William Golding's Lord of the Flies Essay

The Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding where the theme of civilization versus savagery is strongly exemplified. Throughout the novel, the theme starts to develop from the ongoing conflict between Ralph and Jack, who represent civilization and savagery. While Ralph uses his authority to establish rules and give commands that will help the boys survive and get rescued, Jack is more interested in appeasing his primal human impulses. The conflict between these two will further the theme of civilization versus savagery and affect the other boys on the island. In addition, Golding also uses symbolism and additional themes to support the overall main theme of civilization versus savagery.

Throughout history, many have debated the true nature of man, and whether society is beneficial to humankind or not. Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding during World War II, portraying the actions and consequences of adolescent British boys on a tropical island after a plane wreck. A group of boys, being the only survivors of the crash, make an effort to establish a civilization on the island while they wait until an authority figure rescues them, appointing roles to one another, creating a signal fire in hopes that a ship will come for them, and discovering ways to survive during their stay. Ralph, the oldest and toughest boy on the island, was the elected leader, whereas the arrogant choirboy Jack was head of a pack of

In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the color pink is hard to overlook. Throughout the text there is pink mentioned at virtually every turn: The pink platform, cream-pink conch, pink mountain, pink faces of the children, pink pig, etc. This color represents a vast amount including, "This color represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing." (Judy Scott Kennis, "The Color Pink") Pink further details, "Brighter pinks are youthful, fun, and exciting...” (Kate Smith, "All About the Color Pink") With so many meanings, however, the primary symbolism of this color lies with the utter youth of the children, the characters of Golding's novel; many of the

People are born with certain genes that either make them good or bad; the question is which genes do you have? In Lord of the Flies by William Golding these kids start to thrive on their bad genes because their surroundings are playing a part of how they act. When the boys started to hunt they would like to kill pigs for fun. At one point they thought of it like a sport. Jack one the characters in the book would make fun of piggy for being fat and wearing glasses. This is due because jack has certain genes that already make him not like piggy. Humans are born with genes that determine how they act and what they do. Humans are born with good or evil; There surroundings allow good or evil to thrive.

William Golding's novel, Lord of the Flies, commences after a plane crash takes place on a deserted island. Young boys flee out of the crash scene and begin exploring the island, as well as coming to terms with the catastrophe they have just experienced. The boys decide to appoint a leader and Jack steps forth demanding for it to be him. Unfortunately to Jack, the boys vote on appointing Ralph as their leader. Ralph, trying to be civil, suggests that Jack can be in charge of the choir boys. Throughout the novel Lord of the Flies, Golding portrays different aspects and qualities of a democratic leader through the character Ralph, as he listens to his tribe and makes choices in the hopes to benefit them all, while ineffective qualities of a dictator are portrayed through Jack,

Lord of the Flies by William Golding pictures the “beast” in each individual; a cruel, and innate savageness that lurks deep within one’s conscience. A group of British boys are left to look over themselves on a remote island where there are no grownups supervising them in the midst of World War. Although at first the boys create an organized governmental system thought to be impenetrable and stable, it gradually deteriorates as their detachment from society got the best of them, turning them into uncivilized “creatures.” This decline can ultimately be related to the objects involved with the protagonist Ralph and the antagonist Jack. These items overall impacts the story as it symbolizes the significant growth of savagery and how savagery

William Golding's Lord of the Flies "In 'Lord of the flies' Golding is clearly seeking to explore

By leaving a group of civilized English boys in island, he creates a space where the readers examine the results when the constraints of civilization vanish and raw human nature takes over. In Lord of The Flies, Golding contrasts the constraints of society in an ever changing world and how it draws people away from reason toward savagery. After being hunt down like an animal by Jack and his tribe, Ralph and the others boys are rescued by a British naval officer whose attention is caught by a island in flames. The officer mocks the boys as he sees them acting like savages. However, Ralph can only cry about it as he understands and sees the contrast and changes in personality of the boys after being restrained in the island. After finding out about the two casualties that occurred in the island, the officer shows his disappointment to find English boys acting like savages. It is ironic that the officer finds himself so superior to the boys as he is rescuing them from a “war” in a war ship. Throughout the story Ralph and Piggy believe that life in the island would be different if any adults were around; however, the adults are not living differently outside the island. It is in our human nature to want power like Jack and to change due to ambition or to find ourselves superior to others while making the same mistakes. Afterall, the boys’ behavior in the

