Is it possible to lose your humanity when you are distant from civilization? Can the fear in 12 year olds lead to evil and sadistic thoughts? This is shared in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a story about children who are escaping a war end up stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere. The boy's face the fear of a monster or beast on the island which ends up leading to the bad decisions made by the children. The beginning of their stay on the island they were very civilized. Although, overtime the children would start to show less and less of a civilized society and an increase in savage characteristics. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows that when there is competition for power, people turn evil, and this leads to the …show more content…
destruction of civilization. Jack’s desire to kill the beast leads the boys to start to chant evil and sadistic messages leads to them being scared and attacking Simon when they see him which leads to the destruction of their civilization. When it is night and the boys are huddled around a fire eating meat and Jack says “Do our dance! Come on! Dance!”(Golding 151). Jack wants to be the leader of the new group so he commanded the boys to start dancing which shows how he wants to have power over the other boys. While the boys are huddled in a group and Jack tells them to dance the boys all start to chant “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!”(Golding 152). When the boys start to chant like this reveals the evil within them as they want to kill. When the boys say “his” they are showing that the beast is a human and they think that is okay to do. Also the way they want to kill him shows the evil because not only do they want to kill him the want to cut his throat and spill his blood. During the dancing and chanting one of the boys noticed something in the woods and told the group. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down from the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws. Then the clouds opened and let down rain like a waterfall (Golding 153). When the boys kill Simon Golding uses the words bit, tore, leapt. These are animal like characteristics which means the boys are portrayed as animals and not humans. When someone is portrayed as animals they are also portrayed as unintelligent. As the boys kill Simon and the clouds open up and let down rain like a waterfall it signifies that the island has no more good on it. When there is no good in a civilization it becomes overrun with evil and destroys all order on the island. Jack’s desire to have power on the island leads his group into following him and beating up Ralph’s group which results in the loss of Piggy’s glasses that will determine if they can create a fire.
When Jack and his followers are talking at their camp they decide to go and steal Piggy’s glasses. During this Maurice raised his and and Jack said “Maurice and Roger put up their hands. “Maurice” “Yes Chief?””(Golding 161). When Maurice says “yes Chief” it shows that Jack made the decision that he would be the leader of his group so that he has all the power on this side of the island. Jack having all the power in his group shows his desire to be a leader. After the boys decide they want to take Piggy’s glasses they are deciding on how to approach Ralph and his group and during this Jack proclaims “ We’ll keep along by the sands. Then if he comes we’ll do our, our dance again”(Golding 161). When Jack says that they will do their dance again it shows how they like to do this dance when they are about to kill something or someone. This was also present when they killed Simon in the forest after the evil and sadistic chants such as “Cut his throat!” and “Spill his blood!”. After Jack and his group beat up Ralph and his group they also took Piggy’s glasses and went back to their base. “He was chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear” (Golding 168). When Jack walked away from Ralph and his camp he made stabbing motions which show that Jack is not afraid to …show more content…
fight for control of the island. Also the stabbing motions indicate that they will kill which leads to the destruction of civilization because they are participating in savage acts. Jack’s desire to lead the boys in stealing Piggy’s glasses and beating up the other group results in the confrontation between the two groups and the death of Piggy and the destruction of the conch.
After Jack stole Piggy’s glasses, Piggy wanted to get his glasses back so he went to confront Jack and his followers. ““Grab them!” No one moved, Jack shouted angrily. “I said ‘grab them!””(Golding 178). Jack’s desire to lead the boys makes him command them and when no one does what he says he shouts louder. This shows that Jack has power over the boys when h shouts at them to grab Piggy and Ralph. During their confrontation Piggy and Ralph were talking to Jack and Piggy started to hear something. “Someone was throwing stones: Roger was dropping them; his hand still on the lever” (Golding 180). When Roger starts to throw stones at Piggy it shows his intent to harm Piggy. Roger’s intent to harm another human shows that he has evil in him and he also does not care if he injures anyone else. While Roger is throwing stones and Piggy is still talking Jack, Roger pulled the lever down. “The struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist” (Golding 181). Roger’s decision to pull the lever and let down the huge rock that killed Piggy shows that they killed another human in cold blood. Also the rock destroyed the conch. The conch symbolizes civilization in the novel so destroying that resulted in the total destruction
of civilization. Golding’s novel brilliantly shows what can cause the destruction of civilization. The novel begins very slow paced and everyone is civilized and working together, but they eventually begin to walk down a dark path of evil. Golding’s use of symbolism in the novel shows the view of evil that had surrounded mankind. The characters in the story highlight everything people can see in their daily lives. Examples of this are intellect, greed for power, being civilized, and being an innocent person. In Lord of the Flies, the reader can clearly see the decisions the groups make that affect who they are and their innocence. The loss of innocence leads them to become hunters and killers in the failing civilization. Lord of the Flies shows what can happen if someone that is thirsty for power, fearful, or if they let greed overcome them by using these 12 year old boys who turned into savages.
