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Literary analysis lord of the flies
Literary analysis lord of the flies
Literary analysis lord of the flies
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“Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Kill the pig! Bash her in!” (Golding, pg. 114) Some may say the boy’s savage behavior came from their minds, others would say otherwise. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a plane full of school boys was shot down and crashed on an island with no idea of what to do next. The boy’s savaged behavior comes from the biological factors because the environment has nothing to do with it!
The boy’s turn into savages because of the way they think when they first arrive on the island. One may choose to follow what the mind says instead of actually putting things into prospective and thinking about the consequences. The mind has a good side and a bad side, the decision made have to be thought through to find which one to follow. The opinion of a good and a bad decision is based on the personal knowledge of right and wrong. “Ralph stirred uneasily. Simon, sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat. “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Kill the pig! Bash her in!” (Golding, pg.75) This quote Jack came up with shows...
Although it may be natural human behavior when stripped from civilization, how the boys' behavior has changed morally based on their situation is the main part of the destruction on the island. One thing is that the boys on the island were not willing to go after and help each other. The bystander effect engaged, they let all these horrible things happen to each other without taking action to stop it and get things under control. This quote shows us an example of how the bystander effect was happening while Jack and his tribe were killing Simon: “Again the blue-white scar jagged above them and the sulphurous explosion beat down. The littluns screamed and blundered about, fleeing from the edge of the forest, and one of them broke the ring of biguns in
One reason why the boys on the island turned into savages was because of peer pressure. Peer pressure is a common thing that happens among children and it causes them to behave the way their
In the book The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding a couple of boys stranded on an island must survive in the absence of adult supervision. These boys struggle between the choice of either constantly working to be rescued or beginning a new life on the island. In the end, there is a lot of killing and savage like behavior. I believe that both the environment and biological factors can be blamed for the boys’ savage and immoral behavior, however, the biological factors had the most impact on their behavior. The environmental factors that affect their behavior include the situation in which they are stranded on an island and the fact that their isn’t any adult supervision. Biological factors that affect the behavior of these boys include the
In the “Lord of the Flies” savagery gets the best of the boys. The boys have lost their humanity and let things get out of hands and ended up killing an innocent boy who they thought was a beast. “There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching. Ralph pushed both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.”
When the boys first arrived on the island, their behaviour was civilized and they attempted to convince themselves that they would soon be rescued by their parents. As the days passed, the boys began to open their eyes and realized that sitting around was not going to benefit them in any way, and most importantly it would not help them survive. Because of their new unrestricted life on the island, the boys become ruthless and replaced their previous identity.
The impact of Jack’s savagery on the island leads to the boys forgetting the real truth about about themselves. The boys on the island are able to explain that human are evil from the beginning and that they aren’t impacted by society. The boys see the island as a place where they are free from the adult world and without any rules. The boys don’t realize that a world without rules causes the chaos on the island and the savagery within the boys. Jack’s authoritative power forces him to push the rest of the boys out of their comfort zone by making them evil being that was not there true identity before. Upon realizing that the savagery they had obtained was only destroying themselves they “wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart”(202). The power that was developed by Jack impacts everyone and destroys all of the lives that rejected him. Piggy who was the most knowledgeable character and also the weakest character was often disrespected by Jack because he opposed Jack’s power and recognizes that his power not voted for. As as result, Piggy is killed by Jack’s own boys because they too have been impacted by brute force. They killed piggy just like how they hunted pigs. Next, Simon's death reflects the rejections of religion and the idea that the
Savagery is brought out in a person when they lose everything else. Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows us that when there is a lack of societal boundaries, animalistic behavior is what will follow. Humanity is destroyed with lack of guidelines or rules.
Like Jack, the boys no longer value kindness, compassion, or empathy, Instead, they resort to violence and force. This is shown when the boys do their dance and chant “kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (Golding 168) This chant is one of violence and savagery. When the boys see Simon crawling out of the jungle, they don’t care if it’s a human or a beast, their first instinct is just to kill. Another example of the boy’s lack of compassion and empathy, is when they participate in tying up Wilfred and allow Jack to beat him for no apparent reason. Jack’s tribe continues to slip further into savagery. They rebel against, and destroy everything that represents kindness, order and civilization. This is evident when Jack, Roger, and Maurice go to Ralph’s camp, taunt Piggy, steal his glasses to make a fire, and beat up the civilized group. Piggy’s death and the breaking of the conch also represent the group’s disintegration of humanity. Piggy says while holding the conch: “Which is better-to be a pack of painted niggers like you are, or be sensible like Ralph is?” (Golding 200) The tribe chooses savagery over order when Roger releases the boulder that kills Piggy, and shatters the conch. The evolution of savagery is complete when the group’s morals and values become the laws in which they abide
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.
