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Lord of the flies character theory essay
Lord of the flies character theory essay
What does savagery cause in lord of the flies
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How would you deal with being stuck on a island as a kid and have to fight for survival each and everyday? In the book lord of the flies a group of british boys get into a plane crash and have to learn a new way of life. The book shows how they adapt to their surrounding and deal with complications thought there days of survival. The boys struggle and change in many different ways some good and some bad. Lord of the Flies portrays the idea that losing morals can develop into a savage lifestyle with the use of literary devices, such as similes, imagery, and foreshadowing. Firstly,in the book the author uses similes to show the different ways the boys are losing their morals and becoming savage. For example when Ralph had to become savage because his life was at stake."Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear, and the savage doubled up." (191)This quote shows how when in conditions for so long the savagery from the best of us will come out of you sooner or later. The boys are somewhat aware they are becoming savage because it is slowly taking them over. …show more content…
Such as when they have to deal with the fire that is burning up the island because it got out of hand. Finally, the flame “leapt nimbly” until the “noises of the fire merged into a drum roll that seemed to shake the mountain.”(49) This quote shows the view of the boys and what is going on and giving it a detailed description so you can understand what they are dealing with.The struggles throughout the book casue the boys rationalize their decisions and are making them go crazy mentally because they are forced to do things they would not normally
Many works of literature inspire new works to be made every day. From things as old as beowulf to the many shakespeare plays, current day writers keep pulling ideas from the classics to create their own stories. Because of this, many older works of literature are still relevant today. The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding is more current than ever with allusion from Popular television shows, music that is heard on the radio and the newest blockbuster movie. The many allusions in modern day literature and works of art to lord of the flies are too numerous to count.
...m the island is if they make smoke. To make smoke, they must build a fire. They decide to put the fire on top of the mountain because it is the highest point on the island and they smoke would be easier to see to passing by ships. Everybody at this point thinks it’s a great idea and thinks is willing to pitch in to get the fire going. They are very enthusiastic and they all want to get of the island as soon as possible. Rescue is the first and only thing that is going through the minds of the boys. Fire also represents civilty because fire is used for warmth, comfort and tool-making. All things that are needed in a civil society and at this point in the novel, the boys are very civil. Jack and some of the other boys are starting to lose will to be rescued. ‘”We can light the fire again. You should have been with us, Ralph. We had a smashing time…”’ (Golding 73)
“If only they could send us something grownup.” This quote stated by Ralph is just one example of symbolism that weaves into William Golding’s allegorical layers. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding gives characters and objects something to symbolize and wants readers to identify them. The purpose of identifying them is to place them under the three allegorical lenses: The mind (Id, Ego, Superego), society (Civil and Savage), and parallels to Christianity; by doing this it is easy to understand the novel more and understand Golding’s main lessons. One peculiar character that is laborious to place into the allegorical lenses was the Parachutist. The reason behind this, is the fact that he doesn’t clearly or easily fit into one because he is rarely talked about symbolically. However it is still possible to place him under all three layers.
While the boys stranded on the island begin with the basis of a plan to keep order, as time progresses, they are faced with conflicts that ultimately brings an end to their civilized ways. Initially, Ralph, the assumed leader, ran a democratic-like process on the island; however, later in the story, Jack, one of the boys, realizes that there are no longer any consequences to their wrongdoings for the reason that there was no control. This ties in with the ideal that moral behavior is forced upon individuals by civilization and when they are left on their own, they return to their fundamental instinct of savagery. Furthermore, there is a differentiation in beliefs that result in chaos due to the fact that some favored an uncultivated manner of life over an ordered structure. Opposing ideas are commonly known t...
“Earth is abundant with plentiful resources. Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control is no longer relevant and is counter-productive to our survival.” - Jacque Fresco. Lord of The Flies explores how a group of boys ultimately become savage after trying to ration resources. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys are shot down while on a plane that crash lands onto an Island during World War II, where without any adults must survive on their own. They must overcome themselves and figure out how maintain a successful society. Through characterization and symbolism, William Golding asserts that man is innately savage and must be controlled through a civilized society.
Characters are used in literature as symbols to represent mankind's different “faces”. Everyone in both fictional and real societies have civil orderly sides, as well as an instinctual hunger for power. Both of these traits together make us human, but imbalance of these traits in some people can alter our being. These traits are necessary for our survival, but too much can create toxic environments. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to tell the reader more about human traits and provides a platform that shows the interactions between people with different balances of traits; Golding then shows the possible outcome of the conflict these traits create. Three main characters that stand out and represent the civility and hunger for power of humans are Piggy, Jack, and Ralph. Each can be seen as a symbol for different behaviors and traits that humans show, as well as the different mixes of civil and instinctual. The characters symbolize the different traits, instinctual power and calming civil nature, and how the different balances can affect a persons actions, behaviors, and interactions with others.
