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Comment on themes in the text the lord of the flies
Comment on themes in the text the lord of the flies
Comment on themes in the text the lord of the flies
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If you compare and contrast Jack and Ralph, two characters in Lord of the Flies, you find the importance of one of the novel’s themes. William Golding’s novel shows many separate themes, depending on which way you to the novel into your consideration. Ralph considers himself civilized, while thinking Jack, on the other hand, is acting as if he is a savage. The two boys take their roles upon themselves, becoming mesmerized by the option of being chief, and causing their obsession to begin fights between the group on the island. Being elected as chief, Ralph knows he need to decide what is best for the group; by doing so he decides to stay calm and find of ways to help them get off the island. After Ralph is first appointed chief he begins giving orders, like any good chief would. Ralph uses the power of being chief to create a democracy. Every person on the island had the right to voice their own opinions and ideas. “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he’s speaking.. and he won’t be interrupted.” The conch becomes a symbol of having …show more content…
rights and respecting anyone who holds the shell. Also, through the his power, Ralph thinks of starting a fire, incase of any ship coming by they would know life was on that island. This “keep the fire going” mindset is what would later on make Ralph go insane. When Ralph was elected chief, it seemed that Jack developed an undesirable feeling towards Ralph.
Jack was given the position of being lead hunter, with his obedient choir. Jack, not having killed anything in his life before, was afraid of killing a pig the for the first time. He let the fact of him letting a pig go eat him alive. “I was going to, .. I was choosing a place. Next time —.” Jack’s killing rampage begins. He deicides he is tired of being under Ralph rules, and moves to the other side of the island with anyone who wanted to hunt and did not want rules. Jack’s authority takes the most of him, as Ralph’s did to himself. Jack gets to a point even to where he begins a chant to where his men eventually kill one of Ralph’s civilized, Simon. “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in.” This chant that began the murder became connected to Jack’s obsession with murder of animals, and now
humans. Jack and Ralph, both having an obsession with authority and letting themselves go mad, have few differences. Jack, having the entire choir on his side, has a greater advantage than Ralph and his civilized group. Jack is able to have people keeping watch over their base, as well as having enough people to go out and hunt for food for the evening. Ralph, on the other hand, is still only worried about keeping a fire going to get help, and doesn’t have the people to go hunting. Jack teaches his group to not let anything pass and to become killers, or savages. While Ralph is trying to still stay civilized, without getting caught up into Jack’s tracks. The comparison and contrast of Ralph and Jack helps you become more knowledgeable about the insight of William Golding when he was writing this novel. It helps to better understand the possible outcome of the novel, and the reasons behind them. It helps to finalize why these two boys take their roles upon themselves, becoming mesmerized by the option of being chief, and causing their obsession to begin fights between the group on the island.
In the Lord of the Flies there are many themes that stand out. After reading Fredrick Douglass’ speech, “If I had a Country, I Should be a Patriot,” the theme that Goldings’ book that is most relatable to me is the lack of democracy and equal rights. Jack reminded me of a southern slave master and his primary focus that had no regard for others’ rights. In conclusion, in The Lord of the Flies, the rivalry between democracy and dictatorship is evident in Jack and Ralph’s relationship and relates back to the North versus the South rivalry for democracy for the
The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an exhilarating novel that is full of courage, bravery, and manhood. It is a book that constantly displays the clash between two platoons of savage juveniles mostly between Jack and Ralph who are the main characters of the book. The Kids become stranded on an island with no adults for miles. The youngsters bring their past knowledge from the civilized world to the Island and create a set of rules along with assigned jobs like building shelters or gathering more wood for the fire. As time went on and days past some of the kids including Jack started to veer off the rules path and begin doing there own thing. The transformation of Jack from temperately rebellious to exceptionally
People can do anything that involves fear including turning on someone and attempting to kill them. William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies in 1952 during the cold war. This affects the novel because children were often killed during war.This novel is important because the novel shows how the boys communicate and survive on the island. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys on an island without any adults. In order to survive, they will have to work as a team. In the essay, I will talk about how Jack and Ralph comparison, how they have changed, and there purpose in the novel.
The techniques and symbols used to convey Jack and Ralph’s responses to different situations inform the reader on there different characteristics and personality’s. In William Golding’s novel ‘Lord of The Flies’ we come to a decision that Ralph demonstrates better leadership skills and responses to all situations positively, while Jack response to situations with a negative reaction.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that represents a microcosm of society in a tale about children stranded on an island. Of the group of young boys there are two who want to lead for the duration of their stay, Jack and Ralph. Through the opposing characters of Jack and Ralph, Golding reveals the gradual process from democracy to dictatorship from Ralph's democratic election to his lack of law enforcement to Jack's strict rule and his violent law enforcement.
