The Comparison of Themes between Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm The author of Animal Farm, Orwell, tells a story of a farmyard tragedy and the deadly lives of a group of animals. Due to the disappearance of humans, Napoleon abuses his power and gradually transforms into a human. Orwell also used animals to clarify that humans are corrupted due to power. The author of Lord of the Flies, Golding, shows a similar story where it is about life and death situation for a group of lost boys on a island that is trying to establish a democracy while on the island. Both authors of novels, Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm demonstrate the comparison between the theme of human and animal nature in settings where traditional authority absent. Primarily, the two books display themes of similar nature and its relationship. The boys in Lord of the Flies and the animals from Animal Farm show different perspectives and attitudes to nature that represents their distinct personalities and spiritual tendencies. William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies enumerates the games that its characters play with different intentions. Golding tries to play the life game with the varied human nature of his characters (Wilson 54). Jack and his group have different and crueler ways of “playing” compared to Ralph because he is much more of a laid back character that carry the evil undertones of a possible evil evident. All of the events that the boys consider as games such as hunting, killing, chanting, and dancing are key elements to take down their establishment of the new society on the island. Symbolically speaking, all the games have a deeper meaning behind it in fact, it is not just a game used for entertainment. In the beginning, the boys play the games... ... middle of paper ... ...comparison of themes between Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm, William Golding displays examples that power has a way to cause one to become selfish and evil. The examples are man’s abuse of authority, where power tends to take control of one’s soul, and man’s destruction of nature, where the beauty of nature differs with the social and moral breakdown of the boys. Burkin states, that the loss of innocence is the acquisition of the knowledge of evil, which corrupts and darkens his heart (44). Evil corrupt the hearts of Jack and Napoleon. Both authors view human nature and behavior as negative and pessimistic. The novels are used to demonstrate that humans are closer to savagery and the inner evil is in everyone. Presented in Golding and Orwell’s novel characters, Jack and Napoleon represent corrupt leaders that are undergoing a power struggle.
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.
When viewing the atrocities of today's world on television, the starving children, the wars, the injustices, one cannot help but think that evil is rampant in this day and age. However, people in society must be aware that evil is not an external force embodied in a society but resides within each person. Man has both good qualities and faults. He must come to control these faults in order to be a good person. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding deals with this same evil which exists in all of his characters. With his mastery of such literary tools as structure, syntax, diction and imagery, The author creates a cheerless, sardonic tone to convey his own views of the nature of man and man’s role within society.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.
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.
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.
In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, the idea of good and evil is evident throughout the story. He uses young children, adolescents, and objects to portray the struggle of man v. nature, man v. self, and man v. society. Symbolism is essential to the message Golding imparts to his audience enabling them to arrive at their own interpretation. When William Golding was just twelve years old, he attempted, unsuccessfully, to write a novel and as a frustrated child, he found an outlet in bullying his peers, he even said that he enjoyed hurting people when he was a child. Later in life Golding became a teacher. His frustrating childhood and his experience teaching unruly young
Animal Farm is not only a novel about rebellious animals; it is a study of the corruption of society and humanity in an enclosed environment. The actions of the anthropomorphic animals that now rule Manor Farm represent the human society as a whole. Animal Farm by George Orwell is a novel which contains syntax that exemplifies power and hierarchies and diction that portrays character’s will and intention.
The novel Lord of the Flies endeavors to showcase the human nature as to inherit evil from within, Golding’s philosophy of evil is sculpted by the character, setting and the beast in the story. It is shown that the inner nefariousness is unleashed when a man does not have discipline and civilization in his life. The vile wickedness to kill, fight, hunt and to do everything which the boys could not even think about when they landed, came from the evil, lingering within them, that popped out when they found out the mask which protected them. Golding, deliberately puts the boys on an island where there is no one to harm or hurt them, to exhibit that the boys evolved from being civilized too evil, due to nothing but the inner anxiety and rivalry.
What happens when a person is viewed as an asset to those around them, and what happens when the asset is no longer valuable? In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies Piggy is an intelligent, overweight boy who suffers from asthma. Piggy also wore glasses, which also have the ability to focus sunlight to make fire. Boxer is a horse in George Orwell’s Animal Farm. Boxer is a diligent worker and the strongest animal on the farm, but he is illiterate. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies and George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Piggy and Boxer prove themselves invaluable to the community, with their abilities, which causes them to be exploited. Boxer and Piggy both demonstrate loyalty to their respective leaders who use them to further their own ends.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding may seem simple but has much deeper meaning when you look at the over arching theme. When a group of british boys are stranded on a tropical island they soon start to work together to survive but soon start to forget what they had learned in a civilized environment.There are many meanings and motifs in the novel that elude to even more complex thought about the story and they include civilization, weather, and the games they play have a more complex meaning.
Humorously, Lord of the Flies and 1984 deal with a similar issue, in the nature of evil, yet the two authors’ takes on this issue are opposites. The first idea is that evil comes from within the human race, embodying one’s goal as an individual to surpass all others, and one’s need to feel dominant and prosperous. The argument is that these feelings are instinctual, and that societal pressures force the average person away from these actions. Nothing embodies this idea with more accuracy than Lord of the Flies. The novel explores this idea by isolating a group of boys from society, and the reader observes the groups slow descent away from the values that they were taught in society. The boys are obviously worse off due to this, which is easily observed from the actions of Roger, who, “with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever.” (Golding 200) This action kills an innocent person and was caused by Roger’s complete opposition to the ideals of society. Golding ensures that the reader understands his view, that evil comes from inside us, in his use of the Lord of the Flies speech, in which the pig’s head says “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!...I’m part of you?” (Golding 158) This shows exactly where Golding stands on the nature of evil. For a
The two novels had an intelligent character, who wanted to develop a fair and resourceful society where everyone is seen as equal, and an egotistical character, who was aiming towards superiority and complete control. In Lord of the Flies the reasonable person, Ralph, was the leader and the one who tries to push the boys, that had arrived at the mysterious island, towards a functional society that offers what a utopian ideal states. Jack, on the other hand, is the individual who desired more power than any other on the island. He used the beast as a threat to the boys, which led them to get afraid and follow Jack in order to survive the beast's wrath. This lead to a complete fall of the society into dystopia. Animal Farm has the same outline as Lord of the Flies. Animal Farm dealt with a clever pig, Snowball, who just thought of ideas to improve the farm that the animals created, he did not want superiority, but he was liked by many of the farm animals which was a threat to the pig who wanted to be the most powerful one, Nepolean. Napoleon often used the one thing the animals were afraid of, humans, as a way for them to listen and obey his
George Orwell’s satirical novel Animal Farm and William Golding’s realistic fiction Lord of the Flies have a plethora of allegorical elements. These two novels are similar and different in many ways. Including motifs and allegories of all types. Lord of the Flies and Animal Farm are classics with lessons in morality that we all can learn from.
“Humankind seems to have an enormous capacity for savagery, for brutality, for lack of empathy, for lack of compassion” (Annie Lennox). In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding promotes the themes of civilization versus savagery, the loss of innocence that relates to our society. Golding associates the instinct of civilization with the good and the instinct of savagery with evil.
Animal Farm, by George Orwell, is a fable about rulers and the ruled, oppressors and the oppressed, and an idea betrayed. The particular meaning given will depend partly on the political beliefs- “political” in the deepest sense of the word. The book is there to be enjoyed about how human beings can best live together in this world. The novel, Animal Farm by George Orwell, successfully combines the characteristics of three literary forms-the fable, the satire and the allegory.