...Lord of the Flies Lord of the Flies is a fantasy book that tells the story of what happens to a group of boys stranded on an island after a plane crash. Many events occur while the boys are on the island. Some are good, others are not quite so good, and then there are some events that are just down right horrible. Even though the boys are on an island that seems to be very far away from civilization, almost all of the events that happen are caused by the war that is going on in the adult’s world. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding demonstrates how the wickedness of mankind causes the destruction of the boy’s civilization on the island. There are many events that symbolize how the boy’s civilization was corrupted by mankind. Simon’s death is a good symbol for this because his death was caused by “the beast”. A dead parachuter floated onto the island because he was shot down out of plane from the war and the boy’s called it “the beast”. Simon is the only boy brave enough to get close enough to “the beast” to find out anything more about it, and when he does he finds out that it is just a dead man. Simon goes down to the beach to try to tell the boys what he discover but they are doing their hunting dance, and being caught up in the moment they kill him (52). Simons death illustrates that mankind corrupted the boys civilization because they new it was Simon that they were attacking but they didn’t care. They thought nothing about what they were doing and the consequences that...
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...51). This passage shows Jack being exposed to the savagery within him. Golding develops savagery as a symbol using various methods. Golding uses savagery as a central theme in Lord of the Flies. Jack uses hunting as an outlet for his rage, putting it over other imperative projects. “The fire’s only been out an hour or two. We can light up again.”...
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...evil ways.” In essence, this quotation denotes that because every human being has a brain, they also possess the ability to think and act in a malicious and inhumane manner. Considering this, William Golding, the author of Lord of the Flies, illustrates that uncivil behaviour will prevail on the adult-free island. In a like manner, Macbeth by Shakespeare gives insight to the lengths people will go to so that one can achieve personal profits at a rapid pace. Through similar fashions, both novels depict the true nature of human beings. Similarities between the characters of Jack from the Lord of the Flies and Macbeth from Macbeth reveal that power and greed is the root of all evil. In addition, the use of knives and representation of blood in both novels plays large roles in the quests for power. Also, similarities in plot structure help to further establish the sinful nature of humans. One can conclude that both Macbeth and Lord of the Flies give insight to the fact that human nature is predominantly evil through the characterization of Jack and Macbeth, symbolism of knives and blood and similarities within plot structure. Initially, the predominantly evil aspects of human nature show through the characterization of Jack and Macbeth. In the Lord of the Flies, the society the boys live in begins to crumble as Jack becomes less and less civil while the others follow. Jack quickly turns from an innocent young boy to an uncivil animal, “He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself...
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...Dystopia ≠ Utopia A dystopia is a fictional society, usually portrayed as existing in a future time, where the conditions of life are extremely bad due to oppression, or terror. Science fiction (particularly post-apocalyptic science fiction and cyberpunk stories set in an imaginary future world controlled by technology and computers) often feature dystopias. Common traits of Dystopian fiction: The setting is the future, but often with contemporary social trends taken to extremes incorporated on purpose. A hierarchical society where there are unbending and definitive divisions between the upper, middle and lower class Society is conditioned to fear the outside world, and one of the methods for achieving this is the restriction of information and freedom. A corrupt authoritarian and totalitarian government creates or sustains the poor quality of life This government makes people believe that society is proper and just, even perfect. State propaganda makes citizens worship the state the leader of the state and the government. There is strict conformity among citizens and the general assumption that having opinions and individuality is bad The penal system often employs psychological or physical torture Violence, cruelty and aggressiveness are always present. Dystopias are frequently written as warnings, or as social satire, criticizing a current trend, norm or political system. In order for the dystopia to have an effect on the reader, the author uses characteristics...
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...and power-hungry. “Kill the beast! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!” (Golding 76) “There was lashings of blood,” said Jack, laughing and shuddering” (Golding 77) “And you shut up! Who are you, anyway...Why would choosing make any difference?” (Golding 103) “Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong” (Golding 104) Jack’s drastic change in behavior in the novel and actions show the nature of mankind. Roger shows that humans are naturally savage because he is ruthless, threatening, and brutal. “Roger led the way straight through the castles, kicking them over, burying the flowers, scattering the chosen stones…Roger remained, watching the littluns.” (Golding 46) “Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins.” (Golding 47) “Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever…The rock struck Piggy a glancing blow from chin to knee; the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist…” (Golding 142) These merciless actions demonstrate a menacing and very evil that Roger is. The scar of the island caused by the plane crash is a symbol for savagery because it represents the destruction by human nature, "That's where we landed. Beyond falls and cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; there were the splintered trunks and then the drag, leaving only a fringe of palm between the scar and the sea. There, too, jutting into the lagoon, was the platform, with insect-like figures moving near...
