Lord Of The Flies Hope And Savagery Essay

1230 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Uses Of Symbolism In Lord Of The Flies

The Fire That Saved the Boys A fire lights the way to hope, but unlike these boys the fire lights the way to savagery. A couple of English boys get stranded on an island after a plane crash and only a couple of them survive. With no adults in sight to give them rules to follow, the boys start to lose hope and savagery starts to take over. In the novel “Lord of the Flies” author William Golding uses the symbol fire to show that once hope is gone savagery takes over. After the plane had crashed, the boys try to comprehend on what just happened. “When we was coming down I looked through one of them windows. I saw the other part of the plane. There were flames coming out of it”(Golding 8). They had soon realized that they were stranded on an island and no one else had survived but them. One of the boys named Ralph was so sure that they were going to get off the island. “I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me. He’s a commander in the Navy. When he gets leave he’ll come and rescue us. What’s your father?” (Golding 13). Ralph soon realizes that they might stay there till they die. Soon after, the boys start to settle in on the island and everyone is assigned a job/task. One …show more content…

“Now the fire was nearer; those volleying shots were great limbs, trunks even, bursting” (Golding 198). Ralph was running through a massive cloud of smoke and questioning every little thing that he saw as he was running. After the hunt for Ralph, Ralph had barely made it out of the forest on the island but once he did he had laid exhausted on the beach. Ralph had looked all around on the beach and had noticed someone standing on the sand before him. “A naval officer stood on the sand, looking down at Ralph in a wary astonishment. On a beach behind him was a cutter, her bows hauled up and held by two ratings” (Golding 200). Out of all the boys, one survived and was finally rescued. Thanks to hope, Ralph was

Show More
Related

  • Lord Of The Flies: Rejecting Savagery

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Simon and Piggy are among a group of boys who become stranded on a deserted island. Left without any adults, the boys attempt to create an orderly society. However, as the novel progresses, the boys struggle to sustain civility. Slowly, Jack and his hunters begin to lose sight of being rescued and start to act more savagely, especially as fears about a beast on the island spread. As the conflict progresses, Jack and Ralph battle for power. The boys’ struggle with the physical obstacles of the island leads them to face a new unexpected challenge: human nature. One of the boys, Simon, soon discovers that the “beast” appears not to be something physical, but a flaw within all humans

    Read More

  • The Lord Of The Flies Character Analysis Essay

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Use of Clothing in Lord of the Flies

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    After turmoil erupts on the island, and Ralph is on the verge of being killed, a naval officer arrives on the island. Ralph is first unaware of the of the naval officer, “He staggered to his feet, tensed for more terrors and looked up at a huge peaked cap. It was a white-topped cap, and above the green shade of the peak was a crown, an anchor, gold foliage. He saw white drill, epaulettes, a revolver, a row of gilt buttons down the front of a uniform” (200). Once this uniformed (properly dressed) man arrives at the island, order is once again restored. The conflict and combat is immediately ceased. Once the naval officer asks who is in charge, Ralph claims authority over the boys without any questions.

    Read More

  • Civilization and Social Order in Lord of the Flies by William Golding

    596 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the beginning of the story, after the plane had crashed on the island and the boys are accounted for, Ralph feels very free and absent. He finds a lagoon to with warm water, and just like any other twelve year old boy, he goes for recreational swim. "Whizzoh! . . . Ralph inspected the whole thirty yards carefully and plunged in."(12) So far, not terribly worried yet, about being rescued and getting off the island. Along with him being fairly rel...

    Read More

  • Epilogue: Lord of the Flies

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    His voice rose under the black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island; and infected by that emotion, the other little boys began to shake and sob too. And in the middle of them, with filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (Golding, 290).

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies: The Innate Evil

    585 Words  | 2 Pages

    When Ralph sees the naval officer that appears on the island to save them, he realizes that he will return to civilization. The shock causes him to reflect on what has happened. The rescue does not produce joy; instead he feels despair at what he has been through. He is awakened to the reality that he will never be the same. He has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within himself and all men through his experiences on the island. Ralph’s revelation to his loss of innocence and societal order among the boys is exemplified through the collapse of the attempted Democratic government, the killing of the pig, and the death of Piggy and Simon.

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    To begin, survival is the key in every ones mindset. You only live once as most people say. However, with Jack and Ralph and the rest of the boys, they all seemed that all hope was lost. They had been stranded in the island for months, hoping that one day, someone will find them and return them home. Ralph was the most panicked person in the group simply because he hadn’t cut his hair and it was growing. He also did not shower at all, and he did not shave or eat as much simply due to the lack of surviving. He had given up on the hope for rescue, until in chapter 12, he, along with Jack and the rest of the boys, were saved by an officer which saw the destruction and the vicious bodies of the ...

    Read More

  • Lord of the Flies essay

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Lord Of The Flies Literary Analysis Essay

    1004 Words  | 3 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • Savagery In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    792 Words  | 2 Pages

    Would you be able to resist savagery from being away from society? Could you resist the urging power to kill? How about being able to find food without killing or not to go full savage on other people, could you still do it? A normal person could say no to all of these. In the novel, “Lord of The Flies”, William Golding shows that without civilization, a person can turn into a savage by showing progressively how they went through the seven steps of savagery.

    Read More

  • Loss Of Innocence In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

    1158 Words  | 3 Pages

    As Ralph is trying to hide from them overnight, he wonders, “Might it not be possible to walk boldly into the fort… pretend they were still boys, schoolboys who had said, ‘Sir, yes, sir’- and worn caps? Daylight might have answered yes; but darkness and the horrors of death said no” (186). No matter how hard Ralph tries, he cannot discard his new knowledge of Jack and his tribe’s potential for evil and corruption. For a long time Ralph seems to be in denial; like many others, he seems to want to stay true to his belief in the overall goodness of the human heart. Ralph’s expectations for human kindness are finally challenged to the point of irreversibility when Jack attacks him and tries to pursue him on a vicious manhunt. When Ralph collapses on the beach and a naval officer arrives, “With filthy body, matted hair, and unwiped nose, Ralph wept for the end of innocence, [and] the darkness of man’s heart...” (202). One might think it strange that rather than rejoicing over rescue, Ralph and the rest of the boys cry out in grief. The young schoolboys come to understand the enormity of human greed and evil, and unfortunately it is a lesson that they will not be able to ignore or forget. They witness and play a role in their own loss of innocence, and the time they spend on the island teaches them what

    Read More

  • Cruelty And Violence In Lord Of The Flies Essay

    1055 Words  | 3 Pages

    Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of

    Read More

  • Ralph Lord Of The Flies Essay

    1545 Words  | 4 Pages

    No adults survived, so the remaining boys had to look after themselves. They realised that the plane had been attacked and after all the boys are reunited their individual characters are revealed in depth. Ralph

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    So, in the beginning of the story, the fire symbolized civilization and hope. However, this was changed when Jack confiscated the fire from Ralph's tribe and used it to help them do more wrongdoings. He set the jungle into fire so that Ralph can burn out. This changed the symbolism of the fire from civilization and hope to evil, savagery, and calamity. However, soon something ironic happened.

    Read More

  • Lord of the flies essay - excellent

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Lord Of The Flies Hope And Savagery Essay

Open Document