Literary essay on Lord of the Flies Understanding natural human nature can be a tricky subject. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding we see a small group of boys on a deserted island after they have a mishap with their plane, but most importantly there is zero adult interaction. Throughout the novel Golding shows the human inclination to act savagely or the desire to act civilized. Golding shows this through many different ways throughout the entire text. Going down the gamut of orderly civilization to savagery we have Ralph. Ralph is the one that has the natural civil attitude. Golding represents him as the impulse towards civilization and to work uniformly in a complete society. For example, he suggests “we ought to have a chief to decide things”(18). Ralph; although only a young boy, let his instincts take over and tried to create a systematic civilization by suggesting voting for a leader and approaching the situation in a democratic manner. Without Ralph the island would have most likely began to break out into complete chaos and all morals of every child on the island …show more content…
Although still a child, Jack pushes for violence and domination. Golding uses Jack to speak for the more savage side of society. From the beginning Jack's savagery was coming through. For example, right after Ralph was elected chief, Jack suggested what they should do with people that breaks rules and says“[if] anyone breaks ‘em” and implies that the punishment should be physical abuse. This is just the beginning for Jack. He goes on to getting more and more savage as time goes on throughout the text. We have multiple characters just like Jack as it goes for level of savagery. For example, Roger, although not even having a motive for his barbaric behaviour, he is equally, if not worse than Jack. Golding uses these characters to show the unacceptable side of human behaviour when instincts come into
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
But, it was not an accident because “we are born with evil in us and cruelty is part of this” (Golding). William Golding was searching for a way to display why children become vicious. When little kids are left to make their own choices, they do not always follow what an adult would. Children making decision for themselves usually causes them to play into their darker side. Consequently, that causes some people to believe that children are not aware of their decisions. But, everyone no matter what age has the choice to choose if they want to be good or evil. Sadly, Jack makes his choice to play into the alluring, corrupt side within him. His choice is extremely disheartening because a child has to face his extreme consequences. But, that does not win him empathy. Jack killed someone and he has to pay his dues for his
The Lord of the Flies - Savagery. William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel, Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes. At the opening of the novel, Ralph and Jack get on extremely well.
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.
Lord of the Flies - Savagery “There are too many people, and too few human beings.” (Robert Zend) Even though there are many people on this planet, there are very few civilized people. Most of them are naturally savage. In the book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, boys are stranded on an island far away, with no connections to the adult world.
Over millions of years, man has transformed from a savage, simple creature to a highly developed, complex, and civil being. In Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding shows how under certain circumstances, man can become savage. During nuclear war, a group of British schoolboys crash land on an uninhabited island to escape. Ralph the elected leader, along with Piggy and Simon, tries to maintain civilization, while Jack and his group of choir boys turned hunters slowly become savages obsessed with killing. Through characters’ action and dialogue, Golding illustrates the transformation of civil schoolboys into bloodthirsty savages.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The Flies’ tells the story of a group of English boys isolated on a desert island, left to attempt to retain civilisation. In the novel, Golding shows one of the boys, Jack, to change significantly. At the beginning of the book, Jack’s character desires power and although he does not immediately get it, he retains the values of civilized behaviour. However, as the story proceeds, his character becomes more savage, leaving behind the values of society. Jack uses fear of the beast to control the other boys and he changes to become the book’s representation of savagery, violence and domination. He is first taken over with an obsession to hunt, which leads to a change in his physical appearance This change of character is significant as he leads the other boys into savagery, representing Golding’s views of there being a bad and unforgiving nature to every human.
On the other hand, Golding tries to show the evil within man through Jack. Jack is a character in which he almost symbolizes cruel political leaders, such as Castro, Hussein, Hitler, etc. He is the leader of the hunters, the first time they find a pig, Jack stops, and couldn't kill the pig. That revealed how Jack was civilized, yet later on he would kill the pig without hesitation. "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.
Incredibly, throughout the entirety of the book, Golding uses irony to compare the boy’s on the island to the adults at war in the outside world. Jack arrived on the island with a sense of superiority saying that “after all, we're not savages. We're English; and the English are best at everything. So we've got to do the right things (The lord of the Flies pg. 42).” Then Jack turns right around and his first step toward a savage lifestyle was painting up his face with mud and dirt to put on a mask before he goes hunting. At the end of the book Jack is so far gone that he hunts another boy. He plans on placing Ralph’s head on a stick in order to get a message across- you’re either with me or against me. Jack is the same one who goes to steal
Golding's View of Man and War Exposed in Lord of the Flies. & nbsp; ".Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart" (Golding 223). An author's view of human behavior is often reflected in their writing. The novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is an example of a literary work that demonstrates the author's view of man, as well his opinion of war. & nbsp; Golding's Lord of the Flies is highly demonstrative of Golding's opinion that society is a thin and fragile veil that when removed shows man for what he truly is, a savage animal. Perhaps the best demonstration of this given by Golding is Jack's progression to the killing of the sow. Upon first landing on the island, Jack, Ralph, and Simon go to survey their new home.
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.
Golding exhibits the gradual deterioration of Jack’s morals to reveal a character of savagery. The downfall of Jack’s morals begins when he loses the vote for chief His lack of respect and empathy is
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
Then Jack abandons his citizens needs in order to protect his position and power. This was a reflection of Hitler during World War 2. HItler oppressed and fed his citizens propaganda in order to Maintain control over them. When this did not work he would punish his citizens by locking them up in jail or killing them. This led to his citizens to be afraid of their leader and of the outside world as well. As World War 2 continued and Nazi germany started losing the war, Hitler became more desperate as he wanted to win, sending in suicidal missions in order for him to maintain his power. But as we saw because he was willing to sacrifice his people for his mission he in the end lost and had nothing left. Golding Wants to show a leader is supposed to be responsible for his people and must try to complete his responsibility. Golding shows that a leader who does not respect this responsibility is able to throw his citizens away just to accomplish their desires. But a leader is not a leader if they have no one to
Golding created Jack as the representation of evil he saw while serving in World War II. Jack’s primary goal of taking control of the entire island is fueled by his power hungry nature and envy of others; Jack wants to be the “golden boy” of the island and the number one confidant of Ralph. His immoral, sociopathic nature and manipulation of other characters helps him achieve his goals. However, as he usurps the role of leader from Ralph he causes the island to descend into savagery. He presents the reader with humankind’s innate sense of evil and how even the most civilized person’s true nature of senseless killing and barbarism can be unleashed without the social expectations that keep this nature