The two boys, bullet-headed and with hair like tow, flung themselves down and lay grinning and panting at Ralph like dogs. They were twins, and the eye was shocked and incredulous at such cheery duplication. They breathed together, they grinned together, they were chunky and vital. They raised wet lips at Ralph, for they seemed provided with not quite enough skin, so that their profiles were blurred and their mouths pulled open. (p. 19)I've quoted a fairly lengthy section because I think you need to read the everything here to make sense of it. And doing that also makes a good example of Golding's brilliance as a writer.
The last sentence is the challenging one, especially the clause: "they seemed provided with not quite enough skin".
- First, what is Golding doing in this passage, these four sentences? What is his purpose?
- What image forms in your mind as you read these sentences? What does it look like?
- How does the last sentence fit into your mental image? Does it fit?
- So, what does "they seemed provided with not quite enough skin" contribute to the picture in your mind? How does it fit in?
- Once we are clear about the plain, literal meaning as a direct physical description, we can then worry about other possible meanings, such as the symbolic meanings that it might have.
What do you think? What might the fact that "they seemed provided with not quite enough skin" symbolically foreshadow? - How does this symbolism work?
- There is also more symbolism going on in this short passage. What is the animal symbolism telling us?
- And you might also like to analyse how Golding uses his words and symbolism to efficiently achieve several purposes at the same time.
Please feel welcome to share your ideas on the twins as introduced in the quoted passage. You can refer to other parts of the novel, but only to support an idea about the four sentences quoted above.
- Finally, are they a bad dog?
__________
References
Peter,
ReplyDeleteSeeing your title of the blog, I can guess that you think the twins are bad,right?
Sunny,
ReplyDeleteI think they think they're decent people. I am sure that they want to be good people.
Sadly, thinking we are or wanting to be something doesn't make it so.
They remind me of: the majority of Germans, nice, decent people, who sincerely supported Hitler's solution to the Jewish problem, something that Golding most likely had in mind, writing so soon after World War 2; of the mass of Americans, nice, decent people, who happily went along with the vicious, witch-hunting anti-communist campaigns of US governments from the late 1940s (also an ugly stain on Thai history); and perhaps too, they remind me of the large numbers of people in many countries who happily allow, or actively assist, their governments to attack their fellow citizens with irrational and unjust campaigns today, such as wars on drugs, the demonization of groups such as gays and atheists, and violations of free speech to censor and enforce ignorance on matters of genuine public concern, on which Germany is again guilty with its laws criminalising Holocaust denial.
Samneric are very cheerful, very likeable, and deeply flawed human beings.