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How does golding use symbolism to explore some of his ideas in lord of the flies
How does golding use symbolism to explore some of his ideas in lord of the flies
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Japnidh Thakral
Ms. Manley
English 10
28 October 2014
A Journey to the Dark Side
“‘Fancy thinking the Beast [is] something you could hunt or kill’” (Golding 136). This quote, essentially, is the mockery of society’s attempts to search and subdue the human evil or “beast”, when it only resides under their noses, within themselves. This analytical statement and underlying theme comes from The Lord of the Flies, authored by William Golding, a World War II soldier, before the controversial Cold War era. It is a story about a society of young British schoolboys who are separated from civilization and reside on an uncharted island, and soon learn about the nature of mankind, while subliminally portraying the state of humanity and its relevance to
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the Cold War. This is especially true of one character by the name of Roger, who makes one of the most drastic changes to his persona as a result of this as compared to the other boys. Golding’s intent is to show the true, “beastly” nature that society shrouds and disguises through Roger’s rapid transition from a likeable, democratic person into an unrestrained sadist as a result of the absence of civilization and the nature of the boys’ circumstances. To imitate societal views of people and human nature, Golding initially presents Roger as a likeable, democratic person that tries to live up to contemporary standards.
As the boys are stranded on the island, they broach discrepancies about how they will govern on the island, as they try to live up to their civilized, “British” integrity. Among the mass of boys that are stranded, Roger, a boy with a “dark” aura associated with him, suggests to “have a vote” for a chief or leader, and the boys eventually agree to do so (Golding 22). From this one suggestion, Golding portrays Roger as one who camouflages with society, as a democratic demeanor is expected from one who agrees with and supports the power of people and the prevalence of civilization, which is especially true due to his British background. Roger tries to deliver the stereotype of sophistication and order associated with Britain. Society expects one to be docile and supportive of a strong government and order, which Roger accomplishes perfectly by advocating order and unification on the island. Doing this, consequently, can let him masquerade his true nature while, at the same time, accomplishing the goal of propriety and order. But since they are stranded on an island, where civilized behavior and order are obsolete, the capability of revealing one’s true nature remains. That nature lies sedate and dormant, but is able to be triggered if the circumstances allow it, which is especially true when considering that Golding gives Roger a “dark” aura that foreshadows a possibly disastrous
outcome. As the story progresses, due to his separation from civilization, Roger begins to hint and show signs of a malevolent and unseemly nature unlike the personality he reveals earlier in the story. As the leaders of the boys investigate the island and their whereabouts, the little boys, including Roger, are left to entertain themselves like the little boys they are. In one particular incident, Roger observes another boy by the name of Henry authoritatively playing with the miniscule sea creatures near the beach for the joy of it. Inspired somewhat by this action that could establish one’s power, Roger, afterwards, “[stoops], [picks] up a stone, [aims], and [throws] it at Henry – [throws] it to miss” (Golding 62). Roger, for the first time, displays some questionable and unusual behavior, particularly of the violent type. However, Roger does not fully transform and the chains of civilization still bind him and mold his decisions, so he misses on purpose. Eventually, he reaches the pinnacle of his violence due to overt lack of order in the island, but in this incident, he tries to transition seamlessly into this new habitat where there are no rules, and where one’s true personality is not condemned by not following society’s norms. Roger begins to reverse in his growth and progression from his educated background and now relies on childish and primitive instincts, suggesting that Golding implies a regression of intelligence and the forgoing of reasoning to satisfy selfish desires. Eventually by the end of the story, Roger finally makes the full transition into his truly savage, devilish, and sadistic nature. At this point in the story, the eldest of the boys that are still alive fight over control of the island and the populace. Meanwhile, Roger makes a fiendish decision about how he will solve the problem, while he observes the boys with an armed trap that can be activated by a lever, aimed at a select group of protagonist boys. Roger, while observing “with a sense of delirious abandonment, [leans] his weight on the lever” (Golding 180). Roger makes this fiendish decision to effectively kill one of the main characters in the story, Piggy, with no unequivocal reasons or causes preceding this event, suggesting heavily that Roger does this for the purely sadistic pleasure and out of natural instinct because he is separated from an ordered, controlled society that suppresses these desires. Roger’s dark nature is now perfectly overt, and can be described as intrinsically violent, similar to Golding’s view of mankind. Roger’s rapid transformation from a person who is likeable, democratic, and is able to fit into society to a person of a dark personality places importance on entities and concepts that society ignores or forgets, specifically the dark nature of man before entering and being molded by civilization. Golding portrays that men are the most fearsome and powerful animals on Earth, but they still remain as savage animals and do not transcend beyond that, because they retain the self-centered nature for survival. Because of their power, they are only kept alive because of the mandatory order and rationale they establish to erase the “animal” stigma. Golding demonstrates this concept thoroughly through Roger’s descent from civilized behavior to his affinity for an animalistic, violent, and instinct-based personality designed to harm others for power and joy, and with it, a complete deprivation of the rationale and morals given to him by society as a result of his separation. Keeping a likeable, civilized, and organized outlook is ultimately the only act that can suppress and keep humans from pursuing their dark, “guilty” pleasures using drastic measures. Otherwise, consequential anarchy, disaster, and chaos would emerge, catalyzed by the fear for survival, a contagious sentiment closely associated with the Cold War and post-World War II time era and the resulting psychological warfare, analogized successfully in William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies portrays the lives of young British boys whose plane crashed on a deserted island and their struggle for survival. The task of survival was challenging for such young boys, while maintaining the civilized orders and humanity they were so accustomed too. These extremely difficult circumstances and the need for survival turned these innocent boys into the most primitive and savaged mankind could imagine. William Golding illustrates man’s capacity for evil, which is revealed in man’s inherent nature. Golding uses characterization, symbolism and style of writing to show man’s inhumanity and evil towards one another.