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...mom told me to the boys took advantage of it. They thought that went I didn't react to them that I was okay with and it got worse and worse. Like at my school in Lord of the Flies Jack and his hunters violent actions escalate out of control. In William Golding's “Lord of the Flies” Jack’s violent sense of identity administers an uncontrollable savage response to the boys island culture. This cultural collision directly influences William Golding's purpose to prove that all humans are born evil. Previously to his arrival on the island Jack’s beliefs were firmly rooted in his upbringing of british culture. An example of this is on page 38 Jack says “We’ve got to have...
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...The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding follows the story of a group of boys who are stranded on a tropical island and must fight to survive. Led by the charismatic and attractive protagonist, Ralph, and his intellectual ally Piggy, the boys are initially successful at creating a new order on the island. Soon, however, an ambitious boy called Jack presents himself as the main antagonist. Jack’s return to savagery and the subsequent unravelling of order on the island results in multiple deaths and the destruction of the island. The book allows the reader to view the ways in which order and society break down in an uncivilized environment, as well as how easy it is to return to savagery. As this work is allegorical, symbols play heavily...
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...Prompt: How is the opposites symbolism of Ralph and Jack often shown in William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies ? William Golding’s The Lord of the Flies is a novel about a group of boys who get stranded on an island. The boys descend into a savage and brutal life style while a few cling to the sanity and civilisation they miss. The main character Ralph represents the civilized part of humans, while Jack his opposite represents the primitive need for violence. Each struggle with their own battles, trying to pull the rest of the boys on their side. Ralph also represents order and leadership so he becomes the chief of the island and boys in the beginning of the novel, keeping the boys in place. He has his conch which also represents rules. He shows his role as chief...
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...Good or Evil? The Fight For Dominance The fierce battle between the lightness and darkness of man’s heart has coexisted since the earliest of times. William Golding’s award-winning novel, Lord of the Flies, is one that captures this very judgment. A group of young British schoolboys who were once innocent and pure of heart are quickly devoured by the dark powers of destruction, savagery, and murder. However, even with these destructive powers at hand, the young schoolboys along with their distant memories of being in a civilized society, fight in an epic battle to try and prevent the full outbreak of evil. Golding illustrates the never-ending combat of “good” and “evil”, amidst the young schoolboys and the Beast; Ralph, the democratic leader, contrary to Jack, who favoured dictatorship; and the strength of civilization versus the forces of human nature. First and foremost, the story displays the constant conflicts between the innocence of the British schoolboys and the dark nature of what they come to know as the Beast. An example of this is when the twins Sam and Eric encounter the Beast in Chapter Six: "Beast From Air." In the beginning of the chapter, Sam and Eric, who were on duty to watch the fire, falls asleep as a dead parachutist falls from the war in the adult world and lands on the island. When they awake from their sleep, they noticed a “figure that hung with dangling limbs” (103) and mistake it as the Beast. Sam describes to Ralph that the Beast was ‘“furry”’...
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...In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph experiences the loss of innocence on the island. In his experiences, we see that evil is inherent in man- something only Simon has understood on the island. The boys first enjoyed the freedom from adults, but soon all civil ideas on the island collapsed, leading to chaos and the death of Simon and Piggy; a metaphor to the background of the war in the adult world. This implies that every man has some capacity for evil within himself, even small children, leading to a loss of innocence. Furthermore, Ralph’s Loss of Innocence occurs during the death of Simon and Piggy, and during the destruction of the conch. At the beginning of the novel, the remains of what would be civilization still...
