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In the novel, Lord of The Flies, the notion, loss of innocence caries progression, as the boys were obligated to adapt to the grim, unforgiving environment, in which the story intervenes. In society, innocence is associated with ignorance, and it is bounded by the beliefs of people, and what they hold as revered. Loss of innocence can be seen as a singular event or a gradual disposal of events that may unfold in someone’s life, or even a series of events into adulthood seen as the norm for people growing up. Golding portrays loss of innocence through symbolism, and he uses simple concepts like killing in order to signify how once blames children are now involved in what society views as the worst infraction, that is still plausible. In modern …show more content…
society, a power struggle is a situation in which multiple people or groups compete for a particular element. In Lord of the Flies, Jack and Ralph have a power struggle that shapes their relationships throughout the novel.
Their power struggle represents the clash between good and evil, which furthermore contributes to the concept, loss of innocence, that is manifested in the story. Loss of innocence is portrayed as conflict between characters, develops their guilt, and it counteracts innocence. In Lord of the Flies, the power struggle between Ralph and Jack represent the archetype, the battle between good and evil. It can be lessened to Ralph as the archetype, the hero, or protagonist, and Jack as the villain, or the antagonist. Each character in the novel goes through some kind of conflict, whether internal or external, that contributes to their own loss of innocence and as a group, their combined loss of innocence, which furthermore becomes standard, leading to more explicitly atrocious events, such as the murder of …show more content…
Simon. While reading Lord of the Flies, I was astonished by how hysterical it is, yet how applicable it is to modern times, as themes and ideas introduced in the novel are prevalent in popular culture. Reading thi novel I noticed key symbolism and relations that were not explicitly told through the text. For example, Simon represents a Christ like figure, in which he was significed as an erathreal character, unlike the others in the story. Simon portrays loss of innocence less than the other boys having his characteristics, but his largest role was being what caused many of the boys to lose their innocence. The conch shell in Lord of the Flies is a symbol for democracy and its prestige over communism. At the start of the novel, Ralph and Piggy find the conch, and Piggy, having common knowledge, suggest Ralph to blow the conch. This attracts all the boys to Ralph, where they have an election of leaders, and put down some base rules. Someone can only talk, when they have the conch, giving the environment a more tranquil feel. As the story progresses, the conch starts to loose its vibrant color, and chaos is progressively augmented. When Roger pushes down the large boulder in attempt to kill Piggy, the conch is crushed with him. At this moment the boys loose any sense of morality, and anarchy strikes. This relates to democracy to communism, as the book was written in the a cold war atmosphere. Golding had a prejudice against communism, which allowed him to associate order and harmony with the conch, democracy, and the association of disarray and turmoil with the loss of the conch, communism. As a result of the conch being destroyed, the boys lose their innocence through the barbaric behavior they partake in. In lord of the flies, the concept of the Beast, epitomizes the hidden barbarity that all people encompass, and on the island it is unleashed.
With all of the emotions the boys are feeling on this island, fear rises above all. They acknowledgment of this inevitable fear commencing the creation of the Beast. The younger boys all submit to the beast while the older ones disregard the concept. The beast is only understood by Piggy and Simon, while both of them are physically challenged, their minds dominate others. Simon feels that the beast is within everyone, and he seeks to prove that knowledge. Simon climbs the mountain to realize that the beast is merely a dead man. Simon resonates with this then moves back to the group, unaware about the chaos currently taking place. The boys, bewildered to find Simon in the forest, mistake him for the beast, and as an unfortunate result, they kill him. This relates to the unatured savagery that's within everyone, the beast within everyone, that is unleashed with fear. Consequently of Simon’s death the theme, loss of innocence is expressed, murder is no innocent act. It’s an act that eats away any innocence you resonate
with. The choir boys are symbol for the facade of society covering the true atrocity of our civilization. Our society covers the ugly truth of civilization, the war, the crime, the hate, and the evil we inevitable inherited. The choir boys present themselves to be innocent, but immediately into the story, the leader, Jack is facing external conflict with Ralph. Conflict is a way to lose innocence. Jack chooses the role of his group to be the hunters, although, when is confronted with a pig he must kill, the good in him takes control, and refuses. Jack is ashamed about what the others think of him, a wimp. He puts clay paint on his face to hid himself when he partakes in killing this pig, this way he can isn’t really himself when he is hunting. The choirboys mask themselves to hide themselves from the evil they intend to commit. This relates to the real world and how people will do something, but not really mean it. This contributes to the overlying theme of loss of innocence, as covering themselves to do bad does not make it fine. Before I read this novel, I only knew what to think based off of other people’s opinions, now I can formulate ideas of my own. Prior to reading, I thought this would be a concrete novel about some boys trying to survive on this island. Now I realize how abstract the novel is and how some concepts and ideas can be applied to my own life. Golding’s worldview suggests that art and social science can articulate the intuitive human malice that inhibits civilization from surpassing an economic system based on private profit. The novel, Lord of the Flies accommodates allegories for political systems, religious figures, or philosophical viewpoints, making it a relatable novel.
