Lord Of The Flies

1488 Words3 Pages

Select one chapter from Lord of the Flies and assess its importance to the novel as a whole.

‘Lord of the Flies’ is about what happens to a group of schoolboys when they are abandoned on an island following a plane crash. Chapter eight ‘Gift for the Darkness’ has much significance in the novel, as it is here that Simon converses with ‘The Lord of the Flies’. Jack separates himself from Ralph’s group, showing that Jack has now been consumed by evil. The signal fire is moved and now there are two marked rival groups on the island, one belonging to Jack and the other Ralph.

Chapter eight, ‘Gift for the Darkness’, has many themes, one of the most prominent being the Beast, which is the boys’ greatest fear. In chapter seven they had come across a dead parachutist and had believed it to be a beast. The beast represents the evil residing within everyone. The Beast is used as a scapegoat by the boys to avoid self-knowledge. Golding uses the boys’ daydreams to show their fears and desires. The Beast gives the boys’ fear something to focus on. Golding expresses various types of fears in the book and many are apparent in chapter eight.

There is fear that all is not known concerning the Beast. “The beast had teeth… and big black eyes.” The boys did not actually see the Beast and are making this up. This only causes their fear to escalate except for Piggy’s. He is by far the most intellectual and skeptical of the boys. He knows that the adult world and books would not abide by the legend of the ‘beastie’.

Just after the only kill in chapter eight, the boys’ gradual degeneration into savages is obvious by their actions:

“Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands…then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks.”

This is almost a tribal ritual making a mask. The boys use masks to cover their identity and this allows them to kill.

“He was safe from the shame or self-consciousness behind the mask…”

This illustrates that the mask somehow gives the boys a sense of security.

“Demoniac figures with faces of white and red and green rushed out howling…”

From this quote it can be seen that the boys have totally lost their individuality and become like animals, almost indistinguishable from the other.

Show More
Related

  • William Golding's Lord of the Flies Lord Of The Flies: Piggy, Ralph, Jack

    614 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lord Of The Flies is possibly one of the most complex novels of the twentieth century. This complexity and depth is evident when the characters are compared to the psychological teachings of Freud. The book shows examples of this psyche in the characters Jack, Piggy and Ralph and how they change during their time on the island.

    Read More

  • 'The Lord of the Flies' - Savagery

    1359 Words  | 3 Pages

    At Simon’s murder the boys, “Leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit and tore.”

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies

    329 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout The Lord of the Flies, the author shows how different Simon is from the rest of the savages on the island. He is much more innocent and pure than the others and has a religious demeanor. Light, very commonly a symbol of holiness and purity, is used quite often during Simon’s “funeral”. In the last four paragraphs of chapter nine, “A view to a death”, Golding makes clear the use of light imagery to suggest the apotheosis of Simon.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    The main theme of Lord of the Flies is that moral nature is not instinctive in mankind. There is a capacity for evil in all people, and their morality is superficial. Nonetheless, it is this moral integrity that must continue in order for a person to be ethical, for society to be maintained, and to keep society from falling in on itself. Society holds everyone together. Without the rules and the structure, evil in everyone becomes more prominent, and ideals, values, and basics of right and wrong are forgotten. Without society's rigid rules, chaos and savagery come to light. There are also a number of secondary themes in the book such as: people will abuse power when it is not earned; people will degrade others to heighten their own sense of security; the fear of the unknown is powerful; it can make you turn to insight or hysteria. All of the themes are shown using symbolism.

    Read More

  • LOTF Theme

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... instances where the boys can no longer suppress their darkest urges, they lose all former ties with a civilized lifestyle. Once these ties are sufficiently severed there is nowhere for the boys to turn, other than towards the darkness and savagery within each and every one of them. This darkness can seem thick and impenetrable, however, just a glimpse of civilization and order can lighten the darkness within anyone. William Golding, while realizing this fact, chose to share it with the world by writing this tale. He showed that even the most proper British boys can become savage beasts within a few days, and then return to their old civilized lives once reintroduced by a familiar figure. No one is so far gone that they cannot be saved, and no one is immune to the savagery within.

    Read More

  • Symbolism Of Ralph In Lord Of The Flies

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Beforehand, everything was all fun and games on the island, and Piggy was the only one that actually worried about anything. However, the idea of the beast brought fear to them again and again. Whether it was when it was first mentioned as a snake, or when it was thought to come from the sea, or when it was guessed to be ghosts, the idea of something being there at the island made the boys afraid even though there was no actual evidence of the beast. Golding wrote, “‘He says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches. He say will it come back tonight?’ ‘But there isn’t a beastie!’ There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching.’” At the idea there there was some sort of mysterious fearsome monster that might come after the boys, the previously joyous atmosphere quickly bursted as fear settles on them. Though the beast only symbolized fear in the beginning, by the latter parts of the novel, it had become a representation of the savagery within a human. Simon was the first one to notice, at how he pointed out how maybe the beast lived within themselves. Also, Jack’s bloody offering to the beast, the sow’s head, represented how the darkness has taken over the hunters. Their belief in the beast strength as their savagery increased, it was almost as if they worshipped it, leaving offerings and such. Also, the Lord

