Uniqueness And Meaning In Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

A recurring theme among leaders in many societies today is that “absolute power corrupts absolutely” (John Acton, a 1700’s English Catholic historian, politician, and writer). In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, this idea of leadership, power, and corruption is put in the spotlight. Jack, one of the boys on the island, forces his way into the leadership position without actually earning it. It is clear that Jack has become corrupt as he turns into a person who is intimidating, egotistical, and selfish. Ralph, on the other hand, is a quality leader under most conditions as he appeals to the boys’ sophisticated side and has a

wrote this after publishing Lord of the Flies. It is our world, in the form of a story. The two leaders in the story are Ralph and Jack. Ralph starts off a comfortable leader of the boys, but by the end of the book, Ralph and his companion Piggy are alone facing Jack and the rest of the boys. As the novel progresses and the society on the island starts to change, so does Ralph. He begins thinking he has all the answers, but comes to realize that without Piggy he would have never gotten this far. By the end of the book, Ralph and Jack are complete opposites. Jack is about savagery and fun while Ralph is holding on to society, rules, and civilization. Appearing to be a weak leader due to defection of his followers, Ralph is actually dedicated and insightful, only loosing his followers because he could not compete with one category that attracts nearly everyone in the world: fun.

It may have taken millions of years for humans to evolve enough to create the sprawling civilizations known today, but it only takes a few months for a group of civil, educated boys to regress back into savagery. In his novel Lord of the Flies, author William Golding depicts a group of young British boys getting stranded on a deserted island sans adults. The boys must look out for themselves, forming a basic governing system and trying to survive. But the challenge soon proves too much to handle, and order deteriorates. William Golding conveys the universal theme of civilization vs. savagery in his novel Lord of the Flies using the literary elements of plot, setting, and characterization.

Abraham Lincoln said, “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man 's character, give him power.” Power can destroy traces of civilization or bring forth civilization; it can be both a good or bad thing. In William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies, the entire island is power hungry and it is fueled by it. Leaving the boys alone on an island, without any grownups, left all the power and control in the boys’ hands, invading the island with anarchy. The boys are lead from hope to disaster as they attempt to survive in the isolated environment of the island. Golding’s The Lord of the Flies expresses how power influences people’s actions, as a major theme through symbols and events such as: the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, the signal fire, the separation of the boys, and the sow’s head.

The Universal motif and theme I have selected are: power and leadership, and innocence can be lost through evil choices. I chose to represent the motif power and leadership by illustrating a crown that kings wear while in power. This crown shows tat Jack has power and control over the boys on the island.The text "[Jack] turned and trotted away and after a moment they followed him obediently." (133) shows just how much control Jack has over almost all the boys. The theme innocence can be lost through evil choices is shown by a picture of a cross. This cross illustrates that many of the boys have lost their goodness and innocence through all of the worldly, selfish, and horrid decisions throughout their time on the island, like as written, "Ralph

People change. People change depending on who they associate themselves with, what they enjoy doing, how they want to be viewed, and also and most relative in this situation, people change depending on the situation that they find themselves in and how the situations effects on them. In one of the greatest works of literature ever presented, Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, this change in people particularly through aggressive and violent behavior is ever-present throughout the text. The causes of aggression and or violent behavior in this case are a subject that is widely debated with different theories of causation supporting each side. Two of these sides presented can be seen in the articles ”A Bully’s Future, From Hard Life to Hard Time” written by Jane Brody, and “To Study Aggression, a Fight Club for Flies” written by James Gorman. The side most relative to the aggression and violence seen throughout Lord of the Flies is supported by the idea that aggression is mainly caused by personal and outside decisions and events, not by conditions predisposed for. Aggression and violence are not things that are forced upon oneself; they are quite simply determined by the factors of a persons life and how they are handled.

When your life is on the line and you are threatened, some of you human instincts will take over. In the next couple paragraphs you will see how the boys on the island express their survival skills against nature, deal with their surroundings and how it reflects their character, and how they evolve and adapt to their isolated world. But maybe most of all just being a little lucky and being the most fit for the environment. When it comes down to it, you will do whatever necessary to survive.

The struggle between life and death was all too real for the many children who crash landed on the island. Their story is told in book written by William Golding called Lord of the Flies. This book tells the tale of many children who crash land on an island, with no parental supervision and become trapped in a vicious power struggle. This power struggle leads to death for many of the boys. Two themes in the book were very compelling and developed well through out the story.

If you were put into a situation where the good thing to do was help others, but in order for you to survive, you had to care for yourself instead, what would you do? After crashing on an island, a group of boys desperately think of ideas to get rescued. They decide to set up a democracy to keep everyone in order. They elect a boy named Ralph to be the “chief”. He decides that in order to be rescued, they need to light a fire so that any passing ships would see the smoke. The other oldest boy, Jack, volunteers himself to become a hunter and kill the wild pigs on the island for food. After a while of Ralph and Jack going back and forth over whether killing pigs for food or keeping the fire going is more important, they split into two

Containing gruesome, meaningful, and thought provoking concepts, Lord of the Flies by William Golding received much criticism for its ending. The way Golding chose to close this story was categorized as a dues ex machina, an ending that does not conclude with satisfaction, and in this case it was a savior figure resolving the deadly situation the characters (a group of stranded boys) were involved in. Though many have agreed Golding’s ending was adventitious, deeper investigation of the novel has revealed that the larger concluding message was really centralized on the idea of power in a society. Lord of the Flies revealed that power should reside in the people, otherwise the inequality between society and the ruler will cause uttermost destruction

Meanings of stories are something that many people study and wonder about. Everyone can have their own answer for some of them and they would be right. This story is not one of those that can be answered in that way. In The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the meaning is everyone is a tamed animal on the inside. When put in extreme situations, people will become wild animals.

Many try to make the correlation between William Golding’s 1954, allegorical novel, Lord of the Flies, and Sigmund Freud’s Psychoanalytic Criticism of the human personality. Lord of the Flies takes place on a deserted island, where a group of young boys become stranded, after a plane crash, and strive for survival and order. On this island there were numerous different personalities, many directly relating to the personalities Freud described, as there were numerous characters that encompass the id, ego, as well as the Superego. The superego is the part of the personality that represents the moral part of humans. The Superego depicts the belief of right versus wrong, and in the common representation of the devil on one shoulder, and the angel on the other the Superego is represented by an angel sitting on someone’s shoulder, telling the ego to base behavior on how the action will influence society. In Lord of the Flies the character Simon represents the Superego, as is shown numerous times throughout the novel. Simon’s giving manner, compassion, helping hand, and his introspective manner that realizes that the beast is inside of them, are quintessential examples of the Superego. By analyzing Simon through a Freudian lens, it is evident that he is the ultimate superego because he represents the conscience on the island.

Personally, Lord of the flies is a novel I wouldn’t have understood completely if it weren’t for the classes dedicated to analyze the book and it secret meanings and messages. I would just have read it as a common book, without analyzing how society is

“Human nature is divided; it contains both darkness and light. You can choose to accept the darkness and lament it, or you can choose to expand the light until the darkness no longer dominates” (Deepak Chopra). This suggest that each and everyone of us have that dark side inside ourselves, no matter how much we try to cover it with our strengths. The light and the darkness that Chopra talks about represents the idea of savagery and civilization when connected to Lord of the Flies. Even though they have signals of civilization on the island the boys can’t dominate it over their savagery.

From the title to the theme, Lord of the flies is covered in a broad range of symbolism that spans from biblical allegories to more. The main theme, however, is a battle between calculated morals and pure survival instincts, innocence and the disintegration of it. The subplot that exists underneath is one that delves