Our first aspect of Fear in the novel comes into play with the Beast. This fictional character becomes the center of the boys problems on the island and brings a long chaos and death. Simon is murdered due to the befuddlement of Simon being mistaken as the beast when in fact he was the jesus like figure and his death was a representation of sacrifice. The beast was not something tangible it was simply the boys because the beast was themselves. Our biggest demons in life rest within oneself, and on the island the beast was just a justification for the boys to blame their wrong doings on. William Golding refers to this using the role of simon by stating: “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are" (158)?
The boys’ fear of the beast causes them to pay no attention to their morals and act savagely to defeat it. However, Simon is ultimately able to understand the beast and avoid savagery because his embrace of nature allows him to avoid any fears of the island. Simon demonstrates this lack of fear when he climbs the mountain by himself in order to find the beast, despite the dangers that might await him. The hunters and even Piggy and Ralph want to avoid the mountain because that is the last place where the beast was seen, but Simon seems to Once he reaches the top, he finds a physical beast, but not the kind the boys were expecting: a dead parachutist. The parachutist serves as an ironic symbol of Simon’s understanding; the monster the boys were afraid was a human. In contrast, Piggy displays immense fear throughout the novel, especially about Jack. For most of the story, his appreciation of logic and order help him remain civilized, but eventually his fears overcome him and he acts savagely the night of Simon’s murder. As Golding states, “[Piggy and Ralph] found themselves eager to take place in this demented but partly secure society….[the crowd] leapt on the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore” (136). After this occurrence and the theft of his glasses, Piggy decides to
...hat the beast is not real and that all the boys are living in fear of something that does not exist. The boys have no reason to be afraid, however, when he goes to tell them this, they brutally murder him because they think that he is, in fact, the beast, thus preventing Simon from delivering his message. Even though Simon does not get to deliver his message to the boys, he serves a “symbolic function in the novel as the agent who provides the text’s fibular message – that ‘mankind is both heroic and sick’”. Although Simon did not get to release the boys from their overwhelming fear of the beast, he helps the readers grasp the novel’s overarching message by exemplifying both heroic and sick qualities. This apparent switch between two opposing traits functions as his message to the reader and makes Simon an extraordinarily important character. TRANSITION. TRANSITION.
The book can be split into three parts to show how evil on the island advances. In the first part we learn about the boys meeting on the island and the first assembly. The boys share their ideas but hopes fall due to some of the boys, which fail to admit that they think they will be saved. In the second part the threat of evil begins especially due to the arrival of the dead air pilot. Immediately, the boys are struck with fear... and the boys are all affected with it like a disease What the boys don’t realize at this point is that its not an external fear which creates evil it’s the boys own nature. Finally the third part which is the most terrible part of the story is when the book explores the meaning and consequence of the creation of evil. The evil is so great on the island that the boys eventually split, the good and the evil. The hunters are the evil when Ralph and his friends are the good. The parting of the boys resulted in death, pain and savage. Simon projects the internal evil and fear of the boys. However Simon doesn’t share his feelings for the evil with the others. Within the story Simon is seen as the ‘Christ’ of the island.
...eir instinct to be savage, the tension in the story rises. The deaths of Piggy and Simon are examples of this. “Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of a true, wise friend called Piggy” (Golding 284), a quote in the book in the end of chapter 12, is a very deep quote. Here, William Golding expresses the darkness in the human heart; as Ralph was saved right before his death on the island, he thinks about how the savage instinct took over the boys’ souls. By the end of this novel, we open our eyes to realize how inadequate savageness becomes to these children, blinding them from their own civil instincts. Which later on appears to be restored after the officer makes them realize the terrible things they had done.
Despite his frailty, Simon soldiers on his quest to discover the identity of the beast on the mountaintop because he sees that need for the boys to face their fears, to understand the true identity of the false beast on the mountain and to get on with the business of facing the beast within themselves. His character signifies morality, kindness and compassion and ironically, it is these qualities which lead to his murder, and ultimately the final collapse of society on the island and deterioration into savagery of the boys.
Throughout the novel, Lord of the Flies the major theme shown throughout is innocence. For the duration of the novel the young boys progress from innocent, well behaved children longing fir rescue to bloodthirsty savages who eventually lose desire to return to civilisation. The painted bloodthirsty savages towards the end of the novel, who have tortured and killed animals and even their friends are a far cry from the sincere children portrayed at the beginning of the novel. Golding portrays this loss of innocence as a result of their naturally increasing opened to the innate evil that exists within all human beings. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m par...
