Lord of the Flies:
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, describes the natural tendencies of evil and savagery in human society and civilization's continuing successful transition from the law-abiding civilization to the savage, untamed state of chaos and war. A group of English public schoolboys was victim of a WWII airplane attack and became confined to a tropical island. Being in complete isolation and left in the state of nature, these models of British boyhood abandon social norms and quickly revert to barbarism, ritualism, and murder. They attempted to form a civilized form of government, but found their attempts feeble and their social order quickly deteriorated into one of savagery. Golding ventures several different themes in Lord of the Flies, but his major theme is "an attempt to trace the defects of society back to the defects of human nature. The moral is that the shape of a society must depend on the ethical nature of the individual and not on any political system however apparently logical or respectable." -William Golding. Golding suggests that humankind represents a barbaric and savage species that cloaks itself with the appearance of a cooperative, ordered, and harmonious civilization. He uses an arrangement of symbolism to
A boy who appears to be gentle and reasonable might reveal, under the right circumstances, his dark side, which is the beast within. Roger surely does this as he tortures errant hunters and devises the stick sharpened at both ends with which to roast Ralph like a pig. Jack and Roger openly embody the evil, savagery, and barbarism that Golding illustrates in his novel. Jack is special because he shows these qualities from the outset, even with physical appearance, "His face was...ugly without silliness. Out of this face stared two light blue eyes, frustrated now, and turning, or ready to turn, to anger." Roger was different from Jack in that he changed from a regular boy, who actually suggested voting for the leader, to being more wicked than Jack was. Roger outdoes Jack, as Samneric agree that Roger is even worse than Jack is, "You don't know Roger. He's a terror-and the chief-they're both-terrors-only Roger..." Jack and Roger exemplify the very qualities that all the boys have externalized and displaced onto the beast. In their continuing process of leaving behind civilization, the smaller children fear the unknown and invent the notion of a beast. The beast illustrates the evil that resides within mankind. The boys were all aware that such a beast exists, but none of them realized (except Simon) that it lies within them. Manifested in three forms throughout the story, the beast constantly plagues the littluns-the least conditioned by society. The beast is mentally tangible to the younger children as a "snake-thing or beastie," a beast from the sea, and the unfortunate parachuter. However, the littluns never realize that the beas
Some common words found in the essay are:
Golding Golding, Satan Simon, William Golding, Lord Flies, Piggy Ralph, Jack Roger, Piggy Simon, Roger Jack, Jack Samneric, Roger He's, lord flies, jack roger, piggy ralph, fear unknown, evil savagery, beast lord flies, loss innocence, human nature, beast lord, natural tendencies, roger jack,
Approximate Word count = 1115
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
