Lord Of The Flies Civilization Essay

After several failed attempts, he finally accomplishes his goal, but with a price; he ruins the boys chances of being rescued by letting the signal fire go out and not taking it as seriously as he should. He continuously claims that, “We can light the fire again” (58); his will to be rescued is waning slowly. Ralph addresses these issues with his group expecting them to be re-motivated, but the boys have surprisingly ignored him and resumed playing. Instead of caring about being rescued, the boys start caring more about hunting and doing an interpretive dance inspired by hunting pigs, including one time with Robert “…screaming and struggling with the strength of frenzy”(101). With progressing events, the boys are becoming more and more irresponsible, and their chance of going back to civilization is fading quickly. Soon, a deadly turn of events will ignite their carelessness into something more dangerous and completely unexpected.

At its core, is mankind essentially good, or does it use law and order to mask its evil? Through his book The Lord of the Flies, William Golding causes questions concerning the ethicality of humanity to rise to the surface of the mind. The stripping away of distractions and structure he depicts in his all-too-real novel reveals society’s true nature. As a reader studies the settings, characters and plots of Lord of the Flies and how they relate to significant events in recent times, Golding’s message of the evil nature of humanity becomes increasingly clear and impactful.

The conch keeps the meetings and even simple conversations in orderly terms. When its purpose begins to get ignored, more conflict arises. Ralph keeps hold of the conch even in times full of fear. In the text, it is stated, "He could see the whiteness in the gloom near him so he grabbed it from Maurice and blew as loudly as he could," (Golding, 88). While all of the boys are filled with fear about the talk of the beast, Ralph wants to keep them calm and keep matters controlled. The conch does help him to easily call meetings for the group, and it helps to keep society present amongst the boys. However, when the fear overcomes the peace that the boys have so far, the orderliness begins to deteriorate. Ralph tries his best to control the situation, but losing touch of a truly experienced society has made the boys struggle with staying calm and rational. The boys let of any sense of morals and obligations that they had gathered so far in their childhoods slip right out of their hands, and most of the boys let hunting and savagery become their top

Ralph is not only a leader, but a voice of reason within the group. Ralph’s main priority throughout the novel is to be rescued, even when it did not seem as important to the other boys in the group. Ralph creates a signal fire and consistently reminds the boys that it is imperative to their survival. Ralph explains, “Don’t you understand? Can’t you see we ought to--ought to die before we let the fire out?” (Golding 81). Ralph’s scolding to the hunters is well deserved considering that they wasted a possible opportunity to be rescued after letting the signal fire go out. As time went on, Jack and his hunters become more and more consumed with hunting and order began to turn into chaos. The hunters chant, “Kill the pig. Cut her throat. Bash her in” (Golding 75). Ralph refuses to join the boys and viciously murder pigs. The boys’ hygiene habits were also worsening, to the point that the boys were defecating in the wrong areas. Ralph tries to address it at a meeting, but the boys’ find their animal-like behavior amusing. Throughout the loss of civility and order, Ralph always keeps a persistent effort to keep the signal fire going and keep order within the group. Ralph’s attitude towards the entire situation drops, however he never completely lost hope.

The two boys together find a conch shell which comes to represent democracy and order, and the high hand of authority. Ralph blows it to bring together any other people that might be on the island. Soon a crowd gathers. The boys are made up of bigguns and littluns, the bigguns being around twelve years old, and the littluns being around five or six. Immediately the conch is seen as a token of respect, so it is always used to call meetings. We are now introduced to the rest of the main characters.

If people become isolated from civilization, then the beast inside of us can break the bonds from society and unleash the evil within using the power of fear. In the book, “The Lord of the Flies”, by William Golding, a group of boys becomes stuck on an island and it portrays the breakdown of society and structure and the transformation of them into savages. On the island, the boys first follow a conch which was the order and the link to society on the island but after a while, it loses most of it’s influence due to the disintegration of social order and rules. A character that used the tool of fear to gain control of the boys was Jack, who represents a

Anarchy fallen over the once peaceful land and all but one has returned to their savage ways. In William Golding’s, Lord Of The Flies, The character of Piggy is a symbol of civilization. To commence, Piggy symbolises civilization because of his glasses as the fire is started by thm, and fire is the first sign key to civilization . Secondly, by insisting the continuation of the rules to be enforced on all of the island, Piggy demonstrates the ideals of civilization. Finally, Piggy idealises civilization by wanting to advance in technology on the island. In William Golding’s, Lord of The Flies, Piggy symbolises civilization on the island, while others turn to primitive, savage ways.

