William Golding's Lord Of The Flies: Literary Analysis

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

The boys on the lone island, simply lost respect for human life and regulation. Adventure is what they wanted and adventure is what they got, but with only having minimal rules the boys lose control both physically and mentally. This disorderly function literally makes the boys act as though they are

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.

The lack of adult authority drives the children in the novel to attempt to make important decisions which affect the entirety of the group and in the end cause a rift between the two groups. Jacks group, of course, becomes even more savage after the split and lose their humanity even more. “The three boys stood in the darkness, striving unsuccessfully to convey the majesty of adult life.” (Golding, 102) This conveys the boys’ desire for an authority figure on the island and how it would

Initially, when the boys landed on the island, they were still displaying telling signs of culture and sophistication. Ralph even stops and jerks up his stockings, “with an automatic gesture that made the jungle seem for a moment like the Home Counties” (Golding 7). Jack informs the group that they have “ got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages”(42). This statement sums up the very beginning of the boys’ extended stay; they are eager to create rules and establish guidelines. Ralph, Jack and the others are imagining a neat, orderly society, with all of its little citizens behaving and following the rules. Enthusiastic compliance is expected. Very soon, however, a sort of causal negligence and lack of effort develops. The boys would rather have fun and play than help build shelters or fill coconuts. Ralph bemoans the carelessness of the others to Jack; “All day I’ve been working with Simon. No one else. They’re off bathing, or eating, or playing” (Golding 50). The final basic evolution of the boys is far worse than lax, however; they become violent and unrestrained, acting first and thinking later, if at all. They develop a game in which one of their own pretends to be a pig, and they gather around and ‘hunt’ him. Even Ralph, the most rational, got carried away “by a sudden thick excitement, grabbed Eric’s spear and jabbed at

When the boys first got on the island they were doing good. They picked a leader, they had rules and they were doing pretty. Unit Jack wanted to be leader and he left the tribe. So that made other kids leave and join his tribe which started a conflict. That ends with them losing their innocence and experiencing the darkness of the man ‘s heart.

This song depicts how the boys felt when they first arrived at the island. They saw that there were no adults and were excited about all the fun they were planning to have together and without parental supervision. The song paints an island in a positive light saying that it's a paradise, just like the boy’s original fantasies.

A tribe of boys crash land on this island, without any adult supervision. The island is beautiful, and consists of “a great platform of pink granite… through forest and terrace and sand and lagoon” (pg 12), and holds many places for shelter and lots of food to survive, such as fruits and wild pigs. Since the island is deserted, and there is no parental supervision, the boys true leadership and survival skills are tested. Most of the boys do not think about their long-term survival but instead act on impulse as a result of these conditions, which is the main theme throughout the novel. The novel’s main theme is to show the result of savagery when there is no order, which is shown through the boys actions when there is no one to tell them what to

Unlike Jack, Roger just hurts people for fun. At first, Roger shows this in a more subtle manner because of society’s expectations that make it taboo to hurt others. When they first arrive at the beach, Roger has some free time. He uses this to tease Henry, a younger boy:

Jack is described as having a “crumpled and freckled...face” that was “ugly without silliness”,(Golding 20). This shows to the reader that this character already is a boy with hardly any sense of joy. He arrives on the island leading a group of choir boys, and he feels that since he was the leader there he should be the leader for the rest of the boys on the island as well. Although Jack wishes to be the leader of the boys he finds that one of the only ways to win their approval is by proving himself worthy. So he goes out to try to kill a pig, but when the chance presents itself he finds he is not able to. For when he raised his arm in the air” he “[paused] only long enough/to understand what an enormity the downward stroke would be”(Golding 31). Ever since the moment that Jack was unable to kill his first pig the reader sees how even though he wanted to with most of himself he did not have a distinct killer instinct. Yet as the book continues it becomes prominent that Jack wishes to kill the pig as a way of proving that “their would be no mercy”(Golding 31). Unlike Roger, Jack feels alienated by the act of killing anything as himself, so he decides to paint his face so he may “ hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness” in a freeing kind of way “the mask compelled them”(Golding 64). From the moment that Jack put the mask on he was no longer a boy but now a savage waiting for his next kill. Though Jack and Roger are both antagonists to the book they are different in the reasons behind their kills and violence. While Roger does it to inflict pain, Jack does it with the hope of achieving a sort of dominance and twisted respect from the other boys on the island. Once Jack realized that killing a pig was not as hard as he originally thought, and sees how much respect the boys all had for him after a kill he had no problem with killing the pig;

Lastly, the boys start a way and turn fully insane, and they kill one kid and burn down the whole island to find one kid. I believe that if the kids had adult supervision none of this would have occurred. Another key thing to remember is that the boys go from trying to establish a community to hostile savages. One of the weirdest images the author portrays in the novel is a dead parachute. This is weird because it's a bunch of kids alone on an island.

The first time he spots a pig on the island he is hesitant to kill it because he still is in a “civilized” mindset. Eventually he builds up the courage to kill a pig. After living on the island for sometime and killing multiple pigs, hunting becomes a form of entertainment for Jack, “The spear moved forward inch by inch and the terrified squealing became a high-pitched scream. Then Jack found the throat and the hot blood spouted over his hands. The sow collapsed under them and they were heavy and fulfilled upon her […]

A story of good vs. evil, and the conflict between the boys, nature and in themselves. Innocence is broad and humans tend to be evil. These children are portrayed as innocent, but when they're stranded, they end up conflicting and murdering. While they start out somewhat organized, the power issue occurs between the two who want power most. Then all the boys follow in recklessness.

As soon as the boys landed on the island, their first thought was freedom. “No grownups!” (Golding 8). They were free from the rules of the common, civilized man. They could do whatever they wanted, without their parents leaning over their shoulders dictating their every decision. However, this privilege damaged their lives in an inconceivable way, while gradually deteriorating to savages.

One major problem that the boys face on the island is savagery. The boys have no civilization on the island which brings out their savage nature. Towards the end of the book two boys are killed, Simon and Piggy. The boys killing people shows an act of savagery because they had no right reason to kill innocent people. Savagery is such a big problem on the deserted island because it causes more challenges for the boys then there already is. One challenge being the boys turning into rivals which tears apart the society. Another challenge being the boys arguing whether Simon's death was accidental or not. Seeing that boys are killed and conflict arises savagery is a major problem that the boys face.