In the book “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding tries to convey the “darkness of man’s heart” through a group of little boys. The story started out with a nuclear war background, and the group of boys were evacuated from their schools in a plane. When the plane was attacked, the passenger tube was released, and the boys were sent crashing into an uninhabited island. As the story progresses, the author’s message would become clear; the fact that without the presence of society to suppress the evil natures of a person, even a group of innocent school children can turn into sadistic blood lusty savages. William Golding has successfully conveyed that message through this allegory.
During the very first instance in which Jack encountered a pig, we see that there was still the innocence within him. ‘…because of the enormity of the knife descending and cutting into living flesh; because of the unbearable blood.’ Here, we see that he fears of killing a living being and that fear was what was preventing him from making the downward stroke. The instinct or urge to kill a creature is within all of us, but due to the influence of society, we all could suppress and control this evil inside us. In Jack’s case, he had discovered a way to remove this suppression, which was with the mask. ‘…the mask was a thing on its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.’ With the mask, Jack could reveal his true lust and desire to kill, and this discovery was the very first step Jack had taken towards primitiveness, and with it, they were finally able to overcome the fear of killing a living thing. It was as if the mask had an identity of its own, letting the boys feel as if it wasn’t them who was taking away the life of the living being, giving the boys a feeling of protection from reality.
The Term Paper on Fat Boy Ralph Boys Jack
Character PageRalphRalph is a fair boy of about twelve. He is the first character introduced in the story and is a dominant leader throughout most of the book. He finds the conch, a symbol of order and authority. He blows the conch and holds an assembly in which he is voted chief. Ralph stays focused on getting rescued and building shelters while most of the others play and hunt. By the end all ...
The gradual augment of the sadistic killings shows that the influence of society has diminished within the boys. The killing of the sow represents the complete change of the boys into cruel and ruthless savages. The fact that they had chosen to kill a sow with piglets nestled in her dugs proves that they could no longer see the beauty of domesticity and motherhood. The killing was even more shocking and violent than the previous hunt, and this made the domination of savagery over civilization in the boys evident. As we observe the hunt from a third person’s point of view, we realize how vicious the boys were during the slaughter. And then, as the hunt had reached its climax, the boys stumbled into a space filled with bright flowers and dancing butterflies. Butterflies are a symbol for spiritual transformation due to their amazing change from a caterpillar, and it’s ironic that Golding described the scene with it. The boys did have a spiritual transformation, but it was a change to uncivilized bloodlust barbarians. The hunt was no longer for food, but for the mere pleasure of killing. This is the very quintessence of evil, when one kills for the sake of fun, and Golding had successfully portrayed society at its worst in the image of a group of little boys.
After the shocking slaughter of the sow, we no longer see Jack’s tribe as a group of children, but as a mass of painted savages. And then, during the feast of the hunted sow, we see Jack described as ‘…painted and garlanded, sat there like an idol.’ He is now a real “chief”, being worshipped by his own tribe. It is ironic for Ralph to be called chief during the first instance, because the group had not become a tribe yet. But here, the “tribe” had been inflicted so much by Jack’s powerful authority that they would listen to him no matter what. ‘…“See? They do what I want.”…’ It is proof that the tribe had given in to worshipping and obeying their chief without flaw.
After the feast, we see an instant in which Jack was defeated and unable to retort: when Jack wanted the rest of the group to join his tribe, Ralph mentioned about the storm gathering and pointed out that they don’t have any shelters. Unable to retort, Jack quickly started the dance, which is another act of savagery, and had involved every child present. As Simon stumbled from the forest into the dance, he was mistaken as the beast and was eventually clubbed to death. Here, we see the most rational boys of the group, Ralph and Piggy, joining in the killing of Simon. ‘Piggy and Ralph…found themselves eager to take a place in this demented but partly secure society…glad to touch the brown backs of the fence that hemmed in the terror and made it governable…’ There was so much excitement, such tremendous exhilaration, that the boys had taken part in such an unforgivable act. As Piggy had said, ‘It was an accident.’ But it still showed that everyone is capable of such a crime.
The Essay on Lord Of The Flies Jack And Roger
Lord of The Flies: Jack and Roger Jack and Roger are two allegorical characters in the story: 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding. They are both characterized as killers but they are very different from one another. The two young boys start off with the same intentions but as the story progresses we begin to see the differences in their personalities. While Jack's power hunger grows, Roger's ...
