Lord of the Flies

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Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel about a group of boys stranded on the island without any adults. The story is written in the third person perspective and is focused on the characters Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simon. In the novel, there is a mention of different types of governments with Ralph trying to rule a democratic society and Jack against him.  In my speech today, I am going to talk about the society the boys create on the island and how they resemble the different forms of government in the real world.  I am also going to mention about how symbols in the novel can show the break down of government.

Firstly, I am going to discuss about the characters in the novel and what they represent. Ralph, the first chief on the island, is a twelve year old boy that is respect by everyone on the island in the beginning. He values democracy in society and has strong moral instincts. On the other hand, Jack is a physical character who uses force to command fear from other characters. He is a typical bully and leads the boys from civilised people to savages. Jack believes in evicting those who oppose against him to get what he wants.  Another character, Piggy, is the intellectual of the island. He is a serious character and often objects to the silliness of the other boys’. He is also clear sighted and is able to predict what will happen to the other boys but he is unable to do anything about it. Simon is another character who is able to see into the future and is regarded as a mystical character. He is a Christ-like figure because of his compassion to the littluns but he is treated as a victim of the savagery by others. Simon is a character which believes that evil is not present in nature but in man. He is an important character on the island because he conveys the message that Christ overpowers all the forms of governments.

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The boys try to bring civilisation into their society by creating laws and rules but this only works for a short period of time. We are introduced in the book to the character Ralph, a character that processes strong moral values and stand by what he believes is correct. He is the one that finds the conch, tries to create a bring civilisation into the island and calls for a voting for chief. “Let’s have a vote.”  Ralph is then chosen to be the leader not only because of the conch but also because of his appearance and his procession ...

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