William Golding 's Lord Of The Flies

Similar to most literary classics, William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies contains allusions to the Christian Bible and character archetypes that convey universal ideas. Golding’s story focuses on a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an island and ultimately succumb to their innate savage tendencies. Literary analysts often compare components of Lord of the Flies to various aspects in the Christian Bible. For instance, the setting in Lord of the Flies is often linked to the Garden of Eden, and some characters are thought to have religious-inspired names. Critics believe Simon’s name originates from Jesus Christ’s disciple, Peter, whose name was originally Simon. Biblical allusions exist throughout the novel associated with

Throughout the history of humanity, humans have different behaviors that change depending on what situations they are in. Psychologist Philip Zimbardo spent many years exploring human nature and has developed many theories about human behavior. One of Zimbardo’s ideas is about situational factors that states “one’s behavior is assumed to be dependent upon their current circumstances, situation or the environment that they are in.” He concluded the concept of situational factors after his Stanford Prison Experiment, in which he gave authority to regular people and observed any changes. The experiment proved that people’s behavior will change when they are in different situations. Zimbardo also believes that evilness is the exercise of power to harm people in anyway possible, so a five year old who teases others to Adolf Hitler would be classified as perpetrators of evil.

At the time, Ralph heavily influences the boys and their actions for he resembles “the men with the megaphones” (18). He attempts to create order among the boys with rules, but most of the boys would rather play than follow the rules—for there are no adults to enforce them. With the role of leadership thrust upon him, Ralph has no choice but to stop playing games. His goals are to protect the boys and increase their chances of being rescued; however, the responsibility on Ralph’s shoulders soon begins to weigh him down. As “Ralph [watches the boys], envious and resentful” (75), the obligation to care for everyone on the island is a heavy burden to bear. His role as leader has forced Ralph to forget the joys of being an innocent kid and given him the encumbrance of responsibility, which causes the start of his maturation.

Literary devices are techniques often used by authors to portray in-depth analyses of major characters, storylines, and central themes, which take place in a story. These analyses help readers understand a message the author is trying to convey. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses different literary devices in order to demonstrate the boys’ struggle against the lack of society and law on the island, as well as the consequences that have transpired due to this loss. This conflict is evident through the different instances of irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism that occurs throughout the novel.

In the book Lord of the Flies, a plane leaving England to get away from the war is shot down. The only people who survived were the children. They are all stranded on an island by themselves with no supervision from any adults. Golding created many different characters with many different personalities but Ralph stood out the most. Ralph had a strong personality, was a good group leader, he was also a positive thinker. All three of those characteristics show the signs of a good group leader.

Many philosophers believe that a correct government can make a strong society. However, these philosophers do not agree on what form of government is the most “correct”. English philosopher John Locke believed that Man is inherently moral and that the purpose for government is to grant the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to its people. Another philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, however, held the belief that mankind is naturally evil and that society needs an absolute central authority to contain this evilness and grant its people with the common protection. Hobbes believes that in a state of nature, when there are no rules and everyone is granted equal power, the inherent evil impulses of Man are exposed. One

In a group, there are always people who prove to have better leadership skills then others. The strongest of these people can often influence the weaker people into following them. However, the strongest person is not necessarily the best leader as it is proven in William Golding's book, The Lord of the Flies. Although Ralph is the weaker person, he is still able to show a better understanding of people than Jack who is stronger. Ralph demonstrates his excellent leadership skills throughout the book by keeping the group in line, treating everyone with respect, and staying focused on getting rescued.

In William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, a few dozen boys are stranded on an island after a plane crash. The six to twelve year old kids turn to savages under the lead of the older males, and ultimately cause their own deaths. However, the smaller boys, such as Piggy and Sam and Eric, are the hope and reason of the group. Golding’s purpose of writing the book was to show that the defects in society originate at the defects in human nature. Golding allows the little ones to have no identities or personalities. This is symbolically showing that in society, the ignorant and innocent children are the only hope to a humane society. Innocence is purity, and the innocent children, in which are not corrupted by the bad people and things in the

English novelist and politician Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, once said, “The pen is mightier than the sword.”. We,as humans, have always had the feeling of fear. No matter how many people say they don’t have that feeling, they have it somewhere within them. This fear has always thrived us to think in a radical way and has pushed us to make some good and bad choices in life. Because of this fear human beings have felt the need to protect themselves as much as possible and they believe that by having the most sizable, vigorous, and lavish weapons, they will be safe and protected from all harm and will keep order within society stable. But what Lytton wants us to realize in his quote is that you really don’t

John C. Maxwell once said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” Ralph, protagonist and one of the main characters in the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, represents order and leadership on the island of chaos, and fits this statement very well. Beginning as chief and leader of the boys, it is a significant transition when he eventually accepts the savagery that was present inside each of them.

Nicole smith writes in her article, “What Ralph represents symbolically is more meaningful to the boys at this point than his actual skills,” (smith). This is true, even though the kids were not told that ralph was supposed to symbolize leadership, order, and responsibility, they saw somehow that he was made up of those things. This idea is supported in the novel where it says, “They obeyed the summons of the conch, partly because Ralph blew it, and he was big enough to be a link with the adult world of authority,” (Golding 59). The kids see Ralph as a natural leader. He keeps order and is organized. The kids are satisfied that ralphs is responsible about doing his job as a proper

To be an effective society, itś important to have a few key qualities such as teamwork or cooperation and order. These make achieving goals much easier, and in the end, it leads to success by completing the tasks needed to get towards the goal, whether that be obtaining food or conquering an entire continent. In Golding 's Lord of the Flies, a lack of mutual respect between the leaders and followers as well as the failure to unite themselves to work together for the same goals, resulted in chaos, and ultimately, the division and failure of their society on the island.

A primary aspect revealed in Ralph’s character is his focus of the goal of being rescued. As defined by Peter Economy in “The Nine Traits that Define Great Leadership”, leaders consider their options when planning and choose the ideas that lead their ultimate goal. The tasks that Ralph focuses on accomplishing are all targeted to getting rescued. Ralph states, “We want to be rescued, and of course we shall be rescued” (Golding 37). Ralph shows that he is determined to accomplish his mission of being rescued while giving his peers hope and guiding them. Ralph’s focus uplifts and guides the boys trapped on the island.

Is it a person’s genetic biological make up that affects their decision making or is it outside environmental influences that impact choices? I think that the internal factors have more of an impact on a person’s behavior. In the book Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding, both factors seem to take part in what caused the boys to turn into savages. Considering that not all the boys turned into savages it helps prove that the bad genes inside versus the good genes played more of a roll and not so much the external environment, in who turned wild and who tried to keep up with the rules of society they knew before they crash landed on the island. Jack and Roger seemed to be the real “bad seeds” and without adults they became leader of the cruel, savages behavior on the island. Whether it was the way they were raised or they were just bad genetics, all it took was for Jack not getting his way. When all the boys voted for chief and Jack was not chosen he starts falling into his role as the bad guy.

A good leader is someone who cares about everyone. They are loyal, and listens to everyone’s ideas. They are smart, strong, and can make tough decisions. A good leader could fight, but a better leader can choose not to. In the Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, is about a boy named Ralph who wanted to get rescued and made leadership choices based on that, but another boy named Jack who prevented rescue by splitting the group up and turning survival into a game. Ralph and Jack were meant to be in the same novel because Golding wanted to show how the wrong leadership can go wrong, and on what leader you follow can be an effect on how you survive.