“In absence of orders, go find something and kill it” Erwin Rommel world war II 7th panzer division general. It doesn’t seem to have much to do with lord of the flies but it does. When these boys are in left alone they start fighting and pick sides. In the Second World War people picked sides. These boys go into a small war of their own and it is brutal and has one evil over powering faction in this book the history’s most notorious generals, leaders, and even dictators are represented by these boys.

Many of the younger children are scared, of something known as “the beast”. Ralph assures the children that there is no beast, and the kids feel safer knowing that the beast is not a problem. For kids will be kids, they will disobey rules, but are more sane knowing that there are guidelines that keep them in line. Without them, there is nothing to break, nothing to rebel against, except for their sanity. But soon, the survivors got tired of all the structure of Ralph’s ability to lead. At this time Jack himself called a meeting, and challenged Ralph for the “crown” of power. After losing, he left to fend for himself; unknowing that he had inspired many along the way. Jack’s ability to stand up to Ralph, caused his role as chief to waver.

Indeed, despite his position of power and responsibility in the group, Jack shows no qualms about abusing the other boys physically. Some of the other hunters, especially Roger, seem even crueler and less governed by moral impulses. The civilized Ralph, meanwhile, is unable to understand this impulsive and cruel behavior, for he simply cannot conceive of how physical bullying creates a self-gratifying sense of power. The boys’ failure to understand each other’s points of view creates a gulf between them—one that widens as resentment and open hostility set in.

Civilization was created to contain social structure. However, in utmost circumstances, it is possible for instinct to triumph over civility. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, is a plane evacuating a group of British schoolboys that crashes over a tropical deserted island. Once they crash on the island, they pick Ralph, the protagonist of the novel, to be their leader, and Ralph chooses Jack, the antagonist of the novel, to be the leader of the hunters, establishing somewhat of a civilization. Then when Jack comes upon a mother boar and kills it, that’s when their makeshift civilization slowly diminishes and the boys become savages. In addition, loss of social structure within a society can lead to the absolute destruction of the civilization. The author of Lord of the Flies, William Golding, uses man vs man and man vs nature conflicts to develop the theme of loss of social structure leads to savagery. Golding reveals this theme by exploring the conflicts of

     Lord of the flies is a thought-provoking novel authored by William Golding. This novel uses symbolism throughout its entirety to help portray importance and teach lessons. The book describes in detail the horrific exploits of a band of young children who make a striking transition from civilized to barbaric. Lord of the Flies commands a pessimistic outlook that seems to show that man is inherently tied to society, and without it, we would likely return to savagery. Golding does not come right out and show this however he uses symbolism to allow this idea to show. There are many different examples of symbolism in the Novel included are Piggy’s Glasses, the beast

1. When Ralph is elected chief, Jack is so frustrated that he refuses to hunt.

Civilization plays a major role in shaping lives. It controls an individual’s behavior, manners, and way of living. It plays an especially important role in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is about a group of British boys who are stranded on a deserted island without any adult supervision. Immediately after landing on the island, the boys develop basic rules to keep order and elect one amongst themselves, Ralph, as chief.. The boys are then faced with challenges, inciting a deep fear of a beast inhabiting the island. This contributes to the breakdown of their society. Slowly, the youths lose their roots of a civilized society and by the end of the novel, most of the boys do not recognize themselves. Throughout the story, many boys develop negative changes, demonstrating the profound effects a lack of society can have on a people.

Although the boys would prefer to have fun and play games, they follow Ralph’s rules at first. This order is maintained until Ralph loses his leadership role to Jack. After providing, or bribing, the boys with juicy pig meat, Jack asks “’Who’ll join my tribe and have fun?’” (211). This lure of enjoyment along with the promise of more food sways the boys to follow Jack. With the demise of Ralph’s leadership and under the leadership of Jack, the boys begin to turn towards savagery.