This example shows Ralph as a subtle character that is friendly, “ Ralph smiled and held up the conch for silence. “listen everybody. I’ve got to have time to think things out. I can’t decide what to do straight off.”” Ralph at the start of the novel is a favoured character but as the novel continues, the other characters turn to Jack’s savage and outgoing cult because Ralph is still holding onto civilisation. One example shows how Ralph shortly succumbs to evil as he tries to join Jack’s cult by hunting a boar and experienced the exhilaration and thrill of blood lust and violence. Although Ralph is very strongly willed and positive towards civilisation unfortunately succumbs to savagery for a short

Heather Furlong Mrs. Blacksmith AP English 23 October 2014 Prompt Number #7 Social Issues "Maybe the beast is us" (Golding 85), in the novel, Lord of the Flies, by author William Golding, Golding uses the entire book as social commentary. The social aspect he focuses on is man’s ability to be evil and destructive. William Golding uses three specific literary devices to convey this idea; characterization, diction and symbolism.

William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, takes place at a desolate island during the First World War. The island has a group of boys, none of which are above teen-age, living on it. A noteworthy character nicknamed Piggy starts as a Locke-type character, but over time turns to Hobbes behavior over the course of his stay on the island. A Locke-type character would want things like voting and democracy, while a Hobbes-type would want a singular, powerful authority. The island has the necessary resources for survival such as food, water, and trees available. The weather is very easygoing until near the end, with almost no rain. The geography contains dense jungle, but has rocky outcroppings on one end, and a mountain. None of the boys have any injuries. There is no wreckage or reminder of the outside world to help them while they live on their own. The first instinct of the boys is to gather and choose a chief, like the Philosopher John Locke said that people would. Their social contract includes the main character Ralph being the chief, with others there to share his power. Currently, this island is almost a paradise, with Piggy and the other boys changing

William Golding, The Lord of the Flies is a novel that shows the power and importance of the rules of civilization and their role in preventing humans from following their natural inclination towards savagery. This novel shows how the rules of civilization are overcome by savagery when rules and authority are displaced, and savagery becomes inevitable. When the children were "placed" on the island for the first time, it was the child's original instinct to be civil and just. The boys voted for a leader, Ralph, and established rules and jobs for the boys to do and follow. This courtesy among the children can be seen deteriorating throughout the six hunts. Jack, who was obsessed with hunting pigs to prove himself as a hunter, is the leader of this decline. This deterioration began first when the three children were on an expedition to look for signs of other people on the island. The three children found a piglet trapped in the brush, but Jack froze "because the enormity of the knife descended and was cut raw because of the unbearable blood" (The Lord of the Flies, page 29). Jack was afraid of the idea of killing and shedding blood from a living animal. This action shows that Jack was still subject to the rules of civilization.

William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, is about a group of British boys who have been stranded on an island after their plane was shot down during World War II. The boys on the island attempt to create a society that is stable and functioning so that they can survive. There are no grownups on the island, only children, so to have a society that is functioning is very difficult, as they are just foolish and carefree adolescent boys. Maintaining order; using smoke to get rescued; and hunting to find food are the main tasks on the island, but some of the boys disagree on which is the most important and this causes division and fights between them. The leader, Ralph, believes that maintaining order and getting rescued should be their main priority, but the leader of the hunters and the choir boys, Jack, believes that finding food is. This causes feuds between the two boys and ultimately they begin to divide into two different groups, this begins all of the problems on the island. Throughout William Golding’s novel, Lord of the Flies, the island society descends into chaos as the stranded British boys begin to turn into savages; this fact will be made known using Golding’s diction, the conch, and Jack.

Lord of the Flies is a novel by author William Golding. The book depicts the actions and dynamics of a group of young boys stranded on a tropical island. Golding’s novel shows us the dark side of mankind as the boys attempt to form a society on the island, but instead, give in to their primitive nature. The story explores the influences of evil, with reason as its opposition. Jack’s character is an excellent example of this theme of evil versus reason, in the fact that he searches for personal power and abandons rationality in its pursuit, he convinces others to follow him through arguments of passion that lack logic, and he ultimately resorts to primitive killing in order to retain power.

William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, gives a look at what life would be like without any rules of civilization and how society would be when influenced by evil. Jack and Ralph battle to be the alpha male and to lead all young children to do what they think is best. Jack later decides that Ralph’s leading skills is aren’t substantial and decides to break off into a new society, taking with him many followers. Ralph believes that everyone’s goal should be to get off the island while Jack believes their society should result to chaos and war. Jack wants to lead the whole island to evil which make Ralph have to decide whether he should fall to evil or stay good. Jack's actions toward Ralph affects Ralph’s outlook on life and his choices. Jack's savage influence on Ralph’s integrity represents how easily evil can corrupt society when impacted by wrongdoing.