To What Extent Does William Golding Portray Mankind As Being Inherently Evil?

To What Extent Does William Golding Portray Mankind As Being Inherently Evil? Sir William Golding, author of Lord of the Flies, was born on 19th September, 1911 in Cornwall. A rational, scientific view of life was forced on him by his parents, but he sensed the dark, irrational world was all around him. The surroundings he was raised in included a 14th century house in a churchyard with a dark graveyard and dank cellars; these heavily affected his beliefs and views of the world. He went to school in Marlborough, before going to Oxford and (eventually) studying English Literature. He joined the Royal Navy during World War II, which is where he found inspiration for Lord of the Flies. After World War II had ended, he returned to teaching before leaving in 1962 to become a full-time writer. Lord of the Flies (1954) was Golding's first novel, and is undoubtedly his most famous. Golding died in 1993, aged 82. It is hard to classify Lord of the Flies as a certain type of story. It is often described as one, or a mixture, of three things: • A Myth is an ancient, traditional story which doesn't have to be true but explains the unexplainable like human nature or the world we live in. • A Fable is a simple story, often using animal characters with a moral (hidden message) which can be seen in, or applied to, real life. • An Allegory is a story with two levels of

  • Word count: 2246
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What is Golding Telling Us About Society in 'Lord of the Flies'?

What is Golding Telling Us About Society in 'Lord of the Flies'? Golding is telling us that in order for society to work well, the evil within must be controlled. The only way to control this 'inner savagery' is to have rules and order. Golding experiments with his theory using a group of schoolboys who crash-land on an uninhabited island- with everything they need to survive. The shocking transformation of the boys from civilised pupils to murderous savages coincides with the breakdown of rules. Golding has experimented with boys to see how they would react without adults, and also the fact that children are more easily manipulated. This means that their transformation would be quicker than adults, which is ironic because at the time the boys are on the island, World War Two has broken out. The events on the island can be seen as an allegory for what is happening outside of it, and the actions of the boys startlingly mirror what is actually happening in the world. The boys are an extended metaphor for everyone, as savagery is a part of us, but it is harnessed by rules and order. After they have crash-landed, two characters emerge- Ralph and Piggy. Ralph is excited by the idea that there are no adults on the island so he can have fun: 'In the middle of the scar he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy. "No grown-ups!" However, Piggy is worried that there

  • Word count: 3466
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What is Golding Telling us About Society in 'Lord of the Flies'

What Is William Golding Telling Us About Civilisation in 'Lord Of The Flies'? What William Golding is telling us about civilisation is that without rules and organisation, civilisation would not be able to exist and that there is a beast in everyone, it is just a question of whether it can be controlled. His point is shown through the actions of boys on the island, through their transformation from being normal school boys to a murderous mob of savages. At the start of the novel, a group of schoolboys have crash-landed on a deserted island. Golding has experimented with boys to see how they would react without adults. He has placed them on an uninhabited island with food and water. After they have crash-landed, two characters emerge- Ralph and Piggy. Ralph is excited by the idea that there are no adults on the island so he can have fun; 'In the middle of the scar he stood on his head and grinned at the reversed fat boy. "No grown-ups!" Conversely, Piggy is worried that there are no grown ups on the island. Piggy finds the conch and gives it to Ralph and tells him to blow on it. After Ralph has blown on it, all the other boys follow the sound of the conch and gather around Ralph and a democratic election takes place where Jack and Ralph were the candidates. Ralph gets elected, as Ralph was the one who blew the conch. During the election the reader is introduced to Jack. Jack

  • Word count: 2775
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What have I found interesting in my studies of Crime stories?

What have I found interesting in my studies of Crime stories? One of the aspects I have found stimulating whilst reading 'The Tell tale Heart' was how the criminal was presented the story. The criminal in 'The Tell Tale Heart' is very erratic and is convinced that he is normal, but of course, he is mad. The fast pace created by hyphens and short sentences in the first paragraph gives an instant insight into how the criminals mind works. As I said before, he is mad but is convinced that he is not. We do not see the violent side of the man at the beginning but we see an erratic, possibly impulsive man. Many people say that criminals are often the clever ones, much like 'Verbal' from the film 'The Usual Suspects'. Throughout the story we can see his thoughts and his plans presented to us which shows that he has thought out his plan which seem to be very sketchy and 'rough'. The use of exclamation marks and questions broaden the scope into the character, building his personality and the way in which we perceive him to be at the beginning to set the story and advance very quickly to the crime. The criminal in 'The tell tale heart' likes to talk, too much, it is not usual to have the criminal as the anti-hero/ narrator in most crime stories. The atmosphere surrounding the character is dark, at the peak of the hour as he describes what he does "every night, just at twelve". There

  • Word count: 3466
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What is the importance of Simon in Lord of the flies

What is the importance of Simon in Lord of the Flies? Write about * the importance of the part Simon plays in the plot * how Simon is different from the other boys * what Simon might represent * the ways the writer user Simon to convey his ideas Simon appears only in very few occasions, when compared with other main characters such as Ralph, Piggy and Jack. All those incidents are very significant to the plot. In the first chapter, Simon is introduced as a boy who is weak and "is always throwing a faint." As the chapter progresses Golding moves on to describe Simon by his physical appearance- "a skinny, vivid boy, with a glance coming up from under a hut of straight hair that hung down, black and coarse." Simon plays a very important role when Jack is introduced. Jack's harshness and choir's attitudes towards Jack are well revealed at this point- "Wearily obedient, the choir huddled into line and stood there swaying in the sun...Then one of the boys flopped on his face in the sand..." Simon is presented as the peacemaker. When Jack passes remarks on Piggy, (saying that he didn't do anything), Simon resolves the conflict saying "We used his specs, he helped that way." This shows that Simon tries to hold things together. He is the person who keeps all the boys together and happy. This is also well depicted in chapter 4 when "Simon sitting between the twins and Piggy,

  • Word count: 1367
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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What Is The Importance Of Simon In The Lord of the Flies?

