Lord of the Flies Essay Free Essays

Lord of the Flies Essay In the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding tests a critical question about human nature. Is human nature good and civilized or evil and savaged? Golding uses characters that symbolically represent the good and evil in everyone. The characters’ actions of savagery hints to what Golding is trying to show about human nature. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord of the Flies Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now In other words, Golding shows that there is a savage in everyone, and in order to survive, we will do anything. In Lord of the Flies Golding suggests that savagery is in everyone, and everyone has a weakness for it. When the boys first arrived on the island, they were good, civilized English boys, who could hit a C sharp note. However, as they adapted to the island the boys became savages. Jack without a shirt, the choir boys becoming hunters, and their need to hunt and kill are examples of the inner savage coming out. When the boys hunt and yell, â€Å"Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in! † with spears and camouflaged faces it is an example of the boys losing their civilized nature, to survival (Golding 73). After Roger murders Piggy, he did not have a single regret about it, he was even proud of himself. After Piggy’s murder the other boys continued to throw spears at Ralph revealing they too are willing to murder a companion. This reveals almost all the boys have lost their civilized nature, except for Ralph, which is displayed when Golding writes â€Å"Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart and the fall through the air of a true wise friend called Piggy† (Golding 202). This demonstrates what William Golding is trying to declare about human nature, which is that some people are naturally good hearted and try to be civilized, while others are evil and savaged on the inside, yet molded by society to be good. In Lord of the Flies Golding suggests that there is evil and savageness in everyone and in order to survive we will do anything, even kill. The boys did savage things to survive; however, for some of them it was their true nature. This is revealed during the killing of pigs, and the murder of Piggy. The critical question still stands. Is human nature good or evil? How to cite Lord of the Flies Essay, Essay examples Lord of the Flies Essay Free Essays The growing fear infiltrates their mind and then this fear, as almost as if it were a disease, eventually spreads to the rest of the boy s, and they become reckless, wild, and feral. Boys are getting killed, and a power struggle surges t wrought the group. Throughout the novel, they always try to put a physical form to this beast since e it is easier to overcome, and kill something physical, whereas in reality, you cannot domain et what is inside you. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord of the Flies Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now However, as some characters demonstrate in Gildings work, such as Oral pH and Simon, it can be controlled. These characters show the true way of how to live with our inner beast. In other cases, such as Jack and Roger, the Beast is something that they overcome brace and instead of them controlling it, it overcomes them and the beast becomes them. As huh man beings, it is impossible to ignore what lies Inside of us, but sometimes, people such as Pig guy from the novel, try to push it aside and pretend it doesn’t exist. William Gilding suggests that having the power to either control the beast, or to not, and whether or not to recognize its presence, it can either make us stronger, it ca n corrupt us, or it can make us naive and foolish. It is the person’s choice, and responsibility to which h they choose, and the choice makes all Of the difference as to who we become in society. There comes a certain time in a boys life where he first encounters the beast within him. For Ralph, its when he first originally goes hunting with the boys. Feeling it inside of him, he loves the rush and annalistic characteristics that become him. In spite of that, he s till takes a second to step back from that, controlling his will to think. Ralph is a strong willed thinks r, and believes in the rule of law and order. To him, he knows that the beast is there inside, but he chooses to not have it overrule his beliefs. In some situations, such as hunting, the beast isn’t such a bad thing, but do we need it in everyday society? Simon is a character who is almost a live inning and breathing religious metaphor in the novel. He is the one who first suggests that the beast t isn’t a physical monster roaming the islands and eating children, but that we are the beast; w e are the fear and uncontrollable wild. When Simon introduces this idea, our eyes open, not to w hat is around us, but what is inside us. Both characters are examples of how if we wish to have a successful and thriving civilization, the beast must be recognized and controlled within us. At the end of the novel, when the boys are rescued, Ralph is the one to Step forward and say h e was in charge even though power and blood thirsty Jack won over the title of Chief of the island. T his reveals how the selector of one’s own beast rules in a realistic society. If you have the WI lopper to be able to not let something so savage take over your personal beliefs and value s, then that is what really matters. Jack’s beast is something that corrupted him and made him Los e sight of what is really important, which in the real world is something you always need to ERM mind yourself of. The beast is an evil and menacing dark power that invades one’s thoughts an d poisons the goodness inside of us. Or so it IS when we analyze roles portrayed by the likes of Jack. Right from the start, we can Jack has a dark side to him, but as the novel progresses , that just becomes pure evil. In fact, his inner savagery becomes so fierce, he plans and tries to ski II his foil, Ralph, and even does kill poor, innocent Simon. Jack is a perfect example of how if w e don’t control our beast, we ourselves become so uncontrollable. To him, he has no interest of being rescued. He loves the rush and adrenaline of being in charge and having no one there of significant authority to tell him he’s in the wrong. The beast has overcome his common s ensue and act of discipline so much so that he has literally gotten so madly out of control, that there is no turning back. Between the rituals of face painting and dancing