Order and civility had already faded at this point, and the other boys had gone to join Jack’s tribe leaving Piggy, Sam, and Eric behind with Ralph. Soon after that, Piggy gets killed as well, but this time, it was no accident. It was the very first intentional killing of a boy and it was executed by Roger. When Ralph’s group visited castle rock, the tribe was already unrecognizable: What had been a group of innocent kids had turned into ‘anonymous devils’ faces’. They had now become one, and are always referred to as one body. There is no longer familiarity. Maybe it’s due to the fact that Golding no longer wants to associate with the boys, and he seemed to want to detach us from the savage group. ‘…“—they made us. They hurt us—” “Who? Jack?” “Oh, no—” “—it’s a tribe—” “—they made us—”…’ Here, we see that Jack had influenced them so much, that even the boys had followed his ways. It was as if the tribe itself was one single evil entity, and as the boys are covered in paint, there is no longer recognition of the children. They are just ‘a solid mass of menace that bristled with spears’. Golding had given us a picture of the tribe as a primitive clan, who had been brainwashed by Jack.
To complete the transformation, Roger had deliberately killed, and through all the excitement, he had acted on impulse. It was entirely different from the previous instance, where we could still see a presence of society within him. ‘… yet there was a space round Henry, perhaps six yard in diameter, into which he dare not throw. Here, invisible yet strong, was the taboo of the old life…’ Roger then could still think rationally, and knew that it was wrong to throw rocks at a little child. There was also the feeling of guilt within the boy: ‘…a darker shadow crept beneath the swarthiness of his skin…’ Being able to feel the guilt, it meant that he could still understand the consequences of his actions. However, this time it was completely different: Roger had acted on impulse and the desire to kill. ‘…Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever…’ Unlike the instance with Henry at the very beginning, Roger could no longer think rationally. The evil within had already surfaced, and Roger had lost the ability to think of his consequences. Society before had controlled him, disciplined him, but now, as society had already faded away; he had killed Piggy due to his ‘sense of delirious abandonment’.
The Essay on Lord Of The Flies Beast Ralph Boys
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, it is the beast which is the most important and symbolic. It remains, whether considered real or imaginary by the boys on the island, a significant being. William Golding has chosen to personify the evil that is inside human beings, in the beast. The beginnings of the idea of the beast occur, when Ralph, having been chosen by the group of boys as their leader, is ...
When Jack’s tribe had decided on a third victim: Ralph, they pursued him in a different, much more savaged and brutal way. He was going to be hunted down like the pig, and Jack had even wanted to cut off his head and with the stick sharpened at both ends, present his head as a prize. Here we finally see the complete disappearance of society within the boys. They had transformed completely into painted barbarians, and were about to hunt a fellow human being. ‘…the ululation rose behind him and spread along, a series of short sharp cries, the sighting call…they were all running, all crying out madly.’ The ululation of the tribe is a savage way of communication. We no longer see them converse, and Golding had ceased their conversations by making them communicate simply with yells and screams.
Besides that, Golding had also compared Ralph with different animals while describing his desperate escape. ‘…he squatted back on his heels and showed his teeth at the wall of branches…snarled a little, and waited…’ We see him described like a dog, baring his teeth as a threat because he could no longer attack. ‘…Ralph launched himself like a cat; stabbed, snarling, with the spear…’ and ‘…he shot forward, burst the thicket, was in the open, screaming, snarling, bloody…he forgot his wounds, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet…’ Golding had used the word ‘snarling’ to make a strong impression, that Ralph was actually emitting noises of animals when they want to threaten their predator. The tribe had actually inflicted this much fear into Ralph, and had become no different from animals. And to hunt a human being like a pig, to chase and slaughter another person, I think that Golding has created a most terrifying scene of society at its worst.
The Term Paper on First Chapter Ralph Island Golding
Write an analysis of the opening chapter of Lord of the Flies. How effective is it at introducing the characters, concerns and language of the novel? The first chapter of the novel, The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding is effective in establishing the characters, concerns and language for the remainder of the book, as well as introducing the main themes of the novel; that the problems in ...
