The Success Rate of Violence in Coping Humans use many different types of coping mechanisms when in tough situations and environments. William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, demonstrates several of these and their ultimate outcomes. From the Lord of the Flies one can draw that the more cruel and savage a person is betters their likelihood of survival in a harsh environment or world. This is exemplified through Simon and his non-violent acts, Piggy who vacillates his morals, and Jack who fully embraces his own savagery. Simon copes by going to his, “happy place”, a small opening in the jungle filled with butterflies and greenery. He listens to the sounds of the jungle and is easily categorized as an introvert. Simon is also extremely self-aware. He is the first to discover of the real evil on …show more content…
the island, otherwise known as the Beast. The Beast is really nothing but the evil in one’s heart and Simon makes this connection quicker than the others. Right before Simon’s death he is warned by the Lord of the Flies that, “he will meet me down there” (Golding 128), the “me” meaning the Beast. And while the Lord of the Flies is nothing but in Simon’s head, one can infer that Simon was already wary of the other boys and their actions. Simon’s nature is calm and almost pure with childness while the other boys prefer violence and chaos. His way of coping with being on the island and without an adult starts to fail when he see’s the Lord of the Flies in one of his fits. This mental breakdown shows how inefficient it was to sit and listen to the jungle sounds as a coping mechanism. It can be then said that most kind and serene people are unable of coping and surviving in a harsh environment. Piggy accepts his savagery in moments of twisted logic which he later denies.
His coping mechanism can be explained in terms of selective denial and violent acts. From the beginning he quickly ignores the severity of their situation asking Ralph, “ When’ll your dad rescue us?” (Golding 7) . He just assumes an adult will be there as soon as possible. And later on, After Simon was murdered by the boy’s, he say’s, “It was an accident” (Golding 140). Even though he participated in the whole thing. The denial of his own savagery is what sets back his own coping. Before his death he gives a hypocritical speech asking the boys of Jack’s tribe, “ Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? [...] Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” (Golding 162). By asking which is better he is implying that he has never hunted or killed when in fact he has done just those things. And while he survives longer than Simon with his denial and fierce use of logic, his denial of his own cruelty is where he is lost. Using Piggy as an example we can conclude that denial and logic is again the wrong way to cope and is unsuccessful in helping one
survive. Jack’s power-hungry and violent coping mechanisms lead to a less traumatic and more awarding time on the island. He decides to start hunting the first day and is driven to kill a pig when he fails to the first time. He makes an excuse saying, “ I was choosing a place. Next time-” (Golding 23). From then on he is almost obsessed with hunting and killing. He thinks it’s a game. Jack also wants complete power over the boys, he elects himself chief and when that fails, leaves to make his own tribe. He also steals Piggy’s glasses to gain power over Ralph. The glasses are what is used as a fire starter and without a fire there can be no rescue which is Ralph’s ultimate plan. And even after killing two boys and several pig’s Jack remains aware of his actions and completely sane. For example, when the soldier from the ship asks who is in charge Jack, “[...] started forward, then changed his mind and stood still” (Golding 182). His realization of the responsibility of being “chief” is what draws him back. This shows he is still sane and concerned with the consequences he may receive for his actions. With this information we can draw that his coping mechanism of violence and killing ended up with him being physically and emotionally fine and not traumatized. Jack’s acceptance of his own savagery and cruelty allows him to cope with his situation and leads him to the most rewarding time on the island. Cruelty and savagery are seen to be one of the most successful ways to cope in comparison to non-violent acts and denial of situations. Simon and Piggy are lead to insanity and their deaths while Jack remains living and sane. Golding’s view on humanity, taken from, Lord of the Flies, is pessimistic and implies that in order to survive in harsh environments one must embrace their primitive ways and accept that violence is seemingly the only way to remained unscathed. He implies in his writing that the most pure and good people are the first to go crazy and are not able to survive in a cruel world.
The first instinct of Ralph, Piggy, and SamnEric was to pretend nothing happened. They tried to believe that Simon was somehow alive, or that they had not taken any part of his death, but deep down they knew what they had done. They had killed the one thing that could help them survive. Near the end of the book we saw the true extent in which hope was needed. SamnEric turned against Ralph, and joined sides with Jack and his tribe.
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 order disappears, human nature converts to savagery. William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies to prove evil exists in human. Golding shows direct and indirect characterization of Jack to demonstrate that true savagery exists.
What makes him seek out the jungle for solitude? Why does Simon understand when the other boys do not?
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.
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
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.
Would you be able to resist savagery from being away from society? Could you resist the urging power to kill? How about being able to find food without killing or not to go full savage on other people, could you still do it? A normal person could say no to all of these. In the novel, “Lord of The Flies”, William Golding shows that without civilization, a person can turn into a savage by showing progressively how they went through the seven steps of savagery.
My Essay is about Ralph and and his Motivation’s and did he contribute to the tragedy in any way. Also about if he prevented any of the deaths and what would I have done differently in his situation. I defend Ralph’s actions as leader, He had tried his best but everyone fell apart. Did Ralph contribute to the tragedies? Ralph had tried his best but he was struggling at handling the problems on the island, He was unaware of the boy’s and what was going on. He had tried to contribute to all of the tragedies but there was too much going on around him it was just hard. What was wrong with Ralph too was that jack ignores everything and try’s to do his own thing the whole time instead of working together with everyone. All Jack wants is his way or his way to him there is no other way. So yes Ralph had try to contribute to the tragedies but Jack and other boys had just did what they wanted to do instead of doing what they should have done. So Ralph had really struggled dealing with everybody. In my opinion Ralph was doing a good job, Yes he kind of gave up for a little b...
In our society today, abortion is a huge controversial issue due to the beliefs of abortion being evil. “What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?” (William Golding, Lord of the Flies). In the novel, “Lord of the Flies”, the author William Golding, leads the reader into dismissing savagery as an act of violent cruelty by portraying murder, an uncivilized manner, and an increasing disregard of the rules. Murder is symbolized in savagery throughout the novel. The boys act in an uncivilized manner. The rules that were made to help keep order in the island, are being broken.
Imagine flying on a plane and crash landing on an unknown island with a select group of people. How would humans deal as a result of this horrific situation? Is cruelty and violence the only solution when it comes down to it? In Lord of the Flies, William Golding explores the relationship between children in a similar conflict and shows how savagery takes over civilization. Lord of the Flies proves to show that the natural human instincts of cruelty and savagery will take over instead of logic and reasoning. William shows how Jack, the perpetrator in the book, uses cruelty and fear for social and political gain to ultimately take over, while on the other hand shows how Ralph falters and loses power without using cruelty and fear. In Lord of
In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner
In both of these stories “Lord of the Flies” and “LOST” people die and the way they die could be considered murder. Is it murder? Was it an accident? Who would be guilty? Who would be innocent? I will share my opinion on the matter. The stories can be considered similar in many ways. In Lord of the Flies Simon and piggy dies from unthinkable events the same with the character Mars in LOST. The definition of murder is the unlawful premeditated killing of one human by another.
The story, Lord of the Flies, is heavily influenced by the background of its writer, William Golding. Having lived during times of chaos, and having taught unruly boys, Golding used both to explain the savage nature of humans. In my own judgement, the boys were savage due to the environment they were in.
Cruelty. Why do people do it? For revenge? Or just for fun? What factors are responsible for this? I believe that the factors that are most responsible for people being uncultured and cruel is their own egotistical desires, their environment, and the way they express their morals.