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Book report on william golding Lord of the Flies
Hynes, Samuel. "William Golding's Lord of the Flies." Critical Essays on William Golding
Book report on william golding Lord of the Flies
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With the use of symbols, William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to show the world that fear can lead to chaos and destroy order and civilization. The fire in the story is used to show that leadership can be destroyed when responsibility is lost within a society. The conch that the boys use to call meetings and speak represents civilization. When an important figure in a society, like a flag, is destroyed civilization can be diminished along with it. The pigs on the island represent savagery and how people can grow away from order and civilization. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, symbolism is used to show how fear can create chaos, leading to the destruction of civilization and leadership and allowing the development of savagery into …show more content…
the human species. The first symbol used to show how fear and chaos can lead to the development of savagery on the island is the fire.
The boys on the island have a lot of feuds revolving around the fire and it seems to be the starting point of numerous arguments. Ralph reminds Jack many times to keep the signal fire going. Ralph assigns Jack and his group to keep the signal fire up and going, but they had other plans. Jack wants to hunt and kill pigs, doing so distracts him from keeping the fire up. When Ralph confronts Jack for letting the fire go out, Ralph says, ¨ Your only hope is to keep the signal fire going… Then maybe a ship´ll notice the smoke and come and rescue us and take us home¨ (178). Ralph is furious with Jack for not keeping the fire going. Jack is drawing toward savagery by hunting and killing pigs. By ignoring Ralphs orders to keep the fire up, Jack is growing away from civilization and listening to orders. In another part of the story, Ralph sees a ship our on the horizon. He is ecstatic until, he realizes there is no signal fire. Ralph is furious with Jack and is almost lost …show more content…
for words by how mad he was. When Jack came back from hunting, this is what Ralph says, ¨There was a ship. Out there. You said you'd keep the fire going and you let it out!¨ (70) Jack and Ralph now get into a verbal fight; Ralph is angry because Jack disobeys his orders and made them lose their chance of going home. Jack doesn't like that Ralph doesn't appreciate the fact that he went and got meat for everyone on the island. Then, Jack breaks Piggy's glasses after Piggy tries to tell Jack what he did wrong. Jack is becoming more and more of a savage at this point and is leaving order, civilization, and Ralph in his dust. The fire symbolizes a civilization in need of rescue, and Jack does his best to destroy the civilization as a result of his savage personality. The conch is the second symbol used to show how fear can destroy civilization and allow the development of savagery in the human species.
The conch is an important cornerstone in the processes of building and destroying civilization on the island. Ralph and Piggy discover the conch right when they get on the island. They soon realize it was an important shell and soon gave it a special identity. Ralph addresses the boys saying, ¨...I'll give the conch to the next person to speak. He can hold it when he's speaking. And he won't be interrupted. Except by me¨ (33). Piggy and Ralph new that this conch was important, and indeed it was. The conch has a special meaning to all of the boys. An insignificant, useless, unmeaningful rock has so much value and worth. The significance of the shell holds the boys together for the majority of the story. Piggy later in the story gets angry and yells at Jack after no one will listen to him, he goes on a tirade and shouts, ¨´I say! You voted for me for chief. Didn’t you hear the conch? You played a dirty trick—we’d have given you fire if you’d asked for it—´ The blood was flowing in his cheeks and the bunged-up eye throbbed. ´You could have had fire whenever you wanted. But you didn’t. You came sneaking up like a thief and stole Piggy’s glasses!´¨(176) Up until now, whenever the conch was blown everyone would go silent and whoever holds the shell gets to talk. Now, this isn't the case, no one would listen to Piggy and it all started with Jack.
