Firstly, I intend to explain why, over anything else, Golding's reflection of the macrocosm within a microcosm has particularly intrigued me. I also hope to convey my interest in the way many of the large factors in this novel are intertwined with others (often ironic) - for example, that the paradise the boys seek to create becomes simply a replication of the warring, chaotic world they emerged from. Finally, I want to show why I find the characters so compelling, and show how many have elements that any reader can empathise with, and show why their complex interaction fascinates me.

Golding seems to write to dramatise the conflict between the civilising instinct and the barbarian instinct that exist in all human beings. Every time Golding moves to describe the scenery, the weather, or even the atmosphere surrounding the boys, his choice of words seeks to represent this conflict that occurs worldwide. His dramatic technique is to show the rise and swift fall of an isolated, impromptu civilisation. So far as I have read, Golding seems to be establishing the parameters in which his civilisation will function.

Piggy clasped his hands in apprehension.

Ralph danced out into the hot air of the beach and then returned s a fighter-plane, with wings swept back, and machine-gunned piggy."

Ralph said nothing. Here was a coral island. Protected from the sun, ignoring Piggy's ill-omened talk, he dreamed pleasantly."

With reference to the characters, the two main roles - which can be seen as 'Good' and 'Bad' - are played by Ralph and Jack Merridew. Ralph, the novel's protagonist, is a twelve-year-old. Marooned on a tropical island with a group of boys, Ralph is elected leader of the group and attempts to co-ordinate efforts to build a miniature civilisation on the island, as well as to attract the attention of rescuers by maintaining a signal fire on a mountain. I believe that everyone has some part of 'goodness' in them, and can thus empathise with Ralph's attempts to create order. Ralph's character also inspires pity in the reader, later on - because of the futility of his attempts. I greatly admire Golding's ability to manipulate his reader's emotions so subtly.

ng's choice to make his characters boys is significant: young boys are only half-formed, perched between culture and savagery in such a way as to better dramatise the novel's thematic conflict. Golding's assumption throughout the novel is that the constraints of morality and society are learned rather than innate--that

Some common words found in the essay are:
Lord Flies, Jack Roger's, Piggy Ralph's, Piggy' Ralph, Merridew Ralph, Ralph Jack, Jack Merridew, Ralph Piggy's, , Jack Golding's, civilising instinct, 'piggy piggy', jack merridew, attitude jack, ralph jack,
Approximate Word count = 930
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)