What Is The Theme Of Morality In Lord Of The Flies

This is seen in the dichotomies of Ralph and Jack, Piggy and Roger, Painted Faces and the Conch, and Civilization and Savagery. To begin, the symbols: painted faces and the Conch. Having been previously explained, their symbolism is already apparent: they represent savagery and moral corruption, and civilization and law, respectively. These are used throughout the book in direct contrast, with Ralph always having control of the Conch, and only Jack and his tribe painting their faces. The holders of these two objects represent a similar dichotomy: Ralph, as the first chief and of those not in Jack’s tribe (herein called the Society), represents law, order, democracy, and civilization; Jack, as chief of the savages (herein called the Tribe), represents disorder, war, despotism, and savagery. The contrast of these two main characters is exemplified by their continuous conflict and power struggle, as shown by their dialogue, with Jack saying “You can’t hunt, you can't sing”, and Ralph’s response being “I’m chief. I was chosen” (91). Their second-in-commands, Piggy and Roger, respectively, paint another prominent contrast: Piggy, being Ralph’s right hand, was intelligent, reasoned, and often timid; whilst Roger was cruel and arrogant. These two, though less important than Ralph and Jack, fill in the gaps for the greater juxtaposition Golding attempts to show: that of Civilization and

“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

Humans savagely turn against each other when they feel it would better them. One could say that there is no hope for humankind and that evil is an inborn trait of people, and in the novel, these two things go hand in hand together. In the Lord of the Flies, it portrays these ideas very well because it shows and explains how British school boys turn to savages because of the island.The boys’ shift to savagery was not gradual and this change in tone allowed many to come to a realization.

Thesis Statement: The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding portrays the theme that regardless of each person’s different background and characteristics, every individual has the ability to commit brutal acts. While this book depicts Ralph and Piggy as the most civilized characters, and Jack and his hunters as young English choir boys, their actions reveal that they all have the capability to act violently.

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.

“The theme is an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not any political system however apparently logical or respectable.” This quote from the author, William Golding, summarizes the themes and morals presented in his novel Lord of the Flies. Despite society’s progression towards civilization and acceptance of the idea that human tendencies towards goodness, each individual is susceptible to their natural darker instincts. In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding's characters begin as seemingly innocent school boys who deteriorate into savages. The author uses the characters of Piggy, Ralph and Jack

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 William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, the novel simulates aspects of raw human nature. One part of this human nature is the division between good and evil, and how it plays a role in the personality of a human. This idea, develops a concept throughout the story. It is that in every person, there is a level of evil and savagery, this cannot be manipulated, but the level of which one displays it can. It develops personality, some people will tend to hold in their anger or distaste, and others will let it loose, altering the personality among people. In “Lord of the Flies”, this level of evil that is shown, varies in each character among the island.

Since the fall in Eden, there has always been a divide between the good and evil sides of human nature. The 1954 novel Lord of the Flies is a perfect literary example of this divide, although at first it seems like a charming tale that one might compare to the likes of The Swiss Family Robinson. However, its meaning goes much deeper than that, and its author William Golding did not intend for his story to be taken lightly. There are numerous instances in his book, such as the Biblical references to Christ and the Garden of Eden, that could be interpreted as allegories. One could even draw a connection between the boys’ actions on the island, and the horrific events of the Holocaust. A closer look at the novel reveals a question yet to be answered

Most people are guilty of being followers of others at some point or another. The characters in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies seem to disregard their own personal feelings and follow others’ ideas unless an idea seems morally right. The boys in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, especially the “littluns,” become brainwashed by the idea of this beast that lives on the island, which leads them to follow the evil leader Jack, rather than doing what they think is right.

This story shows that the evil around us can sometimes deceive us into wrongdoing if we do not trust our moral instincts or trust those in higher positions than us. William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, used his work to show the public that fear can lead people to destruction and evil ways if we do not attempt to control the beast within us. The way that Golding showed his audience this, was by carefully and thoughtfully placing symbolism throughout the novel and in each and every character.

“You inherit your environment just as much as your genes”(Rich). Having the capability of choosing right from wrong is a blessing. But what would happen if people were forced into a dangerous situation and had to do anything to survive? Would their beliefs change? What would push them to the edge? Would their changes be the effect of either their environment or biological factors? In the novel “The Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, adolescent boys find themselves,without adult supervision, stranded on an island when their plane crashes down during warfare. The boys savage and immoral behavior, shown at the end of the novel, is the outcome of their environment. The boys situation drives them to have a change of morals, change their way

William Golding drew much of his inspiration for Lord of the Flies from Adolf Hitler’s actions. Hitler was the instigator of the Holocaust – a mass slaughter of the Jewish race that took place during World War II. His final solution caused six million Jewish and minority deaths and led to the suffering of countless others. The evil and cunning Hitler possessed, combined to form an overwhelmingly cruel philosophy which managed to brainwash entire nations. Hitler revealed how people can succumb to their diabolical nature when he declared, “What luck for rulers that men do not think”(Hitler, Adolf.”Story Pick”. “StoryPick.com”). This quote shows how he was able to efficiently manipulate others to murder their fellow men. The words “ men do not

The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written by William Golding to demonstrate the problems of society and the sinful nature of man.

Thomas Hobbes believes that every human is a savage when stripped away from law or morality, and good men only exist because of society. On the other hand Jean Rousseau’s theory states that humans are naturally born savages. These two diverse ideas these philosophers have about morality raises several different opinions. In Lord of the Flies many characters such as Jack and Roger present these ideas about how morality can be played with. I believe adolescence played a huge role in this movie and greatly affected morality. During childhood kids catch themselves trapped between making logical decisions and impulsively giving into temptations which is also peer pressure. As an example when Ralph is elected leader he believes that he must lead responsibly for the group, however he can’t make decisions off the bat because he has never done anything like it before. Thomas Hobbes stated that in a natural human state, moral principles do not exist and that humans progressively desire to obtain as much power they can because there are no laws preventing them from harming or killing others to attain what they desire. However this theory can be refuted by Piggy’s character because unlike every other boy isolated on the island he understands the lack of adults and reasonable authority. Piggy described the group as a crowd of immature kids and since the start he hooks onto the idea of the conch and the set of rules and regulations it represents. However Piggy and the conch suffer a brutal ending which causes chaos among the society. Finally I think that moral behavior is a natural expression of human individuality instead of something that civilization forces upon the individual as Golding