Do you believe when people are born, they are born with a blank slate? An English philosopher named John Locke believed that people are born with a blank slate and we acquire ideas from our environment and the people that influence us. In the book “Lord of The Flies” by William Golding it shows us that everyone has evil inside of us and even children can do things that we will not expect they would do. Jack Merridew was a good example because he represented evil in the novel he turned savaged and let the evil inside of him take over his actions and these actions impacted other characters. Jack Merridew let his anger toward Ralph change him and also him wanting power and being the leader of them.
“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
Part of Golding’s intent was to demonstrate that the evil is not recognised in specific populations or situations. On the island the beast is manifest in the deadly tribal dances, war paint and manhunt: in the outside world the same lust for power and control plays out as a nuclear war. Throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’ Golding has managed to show that evil is present in everyone.
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.
When we hear the word “beast,” most of us will immediately think of some enormous hairy creature with razor sharp fangs and massive claws coming to kill and eat us. Although these types of beasts do exist, the boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, show that a different, much more sinister beast is present in all of our everyday lives, and, like the boys in the book, most of us don’t even know about it. Throughout the book, the existence and meaning of the beast go through significant changes. In the beginning, the boys believe the beast to be a substantive being. At first no one believes it, but later they begin to believe its existence. Later though, the beast reveals itself as an internal flaw within everyone on the island, and slowly begins to take over the children’s free will. As the belief in the beast goes up, its manifestation as the “typical beast” that we all think of goes down, which is ironic because they are creating the beast in their minds, while also living it out in their actions.
It is in these games were the boys get carried away and Ralph feels a
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
Katherine Paterson once said, “To fear is one thing. To let fear grab you by the tail and swing you around is another.” William Golding, who is a Nobel Prize winner for literature, writes Lord of the Flies, originally published in 1954. Golding’s novel is about a group of boys who crash land on an island. All of the adults are dead and they are abandoned on an island. The boys try to set rules and create a fire in efforts of being rescued. The group of boys chooses Ralph to be their leader. This choosing makes a literary character named Jack, who doesn’t show his anger until half way through the plot. The novel shows the nature of humans and how fear can control them. The novel also shows the difference between good and evil. Golding experienced this when he was in World War II. There were many times fear controlled the boys in the island in Lord of the Flies.
' I believe that man suffers from an appalling ignorance of his own nature '.
The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
The power of fear consumes people and is one of the strongest weapons there is. Fear takes the form of an imaginary beast, a regular school boy, and a rotting pigs’ head. As simple as they may seem, they symbolize the fears and faults of humans. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies twists the limits on humanity, and proves the evil in the ways of human nature.
In the early 1900s, many Canadian women were treated with no respect, no rights and were treated as outcasts. Furthermore, these women lived with no equality and were treated as if they had no value. Nevertheless, the lives of Canadian women improved substantially many years later and now, Canadian women are treated with complete fairness all over the country. These improvements that are seen today have taken numerous years to come to fruition, however, many of these essential improvements occurred during the World War II time period. As the men left to fight in the War, a new opening had been created for women all throughout Canada and this eventually led to the numerous improvements. Therefore, the lives of Canadian women improved during the World War II time period as they were allowed to partake in military activities, got better jobs and were given more rights and more respect throughout Canada.
This paper will explore the three elements of innate evil within William Golding's, Lord of the Flies, the change from civilization to savagery, the beast, and the battle on the island. Golding represents evil through his character's, their actions, and symbolism. The island becomes the biggest representation of evil because it's where the entire novel takes place. The change from civilization to savagery is another representation of how easily people can change from good to evil under unusual circumstances. Golding also explores the evil within all humans though the beast, because it's their only chance for survival and survival instinct takes over. In doing so, this paper will prove that Lord of the Flies exemplifies the innate evil that exists within all humans.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast gives the children a sense of fear throughout the story. It also shows that it is one of the children's top priorities, as they hunt for it and try to protect themselves from it. The children use the beast to work together, but as the novel progresses the group goes through a separation. The beast is an important role in the novel, having many forms of concepts about it. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the concept of the beast as a whole is used as fear, reality, and evil.