Lord of the Flies Irony
"I stayed up late searching through my novel last Wednesday night for examples of irony in Lord of the Flies, only to find out the next morning that our in class essay was about a confidant in the novel." This is an example of irony, or two contrasting ideas that fail to meet an expectation. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, Golding applies situational and verbal irony as a means to show the reader on how the inner evil of the individual can significantly possess society with no regard to institution or structure. Golding uses symbolism to coincide with the theme of how the person rules the civilization and not how the civilization rules the person. Examples throughout the novel show how values are contrasted with what the author sees as an inner evil we all possess. One clear example of irony in the novel is when Jack, one of the savage boys on the island, is hesitant to kill a pig in the beginning while he is out exploring the island. "I was going to," said Jack. He was ahead of them, and they could not see his face. "I was choosing a place. Next time-!" The reader looks back on this example after reading the novel and can see how ironic the transition of this character's morals h
Irony is used throughout the novel as a means of showing the audience of an inner evil inside each individual and how it affects the way society functions. Each character experiences an inner change that is ironically very different from their original state of mind. When the boys try to get rescued they fail, but when they actually try to destroy the island, they get rescued. By using examples of irony and sarcasm like this throughout the novel, Golding creates a contrasting tone in which the reader can make distinctions between the civil and the ill-mannered and which is the greatest influence on society. His characters' words deviate from their actions, creating situational irony that assist the reader in analyzing the themes of civilization and savagery throughout the novel. It is quite ironic that these boys got off the island by being savages. Early in the novel as Piggy complains about the boys not doing any work, he inquires, "How can you [the boys] expect to be rescued if you don't put first things first and act proper?" The fact that Piggy complains that everyone acts, "Like a pack of kids!" is ironic because really that is all they are. Golding uses Piggy and the other characters to show their evolution from civil to savaged, by means of irony. Roger went from afraid of throwing rocks to pushing a boulder onto Piggy. Roger is also described in the
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Approximate Word count = 931
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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