If we were observing beings on another planet behaving like our own species, we would very likely call them monsters. We humans are capable of immense love and sensitivity but we have been also capable of greed, hatred, war, murder and brutality. What is it that causes this ‘evil’ side of humans? “THE LORD OF THE FLIES” written in 1954 by William Golding illustrates the darker side of human nature. A plane carrying a group of British schoolboys is shot down over a deserted tropical island. At first, the boys enjoy their adventure and freedom without adults. However, as they were running out of their needs and wants, their decency turns into savagery. Golding portrays his view of society that savagery will win over civilisation through the …show more content…
Ralph represents order, civility and leadership. He was elected as the leader of the boys because of his “attractive appearance” and the “stillness” (pg. 22). While most of the other boys initially are concerned with playing, having fun, and avoiding work, Ralph begins building huts and thinking of ways to maximize their chances of being rescued by making a fire and make sure it keeps going. For this reason, Ralph’s power and impact over the other boys are secure toward the start of the novel. However, as the group gradually surrenders to savage, Ralph’s position decays sharply while Jack’s rises. “We can’t have everybody talking at once” “I’ll give the conch to the next person to speak.”(pg. 33) This represents civility as Ralph is giving everyone a chance to speak. The conch represented society and rules and without that they don’t have that symbol that will keep them from falling out of their humanity. In the end, most of the boys except Piggy and Samneric (who were later forced to join Jack’s tribe) leave Ralph’s group, and Ralph is left alone to be hunted by Jack’s tribe, however, he is rescued at the last minute by a naval …show more content…
Piggy represents the scientific and intellectual aspects of civilization.Piggy's intellect benefits the group only through Ralph; he acts as Ralph's advisor. "'Life . . . is scientific . . . . I know there isn't no beast . . . but I know there isn't no fear, either . . . . Unless we get frightened of people.'" (pg.84) This indicates that Piggy is trying his best to rationalize the existence of the beast by thinking "scientifically." He comes to the conclusion that there could not possibly be a beast with claws living on the island. Piggy’s glasses represent the power of science and intellectual endeavour in society. This symbolic significance is clear from the start of the novel, when the boys use the lenses from Piggy’s glasses to focus the sunlight and start a fire. Roger, on the other hand represents brutality and bloodlust. His evil motives are different from Jack’s, who pursues leadership and stature and enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Roger just likes to hurt people. "Furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy" (pg.22)He had secrets and no one knew much about him. “Roger stooped, picked up a stone, aimed, and threw it at Henry-threw it to miss”“Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life. Round the squatting child was the protection of parents and school
Every chapter, these three boys, have demonstrated they have great behaviour on the island in comparison to the rest of the group. But it was tiring to constantly have an acceptable attitude because the other boys would not be so pleasant towards them. First, Ralph represented democracy, from the time he crash landed upon the sand, strategies on how to be rescued flowed in his head. He was introduced to the conch and from that point he assigned daily tasks and rules that would be completed so the island would not go insane such as creating shelter, where to dispose waste and if the conch was in your hands, you were able to speak. Next, Piggy represented scientific facts.
Piggy was the one boy in the novel who has all the knowledge. Despite his asthma and obese problem, Piggy never failed to contribute his cerebral and intelligent ideas. He came up with all the ideas on how to survive and tried to keep the group organized and civilized. The glasses of Piggy symbolized his knowledge and smartness.
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.
While they agree that the beast is not a traditional monster, it is Simon’s philosophical understanding that allows him to fully realize the meaning of the beast. At the assembly, Ralph plans to discuss the beast, hoping to bring the fear to an end. Simon suggests that the boys themselves are the beast. Later, when Simon encounters the “Lord of the Flies” in a hallucination, the reader learns the extent of his understanding. The Lord of the Flies mocks Simon by saying, “Fancy you thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?”(128). Simon realizes that there is something within humans that can cause them to act savagely. However, at the assembly, in an effort to understand what Simon meant about the beast, the boys suggest that the beast could be a ghost. Piggy firmly rejects this idea because he approaches the beast in the same way he handles most situations: logically and scientifically. As Piggy states, “Life… is scientific, that’s what it is…. I know there isn’t no beast- not with claws and all that, I mean- but I know there isn’t no fear either… unless we get afraid of people” (72). Piggy understands fear can have detrimental effects, but he does not yet understand that fear is within every person, and this is the “beast” that can cause people to act without
Second, Piggy’s glasses represent civilization. Piggy’s glasses are a small piece of civilization they can cling to. When the glasses are first cracked, it is a symbolic drop in the civilization of the boys on the island. Jack punches Piggy and the glasses fall off his face, only one of the lenses is broken which represents half of the destruction of civilization. But when Piggy is crushed by the boulder and his specs are destroyed, it represents the total destruction of their civilization and the boys fall into savagery and begin to hunt down Ralph.
