life. myriad Like a myriad of tiny teeth in a saw, the transparencies (baby crabs) came scavenging over the beach. appall: Besides the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled them. balm: Of all the boys, he [Maurice] was the most at home there; but today, irked by the mention of rescue, the useless, footling mention of rescue, even the green depths of water and shattered, golden sun held no balm. ravenously: He turned round and peered up at the mountain. Ralph continued to watch the ship, ravenously. malevolent: Piggy grabbed and put on the glasses. He looked malevolently at Jack. gyration: Jack broke out of his gyration and stood facing Ralph. : Chapter Five: jeer:...remembering that first enthusiastic exploration as though it were part of a brighter childhood, he smiled jeeringly.

5 ludicrous: But Piggy, for all his ludicrous body, had brains. effigy: At first he was a silent effigy of sorrow; but then the lamentation rose out of him. lamentation: At first he was a silent effigy of sorrow; but then the lamentation rose out of him. reverence: Ralph felt a kind of affectionate reverence for the conch, even though he had fished the thing out of the lagoon himself. derisive: The derisive laughter that rose had fear in it and condemnation. decorum: That was from Piggy, shocked out of decorum. inarticulate: Simon became inarticulate in his effort to express mankind's essential illness. tempestuously: A shadow fronted him tempestuously. gibbering: Then the wail rose, remote and unearthly, and turned to an inarticulate gibbering. Chapter 6: flailing: For perhaps ten seconds [Samneric] crouched like that while the failing fire sent smoke and sparks and waves of inconstant light over the top of the mountain. interminable: An interminable dawn faded the stars out, and at last light, sad and gray, filtered into the shelter. tremulously: The twins, holding tremulously to each other, dared the few yard to the next shelter and spread the dreadful news. embroiled: Piggy, finding himself uncomfortably embroiled, slid the conch to Ralph's knees and sat down. diffidently: Diffidently, Simon allowed his pace to slacken until he was walking side by side with Ralph and looking up a him through the coarse black hair... leviathan: Then the sleeping leviathan breathed out, the waters rose, the weed streamed, and the water boiled over the table rock with a roar. (This is figurative: the leviathan referred to here is a large table rock.) mutinously: Mutinously, the boys fell silent or muttering. Chapter 7: brandishing: Jack had him by the hair and was brandishing his knife. glowered: Jack glowered. sage: Ralph nodded. He pointed at the forest. Everybody agreed, sagely. daunting: The word was too good, too bitter, too successfully daunting to be repeated. infuriate: Ralph noticed a rapid and infuriating tapping noise and realized that Roger was banging his silly wooden stick against something. impervious: So they sat, the rocking, tapping, impervious Roger and Ralph, fuming...

6 bravado: Ralph surprised himself, not so much by the quality of his voice, which was even, but by the bravado of its intention. Chapter 8: sanctity: The wood he fetched was close at hand, a fallen tree on the platform that they did not need for the assembly, yet to the others the sanctity of the platform had protected even what was useless there. demure: Each of them [Jack & Roger] wore the remains of a black cap and ages ago they had stood in two demure rows and their voices had been the song of angels. fervor: If Jack was astonished by their fervor he did not show it. taboo: I dunno, Ralph. I expect it's him. Jack? Jack. A taboo was evolving round that word too. sufficiency: They were regarding him gravely, not yet troubled by any doubts about his sufficiency. Chapter 9: interspersed: Here there were wide spaces interspersed with thickets and huge trees and the rend of the ground led him up as the forest opened. corpulent: Then as the blue material of the parachute collapsed the corpulent figure would bow forward, sighing, and the flies settle once more. looming: Piggy was inspecting the looming sky through his glass, 'I don't like them clouds, Remember how it rained just after we landed?' derision: Piggy once more was the center of social derision so that everyone felt cheerful and normal. (earlier you learned derisive, so this should be easy because it is the same word with a different part of speech) succulent: The boys with the spit gave Ralph and Piggy each a succulent chunk [of meat]. sauntered: Jack rose from the log that was his throne and sauntered to the edge of the grass. demented: Piggy and Ralph under the threat of the sky, found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society. unendurable: 'Kill the Beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!' The blue-white scar was constant, the noise unendurable. surged: At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. Chapter 10: assimilating: He creased to work at his tooth and sat still, assimilating the possibilities of irresponsible authority. composite: The blood roared again in Ralph's ears, confused images chased each other through his mind. A composite of these things was prowling round the shelters.