Arguably, the most savage person on the island is Jack Merridew. The first image of Jack and his group is presented as "something dark" and a "creature" before Golding goes on to explain "the creature was a party of boys." Ironically, that is exactly what happens. The beast turns out to be the evil within the children themselves. Jack conflicts with most of the other major characters from the beginning. He calls Piggy "Fatty" repeatedly and opposes Jack almost every step of the way. As the novel progresses, Jack becomes more domineering and assertive, slowly losing all of his former morals and civility. The one point in the novel where this happens is when Jack paints his face: "He made one cheek and one eye socket white. . ." Then Jack proceeds to cover the other half of his face in red, foreshadowing his perpetual recruiting and takeover of the island. Jack ends up as the other authority figure on the island by force and by exploiting the other boys need for savagery. The need for savagery arises because of Golding's views of humans as being vicious by nature. Jack, being a leader in his own right, can not see the light of day again once he has seen the darkness of self indulgence and absolute power.
In the end, they are being rescued, but too much is lost. Their innocence is forever lost along with the lives of Simon, a peaceful boy, and an intelligent boy, Piggy. Throughout the novel, Golding uses symbolism and characterization to show that savagery and evil are a direct effect of fear. Initially, the boys carried on about in a civilized, systematic and fearless manner when first landing on the island. Ralph has just blown the conch and some small children responded to the sound by gathering at the source of the sound.
In all humans, evil exists. At some point we have to release it, and want to release it. For example, on the island Jack and Robert showed their evil while beating Wilfred, or even Robert who was hurt while the boys received pleasure out of his beating. Roger states, "He's going to beat Wilfred, I don't know why, he didn't say," (pg.159) as he giggles. Another example is when Robert is beaten by the boys for no reason in frenzy where he is the pig. They chant in chapter seven, "Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!" (pg. 114). These examples clearly show that the kids are letting their true evil get the better of them. As these boys are also humans, this also means that even if they were girls, and were exposed to a place where there was no civilization, they would want to let their evil out as well. It was philosophized by Thomas Hobbes- the famous English Philosopher, "All humans are born selfish and only seek their own personal interest, leading to violence and war." This quote is true and summarizes the children ...
In the book Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys from England are evacuated out of their country due to a war. The plane is then shot down and results into a plane crash on a deserted island. The boys are left all alone with no adults, no supplies, and no one to come and rescue them. They are all on their own and have to establish a new “society”. The boys have to choose someone to govern them and that person ends up being Ralph, who had an internal struggle between what is right and wrong closer to the end of the novel. The boys turn into savages, killing each other, and showing their evil inside each of them. According to, William Golding man is inherently evil, evil is in all of us, but it is oppressed by society, and comes out when there is not anything to hold us back, civilization is what holds back evil from coming out, or it is what triggers evil inside of man.
Loss of innocence occurs throughout the novel. Piggy realizes the change between innocence and savagery when he questions, “What are we? Human? Or animal? Or savages?” (Golding 79). Simon soon follows when he states, “What I mean is…...maybe it’s only us” (Golding 89). Both boys realize the true beast is the group and they end up paying for the uncontrolled actions of others with their lives. The drastic change between civilization on the island causes the group to become savage and feed off of violence. When Golding writes, “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 202), Ralph shows his understanding that they need adult authority in their lives and Piggy was the one trying to warn him. Ralph starts to think, “The world, that understandable and lawful world, was slipping away” (Golding 91), when the group starts to lose innocence along with civilization. The late realization adds to the theme of civilization vs savagery and drives the plot to loss of
The idea of savagery wasn't just known to the Americans. Other nations also knew that there were savage countries that could be easily overthrown. The nation of Japan was one of them. Japan has always been seen to American Progressives as fellow “white people” or “white Asians” due to the Japanese not taking an ignorant stance in the world. The Japanese planned to take over all of “savage” Asia including Korea and the Philippines. The Japanese were successful on the capture of Korea and of the few Chinese territories. The Japanese were , in a way, were just like the British in there ideas of expansionism and the rule over the savage uneducated nations. Also, the Europeans had a particular view on the Asian savages and other savages across