Adversity is something that impacts everyone no matter of age, gender or circumstance. Literature often represents adversity as a way of creating an understanding in the reader for things that will impact them beyond the words of the page. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies the presence of the beast created from fear, the lack of adult influence on the island and the destruction of the conch and glasses are used to teach the reader about the importance of acting in a moral and ethical way.
One of the main conflicts in the novel the lord of the flies is the “beast”, a horrific creature that all the boys on the island fear. Although this creature takes such a huge place in the destruction of the boys, it is nothing but a product of the
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their imagination. Later on in the novel we find out that in fact the beast in imaginary forsure, and the “beast” that all the boys thought they saw was just the landing of the dead pilot in the mountains, so why does the beast still have such an importance?
Simply, the beast represents two things: darkness and the savagery that potentially exists in all of us, which is shown more in the boys when this “beast” comes about. As the boys grow more savage, their beliefs in the beast grow stronger. Also, it represents the boy's fears. The existence of this creature is driven by their imagination and is fueled by their fears. Even though the boys are all afraid of this beast, only Simon and Piggy realizes that this beast exists only in their mind. In this quote, Piggy states that the beast is just fear of the unknown: "I know there isn't no beast—not with claws and all that, I mean—but I know there isn't no fear, either" (99) . Simon, on the other hand, says that the beast is "only us" (195). But as soon as the boys see a dead parachutist who landed on the mountains, they feel sure that they now have proof that this creature exists which drives their imaginations and thoughts even more wild, even though the dead body proves no threat towards the boys. The fear of the beast and desire to kill it shows how almost all of the boys humanity has been lost during the time on the island. In addition, Golding uses the boy's’ behaviour to show …show more content…
the importance of the beast. For example, “He made one cheek and one eye-socket white, then rubbed red over the other half of his face and slashed a black bar of charcoal across from right ear to left jaw…the mask compelled him.” This shows how Jack is becoming more savage and the beast ‘within him’ is taking over. To also add to that, we see Jack lose civilization more and more as the novel progresses by him wearing less clothes, slaughtering pigs and doing acts of violence towards the other kids. You will the many of the littluns join into this type of savagery when Jack begins to try to take charge over ralph by saying how him and his hunters will hunt the beast and kill it. At this point, all the boys have sided with Jack. The last act of savagery that confirmed how the boys have lost all their humanity is when Jack and his squad of littluns slaughtered some pigs and sang along in Jacks crazy chant “Kill the pig. Cut his throat. Spill his blood” (72). William golding also uses the lack of adults to symbolize civilization on the island for the boys.
Due to no adults or rules, the island is left in destruction and chaos. Although there isn't and adult guidance, there are a few boys who try to provide this care; piggy and ralph. For example, at the beginning of the novel, as soon as ralph realized their was no adults on the island, he started to act in a responsible way by setting up an organized government to establish rules and structure on the island, similar to how an adult would handle the situation. In addition to that, the following conversation between Piggy and Ralph shows their desire to have adult guidance: "Grownups know things," said Piggy. "They ain't afraid of the dark. They'd meet and have tea and discuss. Then things 'ud be all right---. "They wouldn't set fire to the island. Or lose--""They'd build a ship--" (126). The conversation continues with the boys discussing how much better the island would be if the adults were their, but only piggy and ralph agree with that. Also, Often Piggy will questions what adults would do in the situations and makes his decisions based on that. To Piggy, the "adult-way" is most fit way, so he thinks it is best for the boys to follow this method. This proves that the children are in need of adult guidance and are lacking in experience and knowledge of being stuck on an abandoned island. William Golding proves that the boys need adult guidance to make their decisions
because they can clearly not do it on their own. This is backed up by the point that all the boys make a series of bad decisions throughout the novel, even Piggy and Ralph. In the lord of the flies the society of the boys on the island was based upon teachings from adults in the past, but wasn't enough to hold the island together as it went down in chaos and destruction. In the same manner as rules and unity, there was a power tool in the novel lord of the flies; The conch. The conch was once a shell used to call the boys to meeting or given to a boy that wants to speak, founded by Ralph and Piggy at the beginning of the novel on the beach; a very important symbol that had a lot of discussion in the novel. The way it worked was whoever was holding the shell, had their right to speak. Usually the older boys would try to get ahold of this shell to gain the right to speak. It it used so their would be an organized community for the boys, which blew up in their face. Golding uses this shell to symbolize power, organization and democracy, three traits the island lacks severely. The conch gives boys who do not have a voice, a chance to speak. Which is probably why Piggy spends so much time obsessing over it because he needs it to survive. On the other hand, as the novel progressed, Jack begins to hate the shell. Mostly because it stands in the way from his dominance. But near the end of the book Jack orders one the boys to push a boulder over killing Piggy, and the conch. A quote from the novel here saying "The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist" (181) to confirm this. Golding uses this act to symbolize all civilization lost on the island now. Without the conch or Piggy all rules, authority and unity within the boys is lost. In conclusion, throughout the novel William Golding has presented in many ways the importance of acting in a moral and ethical way. He has done so by using fear, lack of mature influence, and the destruction of important symbols to show the reader how it is an important value to be able to act upon morals. This novel shows people that nobody is truly aware of what they are capable of and being power hungry often leads to downfall, no matter what circumstance.
Our first aspect of Fear in the novel comes into play with the Beast. This fictional character becomes the center of the boys problems on the island and brings a long chaos and death. Simon is murdered due to the befuddlement of Simon being mistaken as the beast when in fact he was the jesus like figure and his death was a representation of sacrifice. The beast was not something tangible it was simply the boys because the beast was themselves. Our biggest demons in life rest within oneself, and on the island the beast was just a justification for the boys to blame their wrong doings on. William Golding refers to this using the role of simon by stating: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are" (158)?
