Selfishness In Lord Of The Flies Analysis

Throughout the novel Lord Of The Flies, the boys on the island are continuously faced with numerous fears. Subsequently there is nothing on the island which they fear more than the beast. The beast is not a tangible object that can be killed or destroyed by conventional means, but an idea symbolizing the primal savage instincts within all people. Its Golding’s intention to illustrate the innate evil inside man through his view of human nature, the actions of the Jack and his tribe, and the relationship between the beast and the school boys.

The need for civilization, innocence and loss of power is shown through the impaled pig's head. In order for the group to survive, animals must be killed in order for the boys to eat. Jack takes on the role of hunter because he enjoys killing living things, as seen when he states, “Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” (104) Ralph is a more calm person and does not enjoy killing as much as Jack, although he takes a small part in killing the pig. However, in the end, Jack gains all the power because everyone looks up to him as leader because he attempts to hunt the pig throughout the novel and is successful in the end. “We’ll take the meat along the beach.” “Pick up the pig,” Jack said. (150) Meanwhile, Ralph doubts Jack's abilities to kill the pig, and constantly mocks him about being successful. “He tried to convey the compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up.”(51) Jack proves Ralph wrong and kills the pig. “Jack begins to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling."(58) He celebrates

Why do people allow their pride and selfishness to overtake their thoughts and their actions? Why do they want to look out for themselves rather than help out a group of people? They will act on their thoughts based on selfishness but not of what is right or wrong, which will eventually cause them to make decisions that affect others in negative aspects. The people around them will sometimes allow the selfish actions influence them, and change how they act and their thoughts. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Jack’s decision making is based on his prideful and selfish thinking, which creates conflicts and hardships with the other boys, making their challenge to get back home even more difficult.

In the book there is conch which gives the beholder of it power over the rest of the group. Jack knows that the group is torn on who should be their leader, so he does whatever is necessary to get the conch and control the group. Jack knows that the only way to do this is to make the group turn against Ralph. With power on his mind his begins to belittle Ralph and make the group think Ralph hasn’t been a good leader. This happens when Jack says, “Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You can't hunt, you can't sing” (Golding 238). The group then begins to trust Jack because Ralph seems inferior compared to him. Once Jack has this power he begins to think that everyone who isn’t with him is against him. This leads to Jack killing Piggy to stop and uprising from him and Ralph. There is no way that a 13 year old boy would kill another classmate unless he was fueled with power like Macbeth was. Jack isn’t the only one in the book to let power get the best of him, Ralph also falls victim to it. Ralph begins to disrespect his best friend on the island Piggy when the book says “Ralph pushed Piggy to one side. ‘I was chief and you were going to do what I said’” (Golding 132). This quote shows how Ralph is willing to harm someone he care about just to show everyone including Piggy how powerful he truly is. Both Ralph and Jack let power cloud their judgement which

Further in the book, in Chapter Ten, Golding shows how immoral people can be that they’d go against their own kind. This is shown when Jack and his group retaliate against Piggy’s anger of the signal fire going out. Jack and his hunters raid Ralph’s camp, taking the fire and stealing Piggy’s glasses. Then when Piggy and Ralph go to confront

“Telling us to obey instinct is like telling us to obey ‘people.’ People say different things: so do instincts. Our instincts are at war...Each instinct, if you listen to it, will claim to be gratified at the expense of the rest” (C.S. Lewis). C.S. Lewis, a world-renowned author, believed that human instincts battle against each other in order to influence one’s decisions. Similarly, in the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding describes a scenario in which animalistic instincts prevail over societal intuition when a group of boys are stranded on a deserted island without any adults. At first, the boys are generally civilized, working together to maintain a signal fire and holding assemblies. However, as time

While in the beginning of the novel Jack, still maintains his inhibitions; although further in the novel, Jack does not care about the rules and does whatever he pleases. Roger, who originally keep some inhibitions, and realized that rules do still exist, ends up becoming so entwined with savagery that he takes Piggy’s life in cold blood and brutally tortures a mother pig. Ralph, the tribe leader during the beginning of the novel, gets thrown out by the evil Jack, and becomes so locked into the mob that he ends up becoming savage himself. By being involved with killing Simon and torturing Robert, Ralph proves the corruptness of the human nature. Golding proves through Lord of the Flies, without rules the sinfulness of the human nature . Even though under parental supervision the boys act civilized, without the rules and supervision that civilization and parents put on them, corruptness and savagery will take

