Analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding - Essay Example

Analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding William Golding believed that the terrors of World War II can be founded on a number of natural evil, which he looks at in Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Files occurs on an island in the period of World War II. This is important because the isolation creates a civilization and society, a type of microcosm to the actual world. Simultaneously, the island lacks a community, in addition to the societal rules and regulations, thus, letting the boys go wild and portray their exact, ugly inner selves. Golding employs this setting as a mirror our world and provide remarks on our world and his understanding and analysis of human personality. Golding notes that every person has an evil internal nature scantily covered by community. If the community is taken away, then the personal character comes out, and confusions and lawlessness explode. William Golding illustrates the interests and thoughts of young boys in his novel The Lord of the Flies. The Lord of the Flies is set at the moment when Europe is in the middle of nuclear demolition. A set of boys, being send away from England to Australia, collide lands on a humid island. In the crash, no adult survived, this means the boys will be alone. As the story begins, two boys come out from the debris of a plane. The two boys, Ralph and Piggy, start surveying the island in anticipation of getting other survivors. They get a conch case, and Piggy teaches Ralph how to puff on it. As soon as the other boys perceive the sound of the conch, they assemble. The final boys to emerge are the choirboys, guided by Jack Merridew. Once gathered, the boys make a decision that they need a chief, and they choose Ralph. Ralph comes to a decision that the choir will stay integral under Jack’s leadership, who states they will be seekers (Golding 1). Jack, Ralph, and Simon start to walk around the island and find a pig locked in vines. Jack gets out his knife, tries to kill it, but is not able to kill the pig at that time. They swear, though, to execute the pig the subsequent time. When the three come back from their expedition, they hold a gathering. The conch turns out to be a sign of authority: the one that has the right to speak is the person who has the conch. Jack and Ralph clarify to others what they have got. Jack carries on his concern with the knife. The young man with the obvious understanding of their circumstances is Piggy (Golding 1). He makes it clear to the others that they were on an island, nobody knew where they were, and that there is a possibility their presence on the island will go on for a long duration, exclusive of adults. Ralphs replies back by stating that the island belongs to them, it is a lovely island, and they will have fun until the adults come to get them. One of the boys in the group of youngest boys states that he is afraid of the beastie. Another young boy claims that there are no beasties on the island. However, at this moment Jack declares himself against Ralph, stating that he would kill the beastie if they were there. The argument comes back to the likelihood of rescue. Ralph states that making a fire would make the ships at the sea notice the smoke and hence this will determine their rescue. The young men become too excited, with Jack as the leader, and all excluding Piggy and Ralph who hurry to the peak of the mountain to make a fire. They overlook the conch and the scheme of rules they have just created. At the peak, of the mountain, Ralph utilizes Piggy’s glasses to make the fire. They are sloppy and put fire to the mountain. Piggy blames them for acting like little children. He reminds the bigger boys of their roles to the little boys. At this time, they discover that one of the youngest boys is not present. Simon and Ralph attempt to make shelters on the shoreline. Jack is out hunting. When he comes back, there is rivalry involving Ralph and Jack. Jack starts to forget about salvage and is growing exhausted of the role of maintaining the fire, a responsibility for which he volunteered his choir (Haldar 20). Piggy is a bothersome boy who always has something to talk about whenever he got the chance. However, he is as well the idealistic and practical. He has a small number of skills, maybe a few bodily contributions to make to the survival of the group. |However, he has a technical vision. He is considered a discoverer of thoughts, thoughts that others, under course, may recognize. Therefore, he is also a thinker, the logician apart from knowing what should be done, also knows why it is supposed to be done. Considerably, his glasses offer the only skill the community requires since, exceptionally for the time, nobody appears to have been a boy explorer, and thus; they are not able to make fire (Bloom 45). The character of Ralph poses an impression of a dilemma. He thinks he was born a leader. When he discovers that his power both destabilized and then by-passed, it seems he cannot handle the demotion. Golding utilizes a number of symbolisms in The Lord of the Flies. The whole book is representative of the personality of man and humanity in general as the land mass becomes a culture metaphorical to community as a whole. A sign Golding utilizes all through the book is the conch. The conch signifies power and order. Anyone who holds the conch had the authority, and created rules and regulation because everyone had to listen when it was called. Another sign is Piggy’s glasses. Piggy’s glasses represented knowledge and insight. The moment when Piggy had them, he was able to provide advice to the group, for example, that of the indicator fire. It was the glasses that made the fire. However, following the breakage of the glass, the faction loses what imminent they had (Bloom 150). The rising act begins when the boys try to make an indicator fire but it fumes out of control. One of the youngest boys is lost. Following this, order is gradually lost, and chaos gradually takes its position. When order is totally lost, the conch is mashed, and Piggy is executed. The group is taken over by Jack. The declining action is the short period linking the time where Jack takes over, and the officer appears. We notice the natural evil in the boys which is an indication of the wickedness within the whole mankind. The forest catches blaze and a marine ship notices the smokes. An official comes on shore just as Ralph is being searched for by the other boys and everyone is saved, and returned to the society. Without fear, Roger performs the awful and brutal act of executing Piggy (Haldar 100). Because Roger has not been with adults for a long period, his actions have turned out to be more strongly brutal. The boys have not been punished for a long period, thus, they have become more violent. Conclusion In the book of The Lord of the Flies, Golding becomes successful in illustrating the acts, decisions and philosophy of young children. Children would prefer to play and have fun instead of working. When children want to look for guidance, and there are no mature people around to offer guidance, children choose another child who has mature-like features for leadership, as is illustrated when Ralph was elected as the leader. Children are rebellious, violent and lose their virtue when adults are not there to supervise them. The life of a child is a long and twisting road in which they can quite easily be sidetracked. When the marine officer appeared, the boys go back to their previous ways of being orderly and cultured (Haldar 170). The arrival of a grown-up authority indicates how influence from adult people is crucial in guiding young people. Therefore, it is safe to sum it all up by pointing out that supervision for young people is a necessary tool to be used in encouraging young people. Work cited Bloom, Harold. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008. Print. Golding, William. Lord of the Flies. eNotes, 28 June 2011. Web. 4 November 2011. Golding, William. The Lord of the Flies. tripod.com, 10 March 1999. Web. 4 November 2011. Haldar, Santwana. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies. Delhi: Atlantic Publishers & Distribotors, 2006. Print. Read More