More handpicked essays just for you.
Lord of the Flies leadership style
Symbolism in William Golding Lord of the Flies
Symbolism in William Golding Lord of the Flies
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?”(259) That’s what young Piggy wants everyone to realize in order to make the right choice. The book Lord of the Flies suggests that humans are naturally savage through a tale of young civilized boys, who turn into uncontrollable savages. This effectively describes the theme of the novel because the facts state that humans are the flaw itself, and therefore are naturally savage. There is also the fact that no matter how much authority there is, there are always humans who disobey it and cause chaos wherever they go and whatever they do. The final argument presented is the fact that when humans reach a certain point of limitation, they fall into chaos in a desperate attempt …show more content…
to rehabilitate their sanity. The message that the novel is trying to communicate, that deep inside, no matter how civilized you are, there is always a savage within you. One important reason that humans are naturally violent and savage, and it is impossible to sustain order is that with or without authority, humans still act savage .
During the time Percival thought he saw the beast he starting crying to his heart’s content and he “ Would not shut up, A spring had been tapped, far beyond the reach of authority or even physical intimidation” (pg123) What this means is that the power of authority on the island wasn't being followed when everyone knew what the rules were. The idea here is that humans are naturally savage because it shows that it doesn’t matter that Ralph is in charge and had conch, Percival wouldn’t remain silent because he was crying his heart out, and if you think about it crying doesn’t follow the rules, crying goes on until you feel like it's enough, not the boss or leader, you. The conch represents authority and if Percival has been able to just ignore it until he thought it was enough, then it just shows how useless authority really is . The other side of the argument is that with authority, humans will be kept in order , but the argument that humans are savage with or without authority is still true. The key point is that in our society, even though there is authority, there are still some people who refuse to follow the rules, such as criminals. This is also expressed in the book, for Jack and his tribe refuse to follow authority, that being the conch and the original leader
Ralph. Another key reason that Humans are naturally violent and savage is that people can’t sustain a civilized state. When the officer asked Ralph if they were acting like civilized people during the time alone on the island, he responds “It was like that at first,” said Ralph, “before things—”(pg 290) The point is that Ralph was recalling the past events from when they got to the island to their present time, which was a dramatic change because they started civilized boys to painted savages. This explains that humanity is a flaw itself and that we are no perfect being to keep a civilized state. Of course, It is possible to disagree with the view that humans can’t keep a civilized state with the fact that humans can keep a civilized state. However stronger evidence is on the other side. What must be remembered is that throughout human history and the context of the novel, we see the so called civilized society fall apart piece by piece. The argument presented is that there is to believe that humans are basically savage is that when humans are tested to a certain level, they become uncontrollable and savage. In the novel, when Ralph makes Jack reach his limits by making him admit how much of a dirty thief, he is, he causes Jack to break and as Ralph recalls “Piggy was dead, and the conch smashed to powder”.(pg 268) This shows that humans are turn savage when their limits are tested because it shows that as a result of Jack cracking under pressure, he couldn't handle it and decided to get wild with his tribe and kill piggy. The point here is that humans do have a breakpoint and when they reach it, they lose control and do an act of savagery, whether it is flipping a table to killing another human being. There is the possibility that people can view it with the perspective that humans do not break at their limits and become savage, but this argument is flawed because the evidence points to the fact that humans indeed have a breakpoint when they reach their limits and commit an act of savagery. We can take Jack’s tribe, for example, the were panicked and didn't know what to do on the island, which led them to forget of the civilized world and become hunting machines.They reached their breakpoint and completely lost their common sense and now lived on an island killing pigs and people. Humans are basically savage and they are impossible to keep in a civilized state in The Lord of The Flies. The novel demonstrates that with or without authority humans are savage by showing how people in the novel, defy authority that being the conch and leave to become painted savages . There's also the fact that they can't keep a civilized state because they then turned from british boys to painted killers . Finally there is the fact that there is a limit to what a human can take before turning savage, such as Ralph provoking Jack. What if humans really are savage? In Golding’s Lord of The Flies, this leaves readers realizing the question that we should all have, who we really are deep down inside. Now we ask ourselves, are we savage without even knowing and we just need the right conditions to turn the novel into reality?
Ralph has several positive characteristics but he also has several crucial weaknesses that prevent him from being the perfect leader. In chapter one the boys decide who they want to be leader. The boys decide on Ralph, “”Vote for a chief!”…every hand outside the choir except Piggy’s was raised immediately. Then Piggy, too, raised his hand grudgingly into the air.” (Golding 18-19). From the very beginning Ralph is seen as the leader. He becomes the one the boys look up to and depend on to make decisions in their best interest. Ralph has natural leadership skills. Landing on the island with no adults to take control, the boys chose to follow the one boy who seems to be doing something productive, Ralph. An example of Ralph being purposeful and productive is when he blows the conch to get the attention of all the boys on the island and bring them together for a meeting. When Jack and his choir find the other boys gathered he asks where the man with the trumpet is, Ralph replies, “There’s no man with a trumpet. We’re having a meeting. Want to join?” (Golding 16). Ralph asks Jack and the choir boys to join the meeting because he wants all the boys to work together so they can be rescued as soon as possible. Other than his leadership and purposeful qualities, Ralph is also hard working. When tasks are given out to the boys, such as building shelters, hunting, gathering food, the hard work of most boys turns into play and exploration leaving Ralph to do most of the work by himself with little help from others. When the other boys gave up on their tasks Ralph continued working, this proves his hard work. Leadership, purposeful, and hard working are all positive qualities that helped Ralph succeed in the novel, but Ralph also had some majo...