One of the major themes of Lord of the Flies, deals with the struggle between right and wrong and the moral integrity of a society. As soon as the boys realize that they are alone on the island, the battle between right and wrong begins. Ralph emerges as the chief and plans to begin a civilized society. When the boys are left to their own devices, chaos ensues. Some of the boys would rather hunt and kill than build shelter, so Jack’s tribe becomes increasingly popular. Without the existence of rules and refinement, there is little hope for the future of the boys. The beast plays a big role in this theme because it lurks inside everyone. The evils lie within and choices have to be made to survive, whether through smart thinking or

When Jack slaps Piggy and purposely breaks his glasses, Ralph calls it "A dirty trick." (p. 76) This shows Jack's selfishness and his failure to respect other people, while at the same time Ralph's concern is understand others. Ralph manages to treat each boy equally with his own form of control while Jack treats the boys, especially Piggy lower. After hunting, the group sits down to eat and Jack gives everyone a share except for Piggy. When Piggy asks for some, Jack says, "You didn't hunt." (p. 78) Neither Ralph or many of the littluns hunted but they still got their portion of meat. This was only being directed to Piggy. Jack's behavior towards Piggy shows that he is unable to understand other people. A good leader would have taken care of all his/her group. Ralph understands that he must treat everyone equal or he will not be respected and is a better leader than Jack because of this knowledge.

“Maybe ... maybe there is a beast… maybe it’s only us”(William Golding). In the novel Lord of The Flies, William Golding exhibits the symbolism and representation of the beast. The beast represents the norm of society and how most citizens are conceived to evil. As the novel progresses, the reader's perspective of the beast transforms from a possibly harmful animal into to a representation of human civilization and how humans are ignorant and oblivious when it becomes survival of the fittest. The concept of the beast changes significantly during the novel from first the beast on land, then to the beast in the air and finally to the beast within the kids themselves.

In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding is able to use his outstanding writing abilities utilizing metaphors, symbolism, and other literary devices to establish a hidden message throughout the novel. The hidden message that Golding builds on is that there is a natural evil inside every human being, which is suppressed in an organized society through laws, rules, and punishment. The young boys in the novel are on an island all by themselves. There is no punishment for their actions, therefore allowing that evil to come out of most of the boys. All humans have an innate evil within them and that evil is brought out when there is a lack of civilization and consequence as seen in Simon’s murder,

Some speculate that the people who commit extremely appalling acts as adults were raised to commit these ghastly crimes, while others believe that everyone is born with an evil already inside of them. In William Golding’s psychological fiction Lord of the Flies, the idea of being born innately evil is recurrently alluded to. The novel is about a group of young British boys who crash land on a remote island. They are left with no laws to tell them what they can or cannot do, and are extremely frightened of a so called “Beast” that they expect lives on the island. In the Lord of the Flies, “The Beast” symbolizes the evil and devilish proclivity inside of all humans. Through the use of “The Beast”, William Golding illustrates how the novel is

Human nature is the “general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind”. Between the Book, Lord of the flies and The Crucible, human nature is strongly portrayed through similar characters such as Simon and Mary Warren, Satan/Devil and the Beast, and Jack and Abigail. Simon and Mary Warren both share their wise and kind traits and being bringers of truth, while Satan/Devil and the Beast share the characteristic of exotic and the unknown, both are also able to bring out each person’s human nature like Jack and Abigail’s, which is consisted of being selfish liars. Lastly, Jack and Abigail, who both portray betrayal and the same characteristics of being evil, lying , and selfishness.

“This is a mad planet… It’s doomed to madness.” Musician David Bowie said this in 1971, but it has been true throughout history. One novel that addresses this is Lord of the Flies by William Golding. The novel, set in a deserted island during the midst of a fictional world war, follows a group of young, prepubescent boys as they struggle to survive with their newfound power and freedom. Through examining three characters, Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, one can see Golding’s message that humans are inherently evil, but it is society’s rules that keep people from acting upon their “Id” or evil side.

In English we read the book, “Lord of the Flies.” It was a book who’s author, William Golding, had written to show his view on man’s inherent true self. After going through WWII and seeing horrors that man would do to other man he became convinced man is inherently evil. The beast, a symbolic figure in the book, is the manifestation of the evil in every mans heart. This nonexistent beast tormented and manipulated the boys that were stranded on the island, eventually ruining the fragile civil society they built. William’s main point to bring across was even small boy, who’s ages range from five to twelve, can fall victim to the evil in