Lord of The Flies

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Recommended: Good vs evil of lord of the flies

Lord of the Flies was published in 1954 by William Golding. Today Lord of the Flies is a well known literary criticism. Many schools require their students to read Lord of the Flies because of the literary criticisms in the book. In this paper three themes or literary criticisms are talked about: good vs. evil, symbolism of characters, and maturity of characters.

Another topic in Golding's Lord of the Flies is the battle of good vs. evil. Everything seems to start out just fine on the island; the island seems to be rich with fruit and game and the climate is favorable. The real problem that arises among the boys involves their own inner nature, and emerges from an argument between those who wish to keep a fire burning on the island's mountain to attract rescuers and those who wish to hunt, play, and enjoy no adult supervision (Johnston). Evil comes about with the appearance of the choir boys who are wearing all black and being led by Jack (Martin; Golding 16). Also the conflict and ongoing fight between Ralph [good] and Jack [evil]; is the main topic of the good vs. evil discussion.

Lord of the Flies starts out as all the boys coming together, civilized, focusing on rescue and survival, and staying mature. As the boys begin hunting for food; evil slowing begins creeping in. The hunting group is led by Jack and his right-hand-man Roger, who displays the most evil out of all the boys and is the one who kills Piggy (Martin). Jack begins developing his own clan that with compete with Ralph's [good] clan. Jack is able to recruit boys by taking them hunting which gives the boys a taste of power and violence. Once these boys feel this power they want more and begin taking orders from Jack; like to steal and vandalize Ralph's camp. Thi...

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..."Teaching Rationale for William Golding's Lord of the Flies." Censored Books: Critical Viewpoints. Ed. Nicholas J. Karolides, Lee Burress, and John M. Kean. The Scarecrow Press, Inc, 1993. 351-357. Rpt. in Novels for Students. Ed. Diane Telgen. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Spitz, David. "Power and Authority: An Interpretation of Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'." The Antioch Review 30.1 (Spring 1970): 21-33. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

Talon, Henri. "Irony in 'Lord of the Flies'." Essays in Criticism 18.3 (July 1968): 296-309. Rpt. in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Roger Matuz and Cathy Falk. Vol. 58. Detroit: Gale Research, 1990. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 11 Jan. 2012.

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