Jack’s disregard for the conch shows his growing distaste for laws and civilization. He also challenges Ralph's authority by implying he should be in charge of decisions taken for the group. After some time, Ralph is only left with Piggy, Samneric, and some littles on his side of the island.
He keeps the boys in pretty good order at the meeting by making a rule that they can only speak if they have the conch. Ralph knows that the little ones are afraid and they need shelter to feel more secure. They work together for a while, but as the time goes on, the smaller boys want to go play. They slowly lose all their help until Simon and Ralph are the only ones left to work on them. Ralph knows that this is a necessity and keeps bringing it up at the meetings.
In the novel, Piggy represents intelligence and rationality because of how he thoroughly thinks through all situations that he faces and due to his exceptional ability to create simple solutions to any problem. At very beginning of the novel, shortly after emerging from the wreckage of the crashed plane, Piggy and Ralph first meet each other. As the pair walk along the beach, Ralph finds a conch, which gives Piggy the idea of using the conch to “‘call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us’” (Golding 16). Even after the initial shock of crash-landing on a presumably deserted island, Piggy is able to gather his wits and realize that their best chance of survival to gather all the boys and get some kind of organization established. Although Ralph found the conch initially, he was only attracted to it because it looked like “a worthy plaything” (16). Piggy however, unlike Ralph, immediately thought up a novel idea of how to use the conch to better their situation, by using it to gather everyone else, and to assess the overall predicament they found themselves in. Piggy was focused on long-term survival and sustainability rather than the short-term entertainment that the conch presented. People who have high levels of intelligence often possess extremely rational thinking methods. The Beast had begun to terrorize the mountain, particularly in the vicinity ...
There is fear that all is not known concerning the Beast. “The beast had teeth… and big black eyes.” The boys did not actually see the Beast and are making this up. This only causes their fear to escalate except for Piggy’s. He is by far the most intellectual and skeptical of the boys. He knows that the adult world and books would not abide by the legend of the ‘beastie’.
Logical and reasoned, Piggy, is tormented by the other boys for being rational. Piggy realizes that he is different and tries to use his gift for the well being of the group. Although, Jack does not like how Piggy is analytical and tries to move Piggy out of the way of himself being the chief. At one point in the novel, Piggy is scared to come out from behind his reasonable thinking and out into the chaotic island, “Piggy peered anxiously into the luminous veil that hung between him and the world” (Golding 174). This shows that Piggy knows he is in hot water due to all of his thinking and trying to make other pre adolescent boys to see reason. Even amid a fight between Jack and Ralph, Piggy reminds Ralph, “‘Ralph remember what we came for. The fire. My specs.’” (Golding 177). The aforementioned dialogue shows
... of the boys' ideas are all related to hunting and savagery. At the end of he novel, the glasses are smashed and Piggy dies, and the symbolism behind the glasses dies with it. These events throughout the story change the glasses, and as the glasses break down, so does rationality.
“Everybody has good and evil within them. All we're trying to say is that people are not all good or all bad. People are more complicated than you think, and one has to be more knowledgeable about the complexities.” This quotation from Stephen Schwartz establishes that even the best of people can be bitter by their own nature. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding removes the restraints of society to prove that it is human nature to live primitively and that evil lies within all of us. The sanctions of society begin to deteriorate due to the loss of communication, Jack’s obsession with hunting, and the inhumane nature of Jack and his “tribe”.
Early on in the novel, the boys manage to follow the rules of society by choosing a leader. With no adult supervision, the boys can do whatever they want. They even seem carefree when Golding states, “He patted the palm trunk softly,
He is the most rational boy in the group; making his glasses also symbolize logical reasoning within society. But he was completely disrespected, as Jack says in the novel, “ ‘you’re talking too much fat.’ ” (Golding 18) The glasses don’t just represent Piggy and what he stands for, but for everyone else as well. Similar to real life, we have symbols that signify power, and Washington D.C. is a good example of that.
When Ralph finds a conch shell and uses it to call the boys from all over the island, they come running. The conch is a very powerful tool. When the boys have settled the conch is used to control the boys and to create an order on the island. A rule is set out by Ralph using the conch, "Whoever has the conch has got the right to talk". This shows the conch's power and Ralph's leaderhsip.