It’s one of the most famous stories to ever exist, the story of how two people changed what defines us as humans. It’s the story of Adam, Eve, a serpent, and the unbecoming of mankind, the Fall of Man. This iconic account has been the premise for many works over the centuries. Today, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered one of the most influential novels of our time, not only for its adventurous story of stranded boys on a lost island, but also because of its allegorical tale of the true fault in man’s soul. William Golding leans heavily upon the Biblical account of the Fall of Man to highlight man’s depravity in his novel, Lord of the Flies.
Throughout William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies there is an ever-present conflict between two characters. Ralph's character combines common sense with a strong desire for civilized life. Jack, however, is an antagonist with savage instincts, which he cannot control. Ralph's goals to achieve a team unit with organization are destroyed by Jack's actions and words that are openly displayed to the boys. The two leaders try to convince the boys that their way of survival is correct.
As much as everyone would like to believe that all people are inherently good, the illusion of innocence that is often presumed throughout childhood makes the revelation of human nature especially hard to bear. Arthur Koestler said, “Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion”, and this one is certainly a very hard reality to cope with. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who crash land on an uninhabited island in the midst of a world war, and how they regress from civilization to savagery. By conveying Ralph’s reactions to the deaths of Simon and Piggy, providing detailed, symbolic imagery of the cliffs and the lagoon, and showing Ralph’s despair at his new understanding
The irony of the plane crashing to start the story, the environment of an unknown island and many other cruel acts function into the work as a whole because it really does set up the major plot in the story. Cruelty will bring out the worst in people and this phrase proves to be true when it comes to Jack. The killing of the pig and the obsession of blood lust drives Jack into savagery and reveals that he is not morally strong. The violence also shows that Jack is manipulative as he uses the fear of the beast to gain power. While cruelty transforms Jack, Ralph stays morally strong and represents civilization throughout the novel. Cruelty proves to shows that Ralph’s character is very intelligent as he is able to think deeply. Cruelty also reveals how strong morally he is and how he will not succumb to savagery like the majority of the boys do. Lord of the Flies by William Golding, just proves to show that the cruelness of our savage, beast like instincts will take over without the order, rule, and conduct that civilized societies have to
Beforehand, everything was all fun and games on the island, and Piggy was the only one that actually worried about anything. However, the idea of the beast brought fear to them again and again. Whether it was when it was first mentioned as a snake, or when it was thought to come from the sea, or when it was guessed to be ghosts, the idea of something being there at the island made the boys afraid even though there was no actual evidence of the beast. Golding wrote, “‘He says in the morning it turned into them things like ropes in the trees and hung in the branches. He say will it come back tonight?’ ‘But there isn’t a beastie!’ There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching.’” At the idea there there was some sort of mysterious fearsome monster that might come after the boys, the previously joyous atmosphere quickly bursted as fear settles on them. Though the beast only symbolized fear in the beginning, by the latter parts of the novel, it had become a representation of the savagery within a human. Simon was the first one to notice, at how he pointed out how maybe the beast lived within themselves. Also, Jack’s bloody offering to the beast, the sow’s head, represented how the darkness has taken over the hunters. Their belief in the beast strength as their savagery increased, it was almost as if they worshipped it, leaving offerings and such. Also, the Lord
... middle of paper ... ... The frenzied state they are in is being caused by the beast, a symbol of fear. The barbaric way the boys attacked Simon without a moment of restraint shows that the beast had summoned their inner evil, primal, and savage minds.
“I think that’s the real loss of innocence: the first time you glimpse the boundaries that will limit your potential” (Steve Toltz). In the previous quote, Steve Toltz discusses the transition from innocence to corruption. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies illustrates the loss of innocence through various characters: Jack, who struggles with pride and a thirst for power; Roger, who revels in the pain of others and uses fear to control the boys; Simon, who represents the demise of purity when humans are at their most savage; Ralph, who illustrates the struggle people endure when attempting to be civilized near the savage; and Piggy, who suffers because he has the only technology necessary to survive. Golding enforces the theory that true innocence will often pay the price to sustain true evil by arranging the characters' personalities and actions in a way that correlates to the effects of Darwin's evolution theory, "survival of the fittest" (). Jack is a good example of this as he exerts power over the weak and uses his skills in hunting to survive. The thirst to prove his masculinity overrides his innate purity, effectively corrupting him. Jack’s loss of innocence begins a domino effect that begins to influence the others.
This leads to the fact that a beast really does exist within all human beings, but is only expressed when human instinct for survival becomes the main objective. At first the boys aren?t able to kill, but as survival instinct starts taking over, the reader?s are able to se the true character?s play out, and lives are compromised. ?You feel as if you?re not hunting, but- being hunted, as if something?s behind you all the time in the jungle,? (pg.53) proves that it?s every man for himself and people will do anything to survive. An example of this in the novel was when Robert became the ?pig,? and was wounded even though it wasn?t intentional, but the situation became worse when Piggy?s death happened as a result of all civilization lost and evil taken over.