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Character development of lord of the flies
Character development of lord of the flies
Lord of the Flies character analysis
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The book Lord of the Flies was written as though a plane of marooned "party of boys," on what was "an island: clambering among the pink rocks, with the sea on either side, and the crystal heights of air, they had known by some instinct that the sea lay on every side." Although the novel was written as with a plane of stranded boys, if the plane had been full of all girls the situation would have been different; in the contrary with a plane full of boys and girls the story would have varied very little. In the story and in real life some of the males in the society develop alpha male personalities. Alpha males are noted as men with desirable traits and natural leading skills, in the novel the two main alpha males are Jack and Ralph. Jack was "in charge of the choir," showing his leading abilities and believed he "ought to be chief... because [he was] chapter chorister and head boy," both his previous leading experience and his desire to be chief on the island point to Jack being an alpha male. …show more content…
So, in Lord of the Flies some of the boys did have dominant or alpha male personalities which helped shape the
Writer Steven James said, “The true nature of man left to himself without restraint is not nobility but savagery.” This quote can be used to accurately describe Jack Merridew, one of the young boys who becomes stranded on an unknown island in the Pacific. Lord of the Flies was written by William Golding; the novel explores the dark side of humanity and the underlying savagery in even the most civilized person. The novel opens on a group of British boys between ages six and twelve stranded on a tropical island without adult supervision. The boys elect a leader in an attempt to form a civilized society; however, their peaceful island descends into chaos as Ralph and Jack continuously argue over who should be the leader of the island. From the beginning of the novel, Jack is seen as power hungry, envious, and manipulative to further his own agenda, the anti-thesis to Ralph’s concern with social order and their future.
Leadership is a trait that many people have naturally and others try to obtain. Many people consider themselves a good leader when they fail to carry out the characteristics leadership require. In the book, “Lord of the Flies”, Ralph is a better leader than Jack because of the traits he possesses. That is why certain skills are necessary to be considered a successful leader.
After being marooned on an unknown, uninhabited island and desperate to survive, the characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies are pushed to the limits of their humanity, and no one is safe from the atrocities from within, not even the seemingly innocent littluns. In an environment where civilization does not exist, the boys of the story attempt to form a society among themselves. Among the group of boys is a young boy who stands out from the rest. Jack Merridew, the leader of the choir boys, strives to take the role of leader of the boys, and he appears to be completely competent. In the beginning, Jack seems to be innocent and civilized. Jack is the cultured leader of the boys’ choir. Although the reader’s first impression of Jack Merridew may be one of an innocent leader eager to be rescued, his true, truculent nature manifests with the development of the novel, and the reader is gripped by Jack’s true schismatic, belligerent, and iconoclastic nature.
Jack, William Golding’s antagonist in Lord of the Flies, reveals through his experience on the island that it is an individual’s assertiveness, manipulative abilities, and charisma which dictate who commandeers power and privilege over others, and that possessing these traits often negatively impacts the lives of the people leaders seek to control.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about a group of boys that were on a plane crash in the 1940’s in a nuclear War. The plane is shot down and lands on a tropical island. Some boys try to function as a whole group but see obstacles as time goes on. The novel is about civilization and social order. There are three older boys, Ralph, Jack, and Piggy, that have an effect on the group of younger boys. The Main character Ralph, changes throughout the novel because of his role of leadership and responsibility, which shapes him into a more strict but caring character as the group becomes more uncivilized and savage
“I cannot believe there is caste system in society; I cannot believe people are judged on the basis of their prosperity.” No matter how much you’ve got to bring to the table, society will always find a way to put you down and aim for something else whether that something is worst or better than what you have to offer. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding has shown this external conflict several times throughout the story with characters such as Ralph and piggy. The conflict of character vs. society is present in these characters: Ralph, the elected chief of the group of British schoolboys is constantly having to remind the group of the bigger picture; Piggy, ultimately the brain of the
The need for social order is a very common theme throughout The Lord of the Flies. Over the course of the novel the reader witnesses the slow collapse of all forms of order, government, and civilization on the island. The results of this collapse are astounding. Golding writes, “As they watched, a flash of fire appeared at the root of one wisp, and then the smoke thickened. Small flames stirred at the trunk of a tree and crawled away through leaves and brushwood, dividing and increasing… Beneath the capering boys a quarter of a mile square of forest was savage with smoke and flame” (Golding 44). This quote marks the first point when the boy’s Civilization begins to collapse. If the boys had person overlook the building
In Lord of the Flies, when the boys first arrived on the island, the first thing they did was create order under leadership. Ralph immediately tried to find other boys and congregate them together. Once he found Piggy, he used a conch shell to bring the rest of the boys together. After this, they chose a leader. These boys were so desperate for organization in their situation that their survival instincts made it the first thing they accomplished as a
There are many possible interpretations of the word 'hero': sometimes it simply means the main character of a story, sometimes it denotes a person with a strong character who acts decisively, and sometimes it can mean the person we most admire in a story or who is the greatest force for good. Golding's Lord of the Flies has no clear hero but there are three major characters that could be seen as the heroes of the book.
There are always people who, in a group, come out with better qualities to be a leader than others. The strongest people however, become the greater influences which the others decide to follow. However, sometimes the strongest person is not the best choice. Authors often show how humans select this stronger person to give an understanding of the different powers that people can posses over others.
What defines masculinity? Many boys struggle to accept themselves and society does not make acceptance any easy task. The definition of “masculinity” is seemingly set in stone; people see the word as meaning brave or tough. In reality, masculinity is the characteristics that form a man. The book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding explores the many layers of masculinity in a tribe of British boys. The book shows us that many other characteristics such as intellect, compassion, and savagery (accepted by society or not) make up masculinity.
“Life is nothing without a little chaos to make it interesting” (Amelia Atwater-Rhodes). In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a plane full of boys get stranded on an island. The character Ralph, who is only twelve and a few months, takes the position of chief who tries to establish order on the island. However, most of the boys do not obey the rules Ralph has created. Immaturity within a community creates chaos.
In the Lord of the Flies the boys began to act in a savage type of way. They began to compete for power and where more than willing to act in a violent manner to get it. When Jack and Ralph split up into different groups, Jacks group was stealing, torturing and killing people in Ralph’s group. These actions were due to the situation and environment these kids were put in. They originally came from a civilized nation and then suddenly they found themselves in an environment where there were no laws or morals that kept them from doing bad. They could now act like savages and there was no punishment for doing so. Not to mention the fear put into everybody about “the beastie” makes people act differently. Fear makes people do irrational things,
During World War II, the United States killed 90,000 to 166,000 people in Hiroshima with an atomic bomb. The bombing of Hiroshima demonstrated the uncivilized behaviors of humankind: hunger for power, misuse of technology, and subconscious reactions to conflicts. Lord of the Flies, an allegorical novel by William Golding, illustrates a horrific tale of boys who are stranded on an island and lose their ability to make civil decisions. Throughout the book, Ralph and Jack fight for power, Piggy’s spectacles are constantly taken to create fire, and several of the boys become “savage” and act upon their subconscious minds. From a sociological perspective, Golding’s novel portrays man’s voracity for power, abuse of technology to the point of destruction, and his venture to inner darkness.