around fires, having pee pole chant his name, and cutting off pigs head to put them on stakes as an offering to the be SST, we no longer can see a truly human side to Jack. He is a beast. William Gilding, through this character, shows us as readers the importance of not becoming like Jack, and the importance o f being able to recognize how severe this beast can become. Roger is a less severe case Of be coming the beast. Instead of craving power, he craves the joy of watching others suffer under hi s termination. The beast can also turn us into the worst kind of bullies. Near the end of the novel , Roger kills Piggy; Gilding uses this to show the end of true civilization and reasoning on the Islam d, since that is what Piggy represented. The beast is what turns everything into turmoil. It ova recover most of the boys by taking over their minds and bodies. No longer are they able to HTH ink for themselves when they have this savagery running wild within them. Through the use of the sees two characters in particular, Gilding shows that although we recognize the beast, letting it VA anguish us as humans is not what we need in order to prosper and grow. There becomes points in a chills life where they ultimately become so afraid, they choose to ignore the fear. Instead of facing their problems and issues, they push them a way as if they don’t matter nor exist. In the novel Lord of the Flies, a character who represents HTH s side to the beast, is Piggy. When first arriving on the island, Piggy outshines the others in terms of intelligence and rationale. However, he doesn’t have the confidence or support to become chi beef of the island. Piggy’s greatest fault, besides his lack of seeing and weight problem, is his inn ability to see that there truly is a beast. He tells the younger ones that there is nothing there. An d although he says hat we are just afraid, he doesn’t realize thes more to it. Piggy is naive in the e ways of being unable to see the true inner beast that lies within him. Instead of facing the gar owing trepidation that is unsettling, he simply just is left to look after the younger ones or follow inning Ralph around. Gilding uses Piggy as a way to represent that we need to confront this beast t hat lives within us. In comparison to Ralph, both have fears. Ralph uses his to an advantage to gar owe and become leader. Piggy doesn’t use his at all and becomes useless. The message portray d in the novel is that we need to use the beast within to become a legitimate member of socio TTY with the right amount of power. We all start out like Piggy. We all have ideas, and logical thou sought, but fiftieths simply all we have, then unfortunately, we end up dead just as Piggy did. Not f acing his fears, or inner beast was Piggy’s biggest destruction. Gilding suggests that being unable e to recognize what was really important, is what will be everyone’s downfall. How we confront what lies within, is the building blocks for how we move up I n the world, and how we as people grow. How to cite Lord of the Flies Essay, Essays Lord of the Flies Essay Free Essays In The novel Lord of the Flies, written by William Golding in 1954 a group of British boys is on a plane that crashes onto an island. As the boys attempt to fend for themselves, distinct personalities emerge. Piggy, who is bullied and teased, is a symbol of maturity. We will write a custom essay sample on Lord of the Flies Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now Meanwhile, Ralph is elected chief when they first arrive on the island, but he loses his leader ship to Jack. He is a symbol of optimism. Jack is evil and is a symbol of savagery. Piggy is the biggest outcast to of all the boys on the island. Everything from his maturity to his looks places him on a pedestal for bullying. This is proven in chapter four when he says â€Å"Having sense makes you an outcast† (71). He constantly refers to his aunt and tries to preserve sophistication; piggy is the most logical character. But this connects to the real world. People with respectable looks would be considering a leader, then someone who resembles piggy-fat, slow, pinkish skin. Piggy presence in the novel shows that no matter the quality of ideas not all people are listened to. Piggy remains confident to the savagery going on around him, until he is killed by giant rock. â€Å"How can you expect to rescue if we don’t put first thing first and act proper? † (45) Piggy says this at a meeting with the boys. That statement couldn’t be any truer, but not when it’s coming from piggy. Ralph never seems to lose hope he is elected chief at the first meeting by his ability to call a meeting that seemed to win over the boys. As any civilization dissolves on the island and jack steals chief position, Ralph keeps s optimism. One reason he has hope is because of his father. Ralph tells piggy that his father has a map that has every island in the world on it, including the one they are stranded on. This belief helps him to cope with the change in society on the island. But in chapter 11Ralph is pushed to his breaking point. â€Å"Don’t you understand, you painted fools? Sam, Eric, piggy, and me, we aren’t enough†¦ look at that! Call that a signal fire? That’s a cooking fire. Now you’ll eat and there will be no smoke. Don’t you understand? There could be a ship out there† (178). Ralph is extremely frustrated because of no hope on the island. Jack ignored him; Ralph lifted his spear and began to shout. Listen, all of you. My hunters and I are living along the beach by a flat rock. We hunt and feast and have fun. If you want to join my tribes come and see us. Perhaps I’ll let you join. Perhaps not† (140). This was said by Jack, from that point he took over as a leader. His evilness and savagery got in the way of a society on an island. He is compared to Hitler because they both made a promise. In this case jacks promise was for food, Hitler’s was for a better life for the Germans. They also took over as being a leader. Through out the book the themes hope, what’s left of maturity, evolving into savagery established them. Piggy remains mature, when he is killed in chapter 11 all wisdom and remnants die. Ralph embodies a less significant theme to the plot of hope. Hope in hid father, the fire and hope to be rescued. Jack careless behavior of others and joy in seeing others hurt makes the theme substantial. Over all themes have a strong impact on not only the moral of the story, but what’s left of the characters. Denika Williams Mrs. Thav 1st Hour How to cite Lord of the Flies Essay, Essay examples