Lord of the flies

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Lord of the Flies

“Lord of the flies” is a novel that was written by William Golding and published in 1857 about a group of school boys stranded on a tropical island after the plain they are travelling in crashes. In this novel, William Golding used the traditional theme of boys deserted on an island similar to that used in other children’s novels such as “Coral Island” by R.M Ballantyne. However, William Golding changed the basic plot completely by turning the boys gradually from refined British children, into total savages that were vile and bloodthirsty. William Golding was raised in Cornell, England and both of his parents were “rational thinkers”. They attempted to raise William this way, but he had his own strong beliefs in “darkness over light”. While serving as a lieutenant in the Navy during the Second World War, William encountered certain traumatic experiences that led him to believe that all living beings had “underlying evil” in them that surfaced under certain conditions.

One thing that can certainly be noticed in the novel is the gradual change in the boy’s behaviour. From the onset, it was possible to detect signs of hatred and betrayal. This was shown mainly by the fact that Jack and the other boys immediately decided to sideline Piggy because he was different from the other boys. In addition to this, Ralph, who Piggy thought of as a friend, betrayed Piggy’s nickname to Jack and the other boys. Despite of this, the boys still maintained some sort of order and were quick to elect a leader and lay down basic rules. This was manly due to the fact that they had been brought up in a civilised society where rules were set and followed. However, over time, the boys turned from bad to completely evil. An example is Jack who had been initially described as having a bad character, but, despite of this, he was still unable to kill the first pig that they encountered because of his civilised background. Towards the end, however, he became more confident and became increasingly obsessed with killing. He also used a mask to hide behind and act as a disguise. In the book, William Golding notes that The mask was a thing on its own behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness”.This way, Jack must have felt free to behave like a savage because of the camouflage hiding his face. Finally, Jack reached his height when  he formed his own “feral tribe” and became totally naked. Another character that changed with time was Ralph. Right from the start he had been one of the strongest characters and was therefore appointed chief. However, he became less confident and seemed to rely solely on Piggy’s intelligence. As a result, he appeared to be a weak leader and the boys turned to Jack for solace because of his sense of confidence and desire to kill the beast. However, even Ralph had his brief “moment of evil”. This was shown when William mentioned that "Ralph too was fighting to get near, to get a handful of that brown, vulnerable flesh. The desire to squeeze and hurt was over-mastering"

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Finally, Piggy and Simon were the two most knowledgeable boys on the island but were paid the least mind. Piggy was a natural intellect but was shunned by the other boys. On the other had, Simon was more of a spiritualist but was still not taken seriously when he mentioned that “Maybe, or maybe there is a beast. Or what I mean is maybe it's only in us". He was the only one who notices that the beast existed within the boys.

The weather too played a significant role in the book. This is mainly because it became more intense ...

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