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The literary analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Analysis of the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding
William Golding Lord of the flies analysis
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When William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies is mentioned in casual conversation, one rarely finds someone that hasn’t read it, but this was not always the case. At what point did Golding’s allegorical masterpiece get recognized? In the 1950s, Golding had just finished his book, calling it Strangers from Within. The book’s influences range from the horrendous children from his teaching years to himself and his nearly pedophilic instincts (Dirda 2, Roberts 2). His dream had always been to be a writer, and he finally succeeded at the publication of this book, one of the many he created. He struggled to write while doing other jobs, such as teaching. He had to put off his works once he joined the Royal Navy. Although he prospered in the war, he yearned to write, so while he taught after the war, he also wrote his book in his free time. His book received a little recognition in the beginning, hardly even managing to get published at first. By the end of his lifetime, Golding was widely recognized for his book with millions reading his book all over the world. Bringing a new meaning to the definition and ideals behind savagery, Golding’s Lord of the Flies brings a new light to the instinctual primitiveness of humankind.
The parallels in Golding’s own life and his book allow the reader to have a new understanding of Golding and how he relates to the book. Golding’s many life experiences gave him the knowledge he needed to be able to relate to fictional children as an adult. In the beginning of his career, Golding had no steady job; in fact, once he graduated from college after switching his degree from science to English, he had already considered being an actor, a poet, or a pianist as a career (Dirda 2). He soon discovered he was n...
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...beginning the rise of the evilness that is Lord of the Flies.
Works Cited
Dirda, Michael. “Piggy’s Back: The Case for William Golding.” The Weekly Standard. Clarity Media Group. 26 July 2010. Web. 6 May 2014.
Fitzgerald, John F., and John R. Kayser. "Golding's Lord Of The Flies: Pride As Original Sin." Studies in The Novel 24.1 (1992): 78.Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2014.
Kruger, Arnold. "Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES." Explicator 57.3 (1999): 167. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2014.
Roberts, Glenys. “He Forged His Reputation with a Story of Nihilistic Savagery. But a New Book Reveals Lord of the Flies Author William Golding’s Own Life Was Even More Shockingly Depraved…” Daily News. Mortimer Zuckerman. 24 August 2009. Web. 6 May 2014.
Selby, Keith. "Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES." Explicator 41.3 (1983): 57. Academic Search Premier. Web. 6 May 2014.
Title Sir William Golding has constantly been a man who sees nothing good in anything. He examined the world to be a dreadful place due to the people who has populated the Earth. In order to display how he observes the world which was around the period of the second world war, he came to the decision of producing a novel. His novel was titled “Lord of the flies”. In the novel, William Golding familiarized his audience with three groups of boys; the hunters, the younger children and the gentle boys.
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.
Golding, William, The Lord of the Flies, New York: The Berkley Publishing Group, 1954. Print.
The book Lord of the Flies was William Golding’s first novel he had published, and also his one that is the most well known. It follows the story of a group of British schoolboys whose plane, supposedly carrying them somewhere safe to live during the vaguely mentioned war going on, crashes on the shore of a deserted island. They try to attempt to cope with their situation and govern themselves while they wait to be rescued, but they instead regress to primal instincts and the manner and mentality of humanity’s earliest societies.
William Golding’s novel ‘The Lord of The flies’ presents us with a group of English boys who are isolated on a desert island, left to try and retain a civilised society. In this novel Golding manages to display the boys slow descent into savagery as democracy on the island diminishes.
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, at first glance, is an incredibly dark read. However, that trait evaporates after one's first cursory read. Once it's text is more thoroughly perused, a pattern of optimism erupts between passages. If one dares to dive deeper into the meaning behind the book, many reasons surface. For example, the story, all in all, had a happy ending. Also, the themes were only represented among a very small pool of data. Lastly, the representation of evil in the book insinuates even greater things of goodness.
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.
"Lord of the Flies Background." Study Guides & Essay Editing. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014. .
Much of history’s most renown literature have real-world connections hidden in them, although they may be taxing uncover. William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies, is no exception. In this work of art, Golding uses the three main characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, to symbolize various aspects of human nature through their behaviors, actions, and responses.
English author William Gerald Golding wrote Lord of the flies as his first novel in 1954. Golding would later become famous as a novelist, playwright, and poet, yet before Lord of the flies publishers had rejected his works many times. Fortunately for Golding and future readers, his new editor Charles Monteith helped him to make some changes to the text and publish the book in September 1954 as Lord of the Flies (“William Golding” par.7). This book became hugely successful, and in 1983 Golding was awarded for it a Nobel Prize in Literature ("William Golding - Prize Presentation" par.1).
One of the main themes in William Golding's 1954 novel Lord of the Flies is that without civilization, there is no law and order. The expression of Golding's unorthodox and complex views are embodied in the many varied characters in the novel. One of Golding's unorthodox views is that only one aspect of the modern world keeps people from reverting back to savagery and that is society. Golding shows the extreme situations of what could possibly happen in a society composed of people taken from a structured society then put into a structureless society in the blink of an eye. First there is a need for order until the people on the island realize that there are no rules to dictate their lives and take Daveers into their own hands. Golding is also a master of contrasting characterization. This can be seen in the conflicts between the characters of Jack, the savage; Simon, the savior; and Piggy, the one with all the ideas.
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954. Golding’s participation in the Second World War, and especially in the invasion of Normandy may have pessimistically affected his viewpoints and opinions regarding human nature and what a person is capable of doing. This can be seen in his novel, which observes the regression of human society into savagery, the abandonment of what is morally and socially acceptable for one’s primal instincts and desires.
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies shows man’s inhumanity to man. This novel shows readers good vs. evil through children. It uses their way of coping with being stranded on an island to show us how corrupt humans really are.
Works Cited Golding, William. The. Lord of the Flies. New York: Coward-McCann, 1962. Print.
"Review: Second look at William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'." All Things Considered 29 Mar. 2004.Literature Resource Center. Web. 8 May 2014.