Golding portrays the different characters and those ideologies that accompany them with a strong contrast in writing style. To further understand this we must compare characters from his Nobel Prize winning novel, The Lord of the Flies. A good example of this is Jack who represents evil, described at the beginning of chapter three, and Simon who represents good and spirituality, described at the end of chapter three.Golding writes the story with the knowledge that characters who strongly dominate the plot at any given time of the book will become associated with the mood and imagery of their surroundings. When he writes about Jack he creates dark images, to represent evil. One of the ways that he does this is by placing Jack in a dark and unpleasant jungle.
The jungle that Golding describes is also humid, and makes the reader feel uncomfortable. He also describes Jack as being similar to animals; "…Then dog-like on all fours…", "…flared nostrils", as to create an image of a character who is governed by instinct and savagery. The mention of dark sunburn and freckles splashes the image of red colour on Jack's character signifying rage and lack of control. Every move that Jack makes is described as quick and deceiving, and this prevents the reader from trusting or admiring Jack.When Golding writes about Simon's sunburn, he describes it as a deep tan, which does not have the same connotation as Jack's red sunburn.
Every move that Simon makes is slow and delicate; "…He picked his way up the scar…", "…He walked with an accustomed tread…". Simon is found in a beautiful scene with fruit trees, flowers, and honey bees. Butterflies dance, expressing the good spirit always accompanying Simon. Golding has the little ones who are the helpless and weak members of society seek Simon for aide in reaching fruit that they themselves cannot reach. This is done intentionally to show Simon's compassion, and Golding would not place Jack in a similar scenario.
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.
Golding uses imagery of the nature to portray how Simon was linked to the natural world. After Simon's death, a sense of serenity takes over the beach and even the sea seems to become less restless as “the rain ceased, and clouds drifted away" (pg.153). Although Simon’s death was sad, upsetting and unfortunate, Golding tells us that “creatures with fiery eyes” (pg.154) which surrounds Simon’s body and turn him into a beautiful figure of “sculptured marble”(pg.154). “Everything was coated with a layer of silver” (pg.154), which softened the enormity of Simon’s death. Golding uses bright colors and descriptions such as “phosphorescence” (pg.153) which implies that although Simon is dead, he is figuratively “brought back to life” by the nature all around him. The images created by the s...
As Simon was trying to tell the boys that the beast did not exist, his death symbolises that mankind can’t face the truth about their inner desires. 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.
With the use of words the author also creates the novel's own private symbols that are key to the tone. The conch comes to symbolize authority, democracy and order. Upon the mentioning Piggy's glasses, images of insight and reason come to mind. With this highly connotative language, Golding creates many contrasts as well to convey his underlying theme. He compares the dazzling beach's "pink granite" [Page 12], green feathered palm trees and endless sand [Page 10] to the "darkness of the forest", full of "broken trunks", "cables of creepers" [page 28], and dense vegetation. He also compares the day's "torrid sun" [Page 176] to the night which makes everything as "dim and strange as the bottom of the sea" [Page 62]. The lagoon's security and the dangerous open sea are also contrasted when Golding qualifies them as "still as a mountain lake" [Page 10], "dark blue" [Page 31] and "deep sea" [page 62]. Golding also uses dark and inherently bad words such as "dark", "Jack", "broken", "torrid", "coarse" and "splintered" to describe sinister things and euphonious words such as "feathers", "glittering fish" and "Ralph" to describe more peaceful things.
Golding's motives for choosing the island setting for the novel, Lord of the Flies was to have the characters isolated, where the laws of their governments could not reach them. The boys on the island represented a microcosm of world society. Golding chose children because they have not yet been fully conditioned by society to understand right from wrong, and thus are guided by their instinct and what is inherent within them. Golding uses a great deal of symbolism throughout the novel. Different characters provide different symbols. Jack is a symbol of savagery and anarchy. Golding relates the inherent evil with Jack to the evil and cruelty of the larger world, which we all share.
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.
