William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

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Human nature is the natural characteristics of people that include thinking, feeling, and acting. Many believe humans are good at heart, and want to do positive things for the world. But William Golding expresses his disagreement in his novel “Lord of the Flies.” This novel has a pessimistic feeling throughout. Through the entire novel, we are made aware of Golding's pessimism towards society and human nature. Golding’s message about human nature is way too pessimistic because he is suggesting that causing destruction is second nature to humans, the death of Simon alongside with his depiction of the beast, and because of the excessive savagery in the opposition between totalitarianism and democracy beside the character development of Jack. …show more content…

Simon is a significant character in The Lord of the Flies. He is seen as pure and unaffected by the evil of the island. He is part of neither Jack's or Ralph's tribe, which immediately separates him from the group. Simon sees beyond the surface of things and it is for this reason that he was able to confront the "beastie" and find out the truth. “However Simon thought of the beast, there rose before his inward sight the picture of a human at once heroic and sick.” (Golding 103). The evil of the beast was only a manifestation of the boy's fears alone, so ultimately it was the boy's fears that led to the downfall of their civilization. Therefore, we can understand from the Lord of the Flies that William Golding believes humanity to be completely defective. The Lord of The Flies hung on a stick is a symbol of evil and the devil in the novel. The words spoken by the Lord of The Flies represent the evil instincts and thoughts in all humans. During Simon’s encounter with the Lord of The Flies, the beast states, “Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill!” “You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close! I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?” (Golding 143). This statement suggests Golding’s view on human nature. Golding is illustrating that there is evil in all humans and it is something inseparable from