7 purged: The night was cool and purged of immediate terror. Chapter 11: propitiating: Piggy nodded propitiating. unquenchable: Behind him came the twins, worried now of a while but full of unquenchable vitality. impenetrable: The densest tangle on the island, a mass of twisted stems, black and green and impenetrable, lay on their left and tall grass swayed before them. quavered: Am I safe? quavered Piggy. I feel awful-- ludicrous: With ludicrous care he embraced the rock, pressing himself to it above the sucking sea. (You should already know this. The author used it before) truculently: Truculently they squared up to each other but kept just out of fighting distance. cessation: The twins, puzzled, looked at each other; while piggy, reassured by the cessation of violence, stood up carefully. talisman: By him stood Piggy still holding out the talisman, the fragile, shining beauty of the shell. delirious: High overhead, Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever. Chapter 12: inimical: There was no reply. To carry he must speak louder; and this would rouse those striped and inimical creatures from their feasting by the fire. ensconce: At first the twisted stems, ensconce himself so deep that only a crawler like himself could come through, and that crawler would be jabbed. shied: At the sound he shied like a horse among the creepers and ran once more till he was panting. (You can look up shy, but obviously you are not going for the first definition) obscure: state of being unknown The savage peered into the obscurity beneath the thicket. distended: Other boys were appearing now, tiny tots some of them, brown, with distended bellies of small savages.

8 Studying Vocab Your study list: 1. appalled 2. belligerence 3. blatant 4. compelled 5. derisive/derision 6. ebullience 7. eccentric 8. enmity 9. furtive 10. impending 11. indignant 12. infuriating 13. inimical 14. inscrutable 15. jeer 16. malevolent 17. obscure 18. recrimination 19. specious 20. strident 21. tirade 22. truculent 23. vicissitudes There are many ways to learn vocab, but one that has shown a lot of success is a multi-part flashcard. Instead of putting a word on one side and a definition on the other, this card has many parts and you use it a little differently. If you re having trouble learning all these words, try this: On the front, have the word On the back, include all (or most) of the following: 1. A picture that reminds you of the word 2. The definition 3. The part of speech 4. A sample sentence either of your own or from the reading. Now, FIND A STUDY PARTNER. Parents love to help with this, btw. Have your partner show you the card. If you remember the word right away, great. Put that card aside. If you can t remember it, have your partner give you a hint. They can describe the picture or give you the sample sentence. Try and guess, and if you can t, ask for another hint. All this struggling to remember is what we call learning. Struggle long enough, and it will click. Now, put that card back in the pile so it will come up again. Stop when you ve set all the cards aside because you could define every word without a single hint.

9 Close Reading Questions Close reading questions are a way for me to help you find the most important ideas in a chapter. You should answer each of these on your own piece of paper using no more than three complete sentences (and not less than one). If you want to challenge yourself, try using your new vocabulary as you answer the questions. Chapter One 1. What first impression does the author give us of the fat boy? 2. Who has the idea to call the others with the conch and why is this important? 3. What is the reader s first impression of Sam-and-Eric and of Jack Merridew? 4. How does Ralph form an alliance with Jack? 5. What is the tone as the three boys go explore and how do you know this? Use specific words to show what tone (fearful, joyful, playful, angry, vengeful, delighted) the author creates. Chapter Two 1. Who first identifies their most pressing problem and why is this significant? Look at who listens and who doesn t listen to him in order to answer that question. 2. What does Ralph call the most important thing? What does it suggest that others are discussing snakes and rescue and being lost and Ralph focuses on THIS? 3. Who stands up for Piggy on the mountaintop? 4. What power does the conch have? What does it mean that the others so often ignore that when Piggy has the conch? 5. What most likely happened to the little un with the birthmark? Chapter Three 1. How have the boys attitudes changed in just a few days? 2. What is swallowing Jack, and what might this foreshadow? Make a prediction. (If you don t know the word foreshadow, you may want to use Google to look it up.) 3. What are the boys talking about when they mention how everyone is afraid? Chapter Four 1. Look at the setting at the beginning of the chapter. What tone is the author creating here? 2. What is protecting Henry from the throwing stones? Of that list of items, how many of them are actually present on the island? What does this foreshadow? 3. How do the new masks free the boys? What are they free from? 4. How do Jack and Ralph fight about leadership here? Who wins? Who takes the boys off on his project and whose orders are ignored, leaving the boys with no signal when a ship passes by? Chapter Five 1. If the path has not changed, how has Ralph changed that he sees the path (and Piggy) so differently as the chapter opens? 2. Has Jack changed or does his speech here show him to be the same sort of person he was when the boys found each other when Ralph first blew the conch?

