House On Mango Street And Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Coming of age is an influential part of many people’s lives. They begin to leave behind their innocent childhood views and develop a more realistic view on the world around them as they step forward into adulthood. (Need to add transition) Many authors have a coming of age theme in their books; specifically, Harper Lee portrays a coming of age theme in his book To Kill A Mockingbird. Through the journeys of their childhoods, Jem and Scout lose their innocence while experiencing their coming of age moment, making them realize how unfair Maycomb really is.

William Golding utilizes Lord of the Flies to prove that the inherent nature of man is truly savage and cannot be contained by any form of civil government. Characters, setting, atmosphere, and other elements are all used by Golding in the novel as metaphors and symbols to ultimately reveal the natural intention of man. In Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, John Locke’s Concerning Civil Government , and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract, they share their own personal interpretations on man’s inherent nature, with the closest to Golding being Hobbes. Although both Golding and Hobbes state that man’s true nature is evil and selfish, Hobbes advocates for an absolutist government as capable of controlling man through fear of punishment, as opposed to Golding’s belief that no form of government is sufficient to control man. Conversely, Rousseau argues that men are born with morality and inalienable freedom, and John Locke believes that man is free but is neither inherently reputable nor immoral but a blank slate. Both want the people to be in control to prevent corruption from changing man, although Rousseau insists that a direct democracy to completely give power to the people would be more effective rather than only a representative democracy where the people would have individuals represent them which Locke suggests.

Coming of age is defined as the transition from one’s youth to his or her adulthood. Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, and Lord of the Flies by William Golding all explore this concept. Romeo and Juliet is a story about two star-crossed lovers in the depths of forbidden love despite an ancient family feud. House on Mango Street is a series of vignettes about a young Latina girl’s life growing up in Chicago. Lastly, Lord of the Flies is about a group of abandoned children who work to survive on a deserted island. Each of these stories provides details as to what characteristics define a mature individual, and they also show the various processes to achieve this maturity.

Loss of innocence is when someone, sometime in there life suddenly realizes all the evil, pain, and suffering in the world. You can see lots of loss of innocence that Esperanza has throughout the book. For example at the beginning of the book in the chapter “Boys and Girls” Esperanza explains that the girls and the boys are so far apart that they live in separate worlds. In her words “The boys in their universe and we in ours.” At the beginning of the book she is so oblivious to the world, she thinks that the boys and girls live in different ones. Esperanza begins to lose her innocence in the chapter “Cathy Queen of Cats”, when Cathy tells Esperanza that she is going to have to move because of all the bad people moving to Mango Street directly after she had just moved in. This is when Espranza first started to realize that the world might not be as she first thought it was. She starts realizing that her world of candy corn and gumdrops might be worse than she thinks it is. Esperanza realizes that in Cathy's eyes she sees Mango Street is “getting bad” becuase of families like Esperanzas. In the chapter “Louie, His Cousin & His Other Cousin” Esperanza losses a little more of her innocence when she sees one of Louie’s cousins pull up in a stolen Cadillac and the cops book him. In the chapter “Marin”

The island in William Golding’s novel, Lord Of The Flies, is one of wonder and a great deal of natural resources. However what develops on this oasis is war, bloodshed and cruelty. This could also be said for Earth, as the same traits occur in the global society as well. Therefor, the island symbolises the entire outside world in three key ways, social relationships, war, and politics.

In the beginning of the Lord of the Flies we are introduced to two young boys, who have survived a tragic plane crash. The aircraft was an evacuation plane and it was transporting the group of boys out of England. One of the boys named Piggy is trying to catch up to the other boy, Ralph. Piggy is described as being very fat and shorter than Ralph. He wears “thick spectacles” (William Golding 7) and he is the first to determine that they are on an island. Piggy is also the one that knows how to use the conch shell and comes up with the use of it, which is to call everyone else to the beach. He believed the conch created order. Once the conch had been used we are introduced to more boys and they gain interest in Piggy’s glasses. They discover that Piggy’s glasses can start fires and they refer to them as “burning glasses” (Golding 40). The boys also rejoiced when they discovered that his glasses could create the fires. They proclaimed, “His specs - use them as burning glasses!” (Golding 38). The spectacles symbolize Piggy’s intelligence, which distinguished him from the others. Without the glasses Piggy would be blind and he would not know what to do. Although Piggy is portrayed as being physically weak and not having a great chance at survival, he is the only one that seemed to know a few survival skills. He is the one that created the fire, sundial and shelter. Without his glasses he would not be ‘intelligent’. His appearance and personality cause him to be shunned