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a story about a band of British boys that crash land on a deserted island, with no adults anywhere to be found. They are left to fend for themselves as order comes to an end and the island swallows them whole. Two key and complex symbols in this story are a conch shell and fire. The conch is a tool Ralph and Piggy, two boys on the island, find in the beginning of the story while searching for other boys that may have survived the crash. The fire is a way for the boys to stay “warm and safe” while they are on the island. As the young British boys become more aware of the dangers on the island, the conch and fire’s physical and symbolic manifestations change as life on the island begins to fall apart.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    658 Words  | 2 Pages

    Another of the symbols that was used to present the theme of the novel is the beast. The boys believed that the beast is an external source of evil. Though, in reality, it represents the evil present within them, which is causing life on the island to worsen. Simon begins to realize this even befor...

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    751 Words  | 2 Pages

    Golding uses many symbols in the novel, Lord of the Flies, to represent good and evil in society. He uses Simon to represent the peacefulness of life and the kindness of a good heart, while Piggy represents the civilization on the island and the adult viewpoint of the children. The conch symbolizes order and also adult behavior. It is a symbol of strength and knowledge as well, as the evil of the beast represents the fear in the boys. All of these symbols change as the story goes on, some changes are less obvious and are the result of the readers new perspective while others undergo dramatic, and quite obvious, change.

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lord of the Flies is about a group of English schoolboys who are from 6 to 12 years old. They have been set on a fate island somewhere in the south Pacific after a plane crash. This could have been a dreamsituation for the boys; no teachers, no parents and no rules that tell them what to do or not do, but the dreamsituation develops in to a hard society where rules are set up and everyone has its own task. They set up a fire so that they could be found if someone flies over or went by boat near the island. They started to hunt and live a life like if they never would be rescued. After a while this big group became divided into two smaller groups with Jack and Ralph as leaders. This "competition" developed a bloody fight on life and death.

    Read More

  • Driving Under the Influence

    1418 Words  | 3 Pages

    Drunk driving is an issue that effects many people across our nation. People do not realize the affects alcohol can have on the body and mind that slow decision making while driving. This issue begins in the home. Children see their parents, or other adults figures, have a beer or a cocktail and get in the car. Thus, making it seem like it is acceptable to drink and drive. “One in three people will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lifetime” (MADD).

    Read More

  • Savagery

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    The boy’s turn into savages because of the way they think when they first arrive on the island. One may choose to follow what the mind says instead of actually putting things into prospective and thinking about the consequences. The mind has a good side and a bad side, the decision made have to be thought through to find which one to follow. The opinion of a good and a bad decision is based on the personal knowledge of right and wrong. “Ralph stirred uneasily. Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat. “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Kill the pig! Bash her in!” (Golding, pg.75) This quote Jack came up with shows...

    Read More

  • How Self-Driving Cars Work

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Companies like Google, Tesla and Nissan, among others, have announced over the past few years that their companies are trying to develop self-driving or autonomous cars [Ref. 1 and 2]. Self-driving cars can provide many benefits to the average consumer. Studies have shown that because computers can react and process information many times faster than a human being, crashes on streets and roads can be decreased with quick and consistent evasion maneuvers by the autonomous car. They can also help maximize fuel economy by calculating the most direct and fastest routes. When the driving of an autonomous car demonstrates that the computer can safely and reliably transport the passengers to their destination, this frees up the passengers to do other things that they would not normally be able to do if they were driving the car manually. For this reason, self-driving cars can help maximize productivity of their passengers.

    Read More

  • lord of the flies

    955 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel Lord of the Flies was full of challenges that the boys overcame in order to survive. Conflicts within themselves, with nature and with each other constantly test the children’s ability to endure. Struggles against the natural elements of the island, rival groups or fear of the unknown continually appear throughout the story. Some of the boys on the island did not survive the quarrels that they faced. They perished because they were lacking something that the surviving boys did not. The survivors had a natural primal instinct or a physical or mental advantage over the boys who did not make it. ‘Only the strong survive’ is an important element that runs through the novel Lord of the Flies because in order to survive the boys must turn to their primitive instincts of physical strength and savagery.

    Read More

  • Negative Effects Of Self Driving Cars

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    The self-driving car would cause many people to lose their jobs. The careers that would no longer be needed due to the self-driving car include but are not limited to those who drill oil, taxi drivers, and personal injury lawyers. If self-driving cars were electric, oil drillers would be needed less and a majority could lose their jobs. If there’s self-driving cars, there could easily be a self-driving taxi service. If self-driving cars reduce accidents a majority of personal injury lawyers’ business would disappear. Also the gasoline industry would suffer, affecting stockholders, and there would be no need for drivers’ education

    Read More

More about Lord Of The Flies

Open Document