10 3. What fear is Ralph talking about? How does Jack change that conversation? 4. What is Piggy s opinion about people s fears? Chapter Six 1. Looking at the details ( a sudden bright explosion and corkscrew trail across the sky A figure beneath a parachute and the figure sat, its helmeted head between its knees, held by a complication of lines ), what just happened on the island? 2. How is the power shifting? What does each leader use to reinforce his own position? Chapter Seven 1. How is power shifting? What does the author do to help you understand the changes? 2. What causes the boys to lose control? Why wouldn t they have lost control like this on day one? How have they changed? 3. What are the boys looking at in the end? Why is the face ruined? Chapter Eight 1. When Ralph says the beast has big, black eyes, what had he really been looking at? Check your answer to chapter seven, question three. 2. Why do some of the boys choose Jack? What is Jack offering them that Ralph isn t? 3. What is the first act of violence in this chapter? What is the second? Are they related? 4. The author tells us, In Simon s right temple, a pulse began to beat on the brain. Why did the author say this? How is Simon s experience after this different? 5. The Beast Simon talks to is one of two things. One exists in Simon s head, and the other exists in the real world. Look at what the Beast says and try and figure out who the Beast is. Chapter Nine - Twelve At this point, you should understand the novel enough that you don t need as much help. Do keep these things in mind: 1. Are all the deaths inevitable? Who carries the blame for those who die? 2. What happens to those who try and tell the truth on this island? Who are the truth-tellers. 3. What is significant about the ending? All book the boys have talked about fire, how does the ending fit into that? 4. Who do you think should be punished? Should anyone be punished? TURN IN CHECKLIST You should have and turn in 1. Vocabulary flashcards 2. Chapter questions (one to three complete sentences for each question) You should know and understand for the test 1. The words and definitions 2. Answers to the chapter questions 3. Answers to the After the Reading Questions on the next page.

11 After the Reading Questions Some questions can only be answered after you have read the entire story. After reading the entire text, go back and answer these. You do not have to write out these answers, but they will appear on the test, so you must know the answers. 1. Which character is the symbol of democratic leadership? His only real power is his attractive appearance. In fact, Golding says that he is not the most obvious leader or even particularly intelligent. 2. Which character is the symbol of authoritarian leadership (dictatorship)? He is first to command boys, barking out stand still and shut up and insisting that he does not want to boy by a boy s name. He s a man. When voted down not once but twice, he takes power for himself 3. Which character is the symbol of intelligence? He is always quick to get to the most important thing and he comes up with most of the ideas as well as speaking for the little uns. He is the only one to recognize the shifting power and warn people of coming dangers (not that they listen). 4. Which character is the symbol of evil? He takes joy in throwing stones at children and is the first to intentionally kill another boy. He has a gloomy face and he is described as having an unsociable remoteness that had turned into something forbidding. 5. Which character is the symbol of good? Some even call him a Christ figure (this is a literary term for a character that the author models off of Christ). He Looking at what each boy symbolizes and what happens to each boy in the end, Golding is suggesting. That democratic leadership leads to That authoritarian leaders That in our society, intelligence is That good often and evil You don t have to agree with Golding s conclusions (in fact, I would hope you don t), but you should be able to identify what he thinks.