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...tropical island without the supervision of adults. The group stumbles upon countless problems in Lord of the Flies during their duration of being stranded on the island, resulting in multiple disputes between the boys. Conflict is apparent through the novel, whether it's being man versus man, man versus himself or man versus nature. Author, William Golding, portrays conflict through two of the main characters, Ralph, leader of the civilized group, and Jack, leader of the savage group. Golding reveals the growing tension between civilization and savagery from when a signal fire is let out, Piggy’s glasses breaking, and the pig hunts by Jack. The adventure that the boys encounter in Lord of the Flies explores the dark side of humanity showing the civilized versus the savage-like nature of human beings. Golding attempts to unearth the flaws of society back to the flaws of the nature of humans. The first key moment in the rising action that shows the growing tension between civilization and savagery is when Jack and his hunters let the fire die out, causing a ship to pass by without a smoke signal showing and allowing the group of boys to miss an opportunity of being rescued. This key moment is important because it marks the first dispute between the antagonist and protagonist in the novel. Ralph’s priorities are to build shelters and keep a signal fire going in order to get rescued, however Jack’s priorities are to hunt meat for the boys and have fun. Tension is shown in this moment when...
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...Most people would believe that Ralph’s foils is Jack, but what about Jack’s foil? In Lord of the flies Jacks foil is Roger, as sadistic who finds joy in killing. Throughout the book Jack changes with the help of Roger due to similar goals and personalities. This ends up leading to destruction and confirming Goulding’s idea on that humans are inherently evil, that the “beast resides within each human, giving us the capacity to destroy civilization, Jack wasn’t always evil, in the very beginning of Lord of the flies he’s a normal kid. He” Chapter chorister and head boy. I can sing C sharp” (Goulding 15). Jack uses this as a reason to be chief. But ends up losing to Ralph. His reaction to this is shocking “The freckles on Jack’s face disappeared under a blush of mortification” (Goulding 15-16). He’s so used to getting his way and being controlling because he was the leader of the choir now known as “hunters”. “The boy who controlled them was dressed in the same way through his cap badge was golden. He shouted an order and they halted gasping, sweating, swaying in the fierce light” (Goulding 13). His pride and selfishness leads him to becoming a dangerous new person. Moving on, like any other boy Jack was a bully to Piggy. At first it was verbal abuse “Your always sacred, Yah Fatty”...
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...Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” In this statement, Roosevelt argues that a civilization is based on the intellectual human communication of individuals. When this gets taken away, the civilization crumbles. William Golding writes about this in his novel, Lord of the Flies, a story of boys stranded on an island whom establish systems of organization to survive. A boy named Ralph is selected as chief, and immediately a power struggle begins between him and another boy named Jack. As time goes by, powerful connections to the culture of the old world that they came from...
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...One of the main themes in William Golding's Lord of the Flies is the struggle between Society and Savagery. The boys' first intention on the island is to create a society based on the one they had in the adult world: one with rules, limitations and order. But at the same time, they want to have fun. As time progresses, they start ignoring the rules that they had originally set. Instead of using the designated lavatory stones for bathroom purposes, they start using the bathroom wherever they want, even near their special meeting place. The shelters that they all intended on helping to build end up being built by only a few of the boys and therefore, are not as sturdy as they could have been. According to Henri Talon, "[The boys] planned order and allowed disorder to settle" (Talon). The longer they stayed on the island, the more they lost touch with the boundaries set by society, and they eventually started to resort to primitive behavior. Throughout the novel, each of the boys struggles to keep remnants of society in tact, while their primitive nature tries to reel them into savagery. Some of the boys give into their primitive behavior very quickly, while others strive to hold on to their civility as long as possible. This struggle is portrayed masterfully by Golding who uses symbolism to enhance the reader's understanding of it. The first prominent symbol of society that we see is the conch shell that Ralph finds near the shore at the beginning of the novel. Upon Piggy's suggestion...
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...savage beginnings. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies explores the theme of civilization to savagery through the usage of symbolism to portray the premise that children are savages by nature and without adult guidance or supervision; their entire darker side will manifest itself in full force. The consequential regression of the boys from civilization to savagery is symbolized by the use of the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses. First of all, the conch shell manages to demonstrate civilization to savagery through its ability to establish order to build a civilization, lose its power and deteriorate civilization, and shatter to eliminate civilization. In the beginning, the conch is used to establish and uphold order and peace on the island, playing a key role in forming and maintaining a civilization. Ralph uses the conch and his leadership to summon the others, have meetings and delegate positions, assign power, and set rules such as: “[Giving] the conch to the next person to speak” (Golding 31). By adhering to the set of rules regarding the conch shell, the boys still maintain their civilized way of living back at home where there is the existence of government and laws to be adhered to regarding to the existence of social order. However, as time passes by, the conch begins to lose its power and significance and boys begin to succumb to savagery. When Ralph tries to convince the other boys to return to his tribe instead of joining Jack’s tribe by appealing the conch shell as...
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