Jack doesn't follow the rules of the conch, therefore the people who follow jack don't follow the conch rules either. The conch symbolizes civilization, when it gets destroyed so was civilization on the island. The Pigs are the third and final symbols that are used to show how fear can destroy civilization and allow the development of savagery. Jack and his crew chant a very savage-like chant before hunting a pig, they shout, ¨Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Spill her blood¨ (69). This isn't the most pleasant or friendly chant and it certainly isn't very civilized. The pigs represent savagery and how Jack and his crew grew away from order and civilization, they were drawn towards savagery when killing and hunting pigs became part of their behavior. Jack and his crew hide and hunt the pigs like warriors or some sort of tribe. They wait for the right moment and then attack with spears, faces painted and screaming. That doesn't seem like something civilized people would do. The reason Jack is becoming a savage is because he is afraid he will lose his leadership power to the official leader, Ralph. He becomes more of a savage and less civilized as the story progresses. Eventually more and more people join along with him. The savage mindset came so strong it overtook the boys actions, they kill one of their own without even realizing it, ¨The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed. The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face. It was crying out against the abominable noise something about a body on the hill. The beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws¨ (152). This was a horrific scene, as Jack and others kill Simon thinking it was some sort of beast. If Jack would have never gotten afraid of not being a leader none of this would happen. This just shows how fear can overtake someone and turn them uncivilized. William Golding is very effective at using symbolism to show how the fear of losing something can take over your actions and make you do uncharacteristic acts. The fire that Jack was assigned to keep going is a blatant symbol of leadership and proves that when chaos is introduced into a situation it can destroy leadership. The conch that Piggy and Ralph found in the beginning of the story is a symbol of civilization. When the conch was destroyed, so was all civilization on the island wth it. The pigs that Jack and his choristers hunt represent savagery and proves that when fear of losing something is introduced to someone, they will start doing uncharacteristic things and savage-like actions. With the use of symbols, William Golding wrote Lord of the Flies to show the world that fear can lead to chaos and destroy order and civilization.
The book Lord of the Flies has changing symbolic values in objects and places. These values reflect humanity's nature to become savage. This is demonstrated by the symbols in their mirroring of the boys. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, the meaning of symbols evolve throughout the story with the conch standing for civilization and then the breakdown of order in society, Piggy’s specs meaning knowledge then Jack’s power, and the fire first representing hope then ultimately destruction.
William Golding wrote the novel Lord of the Flies to draw attention to the chaos in society during the Second World War. Throughout the novel, there is a large amount of symbolism that gives the readers a better understanding of his ideas and concepts. There are many symbolic objects in the Lord of the Flies that help to expand his perception of the Second World War and his theme of there being a little bit of evil and savagery in everyone. Three of the most important symbolic objects are Piggy’s glasses, the conch shell, and the signal fire.
However, as the plot progresses, Ralph faces both internal and external conflicts; from those conflicts he greatly matures. Ralph always has the strong belief that all the children will be saved from the island sooner or later; he is so sure that he even insists that they should have fire at all times to signal. However, when the boys abandon the fire which is symbolic of Ralph’s hope of getting saved, Ralph faces an internal conflict that makes him fear about their future; perhaps they will not be rescued at all. By insisting that the children should keep the fire going, he creates an external conflict with Jack whose values are different. Jack is enjoying life as a leader of the savages, and he fears that fire will possibly end his authoritarian rule over the savages. Both conflicts are resolved when Ralph finally meets the naval officer.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies there are many examples of symbolism. The conch shell represents order, the appearance of the boys represents savagery, and the fire on top of the mountain represents rescue. These examples are all symbols in the book.
Upon the arrival of the boys to the island Jack immediately found himself in the center of a power struggle. Although the conflict was brief, there was still a very obvious confrontation between Jack and Ralph. Once the boys had assembled themselves there was an election to see who was to be chief. Despite the fact that Ralph was voted leader, the desire to be in command never left Jack. Jack already had some leadership skills, being head choirboy at his old school, and he continuously challenged Ralph. The greatest source of conflict between Jack and Ralph was the debate over the necessity of maintaining a fire. Ralph felt that it was necessary to keep it burning at all times while Jack believed that hunting pigs and getting meat was much more essential.
