Christine’s Lord of the Flies Comprehension Questions #1
1) Golding makes a few references to the bible throughout the novel, however the ones referring to Eden are mostly in the first few chapters. The most obvious allusion the to The Garden of Eden is when Ralph sees the beautiful island and immediately takes his clothes off, much like Adam in the Book of Genesis. However, this is a situational comparison. The island itself appears to be a place of innocence and freedom from the constraints of adult life, not to mention the abundant amount of fruit and freshwater. Similarly, The Garden of Eden is a place of innocence and full of as much fruit as Adam and Eve wanted to eat. Both are initially described as a “paradise”. Moreover, in “Lord of the Flies”, the boys mention a serpent-beast, which makes an appearance in Eden representing the devil.
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This foreshadows a presence of evil on the island. Although there is some foreshadowing of evil in the story of Adam and Eve, there was no fire in The Garden of Eden. Furthermore, from the very beginning there is conflict within the group of boys in “Lord of the Flies”. This was not prominent in the Garden of Eden.
Despite the Garden of Eden’s reputation of purity and freedom, it is the setting of the ultimate act of evil. This is true in “The Lord of the Flies”, with the acts of killing and savage tendencies the boys demonstrate. At what first appears to be a paradise, the conclusion of both stories is unfortunate.
2) At the beginning of “Lord of the Flies”, the boys make decisions based on order and civilization. These rules and symbols become less important to some of the boys as the novel
Many works of literature inspire new works to be made every day. From things as old as beowulf to the many shakespeare plays, current day writers keep pulling ideas from the classics to create their own stories. Because of this, many older works of literature are still relevant today. The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is more current than ever with allusion from Popular television shows, music that is heard on the radio and the newest blockbuster movie. The many allusions in modern day literature and works of art to lord of the flies are too numerous to count.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a peculiar story about boys stranded on an island, and the plot and characters relate to many prevailing events and problems. A specific problem that is currently occurring is the mutual hatred and enmity between North Korea and South Korea. This is a current event, but the North and South’s hostility has been ongoing since 1945, when Korea was split into North and South, Communist and Capitalist. When the 38th parallel(Border between North and South Korea) was created, Kim Il-Sung ruled the North, and Syngman Rhee ruled the South. As of now, a power hungry dictator, Kim Jong-un rules the north, and an optimistic president who wants to see change was recently elected in the South, named Moon Jae-in. In Golding’s book, Ralph is a character who aimed to keep everyone alive and to stay together. Jack on the other hand, wanted to have fun and hunt, and although he also wanted to be rescued, he made no effort to help. In this sense, North Korea is a clear representation of the character Jack and his quest for power, and opposingly, South Korea is a representation of Ralph and his strive for order, democracy, and civilization.
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
At the beginning of Lord of the Flies, the boys create a democratic government. As the story progresses, the initial democracy on the island is ignored, and a dictatorship rises in its place. This dictatorship fails to keep the boys in order. The author, William Golding, shows that without the institution of a strong government and set of rules people will become impulsive and seek instant gratification. In the absence of order, people tend not to become disciplined of their own accord, but rather dissolve into destructive chaos.
All in all, Golding’s lean towards the Fall of Man is evident in Lord of the Flies. Adam and Eve’s purity was corrupted by man’s consuming desire, like the boys in the novel. In the end, evil conquered. "Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness in man's heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy.” So why has this novel and the story of Genesis strived through the years? Simply, we, as imperfect humans, can sadly relate to it. We lose our child-like purity, like Ralph. We persecute people who are different than us like Piggy. But most of all, we give into our inner darkness, like Jack. We are the Fall of Man itself.
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
Golding includes the theme of religious persecution to remind people of mans true nature, and by doing so alludes the fact that the next time society deteriorates, due to nuclear war, may be the last. The parallels between Goldings novel and the bible are too numerous for it to be coincidence, which we can see is mainly reflected through characters and symbolism. The first parallel is the similarity between the Garden of Eden and the Island in Lord of the Flies. Both are tropical, beautiful, pristine and untouched. However this changes once the boys have left a scar in the forest of the island, comparable to the scar Adam and Eve left in the Garden of Eden. The most difficult to discover religious element in the novel is the title. Lord of the Flies, once translated into Greek, means ‘Beelzebub’ - a name for the devil. This implies that the embodiment of religious evil is the main thought throughout the book. Another well hidden religious element is the stick sharpened at both ends, whic...
