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Analysis of the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding
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In William Golding’s LORD OF THE FLIES, the reader experiences many surprises. The story is based on a group of boys heading out of England during World War II. As the book goes on, the boys create a makeshift society that gets overturned by the boy's savage instincts that allow them to get rescued. The boys crashed on an untouched island that has no other human presence. Ralph sounds a horn, which gathers multiple groups of boys. There were boys from ages 6-12. The protagonist of the novel, Ralph, does his best to control everyone until the boys lose a lack of responsibility and manors for each other. The boys decide to elect a leader, all the choir boys elect Jack, who is the antagonist of the story and everyone else elects Ralph. Jack clearly wants this position, but the boys don't want him to have it. Ralph asks the choir boys to be the hunters and provide food for …show more content…
everyone on the island while everyone else builds huts and shelters for the boys. The boys will soon be controlled by the makeshift society.
The protagonist of the novel does his best to control all the boys. Ralph displays initiative, responsibility, courage and determination on the island, transforms himself into the remarkable leader he is. Without Ralph’s leadership skills, the boys may not have been able to survive during their time on the island, although the boys start getting out of control, Ralph still keeps trying his best. The boys did pick Jack over ralph because Jack's priority was to hunt and Ralphs was to get rescued. A character that Ralph tries to control is Jack, the antagonist. Jack is a rude and arrogant boy, he only cares about himself. Jack has been represented as cruel, manipulative, and he is the definition of our savage inside. As the book goes on Jack tries to kill everyone on Ralph’s side. Jack also lead the brutal slaughter of Simon and got little minions to beat up Wilfred. Ralph’s efforts to thwart Jack’s plans to overthrow him, fail which leads to division amongst the boys on the island, which sparks violence between the two
groups. Despite Ralph’s tireless efforts to contain Jack’s savage instincts, he is unsuccessful which, in turn, leads to the final battle and eventual rescue of the boys. Jack has turned almost everyone on Ralph, they are trying to find him and kill him. Ralph was hiding behind a thicket and no one could get through. Jack tries to burn down the jungle to get Ralph out and that causes lots of smoke. Ralph escapes from the hunters, he gets onto the beach, falls down, then realizes there is a naval officer right above him. In the end, although Jack caused harm to everyone and tried killing everyone who wasn’t part of his group, he did save them by lighting the jungle on fire. In conclusion, a boy's natural savage instinct is so powerful that it can overturn a whole makeshift society that was built by Ralph and others. If one's natural savage was so powerful, just as Jacks was, it can turn everyone from calm to crazy in the blink of an eye. A society that does not have a good base, won't last long as you could tell from the novel LORD OF THE FLIES.
William Golding, the author of the novel The Lord of the Flies, lived through the global conflicts of both world wars. World War II shifted his point of view on humanity, making him realize its inclination toward evilness. His response to the ongoing struggle between faith and denial became Lord of the Flies, in which English schoolboys are left to survive on their own on an uninhabited island after a plane crash. Just like Golding, these boys underwent the trauma of war on a psychological level. Ralph, one of the older boys, stands out as the “chief,” leading the other victims of war in a new world. Without the constraints of government and society, the boys created a culture of their own influenced by their previous background of England.
Ralph is the novel’s protagonist and tries to maintain the sense of civility and order as the boys run wild. Ralph represents the good in mankind by treating and caring for all equally, which is completely opposite of Jack’s savage nature. Jack is the antagonist in the novel and provokes the most internal evil of all the boys. Jack is seen at first as a great and innocent leader but he becomes t...
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.
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
Upon the arrival of the boys to the island Jack immediately found himself in the center of a power struggle. Although the conflict was brief, there was still a very obvious confrontation between Jack and Ralph. Once the boys had assembled themselves there was an election to see who was to be chief. Despite the fact that Ralph was voted leader, the desire to be in command never left Jack. Jack already had some leadership skills, being head choirboy at his old school, and he continuously challenged Ralph. The greatest source of conflict between Jack and Ralph was the debate over the necessity of maintaining a fire. Ralph felt that it was necessary to keep it burning at all times while Jack believed that hunting pigs and getting meat was much more essential.
Ralph shows that he has a better understanding of the boys than Jack. He knows that the boys need some sort of order on the island in order for them to survive. He starts a simple form of government and sets a few rules for them. Even though they don’t last very long, the fact that he tried to help the group is what makes him a better leader. Ralph’s wisdom and ability to look toward the future also has an advantage over Jack. He has a sense to keep his focus on getting off the island. When the fire goes out, Ralph gets upset because the chance to be rescued was gone as well. Ralph enforces his role of leadership as he gives the boys a sense of stability of an authority figure. He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the littleuns are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings. Jack, on the other hand, is doing nothing but causing chaos.