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies portrays the lives of young British boys whose plane crashed on a deserted island and their struggle for survival. The task of survival was challenging for such young boys, while maintaining the civilized orders and humanity they were so accustomed too. These extremely difficult circumstances and the need for survival turned these innocent boys into the most primitive and savaged mankind could imagine. William Golding illustrates man’s capacity for evil, which is revealed in man’s inherent nature. Golding uses characterization, symbolism and style of writing to show man’s inhumanity and evil towards one another.
The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to
One of the main characters in Lord of the Flies is the "beast. " This mythical creation is a product of the boys' collective fear of being plane-wrecked on an uninhabited island. They also have a few unreliable "sightings" to support their suspicions. The beast eventually develops into a totem, a pagan god for Jack's simple religion. The boys fear this beast, because it manifests itself in the boars that roam the island, both a danger and a source of food.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...
The fear of the beast, was an essential one to the story of The Lord of the Flies, as it manifests into different characters.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding extensively uses of analogy and symbolism like the dead parachutist in Beast from Air to convey the theme of intrinsic human evil through the decay of the character’s innocence and the island itself. In this essay, I will view and explain Golding’s use of specific symbolism to explain the novel’s main themes.
Fear was the real danger on the island. Although the boys did not see the hidden danger that they believed to be a beast, they let it take control of them and change who they were. The beast was created in the littluns minds because they wanted to make their fear of the dark and being trapped and alone, into something tangible. They created an object that could be stopped, otherwise it would be undefeatable, and they would be trapped and vulnerable. Each new fear fed to the story of the beast, growing it and its power over the boys. Kirstin Olsen stated, “Lord of the flies remains an influential and powerful commentary on human evil… It explores some of the most intense urges and emotions in our repertoire: the desire for power, the fear of the unknown, fear of other people, anger, and jealousy.” These emotions shaped the beast, filling the littluns heads with fear. The beast symbolized both fear and the darkness of humanity, though the darkness is also what the boys feared. When the boy...
Beforehand, everything was all fun and games on the island, and Piggy was the only one that actually worried about anything. However, the idea of the beast brought fear to them again and again. Whether it was when it was first mentioned as a snake, or when it was thought to come from the sea, or when it was guessed to be ghosts, the idea of something being there at the island made the boys afraid even though there was no actual evidence of the beast. Golding wrote, “‘He says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches. He say will it come back tonight?’ ‘But there isn’t a beastie!’ There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching.’” At the idea there there was some sort of mysterious fearsome monster that might come after the boys, the previously joyous atmosphere quickly bursted as fear settles on them. Though the beast only symbolized fear in the beginning, by the latter parts of the novel, it had become a representation of the savagery within a human. Simon was the first one to notice, at how he pointed out how maybe the beast lived within themselves. Also, Jack’s bloody offering to the beast, the sow’s head, represented how the darkness has taken over the hunters. Their belief in the beast strength as their savagery increased, it was almost as if they worshipped it, leaving offerings and such. Also, the Lord
... middle of paper ... ... The frenzied state they are in is being caused by the beast, a symbol of fear. The barbaric way the boys attacked Simon without a moment of restraint shows that the beast had summoned their inner evil, primal, and savage minds.
Many refer to it as the Lord of the Flies, Simon, though, offers a different approach to the matter. Regarding the beast, Simon’s “inward sight the picture of a” man “once heroic and sick”. This gives proof to Simon wisdom, making him stands on a superior level in terms of intelligence and philosophy from the other boys. Simon recognizes the beast’s true identity when he attempts to explain to the boys that there is no real beast, it’s only the fear of themselves. "What I mean is . . . maybe it's only us.” (Golding 89) However, his “effort fell about him in ruins;” as “the laughter beat him cruelly and he shrank away defenseless to his seat.” (Golding 89) The response Simon receives show that the audience is not ready to accept the meaningful truth, that the fear of themselves causes a deception among the boys to create an illusion of a fleshly beast. Simon is willing to persist on a quest of unraveling the false beast, because he wants the boys to face their fear, the beast within themselves. Along the way, he comes face to face with the Lord of the Flies, literally described as a severed pig’s head impaled upon a stake, “a gift for the beast” (Golding 137). The encounter consolidates the idea that the real beast is more about the concept of evil, which is what the figure represents, than a physical creature that can do harm to the community. Fearing that
Another of the most important symbols used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. In the imaginations of many of the boys, the beast is a tangible source of evil on the island. However, in reality, it represents the evil naturally present within everyone, which is causing life on the island to deteriorate. Simon begins to realize this even before his encounter with the Lord of the Flies, and during one argument over the existence of a beast, he attempts to share his insight with the others.
This leads to the fact that a beast really does exist within all human beings, but is only expressed when human instinct for survival becomes the main objective. At first the boys aren?t able to kill, but as survival instinct starts taking over, the reader?s are able to se the true character?s play out, and lives are compromised. ?You feel as if you?re not hunting, but- being hunted, as if something?s behind you all the time in the jungle,? (pg.53) proves that it?s every man for himself and people will do anything to survive. An example of this in the novel was when Robert became the ?pig,? and was wounded even though it wasn?t intentional, but the situation became worse when Piggy?s death happened as a result of all civilization lost and evil taken over.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast gives the children a sense of fear throughout the story. It also shows that it is one of the children's top priorities, as they hunt for it and try to protect themselves from it. The children use the beast to work together, but as the novel progresses the group goes through a separation. The beast is an important role in the novel, having many forms of concepts about it. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the concept of the beast as a whole is used as fear, reality, and evil.