The Lord of the Flies by author William Golding is a tale of a group of boys who have been stranded on a deserted island as a result of a plane crash. The boys are faced with plenty of challenges that they all choose to make different choices for such as turning towards savagery for Jack and towards civility for Ralph, which ultimately brings the entire groups sanity to the edge. Within the novel there are plenty of themes, and most of them relate to the inherent evil that exists in all humans as well as the savage nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows these boys’ transformation from being a civilized group of boys to savage beasts due to their adaption to the freedom that they have in their new society, which connects …show more content…
to today's society and its decisions that we must come to in order to survive. One example from the book that refers to the opinion that humans are essentially bad was the beast. The most feared thing throughout the entire book was also a cause of the groups’ downwards spiral into savagery. Simon, one of the boys in the group, can often be visualized as Jesus due to the shared qualities and characteristics between the two. For example, Simon, just like Jesus, is compassionate towards the feelings of others in the group. “You’ll get back all right. I think so, anyway” (Golding 113). Simon was the only boy in the group that came to the realization that the beast was really just the evil that dwelled inside each of them. For the boys, fear of the unknown parts of the island and what inhabited was the beast, which stood as the symbol that brought pain for even the most innocent of all the characters of the book. This fear caused the terror of the beast and the fear was allowed to grow because they couldn't fully let go of the concept of a beast. What really brings out the evil within the children is Simon's death. He had been up to the top of the mountain and saw that the beasty that they were all so afraid of was really a dead soldier that had been ejected from his airplane. When he went down to tell the others about the news, they mistook him for the monster and brutally murdered him, the narrator claiming that “There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” The boys killed him with no mercy at all, mutilating him until he eventually trips over the rocks and floats away into the ocean. Ralph during the next chapter had claimed that it was murder while speaking with Piggy, and that he knew it was Simon that they had murdered. It really shows that the evil that was inside them, that fear, came out with the murder of Simon and portrayed the evil that is always inside humans. Another example of the inherent evil inside the group was the murder of the sow. Without even caring for the piglets, Jack commands the tribe to attack the animal. The savage behavior of the kids scares the sow as well as the readers ourselves. After the animal's death, the tribe play with the blood and celebrate their kill by screaming and putting the blood all over each other: “[Jack} giggled and flicked [his blood covered hands]... Then Jack grabbed Maurice and rubbed the stuff over his cheeks.” (Golding 139). The tribe shows no mercy and act as savages, the kill allowing them to revert back to their natural instincts. They then go back to their camp and decide to raid the others in order to steal fire from the other camp to cook the meat. Rather than taking the kill and celebrating properly as Ralph would’ve, the hunters choose to act brutally with the blood and screaming. The reader can see that all guilt has diminished within them and they would rather act wild than civilized. It really shows that when people are set in certain situations the savagery and evil that they have may come out to play rather than the “good” that others may claim those people to have. Our constant war efforts in America as well as the world show that humans revert back to their natural evil today as well. On September 11th, 2001 the World Trade Center was struck down by an airplane gone rogue, taken over by the Al Qaeda operated men who drove the plane straight into the building. How did America respond to these terrorist attacks? President George Bush during a speech asked citizens of the United States to be “calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat” and also promised that the United States would leave terrorism behind them “stop it, eliminate it, destroy it where it grows.” The U.S. then began military operations in Afghanistan as well as created bills and laws to make immigration more prominent in society. The German leader at the time, Gerhard Schroeder, declared that the events on 9/11 were “not only attacks on the people in the United States, our friends in America, but also against the entire civilized world, against our own freedom, against our own values, values which we share with the American people.” He also added that “We will not let these values be destroyed.” He meant this as a promise that whoever committed the acts of terrorism would not go unnoticed and will be punished. Since 2001 we still are continuing to fight alongside with many of our allies in Afghanistan to end terrorism and take back our freedom as well as spread it along to others. This shows that the world will turn to restitution over retribution when it comes to punishment, sending us back to savagery and murder. Just as during the time following 9/11, in Lord of The Flies there is a loss of civilized society following the plane crash and the citizens of America (or the boys of Lord of The Flies) were lead to a internal destruction where things like leadership and success are questioned. The fear that both people of the U.S. and the group in Lord of The Flies turned into hatred, where people threw hate at middle easterners out of pure hatred for terrorism and anger rather than for the sake of people, just like with Simon where the groups fear turned savage and they murdered Simon. The human instinct to stay alive as early as birth shows why humans are inherently evil.
Just recently MRIs and ultrasounds have shown twins fighting for space within the womb of their mother. They kick and push their sibling out of the way to become more comfortable. At first, medical practices were focused on using MRIs in order to study twin to twin transfusion syndrome where one twin (identical) actually siphons blood away from the other like a vampire. During this, sometimes a fetus absorbs the recessive companions blood until the entire fetus either disappeared or miscarries, showing a real life survival of the fittest situation. So when studies, our violent incentives may be just in our instincts, or to put it simply, do what is necessary to stay alive and establish a more comfortable environment for ourselves, and when brought to the attention of American Psychology Professor Alison Gopnik she claimed that “The twins take the life of the surroundings in order to keep themselves in shape and to avoid degeneration.” She claims that the fetus’s natural instinct is to take away from others to gain in their own life, literally. This is very similar where in the Lord of The Flies, Jack chooses to murder Piggy (with the help of his newly founded tribe) in order to make his surroundings more fitting for himself rather than for
others. To conclude, In the novel The Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows the group of boys’ transformation from being a civilized pack of young boys into a pack of savage beasts due to their adaption of the freedom that they have in their new society. This is shown by Simon's death, the pigs, as well as more modern examples such as terrorist attacks today and our innate relations tendencies to keep survival key, and all in all, that humans are inherently evil.
