Lord of the Flies
Reading Lord of the Flies, one gets quite an impression of Golding's view on human nature. Whether this view is right or wrong, true or not, is a point to be debated. This image Golding paints for the reader, that of humans being inherently bad, is a perspective not all people share. This opinion, in fact, is a point that many have disagreed with when reading his work. There are many instances throughout Lord of the Flies that state Golding's opinion suggesting an evil human nature. Each of these instances are the bricks holding together his fortress of ideas that are constantly under attack. Lord of the Flies is but an abstract tool of Golding's to construct the idea of human nature in the minds of his readers. Throughout the novel, it is stated that all humans are evil. It is said that this evil is inescapable and will turn everyone evil. At one point in the book, when the Lord of the Flies is representing all evil, this theory is stated as, "The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon" (Golding 130). Along with this idea is the religious symbolism that is used for ineffectively confronting the evil. At a point in the book, Golding has Simon, symbolic of Jesus Christ (a Christian deity), confront the Lord of the Flies. This is a pig's head on a stick that is imagined to talk and represent the evil in all humans. Simon tries to act and spread the knowledge of this
Compare and contrast the presentation of Jack and Simon in chapter three of the 'Lord of the Flies'.
Compare and contrast the presentation of Jack and Simon in chapter three of the 'Lord of the Flies'. In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding makes many contrasts between his symbolic characters. For example in chapter three, 'Huts on the beach', many contrasts and similarities are made between the two characters Jack and Simon. These descriptions give an idea to their personality and feelings. The description of Simon in the jungle, and Jack in the woods highlights many of their differences. Jack is alone and descriptions like, 'with flared nostrils', and 'ape- like' suggest he is behaving like an animal. Jack's appearance is also starting to resemble animals, as his hair has grown, 'longer', and his skin darker with, 'a mess of dark freckles'. Simon's appearance is described similarly to jacks. He has ' a coarse mop of black hair,' which was 'long' Simon on bare feet, like jack and he has dark skin and only wears, 'the remains of shorts'. This shows that both characters do not take much care in their appearance. In this sense, living on the island has effected them both in the same way. Jack has changed in himself by becoming less prim and proper. He has started to swear, become more dirty and tatty, 'streaked with brown earth' and he is wearing only, 'tattered shorts', these factors all show how jack is loosing his inhibitions and that from the start of the book he
Lord of the Flies.
Lord of the Flies "Lord of the Flies" by Sir William Golding is a story of survival and adventure when a small group of schoolboys become marooned on a remote desert island. During the day the island is an idyllic paradise where they can run about and play in the pools but at night they are haunted by the terrible "Beast". This essay will examine and comment on the use of symbolism throughout the novel. The boys' first important event when they are on the island is the discovery of a conch shell. Ralph (a sensible boy) and Piggy (a fat boy with glasses) use the conch shell to call all the boys back together after the crash. The shell is also used at the future twice daily meetings to keep the order. Only the person holding the conch was allowed to speak. The conch grew to be a powerful symbol for law and order. Towards the end of the novel when Roger pushes the rock from the ledge and causes Piggy to fall to his death the conch also smashes. The conch shattering on the rock symbolises the end of all law and order on the island. Another symbol is the one which gives the novel its title, "Lord of the Flies". It is, of course, the pigs head. The description which Golding gives of the pig's head gives the reader a real sense of the evil surrounding it. With some research I found that the title, "Lord of the Flies" is a translation of the name Beelzebub otherwise known as Satan.
Lord of the flies
Essay-Lord of the flies How Golding uses Symbolism effectively? Introduction: Symbolism plays an important role in Lord of the flies. Each of the symbols stands for something and has importance in the story. The symbols that we will explore are the Island, the Fire, Piggy's glasses, the Conch, the Names, the Beast, the Pigs Head and the fable. The novel is about a plane evacuating a group of schoolboys from Britain on a deserted tropical island and how they live their life without no rules and elders. The Island: The island is a tropical deserted island. It symbolises Isolated. 'Their scent spilled out into the air and took possession of the island'. It symbolises Freedom because 'this is our island, it's a good island until the grown-ups come to fetch us, and we'll have fun'. This tells us that the boys enjoy their life without any grown-ups and spend their time doing anything they want like splashing in water, having fights and playing games. On the other hand, it symbolises Dangerous because 'he saw a shelter burst into flames'. This tells us that Jack's tribe set the island on fire because they wanted to kill Ralph when there is no escape. Names: Golding has used for each of the characters names to have a symbolic meaning. For say Ralph means 'council'. He is a listener, chief and a snob. The boys elected him to be their leader. Jack means 'one takes over'. He
Lord of the Flies - Explore how Golding uses the character Simon to bring out the novels themes.
