Question

read the passage from lord of the flies by william golding.

he passed his tongue across dry lips and scanned the uncommunicative forest. then again he stole forward and cast this way and that over the ground.

the silence of the forest was more oppressive than the heat, and at this hour of the day there was not even the whine of insects. only when jack himself roused a gaudy bird from a primitive nest of sticks was the silence shattered and echoes set ringing by a harsh cry that seemed to come out of the abyss of ages. jack himself shrank at this cry with a hiss of indrawn breath, and for a minute became less a hunter than a furtive thing, ape - like among the tangle of trees. then the trail, the frustration, claimed him again and he searched the ground avidly.

what is the universal theme of this passage?
○ the tension between truth and illusion
○ the relationship between violence and human nature
○ the relationship between civilization and nature
○ the conflict between an individual’s desires and the community’s needs

Explanation:

1. Analyze Option 1: The passage doesn't focus on truth vs. illusion. It's about Jack in the forest, hunting, and his primal reaction. So this is incorrect.
2. Analyze Option 2: The passage shows Jack (a human) in a natural, primitive forest setting. His reaction to the bird's cry (a primal, violent - seeming cry) and his ape - like, furtive behavior hints at how human nature (especially primal, violent - adjacent instincts) interacts with the violent - seeming elements of nature (the harsh cry, the primitive nest). This fits.
3. Analyze Option 3: There's no clear mention of civilization here. The focus is on Jack and the natural forest, not a contrast between civilization and nature. So this is incorrect.
4. Analyze Option 4: The passage doesn't deal with an individual's desires vs. community needs. It's about Jack in nature, not a community context. So this is incorrect.

Answer:

the relationship between violence and human nature