“I’m not going to play any longer. Not with you.” (127). Jack leaves Ralph’s tribe because Ralph is a coward and he makes the rules. Jack’s leadership qualities comes back with a force and he makes his own tribe. Jack does like anyone telling him what to do and he is frustrated because of Ralph taking over him. Another reason to make his own tribe is that Ralph does not appreciate Jack hunting and he accuses him to let the fire out. His leadership skills become stronger but in a negative way. His behavior has changed because of hunting and by spending time on the island. Jack has become a sociopath. Even his hunting style has become more violent. After hunting a sow, he tortures the pig physically until the pig has a painful death. He also cuts the throat of the pig and places the head on the stick as a sacrifice. This action shows psychopathic tendency and how he was not able to kill the pig in his first attempt in hunting and now he abuses the pig and sacrifices the head. “He squirmed and looked down.”(160). When Stanley, a member of Jack’s tribe asks Jack about the death of Simon, Jack replies him by nervously saying no. This response by Jack portrays that Jack is trying to tell himself that he his not responsible for his own actions. During Simon’s murder, Jack was wearing a mask on his face and that makes him not responsible for Simon’s murder. During the end of the novel, Jack starts wearing his mask all the time because he does not want to be responsible for his own actions. ““He’s going to beat Wilfred.” “what for?” Robert shook his head doubtfully. “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He got angry and made us tie Wilfred up. He’s been”-he giggled excitedly-”he’s been tied for hours, waiting-”” (159). This quote from the novel clearly shows how Jack has been treating his tribe members. He is beating them for no reason by tieing them up for hours. Jack shows no emotion and he has become cold blooded. The
In today’s modern society, a leader must contain capabilities that include decisive decision making that benefit the rest of society. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the leaders, Jack and Ralph, make decisions that impair the well being of the boys on the island. When Jack and Ralph place the personal need of being in control above the needs of the boys, chaos ensues on the island. Also, When Jack and Ralph both use fear as a tool to accomplish their personal goals that they placed above the needs of the boys, order on the island broke down. Lastly, when Jack and Ralph placed their personal needs of not co-operating with one another, order on the island broke down. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, when leaders place their personal needs above the needs of society, order on the island breaks down.
Nevertheless jack is single minded in his pursuit of the pigs. He mainly hunts and then kills a pig for food as he states he loves hunting.
Lord of the Flies has several themes that are the key to understanding of literature. Three of the themes of this novel are the fear, courage and lastly survival. Fear has been surrounded throughout the entire novel. With the amount of fear because of an apparent beast, many of the people on the island have changed. Most of the boys have become more violent throughout the novel and have no sense of direction as what to do next. Jack was one of those people who had changed majorly throughout the novel. Courage is one of the most important things to have mentally and physically when you’re stuck in an unknown island. Ralph’s courage in the book became strong when he had lost two of his close companions in Simon and Piggy. Survival is the best theme in this novel simply because of the lack of tools and the laziness of the people throughout the book. These themes show how great and wonderful this book is, and if you read it thoroughly, you will understand the perils and the adventure of Ralph, Jack and the rest of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
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.
Throughout William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies there is an ever-present conflict between two characters. Ralph's character combines common sense with a strong desire for civilized life. Jack, however, is an antagonist with savage instincts, which he cannot control. Ralph's goals to achieve a team unit with organization are destroyed by Jack's actions and words that are openly displayed to the boys. The two leaders try to convince the boys that their way of survival is correct.
The irony of the plane crashing to start the story, the environment of an unknown island and many other cruel acts function into the work as a whole because it really does set up the major plot in the story. Cruelty will bring out the worst in people and this phrase proves to be true when it comes to Jack. The killing of the pig and the obsession of blood lust drives Jack into savagery and reveals that he is not morally strong. The violence also shows that Jack is manipulative as he uses the fear of the beast to gain power. While cruelty transforms Jack, Ralph stays morally strong and represents civilization throughout the novel. Cruelty proves to shows that Ralph’s character is very intelligent as he is able to think deeply. Cruelty also reveals how strong morally he is and how he will not succumb to savagery like the majority of the boys do. Lord of the Flies by William Golding, just proves to show that the cruelness of our savage, beast like instincts will take over without the order, rule, and conduct that civilized societies have to
Ralph and Jack are both powerful and meaningful characters in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Ralph is an excellent leader; responsible, and stands for all that is good. Jack is a destructive hunter, selfish, and represents evil. These two main characters can be compared by the actions they take as leaders, their personalities, and what they symbolize in the story.
In conclusion, all of the boys go through some struggle with civilization and savagery. Jack is the one who makes the biggest change in the book. He goes from civil straight to savage. William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies", uses symbolism and allegories to show how Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon struggle with civilization and savagery.
The ability to create characters of depth plagues many a contemporary writer. Many of those writers should look to William Golding for expertise on this issue. Golding diverges from the path of contemporary authors and sets an example of how character development should be accomplished in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Golding's Ralph exemplifies this author's superior style of character development in this novel.