William Golding creates a sense of place in the novel Lord of the flies" DiscussWilliam Golding's use of setting provides a very strong influence on the actions and attitudes

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“William Golding creates a sense of place in the novel Lord of the flies” Discuss

William Golding’s use of setting provides a very strong influence on the actions and attitudes of characters in the lord of the flies. We can tell something about the difference in characters from their response to the island’s natural life. The imagery and meaning behind the settings emphasized symbolism and created a powerful image in the minds of readers.

The major setting is that of the island, a tropical “paradise” separated from the rest of the world by a vast sea, which works as a cleanser. Although the island is described as beautiful by Golding at the very beginning, some of the words he uses suggest a darker side of the island “…stood there among the skull like coconuts” (Golding pg 15). The island is like a little world itself, a microcosm, which reflects what is happening in the real world outside. The island is very remote, isolated from the rest of the world “…They stood on the top, and could see a circular horizon of water” (Golding pg 37). Golding brings up the fact that they are no where near the complex society that they were brought up with and therefore hints that there may be character conflict. In normal circumstances when two people are not able to get along, it’s relatively easy to avoid them, but in this society on this island, within such close proximity of only a few people, it is not easy to escape people with different ideals to your own.  

The mysteries of the island have a huge impact on the actions of the boys. Because the island and Britain are two totally different environments there was not much known to the boys about the unfamiliar surrounding possessed by the island. The vines that draped from the trees caused the ‘littluns’ to have nightmares because they reminded them of snakes, or "beasties". The unfamiliarity’s of the island are used by Golding to place insight into the readers mind.

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Golding describes the island as somewhat boat shaped “It was roughly boat shaped” (Golding pg 38) and states that it was like they were “…moving steadily astern” (Golding pg 38). Golding uses the shape of the island as an allegory, symbolising a deeper moral meaning. The meaning behind the island looking like it was physically moving backwards, indicates that the human society on the island will become more primitive and uncivilised, like moving backwards in time.

The island’s abundance of fruit, vegetation and unspoiled wildlife, along with its quickly changing hostile environment is almost similar to that of ...

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