“The Lord of the Flies” is a skillfully crafted novel about the struggle for power when there is a lack of authority. Author William Golding weaves an elaborate story about a group of children struggling to survive on a remote island with no adults. As the characters are developed and the plot is progressed, the manners and customs from society that the boys had grown up with slowly fades from their lifestyle. As the time the boys spend on the island increases, their decline towards savagery becomes increasingly evident. As a direct result of the lack of adult supervision on the island, the children decline into savagery and the customs of civilization are slowly eroded.
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
That’s why if I had to pick between Ralph and Jack it would be Ralph because he is a caring person. Ralph overall really tried his best to be together as a team and a family. So the point of this is to tell you that Ralphs motivation was to find help to get off the island he wanted to keep people safe so that they would all help and comfort each other. The tragedies were hard but Ralph did contribute even when he was upset he still showed effort. Oh and all the deaths Ralph was speechless he could not have prevented it even if he wanted to and we know he really wanted to.
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.
Although Ralph is not nearly as savage and barbaric as Jack and Roger, Golding still manages to show how Ralph is able to lose himself on the island too. Ralph is the chief of the island who represents order and civilization. Ralph sets plans to get things done and have fun doing it because he only sees their stay stranded on this island as temporary one. Ralph believes that “‘While we’re waiting we can have a good time on this island’” (34). But soon his vision of a perfect stay gets cut short. He complains that “‘When the meetings was over they’d work for five minutes, then wander off or go hunting’” (51), and by saying this to Jack he starts his first verbal fight with him. Ralph, like everyone else on the island, is just a boy. Ralph has things he wants to do on the island but cannot because being chief means you have to be the one setting the good example. “Ralph found that he was able to measure the distance coldly and take aim. With the boar only five yards away, he flung the foolish wooden stick that he carried, saw it hit the great snout and hang there for a moment…Ralph was full of fright, apprehension and pride” (113). This is the first time in the book that Ralph gets involved in anything that the hunters ever did. Ralph tapped into his primitive side and this excites him
Jack is the character that provides us with one of the main conflicts besides the fact they are stuck on the island. Without him Ralph wouldn’t have anybody to compete against for the right of leader in their group. On top of that, if he weren’t on the island then the story would just go on and on with Ralph talking about how the group stranded were just trying to keep alive on the island and probably some stuff on the Lord of the Flies attacking the children until they were eventually rescued. The author would have still made that pretty interesting like when Ralph encounters the pig skull on Page 185, but it wouldn’t be nearly as entertaining as reading about how everything starts to fall apart and paths diverge while still having the Lord of the Flies there. What makes Jack unique from the others who rebelled, is that he could do it on his own. He would be able to survive out in the jungle for a good amount of days, but if he were to gain the control he wanted then he would need to have others who would help him reach that power. What that does is add a main rival for Ralph in the story and can make them both get really fired up and strive to get stronger. “Jack wrenched free and swung at Ralph with his spear. By common consent they were both using their spears as sabers now.”(Page 177) Shows that they aren’t afraid to get at each other. Overall, he demonstrates the insanity side very clearly in the book with his ‘tribe’ and how they act towards the other survivors. “The liberation into savagery that the concealing paint brought.”(Page 172) Illustrates they are truly seen as the savages of the
Throughout much of the book, Jack acted as an anti-Ralph, providing counter arguments to his attempts to get the boys off the island, promoting a more free-willed, fun-spirited take on their desertion. However, Jack splits from the group, taking with him a band of hunters who provide a feast for all of the remaining, civilized boys as an incentive for them to join his tribe. Once he does so, many of the boys who looked to Ralph as their leader joined Jack’s tribe, surrendering all power to him, and becoming savages that in the process. During his time ruling, Jack also is referred to as a chief, but in a much different view of the word as opposed to that designated for Ralph. Jack leads hunts while Ralph would appoint a leader, Jack commands the boys for the sake of his enjoyment and recreation, while Ralph worked his hardest to get the boys back to their houses. In the midst of this astounding shift in power, Ralph
In Lord of the Flies, a small group of British schoolboys-are stranded on a tropical island. In an attempt to recreate the culture they left behind, they elect Ralph to lead, with the intellectual Piggy as counselor. But Jack also wants to be the leader and lures the boys to the savage survivalism of his tribe. The novel gives us a glimpse of the savagery that underlies even the most civilized human-beings. Lord of the flies, written by William Golding, has four very important dynamic characters. Jack Merridew is a-critical dynamic character-in the novel as a result of-him going-through the most changes, which drives the novel’s central conflict. His authoritative figure, violence, and instinctual behavior are three qualities that make Jack
Despite of the numerous unknowns of the island, the boys establish their own form of leadership and government. Through such an act of civility Ralph, the boy whom gathered the entire group of survivors together, became their first leader. The boys made the decision when the group decided, “Let’s have a vote” (Golding 22). In the novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the fateful decisions of a group of stranded young boys on an uncharted island lead to changes in their character and values. The changes continued, unchecked, due to their leader, who was powerless to stop it. Although Ralph attempted to stop their transition to savagery, the group continued to run amuck under the leader’s watch. Despite Ralph’s early successes as a leader,