Throughout The Lord of the Flies, the author shows how different Simon is from the rest of the savages on the island. He is much more innocent and pure than the others and has a religious demeanor. Light, very commonly a symbol of holiness and purity, is used quite often during Simon’s “funeral”. In the last four paragraphs of chapter nine, “A view to a death”, Golding makes clear the use of light imagery to suggest the apotheosis of Simon.
Golding was such an excellent writer because even though his plot was incredibly simple it makes us think about the true meaning behind his words. Golding is able to convey vast information in simple ways through characterization such as when we see Jack manipulating the boys through pathos, Ralph establishing himself and relying on his ethos, and Piggy ineffectively attempting to use logos. The devote use of symbolism throughout the novel creates a unique writing style and conveys an elegant tone. When the novel is examined for rhetoric, knowledge of ethos, logos, and pathos is gained because of Golding’s ability to deliver a message through visual imagery, vivid character descriptions and the underlying messages in his
In Lord of the Flies, Golding is able to exemplify intelligence, violence, and leadership, through the behaviors, responses, and actions of Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, respectively. Golding provides insight into the delicate touch-and-go basis of human nature, something that to this day has yet to be fully understood.
One of the main themes in William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies is that without civilization, there is no law and order. The expression of Golding's unorthodox and complex views are embodied in the many varied characters in the novel. One of Golding's unorthodox views is that only one aspect of the modern world keeps people from reverting back to savagery and that is society. Golding shows the extreme situations of what could possibly happen in a society composed of people taken from a structured society then put into a structureless society in the blink of an eye. First there is a need for order until the people on the island realize that there are no rules to dictate their lives and take Daveers into their own hands. Golding is also a master of contrasting characterization. This can be seen in the conflicts between the characters of Jack, the savage; Simon, the savior; and Piggy, the one with all the ideas.
The text says, “The deep sea breaking miles away on the reef made an undertone less perceptible than the susurration of blood.” (46-48) The use of blood and ocean within the same sentence brings up the later used imagery of Simon’s blood being washed away in the ocean. It can also be foreshadowing how the boys later ignore society and being rescued. The ocean is what separates the boys from society and it is also where rescue will come from, saying the blood was heard over it can show how the boy’s savagery overcame the hopes of rescue and society. Golding also describes red and yellow flowers overcoming a tree “right to the top” (31) . This can be foreshadowing to the great fire at the end of the novel where trees are vividly described while they’re being burnt. Having Simon take note of these things while he is still alive shows how intelligent and wise he is while still being innocent to future
Simon is a Jesus figure, Ralph and jack are like Cain and Abel, and the boys start to have a Pagan religion and treat the beast like a god; supporting the theory that Lord of the Flies can best be read as a religious allegory. Golding was trying to demonstrate that references to God and religions are everywhere. The need for religion and hope causes many people to show religious symbols in their art. Everyone worships something; everyone needs religion and religious symbols.
Although there are many interpretations of Golding’s Lord of the Flies, one of the most important is one that involves an examination of Freudian ideas. The main characters personify Sigmund Freud’s theory of the divisions of the human mind; thus, Jack, Ralph, Piggy and Simon are metaphors for the id, ego, and the super-ego of Freudian psychology, respectively. The inclusion of psychological concepts in this literary work distinguish it as a commentary on human nature, beyond labels of “adventure” or “coming of age” novel. Many readers are left in shock upon reading Golding’s masterpiece because of the children’s loss of innocence, but most fail to consider
Lord of the Flies provides one with a clear understanding of Golding's view of human nature. Whether this view is right or wrong is a point to be debated. This image Golding paints for the reader, that of humans being inherently bad, is a perspective not all people share. Lord of the Flies is but an abstract tool of Golding's to construct the idea of the inherent evil of human nature in the minds of his readers. To construct this idea of the inherent evil, Golding employs the symbolism of Simon, Ralph, the hunt and the island.
The ability to create characters of depth plagues many a contemporary writer. Many of those writers should look to William Golding for expertise on this issue. Golding diverges from the path of contemporary authors and sets an example of how character development should be accomplished in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Golding's Ralph exemplifies this author's superior style of character development in this novel.