Sympathy For The Characters In 'Lord Of The Flies'

The Defects in Society are the Defects of Human Nature in Lord of the Flies

In Lord of the Flies by John Steinback a group of young boys are stranded on an island. To survive the boys decided to vote who should be their leader, Ralph or Jack. Piggy is a smart, fat boy who is not respected by the boys. Ralph is the face of leadership but not the best for the job compared to Piggy. Piggy is the brains behind Ralph who gives the essential idea to further progress the island.

“In a 2005 survey about gay bullying statistics, teens reported that the number two reason they are bullied is because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender expression”, according to bullyingstatistics.org. It has also been shown that those who are bullied themselves often go on to bully others because it is all they know, or that bullying covers up their own shames. The character Jack Merridew in Lord of the Flies is not evil like many would argue, but rather is ashamed of the fact that he is gay and closeted. This is supported by the hunter’s casting off of religion and government, Jack’s inability to hunt unless in front of other boys, and the beast as a symbol.

Sigmund Freud once said, "Men are more moral than they think and far more immoral than they can imagine." Freud was credited with the theory of psychoanalysis, and he believed that there were three stages of moral development. First, in the Id stage, people don't have any empathy; they want what they want and they want it now. In the Ego, people are starting to care more about others and gain empathy, but they still may succumb to their self-gratifying desires. In the Superego, others' desires and wills go first because of their selflessness and empathy. Freud's statement, along with his psychoanalysis of the human mind, can be applied to William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies. In the novel, Jack, Ralph, and Simon represent the Id, Ego,

“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.

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.

Lord of the Flies has been considered a literary classic throughout many generations, in spite of it’s perplexing and depressing aspects. Written in 1954 with the timeframe of the next world war, a novel such as this is bound to have some out-dated concepts,language, and elements. The characters are a great example of this.

“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.

Imagine if one was asked to compile a list of every flaw of human nature that was demonstrated by the boys in the novel Lord of the Flies. Among the words used would probably be naive, uncivilized, and unfocused. While these words certainly do describe the boys and their poorly constructed society, they also hold the same meaning and truth when they are applied to our own people in our own society. People in both our society and the one described in the novel exhibit a profuse amount of faults and flaws, but this extensive list of faults can be narrowed down to the three most common ones. The three most prominent flaws of human nature are being selfish, desiring power, and not following through with plans.

In the story “Lord of the flies” by William Golding a group of prepubescent boys are brought to by a plane crash. These boys explore their new setting and begin to rebel as they find out that there are no parents on the island. One of the most significant characters is a boy named Jack. Golding emphasizes the change in Jack's character to show how conformed citizens who know right and wrong can control their savage nature; however, once these societal rules are completely lost to Jack, this demonstrates that man’s nature is evil.

William Golding’s masterful use of symbolism is exemplified in his book Lord of the Flies, in which he uses masks to represent . These masks come in many forms, and by careful study of events throughout Golding’s novel, one discovers their significance. Physical masks are used by many characters such as Jack and Piggy, and they are perhaps the least ambiguous forms found in the book. The idea of a mask encompasses more than just these literal interpretations, however. Metaphorical masks are used in abundance throughout the book, and much can be revealed about the characters based on how or if they chose to wear their masks. The significance of these masks is also tied closely to the theme stating Man’s heart is evil.

Stranded on an island, a group of boys have the choice to be civil or savage. In Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, British schoolboys are marooned on an island. They voted Ralph to be the leader in an effort to remake the culture that they had left behind, accompanied by the intelligent Piggy as counselor. But Jack wants to be the leader too, and he individually lures all of the boys away from civility to the brutal survivalism of hunters. The conch symbolizes power, respect, and social order. Within the Lord of the Flies, Golding provides a brief look at the savagery that controls even the most civilized human beings. William Golding mirrors our modern day society by

William Golding published one of his most famous novels, Lord of the Flies, in 1954 on the study of the human condition during a war. Golding drew inspiration for this novel when fighting in World War II with the Royal Navy. Lord of the Flies begins with a group of school boys wondering on an island after a plane crash. On this island, the boys have to create their own rules and society to maintain order which will shortly be forgotten. Through the de-evolution of Roger’s constraints from previous civility, his actions portray how savageness is unleashed when society’s rules are ignored.

Many themes are expressed in the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding because the novel conveys many ideas toward society. Lord of the Flies is about order in society turning to chaos and the evil side of a group of boys stranded on an island. Critics feel that Golding conveys that there is no hope for humankind and evil is an inborn trait of people because of many events that play out on the island.

The loss of innocence is a central theme in this allegorical novel set in the 1940s war-ridden Earth. This novel entitled Lord of the Flies was written by British author William Golding and was published in 1954. His work turned out to be an instant classic with its humbling, powerful theme and hard-hitting, creative use of literary devices. The use of the loss of innocence as a theme is extremely impactful and leaves a lasting mark on the reader with its tale of young elementary schoolchildren driven to murder as they are stuck on an isolated island with no one who has the slightest clue as to their whereabouts. To illustrate his theme of the loss of innocence, Golding uses symbolism, allusion, and imagery to paint the dark, depressing tones found in Lord of the Flies.