Lord of the Flies by William Golding

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.

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.

Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding demonstrates the idea that our world today is still full of corrupt people that break our world apart from the good. The article, “Iowa Police Take Suspect in ‘Ambush-Style’ Killings of Two Officers into Custody” explains to us how evil our world still is to this day, with a man killing two police officers because they wouldn’t let him make fun of a race that doesn’t deserve to be made fun of. Just like Jack does to Piggy and Ralph when Jack calls Piggy a “Fatty” and he tells everyone that Ralph isn’t fit to be chief. Articles like this prove that when Golding wrote his novel he was thinking about how evil and how dangerous people truly are when put in certain situations that provoke one's actions.

In today’s world, there are many different and effective types of governments. They range from republics to dictatorships, with each of them having pros and cons regarding their effectiveness and how happy the people living under them are. In Lord of the Flies, author William Golding tells the story of a group of boys stranded on an island, with only their wits to keep them alive. 2 boys eventually take power. The first to take power, Ralph, uses a democratic government in order to keep things fair for all of the boys. However, this fails, and the second boy Jack takes power. He uses a totalitarian government, and while it is very effective, Jack’s inability to lead becomes a major problem, and his poor decision-making eventually burns down the entire island. William Golding uses Lord of the Flies as a political allegory in order to prove that both democratic and totalitarian governments will only succeed if the people in their systems support the goals given to them by their government.

When wisdom is lost, civilization crumbles and savagery rises. William Golding makes this statement apparent through the character of Piggy in Lord of the Fies. The main idea of the book is fixated on a group of young boys struggling to survive after a plane crash on a deserted island. They must put their independent thinking and logic to the ultimate test, without a proper head of authority to show them right from wrong. Golding portrays Piggy as wisdom and the voice of reason. Once the voice of reason is gone, civilizations ceases to exist.

In the book Lord Of The Flies by William Golding, symbols are used to highlight the impactful nature of Ralph, the main protagonist. Ralph is brought to so much power being credited to finding the conch and rising but also falling in power along side it. The supporting character of story, Piggy, helps us show how the conch is a double edged sword. It gives Ralph the ability to become leader and create a civilization but also helps Jack, the antagonist, resist the conch and help build his own empire on the island which tears everyone apart and creates savagery which is controlled with the tips of his fingers. Ralph uses the conch to symbolize order, which

In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbolism and parables to illustrate and define the human inner beast. There are some main ideas that William Golding sets forth in Lord of the Flies. These main ideas are impulses of mankind and they exist within all human beings in the world. The author talks about how mankind and society gives us rules and duties. Like to act peacefully, have moral standards, and how to accept others and their views. The story can be told as if it were civilization versus anarchy.

The boys, in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, would rather fulfill their individual goals rather than cooperate as a whole group in society on the island, which would require that each individual boy would act for the good of group instead each person working to better themselves or just have fun. Throughout books authors include many different themes to help the reading connect or understand to what is happening in the book and in Lord of the Flies the major and biggest theme is self-interest v. progress but in every big theme there are smaller themes that help tie it together and that’s what creates a good book. The minor theme in Lord of the Flies is a struggle for power. The boys are more into self-interest and self betterness than into group collaboration and progress creating a major theme throughout the book about self-interest v progress. In the beginning of the book the boys did not fully understand the situation that they were in and how grave it was so they were interested in playing around more than building shelter or getting food and clean drinking water. Individualism and community are symbolized in Jack and Ralph. Jack symbolizes self-interest for having fun and better yourself before the group while Ralph symbolizes group progress by getting everyone rescued. The boys would rather play than build shelters and let the fire go out by not tending to it on schedule.

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.

In Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays the society in the novel as a selfish society. His message about society is that selfish and unthoughtful people make societies difficult to live in. He wants to educate us about society because the conflicts presented in the novel occur in our everyday lives. For Golding, society is selfish because of the way people act, think and express themselves as we see the boys behaviour changing drastically.