The conch shell represents democracy, power and stability. When Ralph first discovers the conch shell, Piggy proposes to Ralph that they, “…can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come, when they hear us” (16) and that was the birth of the conch shell. Throughout meetings that are held at the beach, the conch is used as a “speaking stick”. After Jack separates himself from the rest of the tribe, Ralph barges into the camp and attempts to use the conch shell to gather up his former tribe mates. The boys say that th...
Being a part of a group of children having to adapt after being trapped on a island with no surrounding civilization is an unimaginable situation. However, William Golding shows just how terrifying it can be in his novel, Lord Of The Flies, by his use of symbols to represent hardships. The main symbols, which best portrays characteristics are the fire and the conch; symbols leadership and confidence.
“Earth is abundant with plentiful resources. Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control is no longer relevant and is counter-productive to our survival.” - Jacque Fresco. Lord of The Flies explores how a group of boys ultimately become savage after trying to ration resources. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of English boys are shot down while on a plane that crash lands onto an Island during World War II, where without any adults must survive on their own. They must overcome themselves and figure out how maintain a successful society. Through characterization and symbolism, William Golding asserts that man is innately savage and must be controlled through a civilized society.
Arguments on how to govern society has always been apart of human history. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, he demonstrates how one society from a boy named Jack gains supremacy from another boy’s society named Ralph. Ralph’s society is more civil, lawful, and democratic while Jack’s society is more savage like and more of a dictatorship. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, he uses foreshadowing, symbolism, and allegory to convey the reasons why Jack gains supremacy over Ralph.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
Imagine a group of young boys who have just crash-landed on a deserted tropical island with no adults or supervision. William Golding showed in his ground breaking novel Lord of the Flies, what may happen in just those circumstances. In his very complicated and diverse novel Golding brings out many ideas and uses many literary devices. Above all others though comes symbolism of three main important objects being the conch, fire, and "Piggy's" eyeglasses. Through each of these three symbols Golding shows how the boys adapt and change throughout the novel. These symbols also help to show each of the boy's ideals on a variety of elements from human nature to society and its controls. All three of these symbols also change and are one of the most important elements of the story.
The conch is first discovered on the beach by Piggy and Ralph, and it is used to summon all of the children together on the island. Also, the conch helps to create order within their meetings, and the only person who could speak would be the one to hold the conch. However, as civilization on the island starts to become lost, the conch shell starts to lose its power and influence. As Jack gains more power, he begins to destruct the boy’s civilization, and become savage. This is portrayed when Roger rolls a stone, ultimately killing Piggy and shattering the conch shell, an important representation of civilization. Once again, high power within a civilization can eventually end up depriving a fragile
At the beginning of the novel, the conch is found by Piggy and used to gather everyone on the island. Piggy, having asthma, gives the shell to Ralph who blows into it: “[Ralph] hit the shell with air from his diaphragm. Immediately the thing sounded. A deep, harsh note boomed under the palms, spread through the intricacies of the forest, and echoed back from the pink granite of the mountain. Clouds of birds rose from the treetops…” (17). When Ralph did this, children started to appear form the jungle and from the beach,
In the novel “Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding, Golding uses symbolism as a way of portraying important themes throughout out the book. The “Lord of the Flies” is about a group of 30 or so young boys who end up stranded on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. It is set in about the 1950’s during a fictional atomic war after the plane the boys were on crashes leaving no adults to look after them. In the novel we see how the boys cope without adults and how any civilization established on the island crumbles due to the fear of a beast, “The Lord of the Flies”.
This is illustrated when he says "There was a ship… you said you'd keep the smoke going". Ralph's leadership is what keeps the order among the boys on the island. Ralph's desire for home is what drives him to lead the group of boys and to keep an orderly society on the island. Creating the signal fire was Ralph's only way to get home and it is clear he knows this when he tells Jack "No fire, no smoke, no rescue.