Lord Of The Flies Literary Analysis

In the novel Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a group of English boys in their adolescence are stranded on an island. They crash-land while being evacuated because of an atomic war, so the boys must learn to cooperate with each other in order to survive. The boys are civil at first, but the bonds of civilization unfold as the rapacity for power and immediate desires become more important than civility and rescue. The conflict between Ralph, the protagonist, and Jack, the antagonist, represents the conflict between the impulse to civilization and the impulse to savagery, respectively. In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph and Jack’s struggle for power to show that greed and lust for power can corrupt the best

“We all have a social mask, right? We put it on, we go out, put our best foot forward, our best image. But behind that social mask is a personal truth, what we really, really believe about who we are and what we 're capable of” (Phil McGraw) one once said. In Lord of the Flies the characters wear a social mask that opposes their true feelings. Written by William Golding, the story revolves around a group of boys who become stranded on an island and must depend on themselves to survive. They elect a chief, a boy named Ralph. However, as the story progresses, the group become influenced by Jack, an arrogant choir chapter boy. Intriguingly, although they desire to be with Jack and join his tribe, the boys remain with Ralph for most of the story. The rhetorical triangle, which analyzes a speaker or writer based on three ideas- ethos, pathos, and logos-, helps many to better understand the children’s actions and mentality; ethos focuses on the credibility and ethics of the speaker while pathos concerns how the speaker appeals to the emotions of the audience and logos is about the speaker’s use of evidence to appeal to the audience’s sense of reason. The boys stay with Ralph because of Ralph’s use of ethos but prefer to be with Jack because of Jack’s use of pathos and ethos which shows Golding’s message- humans were masks.

Humans develop in societies with rules, order and government, but humans are not perfect, they have many deficiencies so do the societies they live in. When a group of schoolboys land on a tropical island, Ralph takes on the role of leader by bringing all of the boys together and organizing them. He first explains “There aren’t any grownups. We shall have to look after ourselves.”(p.33), this brings up the question if the boys will have prosperity or will they succumb to the evil on the island. At first the young boys start being successful and civilized, but chaos soon overruns them and evil starts to lurk over the island.The fictional story of the group of British schoolboys stranded on an island and the decisions they make, relates back

In Lord of the Flies, Golding uses Ralph as the symbol of civilization. Readers can hear Ralph’s anger in chapter 4 on the mountain when he says this. “You let the fire out (Golding 70)”. Ralph is angry when Jack and his hunters kill a pig when they were supposed to keep the fire up. Ralph and Piggy had seen a ship. Ralph was infuriated that they didn’t get rescued. At the end of chapter 6, Ralph questions the group’s sanity when they are hunting for the beast. “Can’t you see the mountain? There’s no signal showing. There may be a ship out there. Are you all off your rockers? (Golding 108)”. Ralph is the only one who knows what must be done in order to get rescued. In chapter 8, readers can now see that even Ralph is falling prey to savagery but keeping his humanity at the same time. “ Without the fire we can’t be rescued. I’d like to put on war paint and be a savage (Golding 142).” Ralph is starting to lose some humanity. He keeps it unlike Jack does who totally loses it. At the end of chapter 12, readers can see that Ralph finally breaks down when he is rescued. “ Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart, and the fall through the air of the true, wise friend called Piggy (Golding 202).” Ralph realizes that he will be rescued and he starts sobbing. He came so close to a horrible death only to escape it. Ralph was able to keep his humanity. He was a good person who symbolized civilization.

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 William Golding's novel Ralph represents leadership and the personification of human ego. When they novel first begins all the children pick Ralph as the leader because he is naturally charismatic and likable to the rest of the group. Accordingly, this is where the group of schoolboys establish just rules to maintain harmony throughout the island. Under those circumstances, Ralph shows a natural ability to become a leader shown in the quote, ”If

It´s always thought that everyone is supposed to be the best. Everyone I know is always told how outstanding they are or how great of a job they are doing. People are always looking for approval concerning their studies. While reading Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the outcomes of the many tests, projects, and essays regarding the novel were at times more important than the lesson that Golding tried to express. The only thing that mattered was getting the best grade in the class. By studying Lord of the Flies, its readers can assimilate a major theme to connect the novel to modern society: people will do anything to get ahead.

