Lord Of The Flies Reflection Essay

In the story “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, he shows how the boys lost all innocence and civilization. The boys went from having innocent child minds to taking lives of other people, acting savage, and losing all civilization due to problems on the island. The boys had forgotten where they came from and became savage in order to survive; it was the need of survival that caused the loss of innocence among the boys.

“When you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed”(Rand). This was stated by Russian-American novelist Ayn Rand; the extract relates to the novel William Golding wrote called Lord of the Flies. Golding wrote about a group of schoolboys trapped on an island from a plane crash. The boys had to figure out how to survive without grownups. Trying to survive was difficult because they had to have common sense and order. They lose those traits throughout the book which resulted in selfishness and corrupt behaviors.

(Golding 33). Being stranded on the island has majorly changed Jack, he is praised for killing pigs because of it supply of meat. The amount of praise and the feeling of victory after a kill has caused Jack to go mad. The society within the island has corrupted Jack and many of his hunters because they are praised so greatly for killing a pig that they have now adapted this hunting as an evil game, the hunts are no longer for food but instead for self pride, and praise, and power.

By disobeying Ralph’s rules, Jack is trying to weaken the rules. Jack still has an effect on the boys, and his breaking of rules weakens the their will to follow them. In a later meeting, Jack claims that Ralph “isn’t a proper chief” and that “[he’s] going off by [himself].” Jack’s departure weakens Ralph’s tribe, since the choir has been with Jack before the crash on the island, and showed loyalty to him on the island. This results in a majority of the boys abandon Ralph for Jack. Some of the non-choir boys go off with Jack’s tribe, because of the beast they want protection from. They believe his hunters will supply that. Jack is no longer under control, but is now in control. Jack’s department of the tribe, and weakening of the boy’s opinion on Ralph leads to his desire for power being satisfied.

What went wrong in the Lord of the Flies? Some may say Jack and some may say Roger, but what are the real reasons for the downfall of the boys? They are, the loss of hope, the loss of order, and the passing of time.

While Jack and his hunters started out as just choirboys, they become obsessed with violence and are driven to kill. In the beginning of the book, Jack hesitates and misses his chance to kill a trapped pig. Later on, as Jack and his newly formed tribe hunt in the forest, they discover a sow. Following the desperate chase after

In the novel, "Lord of the Flies," a group of British boys are left on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Throughout the novel, they have conflicts between civilization and savagery, good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, and reason vs. impulse. What would it be like if the boys were replaced by a group of girls? Would they behave the same way they did in the novel? I believe that the girls would act in the same behavior as the boys in all ways because, everyone is installed with evil inside them which is their natural instinct, also because in life there is always a power struggle in all manners, and the outcome with the girls would be similar-since both sexes would plan on getting rescued.

“We saw—” “—the beast—” Published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is set in “...the near future.”

The main theme of Lord of the Flies is that moral nature is not instinctive in mankind. There is a capacity for evil in all people, and their morality is superficial. Nonetheless, it is this moral integrity that must continue in order for a person to be ethical, for society to be maintained, and to keep society from falling in on itself. Society holds everyone together. Without the rules and the structure, evil in everyone becomes more prominent, and ideals, values, and basics of right and wrong are forgotten. Without society's rigid rules, chaos and savagery come to light. There are also a number of secondary themes in the book such as: people will abuse power when it is not earned; people will degrade others to

Jack was obsessed with killing a pig after a failed attempt when he, Ralph, and Simon went exploring. Jack became crazed for bloodshed to a point where he even made a mask to hide the insecurities and become confident enough to figure out how to kill the pig. The red and white clay mask was like a mind-compelling monster that made Jack animalistic and savage. “He began to dance and his laughter became a blood thirsty snarling.”(Golding 64) This was the point where Jack truly became animalistic in the book. No longer did the boys have the strict, proper British boy like before, now they had a savage

I thought, by myself…I thought I might kill.”. The reader can see from this that Jack’s vocabulary is composed of only monosyllabic words as he is preoccupied only with thoughts of slaughtering. We can also interpret that Jack feels as if he has to kill in order to gain respect for himself. Jack shows this pride when he does eventually kill a pig and he retells the story of the hunt to the rest of the boys. He and some of the boys re-enact the murder in a savage and primitive style. Therefore, we can see how his behaviour has been affected as a result of his compassion and need to hunt. This change in his behaviour is very significant as hunting is how Jack begins to establish his power over the group. Soon after the killing of the first pig, Jack is able to become more powerful and Ralph begins to realise this so he says, “I’m calling an assembly.”, as he feels in danger of losing control.

wanted to be leader and thought he was the best for the job. Already he had

Face paint is an important symbol in the story as it acts a catalyst for Jack and his group’s transformation into savages and also moves the story forward. When Jack applies his face paint, he looks at his reflection and realizes he is “not longer [himself] but an awesome stranger” (63). This proves that the face paint turned him into someone new, and someone very savage-like. The face paint is also what brings Jack’s tribe together to steal Ralph’s fire. When they accomplished this task, Jack is described as the “chief now in truth” and makes “stabbing motions with his spear” while holding Piggy’s “broken glasses” (168). The face paint is what brings the boys together and ultimately is the cause of the transfer of power from Ralph to Jack,

“Isolation is a dream killer” (Barbara Sher). In the novel Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, kids stranded on an island must figure out how to survive. By hunting pigs and building shelters the kids tried to subsist on the island. Through the process of hunting, the kids became cruel, evolving to the point of being barbaric. Thus, through the barbaric actions of the boys and the outside world, Golding shows that savagery exists in all people.

We never hear about what happens to the surviving boys after the events of Lord of the Flies. There are many things that can be dedused from what we read in the story. They could be sick and twisted, happy and forgetful, depressed and suicidal, aggressive and homicidal. They could lead completely normal lives or they could lead lives full of stress and anger. Two great examples the boys we could predict lives for are Ralph and Jack. In the future, maybe Jack is abusive, or maybe evil, and maybe, just maybe, he is completely fine and domesticated. Ralph could also be the dame way. This event probably traumatized them, but did they push it out of there minds, or do they obsess over it.