Discuss Golding’s presentation of Simon. What is his role within the novel?
1171 Words | 3 Pages
In conclusion, Golding presents Simon as a boy who is prophet-like, mentally powerful and at one with nature. These traits added together give us a goodhearted boy who knows his right from wrong and tries to stick to it as much as possible. The role of Simon in Lord of the Flies is to represent the good traits of the human, which the other boys begin to loose as the book unveils. Overall, Golding tries to show us that not everyone is evil and that there is good in every situation. However by the death of Simon, Golding could be trying to warn the reader that evil overpowers good in this society.
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Lord of the Flies by William Golding
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What is human nature? How does William Golding use it in such a simple story of English boys to precisely illustrate how truly destructive humans can be? Golding was in World War Two, he saw how destructive humans can be, and how a normal person can go from a civilized human beign into savages. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse, and how self-destructive human nature is. Throughout the story Golding conveys a theme of how twisted and sick human nature can lead us to be. Many different parts of human nature can all lead to the collapse of society. Some of the aspects of human nature Golding plugged into the book are; destruction, demoralization, hysteria and panic. These emotions all attribute to the collapse of society. Golding includes character, conflict, and as well as symbolism to portray that men are inherently evil.
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William Golding's Lord Of The Flies
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The author, William Golding uses the main characters of Ralph, Jack, and Simon in The Lord of the Flies to portray how their desire for leadership, combined with lack of compromise leads to the fall of their society. This desire for leadership and compromise led to the fall of their society just like multiple countries during times of wars.
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Lord of the Flies
1193 Words | 3 Pages
Simon is perhaps the most important character in the novel for he is the first and only character to come to the realization that the Beast is inside them all, and is not represented by a physical manifestation. Simon is a follower, not a leader. He believes and trusts what Ralph, his leader, says. That’s why he mentions that the beast could be inside all of them once, and immediately discards that because Ralph doesn’t think so. His confrontation with the Lord of the Flies is the only way he can liberate that information to himself. The encounter begins with “Even if he shut his eyes the sow’s head still remained like an after-image.” This represents the beginning of the fixation Simon is having on the head, thinking of it even after he shuts his eyes. Golding then points out that the pig had half shut eyes and were dim with infinite cynicism of adult life. Those details come back a little later. It’s at this point where Simon asks himself a question and answers it aloud. “ ‘I know that.’ Simon discovered that he had spoken aloud”. “He opened his eyes quickly and there was the head grinning amusedly in the strange daylight, ignoring the flies, the spilled guts, even ignoring the indignity of being spiked on a stick.” That sentence shows the continuing evolution of the fixation Simon has in this encounter. The first thing he sees when he opens his eyes is the head, and he ignores every detail around it. This is when Simon comes to the realization that his original conclusion is credible, the one he let be because of Ralph. He looks away, trying to forget the head even exists, but cannot accomplish that task.. He pulls himself back to the head “Might not the beast come for it?”, simply because he believes the Beast is not a physical manifestation, therefore being impossible for it to come. According to Simon, the head seems to agree with him. At this point, he knows the Beast doesn’t exist physically, but he is hesitant none-the-less. The head says “Run away […] go back to the others. It was a joke really—why should you bother? You were wrong, that’s all. A little headache, something you ate, perhaps. Go back, child.” Simon is making excuses for himself through the pig. Here, the fixation on the head is nearly complete.
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Immorality of Human Nature Depicted in Golding's Lord of the Flies
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In Lord of the Flies, William Golding expresses the idea that humans are naturally immoral, and that people are moral only because of the pressures of civilization. He does this by writing about a group of boys, and their story of survival on an island. The civilized society they form quickly deteriorates into a savage tribe, showing that away from civilization and adults, the boys quickly deteriorate into the state man was millions of years ago. This tendency is shown most in Jack, who has an animalistic love of power, and Roger, who loves to kill for pleasure. Even the most civilized boys, Ralph and Piggy, show that they have a savage side too as they watch Simon get murdered without trying to save him. Simon, the only one who seems to have a truly good spirit, is killed, symbolizing how rare truly good people are, and how quickly those personalities become corrupted.
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'The Lord of the Flies' - Savagery
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As Simon was trying to tell the boys that the beast did not exist, his death symbolises that mankind can’t face the truth about their inner desires. Part of Golding’s intent was to demonstrate that the evil is not recognised in specific populations or situations. On the island, the beast is manifest in the deadly tribal dances, war paint and manhunt; in the outside world, the same lust for power and control plays out as a nuclear war. Throughout ‘The Lord of the Flies’ Golding has managed to show that evil is present in everyone.
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Inherent Evil in Lord of the Flies
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Golding drives the point that the instinctual evil within man is inescapable. At one point in the book, when the Lord of the Flies is representing all evil, this theory is stated as, "The Lord of the Flies was expanding like a balloon" (Golding 130). Along with this idea is the religious symbolism that is used for ineffectively confronting the evil. At a point in the book, Golding has Simon, symbolic of Jesus Christ, confront the Lord of the Flies. This is a pig's head on a stick that is imagined to talk and represent the evil in all humans. Simon tries to act and spread the knowledge of this evil to others but is killed. This is a direct reference to the death of Christ, alluding to the Holy Bible.