The Lord of the Flies demonstrates an extensive variety of symbolism; from Christ to Satan the children are portrayed in an abstract manner to represent these religious beings, as well as a symbol of great strife for power. Two of the main symbolic devices contained within the novel are used in the form of a mystical, shining Conch and a cumbersome Sow’s head perched atop a stake; however, these symbols embody very different ideas. Next the Lord of the Flies exhibits the burden and struggle of power in multiple ways. William Golding included within this novel the power of symbolism using inanimate objects, characters and even landmasses to represent ideals derived from basic human morals and Christian religion

The naïve, inexperienced boys have found themselves dropped into a situation that is vastly unknown with no social institutions or rules to ground them. Thus, they tried to mimic the world that they knew using only what they thought would reflect the adult world accurately. This attempt comes as no surprise because as human beings, we crave a structure to everyday life. When we are in school we have a set schedule and set of rules that make it easy to think of other things, and to introduce new ideas that affect us individually instead of as a community. When that structure is taken away, we often see repercussions that may seem surprising. In the novel Lord of the Flies, the only structure that these children had has been taken away leaving only the remnants of what they think is right. The author William Golding showed the consistent need for social order numerous times throughout the novel ‘Lord of the flies’. Though they crave the leadership and skills to survive, the children’s own pubescent emotions get in the way of survival.

William Golding wrote themes of war, loss of innocence, and evil into Lord of the Flies to provide commentary on man’s essential state of nature. On the island, young British schoolboys de-evolve into remorseless savages who kill and hunt for sport rather than for survival. The boys’ bloodlust for meat quickly subsides as they begin to hunt and kill each other. Golding utilizes the death of Simon to connect the actions of the boys to prove that conflict unnecessarily destroys on a physical and emotional level.

Consequences are key to keeping people in control (alliteration). Without enforced rules or consequences for one’s actions, conditioning from civilization will inexorably dissipate and intrinsic evil and savage desires will recrudesce. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, a plane flying after WWII smashes into an uncharted island, stranding a young group of schoolboys. The boys are left alone to govern and fend for themselves, which inevitably leads to the collapse of civilization and order. The group of boys, with Ralph voted as “chief”, establish a few rules. Jack Merridew, inclined to leadership, decides to go against his orders of keeping up a signal fire built using the glasses of a fat boy derisively named Piggy. This causes a ship to pass by oblivious to the boys captive on the island. As more conflicts arise between Jack (savagery) and Ralph (civilization), Jack forms his own “tribe”, using the boy's’ fear of the beast to his advantage, leading to tumult and the death of a wise, good-natured boy named Simon. Eventually, Roger, a malicious human-being involved in numerous nefarious activities, kills Piggy and trucently torture the twins, Sam and Eric, into joining Jack’s tribe, leaving Ralph all alone. When Jack lights the whole island on fire in an attempt to kill Ralph, the smoke from the fire ironically leads to a ship appearing and rescuing the boys. Golding, through the use of the signal fire as a symbol, which represents civilization and acts as a barometer

The two Merriam-Webster dictionary definitions of instinct are “a natural or inherent aptitude, impulse, or capacity” and “a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason” The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, tells the story of a group of young boys stranded by a plane crash on an island with no adults and their discovery of human instinct as they form a society of their own. The story mainly revolves around four boys Ralph, Piggy, Jack, and Simon who each symbolize a different aspect of a society. Golding kills Simon to show groups sacrifice morality because they perceive that sacrifice will benefit the greater good of their society. Even though Simon’s death may have been an accident, Simon represented morality and when morality is removed, it leads to chaos and destruction.

Golding finishes chapter nine of  Lord Of The Flies with the phrase,“Simon’s dead body moved out toward the open sea.”(Golding 154) This is significant because Simon was slaughtered by his own clan. He was about to explain the misconception about the beast, but before he could do so, he was thought to be the beast and was attacked by the rest of the boys. Throughout the novel, face paint, pig killings, and disrespect towards one another show the diminishing innocence among the kids. The traditional idea of innocent children is not present in this novel. Therefore, as the boys turn to savageness, they lose their innocence and display evil.

It is easier to destroy than it is to create. Humans operate by destroying and rebuilding the same way—born inherently evil, but society molds them to be good. People always find a way to demolish the righteousness of humanity. William Golding expresses this idea throughout his novel, Lord of the Flies. As a group of boys crash land on a deserted island, they must fight for their lives and values. Though the children try to cooperate as a monolith, they face difficulties in keeping their sanity safe from savagery. They face the challenges of pushing away evil, but the boys waver from civilization. Golding’s sole purpose of composing the Lord of the Flies is to capture the idea that society suppress the true evil nature of people using the characterization of the stranded boys.

William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, was in the British Royal Navy during WWII and witnessed first hand what happened. “Such a reading takes into account the state of the world at the end of World War II” (Henningfeld 188). In the war, he fought battleships and also was put in command of rocket-launching craft. Being a soldier in WWII helped influence on why he wrote the novel, Lord of the Flies. He was also a teacher to young British schoolboys, and that also helped him create the characters. In the novel, a group of English schoolboys leave England because a world war was beginning. They crash land on an island. Ironically they started a war of their own. Lord of the Flies was written in 1954, nine years after the war ended.