In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, and Kendra Cherry’s article, “The Milgram Obedience Experiment”, the comparable fear factor, and naive mindset of individuals put under dire circumstances leads to the corruption of society and rise of evil in humans. Fear factors are an influential resource, and useful tactic leaders use to instil dominant power in their citizens, if this power is abused, evil and chaos occurs. For example, in Lord of the Flies, when Samneric get captured by Jack, Jack terrorizes them, snapping, “What d’you mean coming here with spears? What d’you mean by not joining my tribe?” the twins try to escape but fear takes over their morals and they, “...lay looking up in quiet terror” (Golding 182). As Jack threatens
Fear resides within all of our souls and our minds in different forms wether it be mind, body, or spirit. Fear can be brought upon by actions, words or ever our mere imagination. Of course as one being younger your imagination can bring along fear that is non existent but, to one it may seem so vivid and tangible. In this Novel by William Golding we come to grasps with many different forms of fear being from the beast, the loss of humanity, and the fear of realization.
This first interaction foreshadowed consistent degradation toward Piggy. During the aforementioned feast, during which Simon offered Piggy food, Jack’s intention had been to let Piggy go hungry. Jack claimed “You didn’t hunt,” (74) despite Piggy not being the only boy uninvolved in procuring meat. Due to severe asthma, Piggy was unable to do strenuous work on the island. After the other boys gathered wood for a fire, Jack demeans him again, saying “A fat lot of good you tried,” (42) Jack was clearly unappreciative of Piggy’s condition. At one point Jack even insulted Ralph by stating that he “isn’t a proper chief,” (126) due to thinking and speaking similarly to Piggy. Later on, Jack struck Piggy, breaking a lens of the glasses which both afforded Piggy sight, and afford the ability to make fire on the island. Piggy’s sight, already hampered by the absent lens, was nearly nonexistent after Jack sent hunters to steal the remains of the specs during the night. Jack’s hatred for Piggy was due, in part, to his passion for order, a trait shared by Jack’s other enemy
They often obey his destructive orders just to avoid being punished. Jack tells Ralph, after Roger kills Piggy, “ ‘See? See? That’s what you’ll get! I meant that! There isn’t a tribe for you anymore! The conch is gone—’ -He ran forward, stooping- ‘I’m chief!’ ” (Golding 181) Jack threatens Ralph and the boys by reminding them of the consequences of not succumbing to his authority. They are physically and emotionally tormented, forced to participate in Jack’s violent acts. As time goes by, they willingly join in on Jack’s brutal endeavors, such as hunting Ralph down in an attempt to sacrifice him to the beast. He
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.
When it comes to Jack’s fear of not being chief, it brings out the worst in him and it has an effect on others. For instance, when the boys are deciding on who should be the chief, Ralph wins by a landslide. “Even the choir applauded; and the freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Golding 19). That is the first physical evidence of Jack being humiliated by Ralph and judging by Jack’s personality, he is not used to failure so it has a big impact on him. This motivates him to destroy Ralph and the rivalry between the two begins. Another point is that Jack uses fear and threats to control the boys. For example, when Robert tells Roger “’He’s going to beat Wilfred.’ ‘What for?’ Robert shook his head doubtfully” (Golding 176) it shows that Jack is violent and is using his...
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.
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.
Fear in Lord of the Flies In the novel The Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, fear. is the cause of all of the problems that take place on the island. At First, the island is thought to be splendid and a paradise, but as the boys' stay on the island increases, so, too, do their fears. The boys soon become afraid of each other and soon after that the boys break up.
A distressing emotion aroused by impending evil and pain, whether the threat is real or imagined is described as fear. Fear is what William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies encompasses. By taking three major examples from the novel, fear will be considered on different levels: Simon’s having no instance of fear, Ralph’s fear of isolation on the island, and Jack’s fear of being powerless. Fear can make people behave in ways that are foreign to them, whether their fear is real or imagined. In response to fear, people may act defensively by attacking, fear can either stop one from doing something, or it can make one behave in an irrational erratic manner.
Fear is a driving force in The Lord of the Flies. How does fear in all of its forms influence the boy's attitudes and behaviours?
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
My Essay is about Ralph and and his Motivation’s and did he contribute to the tragedy in any way. Also about if he prevented any of the deaths and what would I have done differently in his situation. I defend Ralph’s actions as leader, He had tried his best but everyone fell apart. Did Ralph contribute to the tragedies? Ralph had tried his best but he was struggling at handling the problems on the island, He was unaware of the boy’s and what was going on. He had tried to contribute to all of the tragedies but there was too much going on around him it was just hard. What was wrong with Ralph too was that jack ignores everything and try’s to do his own thing the whole time instead of working together with everyone. All Jack wants is his way or his way to him there is no other way. So yes Ralph had try to contribute to the tragedies but Jack and other boys had just did what they wanted to do instead of doing what they should have done. So Ralph had really struggled dealing with everybody. In my opinion Ralph was doing a good job, Yes he kind of gave up for a little b...
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself” (Roosevelt). “Fear is a chain reaction in the brain that starts with a stressful stimulus and ends with the release of chemicals that cause a racing heart, fast breathing and energized muscles, among other things, also known as the fight-or-flight response” (Layton). Fear affects the brain and can help people or make them in a worse situation than they were in the first place. Fear most motivates/influences people during times of crisis by clouding judgement and becoming a weapon of power.