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Lord of the Flies by William Golding
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Lord of the Flies by William Golding Through his writing in the book Lord of the Flies, William Golding's view on. nature is not as in the plant and tree kind of nature, but in the nature of man at a young age of life. Golding is trying to portray what instincts and desires are like at an early time in a man's life when there are no adults around to help shape those. feelings to fit in with the mainstream society that people live in everyday. The nature of man is any and all of the instincts and desires of a person or animal.
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Lord of the Flies
972 Words | 2 Pages
Golding has a rather pessimistic view of humanity having selfishness, impulsiveness and violence within, shown in his dark yet allegorical novel Lord of the Flies. Throughout the novel, the boys show great self-concern, act rashly, and pummel beasts, boys and bacon. The delicate facade of society is easily toppled by man's true beastly nature.
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Lord of the Flies: Fear of the Unknown
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On contrary from all the other boys on the island Simon, a Christ like figure in the novel, did not fear the ‘beastie’ or the unknown. “Maybe there is a beast....maybe it's only us” Simon explained. (p. 97) The fear of the unknown in the novel contributes to the boys’ terror of the beast, the beast is an imaginary figure which lays in all of the boys’ minds and haunts them. Golding uses the beast as a symbol of the evil that exists in every creature. "You knew, didn't you? I'm part of you? Close, close close! I'm the reason why it's no go? Why things are the way they are?" The sow head announced to Simon to be the “lord of the flies”. The “lord of the flies” is a figure of the devil, and brings out all the evil and fear in people. It wants you to fear it, but if you don’t believe in the “lord of the flies” nothing can happen to you. Therefore Simon didn’t fall into the trap, but the beast killed him, meaning the other boys on the island did. Simon discovered that the beast is in fact just a dead parachute man before he died and ran down to tell the boys about his finding. When Sim...
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'Lord Of The Flies' By William Golding: Character Analysis
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Over millions of years, man has transformed from a savage, simple creature to a highly developed, complex, and civil being. In Lord of the Flies, the author William Golding shows how under certain circumstances, man can become savage. During nuclear war, a group of British schoolboys crash land on an uninhabited island to escape. Ralph the elected leader, along with Piggy and Simon, tries to maintain civilization, while Jack and his group of choir boys turned hunters slowly become savages obsessed with killing. Through characters’ action and dialogue, Golding illustrates the transformation of civil schoolboys into bloodthirsty savages.
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William Golding's Lord Of The Flies
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The American government has been around for centuries. There have been many debates about the perfect way to run the country and have to keep everyone in line. Well, not all of those ideas have worked, and there are many downsides to every idea. The novel “Lord Of The Flies” illustrates how the government has acted, and demonstrates how the author (William Golding) thinks the government will act in the future. Lord Of The Flies is about a class of British children whose plane gets shot done while flying somewhere. All of the adults are killed in the crash, so the children are left alone. Two kids, Ralph and Piggy, find a Conch shell alongside the beach and use it to call and assembly. Everyone follows the sound and vote for Ralph to be the
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Lessons Taught By William Golding's "Lord of the Flies"
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Man’s inhumanity to man literally means human’s cruelty towards other humans. This is a major theme of the story and is seen throughout it. Golding himself even states that “man produces evil as a bee produces honey.” A review of the book states how Golding portrays this “because the boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human.” Piggy, Ralph, and Simon are the “rational good of mankind” portrayed in the book, and Jack and his hunters are the “evil savagery of mankind.” “The beast” is a symbol for the evil in all humans, and Simon and Piggy, or rationality, are almost helpless in his presence. Simon, though, in a book filled with evil, is a symbol of vision and salvation. He is the one to see the evil as it truly exists, in the hearts of all humanity. When he tries to tell the others of this truth, however, he is killed, much like Christ was trying to bring salvation to the ignorant. Simon being there gives us hope; the truth is available to those who seek it. In the book, Jack and his hunters become so evil that they end up killing two boys while on the island. Man’s tendencies towards evil in The Lord of the Flies are also compared to the book of Genesis in the Bible. Nature, beauty, and childhood can all be corrupted by the darkness within humankind. The ending of this truly dark and evil story tells readers how Golding feels about evil within society and where he thinks humanity is headed. Evil will triumph over the intellect and good, unless some force intercedes. In th...
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Research Paper: Lord Of The Flies By William Golding
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In his novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding shows a story of boys who are trapped on an island, and must figure out how to survive. The story represents the fall of mankind, as symbolism is present throughout the entire novel. It is best seen through a historical perspective. Golding uses events from his own lifetime, the Operation Pied Paper, and Hitler’s ruling to compare it to the major events, the beginning of the story, and Jack’s personality.
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Critical Evaluation of William Golding's Lord of the Flies
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The novel that I am going to talk about is Lord of the Flies by
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William Golding's Lord Of The Flies

Discuss Golding’s presentation of Simon. What is his role within the novel?

Lord of the Flies by William Golding