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.
“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us” (Golding 80). Referencing the savagery of human nature, this statement is one with great accuracy. While reading Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, many themes and problems presented themselves. The book really highlighted the use of power, and the types of people using it. People in society, whether they want power or not, can use their authority without the best intentions, corrupting themselves and others into inhumanity. For example, Jack uses his urge for authority, and eventually his control, to create an extremely savage tribe of boys, by pushing his own wants and laws onto them. This type of power can demoralize many people, including the ultimate
Throughout the novel several different characters are introduced to the reader, such as Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy. With all these characters presented to the reader, one can get to see into their minds-eye, which allows the reader to analyze their character. In this case one could examine their basic morals and distinguish between the person’s natural instinct to rely on civilization or savagery to solve their problems. The author of the novel, William Golding, had a “first-hand experience of battle line action during World War II” which caused him to realize, “[that] The war alone was not what appalled him, but what he had learnt of the natural - and original- sinfulness of mankind did. It was the evil seen daily as commonplace and repeated by events it was possible to read in any newspaper which, he asserted, were the matter of Lord of the Flies” (Foster, 7-10). This being said by Golding leads one to the central problem in the novel the Lord of the Flies, which can be regarded as the distinction between civility and savagery. This can be seen through the characters that are presented in the novel, and how these boys go from a disciplined lifestyle, to now having to adapt to an unstructured and barbaric one in the jungle.
Savagery is brought out in a person when they lose everything else. Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows us that when there is a lack of societal boundaries, animalistic behavior is what will follow. Humanity is destroyed with lack of guidelines or rules.
Jack finds a pig while hunting, yet he cannot kill it, his reason being, “because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting living flesh; because of the unbearable blood” (31). Because of the strictly regulated society Jack has grown up in, he finds it disturbing to kill an animal, even if he must do it to have food. Later in the story, changes can be seen in the boys from when they first arrived on the island. During an assembly, the boys discuss how to track the “beast” living on the island, and Jack speaks without holding the conch. After being reprimanded for that he says, “Conch! Conch!...We don't need the conch anymore… It's time some people knew they've got to keep quiet and leave deciding things to the rest of us” (101). Jack’s disregard for the conch shows his growing distaste for laws and civilization. He also challenges Ralph's authority by implying he should be in charge of decisions taken for the group. After some time, Ralph is only left with Piggy, Samneric, and some littluns on his side of the island. These boys realize everyone else has become savage.
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.
From 1947 to 1991, the United States and the Soviet Union battled without a war. This conflict, the Cold War, was also notorious for the rivalry between the two countries. In literature, these rivalries also occur but are between characters or groups. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, two clans of boys, led by dueling protagonists Ralph and Jack, have their own battle on a desert island about how to survive. However, the title, Lord of the Flies, is not a complete representation of the themes. Although a “Lord of the Flies” would bite heavily due to being noble, the conflict is not basic and the title Lord of the Flies does not convey the plot effectively. The title Tribes of Fate is a culmination of all of the aspects of the story because the title incorporates the three-sided conflict of person versus person, person versus nature, and person versus fate.
Lord of the flies dramatizes the conflict between the civilisation and savagery that exists in all human beings. Every choice that the author makes is designed to emphasize the struggle between the order of society, which includes morality, order, law and culture and chaotic elements of humanity’s savage instincts, which include anarchy, bloodlust, the desire for power, amorality, selfishness and violence. As the story progresses we see the swift fall of civilisation and the rise of savagery which is a key motif of this dystopian novel. One of the main characters, Piggy is used to present many allegorical messages such as injustice in society. However as savagery becomes more intense in the novel, Piggy is defenceless and weak so begins to suffer more injustices and eventually
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
When the children and the littluns crash-landed onto the island they were faced with a monumental choice; should they retain their civility and order, or rather resort to their natural animal-like instincts? To this question, each of the members of the new society gave a unique answer. A few chose civility to the very end. From the beginning, Piggy was faced with the responsibility of maintaining a working system of command. “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us”. (Golding 16) He tried to restore order with the other children so everything did not get out of hand when no one knew what to do. Not all inhabitants were civilized, because some refrained against the rules and common wishes from among the rest of the group. A main rule the group formed was that whoever held the conch had the right to speak. However, even with this regulation in place, there was a constant influx of shouts from the littluns. “Whee-oh!” “Wacco” “Bong!” “Doink!” (Golding 33)...
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...
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding suggests ideas about human nature such as the grasp for power, manipulation, barbarism, anarchy, and destruction which are prevalent in today’s society. As the article 2011 Libyan Civil War Fast Facts by CNN describes the event as a power struggle, mob mentality, international desire for new leadership, and displays the internal challenges of a population, traits of human nature such as these are present the struggle between Jack and Ralph which effectively made two groups and created violent divide. Articles such as this one back up the Golding’s ideas that there is evil and a violent side to the world which as those grounded in the Libyan population.
Lord of the Flies: Final Essay Exam. Are the defects of society traced back to the defects of human nature? The defects of society, and how it relates to the defects of human nature, can be explained with the savagery that drives the defects of society and the same savagery that drives the defects of human nature. In this story, Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the id, ego, and superego within the characters in the book. Golding represents the id with Jack, whereas the id says “I want, and I want it now,” and Jack constantly wants and needs power, and wants his way in every situation.