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Examine the symbolism of the Lord of the Flies
Lord of the flies symbolism
Examine the symbolism of the Lord of the Flies
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Many people think that innocence is being innocent or sweet. However, it can be more than just that, loss of innocence can be harmful in many different ways. Furthermore, in “ Lord of the Flies”, William Golding uses imagery, symbolism, and tone to illustrate the tragedy of being stranded on the island. In fact, in his writings the boys begin losing their innocence when they kill their first pig. The death of Simon demonstrated how tragic and quickly they started to loose their innocence. At last, when Jack uses face paint to blend in while killing, it shows he will do anything to kill, and it proves what type of person he starts to become. All those things make the boys lose their innocence and become extremely violent. No one is completely innocent no matter who you are, everyone has the ability to turn violent this is demonstrated in William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies. …show more content…
When the boys killed their first pig it proved that they began to lose their innocence in the beginning and how soon they lost it without having any adults or teenagers there. With that being said “ kill the pig, cut her throat, spill her blood “(69). This quotation is showing how they begin wanting to kill faster and there thrive to do so. As an illustration, “ you should have seen the blood” (70). This is where a lot of the boy's innocence was lost, simply because they do not know how to act as an adult because of this they act in a violent matter. It is an example of the way the boys take violence as something exciting and they were enthusiastic, when really there is nothing good or fun in
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.
In the “Lord of the Flies” savagery gets the best of the boys. The boys have lost their humanity and let things get out of hands and ended up killing an innocent boy who they thought was a beast. “There was no laughter at all now and more grave watching. Ralph pushed both hands through his hair and looked at the little boy in mixed amusement and exasperation.”
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 novel, Lord of the Flies the major theme shown throughout is innocence. For the duration of the novel the young boys progress from innocent, well behaved children longing fir rescue to bloodthirsty savages who eventually lose desire to return to civilisation. The painted bloodthirsty savages towards the end of the novel, who have tortured and killed animals and even their friends are a far cry from the sincere children portrayed at the beginning of the novel. Golding portrays this loss of innocence as a result of their naturally increasing opened to the innate evil that exists within all human beings. “There isn’t anyone to help you. Only me. And I’m the Beast. . . . Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill! . . . You knew, didn’t you? I’m par...
William Golding, the author of the highly-acclaimed book, The Lord of the Flies took the reader into a world where underage boys live in an uncharted island with no adults no other human contact; just themselves and finding ways to survive and to get off the island. However, that is no easy task, Golding shed some ground-breaking light on how really boys will act with no authority in their lives and the term “boys will be boys” will arise. The boys were placed in a situation where they were force to act a certain way of nature and condition. In consequence, the boys’ savage and immoral behavior shown is to be blamed on the situation/environment nurtured factors. For new readers who starts to read the book they witness the boys into a sort
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
With the evolution of the hunt and its successive reenactments, all the boys portrayed some aptitude for violence. During a hunt, the boys did not just kill the sow for its meat, but also, they killed it for the fun of it. Jack would “stab downward with his knife,” as Roger “moved the spear forward inch by inch and the [Pig’s] terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream,” all until “Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands.” The hunters laugh at the sight of Robert’s spear and shouts “Right up her ass!” (135). The killing of this sow is horrific and truly demonstrates the boys’ faculty for cruelty. What one must take from this is that they do not just simply kill the pig, rather, they do everything they can to deal as much pain as can possibly be done. Even more so, they enjoyed the act and were very proud of it. Following hunts, the boys usually throw a feast, and at a particular one, later on in the story, shows just how violent any of the boys can get:
The reader can see that the young boys are slowly becoming more savage and drifting further away from their civilized norms. During one of the last "pig dances" mentioned in the novel, one can see that the experience has become much more atrocious and brutal: "There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws" (175).
As much as everyone would like to believe that all people are inherently good, the illusion of innocence that is often presumed throughout childhood makes the revelation of human nature especially hard to bear. Arthur Koestler said, “Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion”, and this one is certainly a very hard reality to cope with. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who crash land on an uninhabited island in the midst of a world war, and how they regress from civilization to savagery. By conveying Ralph’s reactions to the deaths of Simon and Piggy, providing detailed, symbolic imagery of the cliffs and the lagoon, and showing Ralph’s despair at his new understanding
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
Circumstance and time can alter or determine the different paths a group of young boys will take. These paths can have the power to strip children of their own innocence. Such a statement can be explored in William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies” as it ventures into the pros and cons of human nature. William Golding’s tale begins with a group of English school boys who crash land on a deserted tropical island during World War II. In Lord of the Flies, the island that the boys crash on is beautiful, glamorous, and magnificent; yet, it proves to become a dystopia by the horror of the cruelty, violence, and inhumanity.
In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
Jack begins the novel partially innocent, cruel enough to yell at the boys yet pure enough to hesitate when faced with the task of killing the pig. Jack obtains the tools necessary to kill the pig, yet claims to need help cornering the animal. Jack, not truly needing help to kill the pig but rather needing the support provided by the mob mentality, acquires the support of his choir and together the boys hunt and kill the pig, all the while chanting, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood”...
In most societies, adults play a lead role in maintaining civilization. In William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, there is no adult guidance which drives the children to spiral out of control. No authority means there are no consequences for bad behavior; therefore the children were not afraid of getting in trouble for the things that they were doing. When fear of “The Beast” takes over the island, it begins to possess the boys and motivates them to do whatever they need to feel empowered and accepted. The boys’ fear of a higher power and lack of adult supervision urges them to kill two of the smartest and most innocent children on the island in search of respect from the other boys. In order to remain alive on the island the boys must compete for their lives. The innocent are bullied, and do not survive. The savagery that Golding presents his readers with in Lord of the Flies is still present in modern day society. Children lacking parental guidance tend to act out of their normal human nature as seen in Golding’s Lord of the Flies and, the Columbine Shootings.
The lack of adults and civilization took a toll on the boys in The Lord of the Flies. Boys among the group succumbed to the manipulation of their animal-like instincts and began to commit acts of barbarity as they turned on themselves, their upbringing, and each other. The innate traits of innocence and humanity within all can easily be robbed by anyone or any situation with the assistance of manipulation regardless of the source. Stories such as Night, Lord of the Flies, and The Picture of Dorian Gray are evidence of the true effects of manipulation on the physical state, relationships, mental state, and innocence and humanity.