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Lord of flies as an allegory essay
Lord of the flies genres allegory
Lord of the Flies as a symbolic & allegorical work
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“Maybe there is a beast… maybe it's only us” (Golding). Lord of the flies by William Golding shows the evil inside of the boys, and how the evil is used by the author. The boys in the book are being evacuated because of nuclear fallout during the world war, and they end up on an island that has pirates and cannibals. They end up doing stuff that 12 years shouldn't have to do. The characters in the Lord of the flies represent an abstract form of government. Ralph represents some of the good in the political allegory of good and evil. Ralph stands for the good-hearted but not entirely effective leader of a democratic state, a ruler who wants to rule by law derived from the common consent. Ralph is on the good side of this evil that is portrayed …show more content…
in Lord of the Flies. They want follow the law they are against the killing and savagery that all the other boys love to do. Ralph cares about other people he isn’t selfish like Jack. For example; “What about the littluns? Someone’s got to look out for them” Ralph (pg.101). Piggy represents a different side of political that is good. He stands behind Ralph and his decisions piggy is like an adviser he helps and advices Ralph. "What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?"(Piggy). Piggy finds himself wondering what he is either a good person or a bad person, and he realizes that he wants to be a good person. Jack represents the evil. Jack represents a totalitarian dictator that only likes his way. For example, when they are using the conch jack is rude and he loves to make people feel like they are worthless, and whatever he says is the law. When they were having their meeting on the top of the mountain Jack makes up new rule “The conch doesn’t count on top of the mountain, so you shut up.” Jack(pg.42). In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses symbols to represent the good and evil in the novel.
One symbol that shows evil is the Beast. To give an offering to the beast, Jack placed a pig’s head on the stick. The beast represents the evil on the island, the beast puts fear into everyone on the island. From this part of the book Golding uses the beast and the symbol of the pig’s head to illustrate the devil in the book and how much evil there is, and how evil is residing in everyone. The conch represents democracy within themselves. It helps to keep the balance between the good and evil, but jack gets rid of the conch to make his own rule and he wants to keep all the power to himself so that no one else can rule. Piggy’s glasses represent the good and the clear-sightedness in the novel, and it also shows the intelligence that he has. Piggy’s glasses represent the political allegory as a wise advisor who has lots of knowledge. Golding develops a theme by having his characters establish a democratic assembly, which is greatly affected by the verbal violence of Jack's power-plays, and an army of hunters, which ultimately forms a small military dictatorship. The boys' assemblies are likened to both ends of the social or civil spectrum, from pre-verbal tribe gatherings to modern governmental institutions, indicating that while the forum for politics has changed over the millennia. While Jack’s army of hunter’s use their evil to get what they want the better side just wants to get of the island,
without any of this unnecessary chaos. Golding uses symbols to describe the good and evil in the boys. There is good and evil in everyone in Lord of the flies. The boys show that too much evil just leads and there is no way to control like many of the world’s leaders that had too much power. Their power ended up killing them. Like how at the end of the book Jack burned down the forest to kill, but instead he just attracted the British navy, and Jack just turned back into a small and scared 12-year-old boy.
At the start of Lord of the Flies, Ralph is put into power quickly. He accepts the responsibility of being the leader and focuses on getting rescued from the island. Machiavelli describes a historical figure that can be compared to Ralph. Machiavelli wrote, “...the example
Lord of the Flies, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature is considered a modern classic.
The novel, Lord of the Flies, is a compelling story displaying the metamorphosis of an individual when faced with external and internal conflicts. Ralph is the first character to be introduced in the book. He is the most likeable as he is charming, athletic, and displays strong leadership qualities. However, as the novel progresses, Ralph loses his sense of civilization and undergoes a change in character discovering the evil man is capable of. Ralph’s metamorphosis is captivating and displays the inevitable loss of innocence.
In literature, as in life, people struggle with the principles and beliefs they hold. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Ralph represents order, civilization, and leadership. On the island, Ralph is conflicted with his principles and beliefs that he has acquired over the years of living in a civilized and humane world and is caught between holding on to them or submitting to the barbarism that seems to have taken over the other boys.
Lord of the Flies My character in Lord of the Flies is Ralph. The theme of Lord of the Flies is how human beings’ natural defects are the cause of society’s problems. No matter how good the laws or governments are at controlling people’s savageness, the inherent evil in people will cause chaos. Ralph tries to resists the urge to become a savage through out the book. Almost all of the other boys become hunters and forget what is important.
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.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is about a group of British boys who get plane-wrecked on a deserted island. The boys cooperate, gather fruit, make shelters, and maintain a signal fire. When they get there they are civil schoolboys but soon show that being away from society and the real world it brings out their true nature and they break apart and turn into savages.
Ralph is chosen as leader because in the story Lord of the Flies, he symbolizes every good quality necessary to return home. The qualities are leadership, kindness, benevolence, and most of all, friendship.
All in all, the sanctions of society begin to deteriorate due to the deaths, the meeting breaking down, and Jack’s obsession with hunting. By removing the restraints of society Golding successfully proves that it is human nature to live primitively and become into the beast that they fear.
Ralph and Jack are both powerful and meaningful characters in William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies. Ralph is an excellent leader; responsible, and stands for all that is good. Jack is a destructive hunter, selfish, and represents evil. These two main characters can be compared by the actions they take as leaders, their personalities, and what they symbolize in the story.
In conclusion, this whole novel is based on good versus evil. The symbolism in the novel helps to portray that as much as possible, with the conch and Ralph, Piggy, and Simon representing the “good,” and the sow’s head and Jack and his hunters representing the “evil.” One of the main themes of The Lord of the Flies is man’s inhumanity to man. It is also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. This novel deals with all the corruption in the world, and no matter whom you are, while reading it, you can always relate it to real life situations.
First off, the common man is someone who has a balance between good and evil, a good perception of reality and strong morals. In Lord of the Flies, Ralph is the character who is perceived as this type of individual. The first example of this is Ralph’s appearance. Ralph keeps and continues to wear his school sweater while other boys run around naked. This illustrates his desire to keep the island somewhat civilized. Secondly, he does everything in his power to keep the boys working together and getting along with each other. Lastly, Ralph attempts to keep the boys under a type of domesticated. He tries to do this by making such laws as the freedom of speech. This law gave any member of the group a right to express his opinion. Unfortunately, Ralph’s attempts failed and the boys became savages.
Golding presents us with a group of educated British schoolboys stranded on an uninhabited island: no adults, no rules. They soon decide, as a collective, to appoint one boy as a “Chief”. Ralph(the chosen leader) would be considered the novels “collective outlook”. Ralph is more concerned about the security and safety of the group as a whole. He wants to keep a signal fire lit for possible rescue, and build shelters while they wait. The boys agree and go along with Ralph’s plans until they encounter Jack-- the novel’s “individualist viewpoint”. Jack and Ralph have opposite ideologies. Jack wants run his own group by the self-interests and freedom of the boys-- essentially leading to the society’s destabilization. The boys’ freedom results in madness. Desperate to find food and to get off the island, their seemingly innocent self-interests quickly turn into a
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast gives the children a sense of fear throughout the story. It also shows that it is one of the children's top priorities, as they hunt for it and try to protect themselves from it. The children use the beast to work together, but as the novel progresses the group goes through a separation. The beast is an important role in the novel, having many forms of concepts about it. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the concept of the beast as a whole is used as fear, reality, and evil.
Ralph is one of the main characters in Lord of the Flies. He shows leadership, but also shows selfishness. He acts mature while others act childish when he is just a kid himself. Ralph being stranded on this island with these boys will change his life forever.