The Lord of the Flies: Critical Evaluation of Literature by Paula O'Brien

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The Lord of the Flies:

Critical Evaluation of Literature by Paula O’Brien

The novel “Lord of the Flies” was written by William Golding. This book was set in the Second World War, around 1939-1945, but was written in 1954.I would like to consider Ralph’s role in the novel. Ralph is voted chief at the start of the book. Initially Jack claims Ralph is “not a proper chief” .The definition of a chief is that a chief is head of ruling a group. They are the highest in the hierarchy.”

The book is about boys being abandoned on an island when their plane crashes. As there are no parents or adults the boys have to fend for themselves. The theme of the book is evil taking over good, as opposed to the normal good defeating evil. During the story there are three deaths, all the deaths are of ‘good’ people. I think that the meaning of the book is that a savage lurks within us all, but for some it is nearer the surface than others.

        The boys get up to different things, they think there is a beast, but it is just shadows which evolve their imaginations. The boys also go hunting, as they need food, but when they go to hunt for the first time they stop and realise that they are becoming less civilized as they have to actually kill a pig. They let the first pig go, with Golding describing Jack as he “raised his arm into the air… the pause was only long enough for them to understand the enormity of the downward stroke… next time there would be no mercy.”                

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The personalities, ages and worries all differ between the boys. I think the three main characters are Ralph, Jack and Piggy. There are two other boys is the story that symbolise good and evil respectively, Simon and Roger.

        Ralph is picked as leader at the start of the book, against the competition of Jack. Ralph was picked to be leader because he blew through a large shell, the other reason for them to pick Ralph was because he seemed, to the boys, to be trustworthy.

        “None of the boys could have found a good reason for this… there was ...

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