Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Clothing in Lord of the Flies represents civilization. On the island, the boys struggle to keep their true identity and remain civilized. While the heat may play a role in the reasoning for taking off clothing, Ralph remains civilized because “though he had taken off his school sweater

In William Golding’s Lord of The Flies, the detriments of an unrefined civilization, such as one without leadership and indulgent citizens who are amoral, can be catastrophic, causing extreme repercussions to society. A lack of solid leadership, such as the arbitrary leader Ralph, can cause confusion, apprehension, and chaos. Jack and other children often indulge their impulses which clouds their judgement causing them to undermine their society. By not reinforcing the difference between savagery and humanity, many people begin to die. Ralph clearly is not well-equipped to lead a group of young men.

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.

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.

The hygiene of the boys slowly gets worse and makes them look like savages. The boys hygiene throughout the book slowly gets worse, There hair and fingernails are long and dirty so is there skin and there teeth plus they paint their faces and look like savages. The boys hair in cut and short at the beginning of the book, But there hair grows and becomes a nuisance, like when Ralph moves it from in front of his face so he can see, speak or when he's making a decision so maybe it clouds his judgment. “

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

Laws and rules are what set people apart from savagery. Leaders are what keep a group alive in times of crisis. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Piggy is the only character who remains civil and does not turn to savagery. The boys notice his appearance more than his brain which blinds them from seeing his intelligence, patience, and rationality.

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.

Symbol Paper: Ralph Symbol #1: The conch Chapter 1: Piggy and Ralph encounter one another after the plane crash. While walking, both of them come upon a conch shell. Ralph blows into it and a bellowing sound emits across the island. Golding illustrates the conch as a symbol of authority by saying that it catches the attention of all the kids.

Progressively through the novel, the boys’ clothes are used as an example to represent the declining importance of order. For example, when Jack and the boys first land on the beach, they “marched approximately in step in two parallel lines and [were] dressed in strangely eccentric clothing” (Golding 19). This illustrates a direct correlation between the uniforms and societal order. When the boys are fully clothed, they behave orderly and civilized. Over time, the boys shed their uniforms and begin acting more primitive and hectic. Jack, now painted and predatorial, begins to lead chants after his hunts, yelling, “Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!” (152). These chants portray the chaotic mindset instilled into Jack as the days and weeks have rolled by on the island. He is nearly naked at the time, wearing mainly clay paint and brandishing a knife when needed. In this way, he parallels early humans who wore only what they needed to survive and had weapons on hand to hunt. Eventually, the boys sport paint as

A leader uses techniques, which they have perfected over time to manipulate peoples minds to make them follow them. The smaller kids on the island are afraid of the beastie, which they also have nightmares about at night. Though, Jack doesn’t care about it all and uses their fear to turn it around and give them security by making them feel more powerful within a group. As everyone knows, one feels stronger and more secure inside a group. By for example yelling the hunting chant, the kids feel unity and they feel like they belong to a group. Furthermore, being the same as all others is also a symbol of integrity. In the book, the children wear a uniform, and later paint their faces in the same

    Ralph is one of the main characters in Lord of the Flies and throughout this book, he slowly loses his identity. “The fair boy said [there are no grownups] solemnly; but then the delight of a realized ambition overcame him” (Golding 8).  This portrays Ralph’s innocence and an element of his identity. Clearly, at the beginning of Lord of the Flies Ralph has a childlike innocence in him, for he rejoices in the fact there are no adults on the island. Later, Ralph shows his innocence by his lack of knowledge on curse words. “Ralph reached inside himself for the worst word he knew. ‘They let the bloody fire go out’” (Golding 68). However, Ralph slowly begins to lose his innocence and

Also giving the characters longer hair shows how long they have been without proper care. In chapter seven, Ralph sits down and begins to think about all the privileges he gained from being in civilization, such as having a toilet, brushing his teeth, taking a bath with clean water and soap, and cutting his nails and hair. Ralph knew it was not normal to have a lot of hair and not be cleanly, but on the island he does not have all the resources he was used to, forcing him to try and improvise. “He would like to have a pair of scissors and cut his hair –– he flung the mass back –– cut this filthy hair right back to half an inch.” (Golding,

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.