First Coursework Assignment: Year 10 Term 2 A written response to one major author with a well-established reputation whose work was published after 1914. (Chosen author: William Golding, 'Lord of the Flies'.) What Is The Importance Of Simon In The Story? In the novel 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding, Simon plays a very important part. He is constantly shown to be the Christ-like figure among the boys and he performs acts in the story that could be compared to acts from the bible. He is all goodness and proves this in good deeds, which are performed, at times, in the face of adversity from the other boys. It has been suggested by some that Lord of the Flies is just an adventure story. However, it could be argued, through the representation of Simon's character, that it is a story that depicts a battle between good and evil. This theme is one that was influenced by Golding's own experiences of atrocities in World War II. When Simon is first introduced to the story he is marching in the choir. He makes a significant entrance when he faints as the choir arrives at the assembly platform. Jack, the head chorister, describes him as 'always throwing a faint'. He then carries on explaining the places the choir have sung in, where Simon has fainted; 'Gib, Addis and at Matins over the precentor'. Through the story Simon shows to have an illness because he faints or

  • Word count: 2230
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why were the police unable to catch jack the Ripper?

Daniel Brown Miss McMahon History 4/7/2005 Why were the police unable to catch jack the Ripper? In this essay I will be talking about why the police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper. I will be looking at factors which helped the police try to catch him and also factors which hindered the polices search. In my first paragraph I will be talking about the details of the murders, who, what, where, and why, the suspects and the misleading information given by people claiming to be the Ripper, the police work and the problems they faced and finally the media and public reactions and the effects of them. Finally I will do my do a conclusion. I will summarise what I have said, I will also give my opinion to why I think he was not caught and what were the most important reasons for him not being caught. Jack the Ripper murdered 5 women, Mary Ann Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddows, and Mary Kelly they were all mutilated in an extremely brutal way, the ripper would start by cutting their throat from left to right and then he would mutilate the body - his ferocity increased as the murders progressed. The mutilation was thought by doctors (carrying out autopsies on the victims) to have some medical knowledge because the Ripper used his knife swiftly and carried out dissections, although other doctors disagreed. Nobody actually found out why he killed

  • Word count: 1551
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why were the police unable to catch jack the ripper?

Q3: Why were the police unable to catch Jack the Ripper? Throughout Jack the Rippers gruesome murder neither the Metropolitan police nor the city of London police were able to catch or identify Jack the ripper. There were many contributing factors, which meant that it was proved impossible for Jack the ripper to be caught as many obstacles stood in their way. This included, the environment of Whitechapel, which consisted of dark streets with little lighting, alleyways and poverty. This meant that even if any one saw jack the ripper they were unable to identify him, as it was impossible for them to distinguish features or actions that he may be performing. Poverty surrounded Whitechapel, which meant that many of the women turned to prostitution for a living and many of the citizens of Whitechapel were alcoholics which meant that many of the witness' statements could not be trusted as many of these witness' could have been drunk. Also many of the people passing what could have been the current seen of the crime would have been under the influence of alcohol and may have not taken much notice. It was often common for the prostitutes to perform their duties and most would not have taken any notice, this resulted in the lack of witness'. In Victorian ages police had little technology they do nowadays which would have immensely helped to the capture of Jack the Ripper. They

  • Word count: 893
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why Were The Police Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper

Why Were The Police Unable to Catch Jack the Ripper? There were lots of reasons why the police were unable to catch Jack the ripper. This essay will explain some of these reasons. One of the reasons why Jack the Ripper was so hard to catch was that he was quick and cleaver. He would act like a client and start talking to the prostitute. Then she would take him to a dark deserted place were he would kill them. In doing this it meant that there was no struggle to get them off the main street and into an alleyway because they didn't know his intentions until it was to late. When it eventually came to killing her he would first strangle her so that she couldn't cause too much attention. At the time London was spilt into two parts with two separate police forces. The two parts were called the City of London, which was right in the centre and was very small, and the metropolitan, which surrounded the city and was a lot bigger. There was lots of competition between the two and they were forbidden to go into each other's land and Jack took advantage of this. It is thought that Jack probably lived in the Metropolitan area, but he killed all of his victims (except one) in the City of London polices patrolling area. In doing so it meant that as long as he left the city of London quickly after killing his victims then there was no way that the police could track him down and really

  • Word count: 770
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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Why did the White Chapel murders attract so much attention in 1888?

Nadia Randazzo Q2. Why did the White Chapel murders attract so much attention in 1888? The Whitechapel murders gripped a worldwide audience in 1888 as people waited in fear and curiosity for the next attack or capture of the elusive Jack. The time and setting was perfect for causing a sensation as the East End was already bubbling in dissatisfaction with their conditions. The Whitechapel murders were the boiling point and brought the East End from ignored, dirty, misbehaving little brother of the West End to having the support of the Queen for improvement who wrote to the Prime Minister saying "very decisive measures must be taken" this opinion would no doubt have been aided by the letter sent to her from prostitutes in the East End pleading with her to end their "sad and degraded lives". Hence, the murders provided the vessel of communication and awareness between those with the least power, but most poverty, and the ignorant or indifferent superiors of the country. This optimum atmosphere for gaining the public's attention is clear by the fact that at the time crime was rife in the East End and so normally violence would have gone mainly unnoticed. It was the manner of the murders, which caused people to take notice, and for the press to pounce. One aspect being the lack of comprehensible motive, as the murders were not committed for a material reason, Jack's victims

  • Word count: 801
  • Level: GCSE
  • Subject: English
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