Civilization struggling for power against savagery was shown throughout Lord of the Flies. These opposite mindsets are shown battling while determining who had the right to speak during assemblies, when the group hunted pigs, throughout the struggle over Piggy’s glasses, and finally with Simon’s death. These polar opposites are shown throughout these examples and reveal the desperation of clinging to civilization while savagery took over the actions of the some of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
... of Adam and Even, who did not feel ashamed of their nudity before they ate the fruit (10). And as mentioned before, Golding concludes his Eden allusion when he brings about the “beast” as the snake that sets the boys on the fast track towards evil, while stranded on the island.
The island represents a good and evil symbol in the Lord of the Flies. It stands for a new independent life without any adults who rule the children’s life. The boys realized that there is not anyone to get them in trouble or tell them anything after they doing something wrong so; they end up liking the island. So it is like a treasure island at first glance. “This is our island. It’s a good island. Until the grownups come to fetch us we’ll have fun.”(35). This quote is significant because the boys take over the island and they decide to have fun while they are there.
Stranded on the island, the boys in William Golding's Lord of the Flies are exposed to unique elements that symbolize the author’s demonstration that humans, when taken away from society's values, allow themselves to be caught between the evils of the world.
People are privileged to live in an advanced stage of development known as civilization. In a civilization, one’s life is bound by rules that are meant to tame its savage natures. A humans possesses better qualities because the laws that we must follow instill order and stability within society. This observation, made by William Golding, dictates itself as one of the most important themes of Lord of the Flies. The novel demonstrates the great need for civilization ion in life because without it, people revert back to animalistic natures.
In The Lord of the Flies, Golding symbolizes the island in many ways. To begin, the island was pure, and clean before they crashed. The crash left a scar on the island. The island was symbolized as the "Garden of Eden", when they got there, and at the end it was like "Hell on earth". The boys made the island unpure when they landed. Their survival altered the island forever. They killed animals, started fires, built huts, and by this they changed the natural state of the island.
As I connect through what I’ve learned in class that the novel had resemblance to Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden can be compared as the island in Lord of the Flies when at first no mankind existed. Before the existence of mankind on the island, it’s able to provide the best living standard along with the access to food, water and other resources. In Golding’s perspective “Eden” is portrayed as evil foreshadowing the island as it ends up in the state of misery, changing from heaven to hell. Piggy in this situation is the saviour of society and an intellectual character as Jack’s failure to understand Piggy resulted in Piggy’s death. Before Piggy’s death he had concerns that, “Just an ordinary fire. You’d think we could do that, wouldn’t you? Just a smoke signal so we can be rescued. Are we savages or what?”(Page20). This quote analyzes Piggy’s concern of savagery taking over the island. Piggy’s death is the symbol to the downfall of mankind and the conch shell was blown away. Jack’s rise in ambition was the reason to becoming a corrupted person as he never thinks beyond himself. The power gained by Jack has been a negative effect on society. On a long run corruption rules like a dictator, if it isn’t prevented. Simon’s faith on humanity allows him to explore nature and made him that in the process of savagery, the beast is within all of their bodies. Therefore Simons’ involvement in the novel shows its
Simon snapped shut his locker and slung his gym bag over his shoulder. The walk to the library was short but he wished there was some other place he could go. His shoulder bones ached from swimming practice and the weight of his gym bag made it worse. Why couldn’t he just go home by himself, he thought. Sure, the walk home was long but lying on his own bed was so much better than waiting forever in the library. He walked out of the gym and the afternoon sun’s rays glared painfully bright, blinding him for a second. In the distance, a group of older boys was playing basketball, their voices raised in unison as one player made a quarter throw shot. Simon stopped for a second, raising an arm to shield his eyes from the sun.