Throughout the novel, due to the circumstances and setting, survival is prioritized, all the boys slowly begin return to native ways. To begin, because there is no government, or official hierarchy, the boys lose sight of wrong and right, and resemble a pack of ravaged animals. Conflicts as to what the rules should be and how the island should be run emerges, which results in the boys beginning to tear one another apart. Golding illustrates the idea that “...all men are born savage, driven by instincts,” which is apparent in the novel due to how the boys act after being stranded on the island (Mojaddedi 1). Any type of humanity the boys’ had before becoming on the island such as: morals, order, or sanity, is lost instantly, and the boys explore old, traditional ways of living. Without society or order, it is indicated that humans will result back to their primal ways for
One of the most important themes running through the whole story in Lord of the Flies by William Golding is the power of different symbols. Golding frequently uses symbolism, which is the practice of using symbols especially by investing things with a symbolic meaning. The main point of each symbol is its use and its effect on each of the characters. They help shape who the characters are and what they will be. The symbols weave their way throughout the story and are more powerful than they first seem. Two boys from similar upbringings can both be so drastically different when put in difficult situations and given things to make them wield power among others. Spitz says, “But his desire for many controls did not, of course, extend to controls
The boys are no longer had order and become savages To add to their downfall, the death of Piggy he was the voice of reasoning that he was trying to reason with everyone what would be the right thing to do; even though nobody paid attention to what he had to say but they did listen. As a consequence, without the voice of reasoning on the island there is a no hold bars of what could happen next to the boys is a free for The boys undertook a persona that they are not familiar with and needed to adapt to a persona that their not familiar with such a hunter and or gather. A person that they needed to become. I recently read a book named The Sunflower by Simon Wisenthal.
Symbolism is defined as the representation; treatment or interpretation of things as symbolic. In society and in particular, literature, symbolism is a prominent component that helps to illustrate a deeper meaning then perceived by the reader. Symbolism can be anything, a person, place or thing, used to portray something beyond itself. It is used to represent or foreshadow the conclusion of the story. In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies symbolism of the main characters Ralph, Jack and Simon plays a very important role in helping to show how our society functions and the different types of personalities that exist. An examination of Simon as a symbol of good, Ralph as a symbol of the common man, and Jack as a symbol of evil, clearly illustrates that William Golding uses characters as a symbol of what is really happening in the outside world throughout the novel.
When the children become stranded on the island, the rules of society no longer apply to them. Without the supervision of their parents or of the law, the primitive nature of the boys surfaces, and their lives begin to fall apart. The downfall starts with their refusal to gather things for survival. The initial reaction of the boys is to swim, run, jump, and play. They do not wish to build shelters, gather food, or keep a signal fire going. Consequently, the boys live without luxury that could have been obtained had they maintained a society on the island. Instead, these young boys take advantage of their freedom and life as they knew it deteriorates.
Throughout the novel several different characters are introduced to the reader, such as Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy. With all these characters presented to the reader, one can get to see into their minds-eye, which allows the reader to analyze their character. In this case one could examine their basic morals and distinguish between the person’s natural instinct to rely on civilization or savagery to solve their problems. The author of the novel, William Golding, had a “first-hand experience of battle line action during World War II” which caused him to realize, “[that] The war alone was not what appalled him, but what he had learnt of the natural - and original- sinfulness of mankind did. It was the evil seen daily as commonplace and repeated by events it was possible to read in any newspaper which, he asserted, were the matter of Lord of the Flies” (Foster, 7-10). This being said by Golding leads one to the central problem in the novel the Lord of the Flies, which can be regarded as the distinction between civility and savagery. This can be seen through the characters that are presented in the novel, and how these boys go from a disciplined lifestyle, to now having to adapt to an unstructured and barbaric one in the jungle.
“All that is really necessary for survival of the fittest, it seems, is an interest in life, good, bad or peculiar.”- Grace Paley. In the Lord of the Flies, boys from a school in England ended up on an island in the Pacific, small children were sent from their school and their plane crashed during WWII. The boys created their own society to survive but it was difficult to maintain. After setting up the society things started to spiral downward and chaos broke out. To survive on the island, the boys had to set up a set of rules, create shelters and hunt, and, eventually, had to fight each other to survive.
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.
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.