Civility In Lord Of The Flies Essay

The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is an allegory that explores the instinctual evil humans possess and how this evil manifests into our societies. The book demonstrates this through young boys who are stranded on an island due to a plane crash. Despite their best efforts, the lack of adult guidance inhibits the boys from maintaining an orderly society. The boys turn to their survival instincts, many of which are evil. The lack of order exposes the internal savagery within the boys, resulting in an understanding of the flaws within all humanity. The Lord of the Flies uses the innocence of young boys to show the societal impact of human errors through their lack of adult supervision, the desire to inflict violence, and the need for authority over others.

In scholarly studies, symbolism and imagery apply to enhance a reader’s knowledge of theme development. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the general theme is the conflict between human inclination towards savagery and the rules of civilization. The purpose of symbolism and imagery is essential to the theme development of civilization versus savagery. Three symbols used to illustrate the theme of civilization versus savagery throughout the story are the conch shell, the conflict between Jack and Ralph and the hunter’s painted faces.

Symbolism is prominent throughout the book, Lord of the Flies. William Golding’s stated purpose is “the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system” (238). In the book, Golding demonstrates that when put into an environment without civilization, many will turn to evil. The nature within the individual, whether evil or otherwise, determines the nature of the society in which he lives. Light and dark is the most significant symbol that Golding uses to develop his purpose. He uses light and dark to represent good and evil, and civilization and savagery, and shows the stages of the descent from civilization into savagery.

Throughout Lord of the Flies, Golding shows his views of the inherent evil of humans. He shows how humans can be in such a savage state, practically mimicking the way of life of their prehistoric ancestors. He exemplifies this with acts of carnage carried on by the young stranded children. It all started with a slight urge to hunt down a pig and then continued on to murdering another human being. Golding shows his views best at the end of the book with the boys being rescued by a Navy crew, which would go on to war it self.

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.

There are many laws and unspoken and logical rules that keep society civil. In the beginning of Lord of the Flies, Roger finds himself throwing minuscule stones at the younger boys, however missing them, due to the conditioning of society. This is a result of the little boys being protected by policemen, parents, school and the law. It is also evident and true that there are other factors that allow for civility to prosper in humanity, some of which are present on the island with the boys, but some factors are extremely scarce. But it is when these factors are mostly absent or diminish, that the idea and foundation of civilization will weaken or fade. William Golding allows symbols to show a complex, yet beautiful and convincing transition from a theme of civility and order, to one of savagery and also moral depravity. The reason for this new theme being that the boys are faced with an internal danger; the true nature of humanity, which fuels the drastic change from innocent boys who abide by rules to rabid animals. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, while the conch symbol best conveys the influence of the adult world on the boys, the conch symbol, paired with the pig hunt motif best conveys the theme of regression into savagery.

Lord of the Flies is often claimed to be an allegory of modern society. While this is true, Golding’s intentions in writing this novel are much deeper. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies provides an enlightening insight into the true nature of human beings; along with why people refrain from acting upon the evil that resides within them. He presents these ideas through symbolism within the novel and it proves effective in many ways. Through symbolism, Golding can unfold the excellent plot of his novel, while subsequently sharing his ideas on the relationship of mankind and society. Golding uses the beast, the conch shell, and Piggy’s glasses to symbolize the human impulse towards ‘savagery’ and the social constructs put in place to prevent it.

Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a classic novel and portrays just how the society surrounding us can corrupt our once pure nature No one is born a killer, no one is born with an intense compulsion to kill, the island that the boys are stranded on has a very unusual, corrupting society; A society that erodes the boys innocence through the power struggle between Jack and Ralph, readers see the transfer from innocent to savagely through the hunting and Piggy’s death.

Thesis statement: Though people live in a civilized society, they possess the capacity for violence. Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, discusses this theme with two main characters who metamorph from civil human beings to heathens, and who distance themselves from the order of society.

One’s behaviour can have an substantial impact on a society's outcome. There is a common notion that humans are nurtured to be peaceful and civil. However this belief is contradicted by the action of the boys, in William Golding’s, “Lord of the Flies”. A group of schoolboys are abruptly thrown out of their controlled and civil circumstances into an inhabited tropical island in the middle of the Pacific. The novel is Golding’s attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature, by using symbolism to delineate this theme. Golding’s extensive use of symbolism, such as the conch, the signal fire and the painted faces helps demonstrates the defects of society. These symbols are used by Golding to illuminate the subsequent effects on the boys’ behaviour, which undoubtedly illustrates the defects of human nature on society.

In many parts of the world, humans live in a civilized society where law and order are organized and enforced. But within a lawless society, savagery surfaces in an ungoverned setting of bloodshed and harm. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Civility and Savagery are differentiated with Ralph and Jack, Ralph establishes a community compared to Jack who damage and divide civilization. Because of how Jack and Ralph use their democratic and dictatorial authority, through the examples of the declined civilization, the increase of savagery and the different ways of power by Ralph and Jack.

The novel, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, is a story about a group of British school boys that get stuck on an island after they crash on a plane. They are forced to use the resources around them and have to trust each other, and it works out for a while, but while you read on, you begin to recognize a strain between the two main characters, Jack and Ralph, which really spins out of control at the end. William Golding uses British school boys for this novel because those kind of boys are well mannered and don’t seem like the kind of people to turn into uncultured savages. They are expected to have manners and common etiquette. He uses an example of social commentary by using the little ‘uns in the book as not being able to take care of themselves, and that is supposed to represent the society that we live in, that we can’t take care of ourselves without help. Foreshadowing is subtle, uses unimportant details to lead up to the climaxes of the novel, and is the basis of good vs. evil during the novel.

Symbolism is a very important factor in many books. The use of symbolism in William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies is the most essential aspect to the function of the story. At first glance you may not think the symbols are very important, but with some in-depth thought you can see how it is necessary to explain the microcosm of an island.

In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbolism and foreshadowing to portray the struggle of maintaining the functionality of a society and refraining from regressing to one’s primitive nature. For instance, Simon’s hallucination of the Lord of the Flies causes him to figure out the beast's true form: “‘...I’m a part of you… [and] why...things are what they are...’” (143). The Lord of the Flies foreshadows and symbolizes that the beast, whom the other boys desire to kill, is themselves.

In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, many different aspects of symbolism are presented well into the novel. From themes of democracy to the evil of mankind, almost every moral issue of society is compacted within the novel. The novel starts out as a group of little boys are stranded on an island without any adult survivors. When the boys first arrive on the island they are a very civilized lot,"The creature was a party of boys, dressed in strange eccentric clothing. Shorts, shirts, and different garments they carried in their hands; but each boy wore a square black cap with a silver badge on it.