English Coursework Lord of the Flies - Explore how Golding uses the character Simon to bring out the novels themes. There are various themes and ideas throughout the story and Golding uses Simon to bring out all the religious imagery and ideas in the novel, except for the last chapter. Piggy is the person who brings out the political themes in the novel, these themes are democracy vs. dictatorship. With Ralph representing the democracy side of things and jack running a dictatorship, this could also be interpreted as Good vs. Evil. We know Simon brings out all the Religious imagery and this is added to by the fact he is the only character in the story to have a name from the bible. To look at Simon is a skinny, vivid little boy and he had short, coarse black hair, but in one of the versions of the films we watched Simon was given fair hair to give an even bigger hint that he is good. Throughout the story there are two main outsiders and these are Piggy and Simon and they often fall victim to the others calling them "batty". Piggy, it seems, was bound to be an outsider from birth. Because he has Asthma, he's overweight, he has a funny voice and accent and he has no sense of humour but he is the most intelligent boy on the island and has the most common sense. He often sum's things up and tells things like they are, and perhaps most importantly he thinks like a grown up
Lord of the Flies
Camilla Mauritzen English IB 1K Ms. Lake 0.11.08 Interpretive Questions- A View to a Death The author creates this sense of peace and tranquility by use of descriptive words and vocabulary usually associated with beauty and serenity. 'Incredible lamp of stars,' 'The air was cool, moist, and clear,' 'The clear water mirrored the clear sky and the angular bright constellations' (p.189). These few paragraphs may not be the most beautiful passages had they been in another book, but comparing it to the way Golding writes otherwise at this point in the novel makes this passage seem especially soothing. As the boys have almost completely turned savage Golding has been using graphic and vulgar wording to describe the boy's current situation, however here he writes as if savagery didn't exist. Simon has been attributed a Christ-like or saint-like figure. Golding was a religious man which can be seen through his character of Simon. He is like Jesus; he sacrifices himself in an attempt to make things better. Unlike Jesus, however, Simon is killed before he can convey his message about the truth of the beast. He isn't written about as a boy anymore, but as an angelic creature of pure goodness, he represents 'good', whereas Jack represents 'bad'. Now good is dead, and savagery has completely taken over. The last paragraph talks about the sun, the moon, and earth as a planet, and
Lord of the flies
Lord of the flies Whilst superficially simple, Lord of the Flies is in fact a highly complex novel. Golding uses the story of a group of English schoolboys marooned on a deserted tropical island to explore the existence of evil and violence in human nature. However this novel is not simply a statement of Golding's political views; rather, it is an imaginative exploration of human nature. The atrocities of the Second World War reflected a pessimistic view of humanity on William Golding. Different characters in this book symbolize different groups or systems in the world, Simon for instance, a Christ like figure, which is spiritually and morally superior represents a minority in the world. This essay will explore and analyze the symbolic significance of Simon. Simon is morally superior and is presented as a 'Christ like figure' but he is inarticulate, this is his only real weakness. This enables him to express his ideas, and this gives him no power to talk and give his opinion to the other boys. I think that Golding has symbolically used the character of Simon to teach the readers that moral and decent human beings have no power in society and they are always unheard of. Simon is presented as a Christ like figure because of his good qualities. He's caring and compassionate, "we used his specs," said Simon, this is jack is blaming piggy fore not helping with the fire, and
Lord of the Flies - Simon's character.
Throughout the story Simon is kind and thoughtful. When Jack insults Piggy, Simon always tries to manipulate what Jack has said into a compliment. Simon also confronts Jack in acts of courage to help Piggy. One of these times is when Simon goes to Jack after Jack has taken Piggy's specs, and he takes them off Jack and returns them to Piggy. He then defends Piggy, when Jack is trying to convict Piggy of not helping to start the fire. Simon says 'We used his specs...he helped that way'. This shows that he has some affection and sympathy for Piggy. In the novel, Simon's character is a Christ figure. Everything he does is good. All the other boys on the island have the secret 'inner evil', which only Simon can fight against. This 'inner evil' is William Golding's idea as to why people do evil things. He believed that when you are born you have a certain amount of good and a certain amount of evil inside you. He believed that as you go through your life you would show bits of evil at any time. The only problem is that the evil would be totally out of your control. Some people only show small amounts of evil, and others would turn completely evil, like Roger or the 'pig's head'- the Lord of the Flies itself. Simon is completely good because he has controlled the amount of evil showing form his body, down to a minimum. On the island there are different objects and characters,
'Lord of the flies'.
LORD OF THE FLIES COURSEWORK-The title of the novel comes from the Arabic for one of the manifestations of the Devil. Baal-Zebub - or Beelsebub - means 'lord of the flies'. In the novel, the pig's head on a stick, covered in flies, is a horrific symbol of how far the violence has come. The pig was killed by Jack and his hunters and the head is put on a stick as an offering to the 'beast'. Only Simon really appreciates that the 'beast' is actually the evil inside the boys themselves and it is that which is breaking things up. So, the title of the novel reinforces the idea that we all have something of the 'devil' within us - and that the 'devil' can be released all too easily. William Golding was born in 1911. After leaving Oxford University, he worked as an actor, producer and writer, and then as a teacher in a boy's public school. During World War II Golding was lieutenant in the Royal Navy, in command of a small rocket ship. While carrying out his duties he ordered the destruction of German ships and submarines and he shelled German troops from sea during the D-day landings Golding was horrified by what war revealed about people's capacity to harm their fellow humans. He was appalled by what happened in the Nazi concentration camps, and by the way the Japanese mistreated their prisoners. He was appalled too by the consequences of the British and American mass bombing
Lord Of The Flies.
Lord Of The Flies William Golding used a group of boys stranded on a tropical island to illustrate the malicious nature of mankind. Lord of the Flies deals with the changes that the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from society. It is shown through many ways, but most notably during Simons's conversation with the 'Lord Of The Flies', which is actually a pig's head, when he understands that the beast is a result of the wickedness within themselves. William Golding presents numerous themes and basic ideas in the novel. One of the most obvious themes is that society holds everyone together, and when society breaks down, the basics of right and wrong are lost. Without society's rules, chaos and savagery can come to light. Golding shows that if there is no civilization around us, we will lose our sense of values. Positive qualities are shown at the beginning as the boys try to be civilised in electing leaders, as there are no adults, hence no rules. A conch is discovered, and whenever it was blown there was to be a group meeting. Different boys are also given different chores to carry out, which goes very well for a while, until things dramatically changed. One of the first characters we are introduced to in the novel is a young, fair-haired boy of twelve, called Ralph. He realises, that a world without adults means that they could do as they pleased but