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.
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.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.
Humans have an instinctual response, emotionally and physically, on fear towards danger or any unpleasant situation. When one is not in their right, conventional state, they become too concentrated towards the danger in front of them, thus leading to vicious outcomes. These may affect the person himself or to the one he is in opposition to. Fear stimulates the lost of individualism and encourages a group mentality to one another. The book “Lord of the Flies”, written by William Golding, manifests fear all throughout the book which directly triggers the savage acts the boys commit themselves . When one is scared, they are prone to create groups to disperse the fear and accompany it, or in the case of Simon’s death, the loss of individualism, a creation of a group mentality, is an and
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
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.
n William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, British schoolboys are stranded on an island after a plane crash in an attempt to escape the war, but they end up waging a war far worse than the one they were trying to avoid. One boy, Simon, is different from all the rest and has the ability to see beyond what the other boys can. He has the capacity to recognize the good and the bad in everything much before the other boys. In spite of the surrounding chaos and dysfunction, Simon is constantly calm and comforting to others. This sense of tranquility is demonstrated in Simon’s encounters with nature, and the forest in particular. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, Simon epitomizes the natural, instinctive human goodness brought by connection to the world, and he is an example of nature's calming influence on the behavior of humans.
People are privileged to live in an advanced stage of development known as civilization. In a civilization, one’s life is bound by rules that are meant to tame its savage natures. A humans possesses better qualities because the laws that we must follow instill order and stability within society. This observation, made by William Golding, dictates itself as one of the most important themes of Lord of the Flies. The novel demonstrates the great need for civilization ion in life because without it, people revert back to animalistic natures.
Chapter four of the Lord of the Flies was a downfall for these stranded boys. It gave your stomach a twisting feeling with the knowlede that chances were missed and your friends were not there when needed. For example for the first time since arrivel the boys were given an oppertunity at being rescued, but to Ralphs dissapointment Jack ruined that sliver of chance. Which added more tension to their already dwindling friendship. There was a ship seen, but, the fire that was supposed to be kept aflame by the chior boys, was dead due to a new found interest, hunting. Another example of a time when you had a horrid feeling of something gone wrong is when Piggy's were broken because of Jack's need for meat. Piggy already had quite a
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel. Where it shows savagery versus civilisation as a theme. Some boys are isolated in an island. On the island there are problems between two of the main characters, Jack and Ralph, who represent civilisation and savagery. This has an effect on the rest of the boys throughout the novel as they dig further and further into savagery.
Once upon a time, there lived a beast. This beast was ostracized by his friends, family, and society in general. All this beast wanted was to be loved to be a part of a group. What he really wanted was for people to recognize him as a member of society. His grief and depression turned to anger and rage. Since no one could treat this beast with the respect that he deserved he haunted the people of the city. He made them scared to walk the streets, he made them scared to sleep with the lights off, and he made them scared of life altogether. All the town’s people’s fears and phobias were turned into the beast of the night. One day this little girl who wandered outside of the town’s borders went to a cave. In this cave lived the beast. Unlike everybody
Christianity, over time, has provided a loose ethical base for the judicial system of the western world. Chapter 7 begins with introducing the concept of a faultless judge. Jesus explains that only a being that has no fault can judge one with fault because otherwise the one who judges would be a hypocrite. For this reason, a corrupt judge, or a judge convicted of a crime, is dismissed from his position. Just like most people, all three men had a character flaw that drew criticism. Gandhi treated his wife in an authoritative manner and occasionally became violent. Bonheoffer conspired to kill Adolf Hitler. King, a Baptist minister, was caught by the FBI cheating on his wife multiple times. This establishes that even the best men can be wrong.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows a group of young boys stranded on an island with no parental figures around. There is a plane crash and two main characters Ralph and Piggy are introduced to the audience first. These two characters are important throughout the whole story and show the ways the boys and the society deteriorate as the story goes on. Many events and different character personalities cause the boys to become savages and abandon all moral decisions. Children are already innocent and know little about surviving in the wild and keeping the rules of society, and with the things that happen and the events that occur, the boys easily become barbaric in nature. In Lord of the Flies the themes of Individual and Society, Cruelty,
In William Golding’s novel, The Lord of the Flies,he uses his writing to portray many hidden messages. From demonstrating how man can be self destructive, to how our society can influence the minds of young children. The book which was written out of the tension of World War II, is about a group of British school boys who end up on a deserted island after the plane crashed when it was shot down. They boys find themselves with no adults and struggling to remain civilized and have order. One of the main messages that William Golding is portraying in this novel is his political views and how he believes a democracy is a better form of governments. He does this with the conch, the two separate groups, and