My name is Joseph Dyess and I am a huge fan of your book Lord of the Flies. It is one of my favorite books and is very thought-provoking. In writing you, I wanted to discuss my favorite parts of the book, as well as some ideas and real-life connections I made while reading it.
One of my favorite parts in Lord of the Flies was the ending when the naval officer criticized the boys for exhibiting savage behavior before turning and looking at his own warship. This was one of my favorite parts because while reading it, I thought of the irony of the naval officer’s criticism. The “civilized” naval officer was also part of a savage world which didn’t make him that different from the “savage” boys on the island. My other favorite part was when the frenzied boys mistook Simon for the beast and killed him. This was also one of my favorite parts because of what Simon’s death symbolized. I thought about how Simon’s death symbolized the loss of civilization on the island and was the catalyst which allowed Jack to take control over the island and let chaos and savagery reign.
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The majority of the boys on the island succumb to the instinct of savagery, while a few such as, Ralph, Piggy, and Simon fight the instinct of savagery and try to establish civilization on the island. Lord of the Flies seems to imply that the instinct of savagery is fundamental and when left on their own, humans will naturally revert to it. I can relate to this struggle in my own daily life. For example, when I am having and argument with someone, I am torn between using savage violence or civilized words to end the
In chapter 3 an argument breaks out between Ralph and Jack over the group's priorities. Ralph is trying to build shelters and an SOS fire while Jack and his hunters are craving some meat. I agree with Ralph wanting the priority to be on getting rescued and staying alive, but I disagree with him complaining about it because he is the leader and it's his job to get everyone working. With Jack I understand and agree that people will get tired of eating fruit and other foods similar to that, but I dislike how he's complaining when he's the one that is responsible for hunting. The argument that these two boys have are what I believe to be purely because of laziness. However if they don’t set things right, this problem is only going to
Lord of the Flies by William Golding highlights humans’ descent from civilization into savagery. Although savagery overcomes some of the boys so easily, it is not as easy for others to escape their conditioning from society and go completely savage. In the beginning, the majority of the boys try to bring order to the island while others show signs of savagery very early on. Eventually when hardship and tensions increases, there are still a few boys who keep resisting savagery. Also, even when the savagery and evil start to become prevalent in the boys’ actions, they continue to resist the rejection of social rules and guidelines. It is hard for the boys to abandon the only thing they know.
“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.
This diorama showcases the first meeting the boys have in Lord of the Flies after crashing onto the island, one of the most important meetings they will have. Ralph, “the boy with fair hair…”, sits on the large log that runs “parallel to the beach, so that when Ralph sat he faced the island but to the boys was a darkish figure against the shimmer of the lagoon” (pg. 7, 77). He also holds the conch, being the one who fished it from the water and the one who blew it to call the meeting. Piggy, the one “…shorter than the fair boy…”, and Jack, the one whose “ … hair was red beneath the black cap …” (might be a bit hard to see the red hair), both are sitting on the log to Ralph’s right (pg. 7, 20). This log is described as being “ … not
From a first glance, it is evident that Lord of the Flies is not an ordinary story. The book begins by introducing a few boys who have crashed onto the island from their plane that gets shot down. Their shot-down plane. While analyzing the book, it becomes clear that several underlying lessons and themes are interwoven into the book to add a sense of deeper meaning
Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a book set during World War 2 about a group of young boys having to fend for themselves on an island with no signs of civilization. Within the novel, there are many different themes, most conveying the ingrained evil within all human beings and the malevolent complexions of humanity. As the story advances, Golding manifests the continuous conversion of the boys from being civilized and methodical people to ferocious savages. The book can be expounded in terms of political and social allegory. Golding covers a myriad of details that evince two contrasting political factions. By analyzing the allegory of Jack and the beast it is
The book “Lord of the flies” is story of a group of boys who were marooned on an island and forced to survive and the effect on their moral stability. In the beginning the reader is introduced to the character Simon. He was a skinny vivid little boy whose hair, black as night and coarse, hung down straight over his face (Oldsey and Weintraub 182-183). Golding’s writing style and background can be seen by how he decided to characterize each and every character in the story. Simon was created as a quite boy that played a substantial and crucial role in the story behind this book. Golding shows Simon’s Christ like characteristics through his bravery, kindness, and good morals.
