Critical Analysis of Golding’s Use of Tone in Lord Of The Flies
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
The use of diction is powerful, with the gripping use of words and description. Golding creates tension and reinforces his theme and tone with the use of specific words. Many are connotative and therefore create a story abundant in meaning and symbolism. Golding uses colors such as pink to symbolize particular things such as innocence, as shown in the piglets and the island. The word yellow makes the reader think of the sun, enlightenment and Ralph; the words black and red bring to mind evil, blood and Jack.
With the use of words the author also creates the novel's own private symbols that are key to the tone. The conch comes to symbolize authority, democracy and order. Upon the mentioning Piggy's glasses, images of insight and reason come to mind. With this highly connotative language, Golding creates many contrasts as well to convey his underlying theme. He compares the dazzling beach's "pink granite" [Page 12], green feathered palm trees and endless sand [Page 10] to the "darkness of the forest", full of "broken trunks", "cables of creepers" [page 28], and dense vegetation. He also compares the day's "torrid sun" [Page 176] to the night which makes everything as "dim and strange as the bottom of the sea" [Page 62]. The lagoon's security and the dangerous open sea are also contrasted when Golding qualifies them as "still as a mountain lake" [Page 10], "dark blue" [Page 31] and "deep sea" [page 62]. Golding also uses dark and inherently bad words such as "dark", "Jack", "broken", "torrid", "coarse" and "splintered" to describe sinister things and euphonious words such as "feathers", "glittering fish" and "Ralph" to describe more peaceful things.
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.
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
Katherine Paterson once said, “To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” William Golding, who is a Nobel Prize winner for literature, writes Lord of the Flies, originally published in 1954. Golding’s novel is about a group of boys who crash land on an island. All of the adults are dead and they are abandoned on an island. The boys try to set rules and create a fire in efforts of being rescued. The group of boys chooses Ralph to be their leader. This choosing makes a literary character named Jack, who doesn’t show his anger until half way through the plot. The novel shows the nature of humans and how fear can control them. The novel also shows the difference between good and evil. Golding experienced this when he was in World War II. There were many times fear controlled the boys in the island in Lord of the Flies.
Golding was such an excellent writer because even though his plot was incredibly simple it makes us think about the true meaning behind his words. Golding is able to convey vast information in simple ways through characterization such as when we see Jack manipulating the boys through pathos, Ralph establishing himself and relying on his ethos, and Piggy ineffectively attempting to use logos. The devote use of symbolism throughout the novel creates a unique writing style and conveys an elegant tone. When the novel is examined for rhetoric, knowledge of ethos, logos, and pathos is gained because of Golding’s ability to deliver a message through visual imagery, vivid character descriptions and the underlying messages in his
William Golding explores the vulnerability of society in a way that can be read on many different levels. A less detailed look at the book, Lord of the Flies, is a simple fable about boys stranded on an island. Another way to comprehend the book is as a statement about mans inner savage and reverting to a primitive state without societies boundaries. By examining the Lord of the Flies further, it is revealed that many themes portray Golding’s views, including a religious persecution theme.
In the novel Lord of the Flies William Golding uses many forms of symbolism to point out the underlying conflicts in their society. By using these symbols he makes the reader not only think about the problems that arise in the book, but also hints towards problems in our society today. The story uses the conch, fire, and the glasses to reference other meanings in the story. These symbols play a crucial part in the story in which they provide the reader with information that isn’t directly stated but is inferred.
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.
... of hope for rescue and the destruction of their ties to former human society; and the Lord of the Flies, used to represent mankind’s “essential illness”: inherent human evil. Ultimately, Golding’s symbols, simple in appearance yet burdened with the weight of human savagery, violence, and inner darkness, do more than frighten. As these symbols are ingrained into our minds, so, too, is responsibility: the responsibility of recognition, understanding, and action. If we do not take heed of the messages behind Golding’s symbols, then our ignorance may be more than unwise—it may be fatal. For if we do not soon take steps to confront our inner evil face-to-face, we may eventually find ourselves trapped in Golding’s harrowing depiction of human society: one bound only by rules far too fragile that, when broken, lead only to chaos, self-destruction, and total savagery.
Humans are inherently evil in nature and without law will unknowingly let this vile aspect of their own person be revealed. The depravity of actions in humans is expressed in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, by a group of English boys that are stranded on an island, and disconnected from society. The fear from violation of laws that holds people to their morals and rationality in their society vanishes, and a growth of savagery is present in all the boys. Savagery, an element innate to humanity, can only be repressed by the laws of society; the lack of regulation removes all inhibition, and therefore, exposes the beast representing evil from within.
The issue on whether man is good or evil has been debated over several generations. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of young boys are stranded on an uninhabited island. In the beginning, the boys have fun and are carefree while adventuring on the island. With no adults around to tell them how to behave, the boys declare war on one another and face several conflicts. These conflicts provide Golding with the opportunity to explore the idea that society restrains the evil intentions of human nature.
In William Golding 's, Lord of the Flies, a group of young, British boys become stranded on a island after their plane crashes. When a boy named Ralph becomes the chief to govern the boys in order for them to be rescued, it ends up becoming disastrous because of little control and the absence of adults. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism to convey his message that evil lies within everyone. Although there are various symbols that Golding uses to convey his message, there are three that show the transformation from good at the beginning the novel to evil as the plot evolves. The readers start to see a break down of democracy as the boys become more savage. The three symbols that he uses are the conch, Piggy 's glasses, and the fire. At the beginning Golding 's symbols give an impression of safety, democracy, and hope. Then as the boys journey progresses, so does there fear and the readers start to see a change as they gain more knowledge on what is really happening.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
In “Lord of the Flies” William Golding delivers a realistic fiction story in a way no other author can. He tells a story about a group of boys stranded on an island struggling between the forces of good and evil. The story is carried by powerful diction, frightening detail and insightful imagery to show how the shell is a symbol of good that is used by Ralph to show the boys responsibility while the sow`s head is a symbol of evil that is used by jack to instill fear in the boys.
The Lord of the Flies gives an accurate insight to the problems that we are faced with everyday like violence, greed, fear, and religious power and shows how civilization and savagery contrast because of this. It shows us no matter who we are evil lies within all of us. This is exemplified through the breaking of the conch, the Lord of the Flies (pigs head), and through Jack. This novel shows that even the most innocent of children can turn evil, everyone is capable. Friedrich Nietzsche once said ““Man is the cruelest animal.”
Through the symbol of the conch, the importance of stability, order, and civilization are established. When the boys first arrived on the island the conch was used to summon and unite the boys in order to form a civilization. The conch also serves as a regulator of democracy, “ We’ll have to have hands up, like at school… then I’ll give them the conch [to speak]” (Golding 31) said Ralph. This universal understanding that everyone would follow and respect the rules of the conch allowed every individual to speak his mind and to be a functioning member of society. However, as time progressed the mutual respect for authority and the power of the conch began to diminish. The assembly began to disrespect the whoever held the conch. As a result, the rules of their society began to become unstable. “As Piggy stood on the platform, the white conch gripped in his hands…” (141), the conch that was once vibrant in color and importance, was now faded and irrelevant. As the walls of civilized society crumbled, the boys gave into their animal desires and disregarded the only element of order apparent on the island. The symbol of order and civilization continued to lose its value as Jack mocked its importance. “The sound of the inexpertly blown conch interrupted them. As though he were serenading the