Many people have their own views on humanity. They can either be that humans are essentially good but can become corrupt or that people are just essentially evil. They have their own opinions, some people can tell their perspective on humans in other fashions. If people are essentially good, they how do they become corrupt? Or if are truly evil, then why do some people seem like they are kind people and they can never do such things? To take both of these into account, a person may saw that people are good but deep down have evil within them. People may ask how does the evil within a person come out, the answer to that is that it is thanks to their environment. The environment around a person can undoubtedly draw out the evil within them

The theme of The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is the reason society is flawed is because people are flawed. Although Piggy is knowledgeable, he has many flaws including his laziness and physical inabilities. Ralph is an authority seeker. He sets rules and laws, yet does little to enforce them. Ralph wants to be the ruler, without doing the work to enforce his laws. Jack is persistent. He is rude, harsh and violent in order to get what he wants. He wants to be supreme. Piggy’s flaws are impactful in the story. His laziness and lack of physical ability hurt him in his quest for survival.

Some define “coming of age” as the process by which people attain responsibility and maturity. Others may define it as a process of trial and error during which time a young person learns and grows through considerable angst. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet falls in love with Romeo the son of her family’s arch enemies. Due to this love, she defies her parents and plans to run away with Romeo. Similarly, in Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and Lan Samantha Chang’s “The Eve of the Spirit Festival”, the characters Connie and Emily, rebel against their parents and must eventually face the consequences of their choices. In Romeo and Juliet, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” and “The Eve of the Spirit Festival” the characters come of age when they make autonomous choices and become accountable for their actions.

Simon is one of the major characters in the “Lord of the Flies” novel. Simon's character seems to live by what is right as to the rest of the boys on the island. There are many reasons and examples in the Lord of the Flies that have to do with Simon being compared to Jesus Christ.

William Golding believed that all humans are innately evil but are controlled by the confinements of society. In Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, a group of school boys crash their airplane onto a stranded island during World War II and are forced to live without adult supervision. Hunting and killing pigs are methods that the boys use to obtain meat and they celebrate using chants and dances. Golding’s theory is supported as innate evil surfaces and overtakes the boys through the progression of the pig hunts ranging from a piglet, to a sow, and then to a human being.

The novel Lord of the Flies presents the themes of evil and sin as an innate, inevitable and negative feature throughout the novel, similar to the play The Crucible. William Golding uses Lord of the Flies as an allegory to present evil and sin through different symbols within the novel, with boys being trapped on an island. Arthur Miller presents evil and sin through a contextual, Puritan society within various characters. Even though both writers present these themes, Golding presents it in the lack of female presence and Miller presents it mainly from a female perspective. If one is to commit a sin, it is an act against God but for someone to be considered evil, a person is “profoundly immoral and wicked” In light of this comment, one is able to argue that evil and sin are natural due to the Fall of Man, embedding this evil and sin within us all, making it inescapable and inevitable.

Attempt to sit in your room, stare at a wall, with no human contact, no technology, for 20 minutes straight. Hard isn’t it? Now imagine months upon months on an island with no adults, and no technology at all. This is exactly what the characters in the book Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, had to deal with. This book is about is about a group of boys who previously didn’t know each other and attempt to survive on an island with an ample amount of resources. One of the main characters, Ralph, decides to take charge and lead the boys with his friends Piggy and Simon, but their leadership is challenged by the savage character Jack. Though they attempt to fight isolation, it gets the best of them and the island, and all hell breaks lose. However, the boys do have ways they deal with isolation. The characters in Lord of the Flies cope with isolation by attempting to re-establish society, reminiscing on the past and remaining hopeful that rescue will come.

Countries around the world strive to have order within their nation. This can never happen as some humans ruin this order. Killing, destruction, and war; all of these ruin the order that is trying to be established. William Golding, a famous writer in the 1980’s, created “The Lord of the Flies” to explain to the reader the idea of order within the human race. If you continue reading, Golding also shows how that order lasts only for a small time until a person turns that order to chaos. Chaos isn 't always expected to happen and/or is not intended; but it always finds its way through one way or another. The novel explains order to chaos magnificently through the book’s characters, symbols, and events. The paragraphs below will demonstrate how these were portrayed.

Imagine yourself in one of the characters shoes in the novel “Lord of the flies.” You would see yourself loaded with responsibilities, major decisions, etc. “Lord of the Flies” represents a microcosm of adult society. The island can act as a democratic government, demonstrate knowledge, and each character can demonstrate an aspect of adult society. William Golding was in the Royal Navy during WWII. He creates a smaller image for what’s really happening in the world.