The book, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is an allegorical novel, set in the middle of a fictional nuclear war, on a deserted tropical island. When a plane chock full of schoolboys has a crash landing, the boys find themselves on an island without adult supervision. As one boy named Ralph, takes charge of the boys, there is a dispute over who is the better leader, Ralph, the clear choice, or the lead choirboy, Jack. Finally they vote in Ralph. As the book progresses we see some of the children start to have savage instincts such as not trying to get rescued and killing pigs in morbid ways. That starts the persisting question of to go savage or not. This theme continues throughout the book. The theme that caught me the most was the symbolism of the characters in this story.
Hidden meaning can be found in many different places. They can be in poems, novels, murals, paintings, and even in everyday life. Hidden meanings are there to challenge the reader, to make them think and really analyze the work. In the case of the novel “The Lord of The Flies,” by William Golding, the hidden meaning comes to us in the form many of his characters. One of them is Jack. Jack started off like everyone else equal with power or a share of the things on the island. Later on he takes a group of the kids. Now there are two groups of the kids. Showing that sooner or later a group may later split into two groups and people will have to chose a side. Jack lead his
Savagery is a very important topic in William Golding’s novel The Lord of the Flies. When a group of young boys show up on an island with initially no government, there is a big chance that some type of savagery might occur. Some boys such as Ralph and Piggy do their best to keep the rest of the boys civilized. Ralph represents order and leadership because he uses the conch to initiate meetings and declare the rules. Additionally, when the book gets deeper into its plot savagery is sparked by Jack and the beastie. For example, Jack does not respect Ralph’s authority or rules on the island. Also, when the boys become more afraid of the imaginary beast, savagery increases. The boys preformed a sacrifice for the beast out of their fear. Furthermore,
In the book, “Lord of the Flies” written by William Golding, British novelist, playwright, and poet is a story about a group of boys who become trapped on an island and do not know how to persevere. During the story, there are many characters who play an important role in the events that happen. Such as, Ralph, Jack, and the officer who comes to the boy’s rescue. When Ralph becomes the leader, he leads heroically and takes care of everyone. But Jack decides he wants to be the leader and causes many problems for Ralph and Piggy. Also the officer who was a savior to Ralph and the rest of the boys. Still, I can honestly relate to this story and the happenings of the boys.
I am glad I read this book because it does not sugarcoat humanity. The instance when Simon hallucinates the conversation with the Lord of the Flies captured my feelings towards the book. Initially, I felt it was going to be just like another Hunger Games novel with children killing each other. However, Lord of the Flies explores this concept of immorality that I did not notice in the Hunger Games. The description of the scene between the Lord of the Flies and Simon made me nauseous. I felt I was going to throw up the rice I was eating because I know the smell of rotting meat and the image of flies. The mere thought of flies and their hairy backs already creates an uneasy feeling within me, so Golding’s description of the scene appealed to me
Human nature is essentially evil, we will do whatever it takes to get what we want no matter what the consequences are at the end. Author William Goulding shows us this in the novel Lord of the Flies. That our ideology of getting things could be twisted.
Savagery is not a characteristic developed through exposure to a given environment, yet a vile quality that dwells deep within the hearts of everyone. Certain circumstances don’t plant this trait upon us, yet nurture this dark quality until it ravages through us like a vicious disease. Until drawn out, it lies dormant inside of us, civility having compressed it within, yet it still rears it’s ugly head when drastic situations arise. We see this primal characteristic of brutality slowly take hold of the boys on the island until the ‘Lord of the Flies’ has claimed it’s latest victims. Not only Simon and Piggy, but all the boys on the island. Throughout the novel, we see all the boys go from having fun and exhibiting civilized behavior to
Lord of the Flies is a book written by William Golding. The book shows how “problems in society can be traced to defects in human nature” This book explains the conflict between the human impulse towards savagery and the rules of civilization. A plane of children crash-landed onto an island and the only adult with was dead. The kids wanted to get rescued at first, then things changed, and they turned into savages.