Analysis of Lord of the Flies by William Golding
William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is a sordid tale about a group of kids who are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. The story is set during the Atomic War and plenty of references are made to the fact. However, the real key to the story lies in the role of Beelzebub, Lord of the Flies. Beelzebub has a central role in the story as he represents the Beast, or evil, that dwells within all humans. The Beast cannot be hunted and since it dwells within all humans, humans are all guilty because mankind is sick. The destruction of mankind is a point that Golding makes apparent often in this novel. He establishes early on that Beelzebub is a force within all humans that drives them to destroy and maim. In the story the central emblem of the story lies in the dead airman. The boys mistake him for Beelzebub and basically begin to worship him.
In fact, the most effective portrayal of Beelzebub appears early in the novel in the form of the dead airman. The parachute carries him through the night to the top of the mountain, where his body is entangled in the trees. It is in the way in which he is hung that makes it appear as if he was sitting on a throne of some sort. Sam n Eric first come upon it and are scared to death at the mere sight of it. However, when the whole group returns to the site the horrific monstrosity bewilders them. In this quote from the book it clearly states the group’s actions. “ Behind them the sliver of moon had drawn clear the horizon. Before them something like a great ape was sitting asleep with its head between his knees. Then, the wind roared in the forest, there was confusion in the darkness and the creation lifted its head, holding toward them a ruin of a face. “ The experience alone accelerates the deterioration of the already weak civilization of the group. The experience brings young Jack to committing himself fully to the newfound dark religion. (Johnston, 126) Beelzebub was the cause for accelerating the destruction of the boys. He was not the outright cause. The Atomic War generated the novel; it was the sole reason that brought the boys to live on the island in the first place. It is in this sense that the boys only duplicated the adult society that had been crashing down around them while they were part of the civilized world. Golding uses the dead airman...
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...the outside world, all humanity was lost. The boys were sick with power and evil, much like the world outside the island. War had corrupted their very souls and they had become savages in order to appease the devil that dwelled within. As humans we cannot escape evil. Beelzebub dwells within every human soul and it cannot be hunted or driven away. Mankind is sick and guilty for giving into these sins. However, mankind is not lost. Through the use of reason and civilized means we can escape the grasp of Beelzebub and its dark reign of anarchy. Beelzebub served as a means of destruction in the story. He accelerated the boys fall of grace. Although the boys failed that does not condemn mankind. Hope is offered through the story in the form of a young, epileptic name Simon. Simon stood for the weak that fought with the nature of reason rather than with a bloodthirsty rage.
Mankind needs only to look at Simon’s example as a guide of how to do it. Reason and virtue will always conquer over rage and violence. Wars are not the answers to every global conflict. Every war we have, we have to pass on to our children. In the end mankind is saved by the nature of reason not the use of war.
After being marooned on an unknown, uninhabited island and desperate to survive, the characters in William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies are pushed to the limits of their humanity, and no one is safe from the atrocities from within, not even the seemingly innocent littluns. In an environment where civilization does not exist, the boys of the story attempt to form a society among themselves. Among the group of boys is a young boy who stands out from the rest. Jack Merridew, the leader of the choir boys, strives to take the role of leader of the boys, and he appears to be completely competent. In the beginning, Jack seems to be innocent and civilized. Jack is the cultured leader of the boys’ choir. Although the reader’s first impression of Jack Merridew may be one of an innocent leader eager to be rescued, his true, truculent nature manifests with the development of the novel, and the reader is gripped by Jack’s true schismatic, belligerent, and iconoclastic nature.
D.H. Lawrence once said, “This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the passionate evil that is in us. This makes us secret and rotten.” Sir William Golding tells about the evil and sadistic things that can be expressed throughout humanity in his novel, Lord of the Flies. Lord of the flies is a translation of a Hebrew name for Satan, Beelzebub. In the novel, William Golding portrays the boys’ descent from civilization to savagery through the following symbols: the conch shell, Piggy’s glasses, and the Lord of the Flies.
The novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding used a group of British boys beached on a deserted island to illustrate the malicious nature in mankind. Lord of the Flies dealt with the changes the boys underwent as they gradually adapted to the freedom from their society. William Golding's basic philosophy that man was inherently evil was expressed in such instances as the death of Simon, the beast within the boys, and the way Ralph was fervently hunted.
Whether people will deny it or not, it is certainly apparent that human nature is all too evil; for there is a demon that lurks in everyone, just waiting to come out. Humans can build civilizations and attempt to deviate themselves from such basic instincts, yet nevertheless, evil is not something that they can run from; it is not something that they can defeat. William Golding knew this, and so in his book, Lord of the Flies, he presents so by portraying a microcosm of a society in the form of little British schoolboys. Their plane, in an attempt to escape from the raging war, came to its own demise as it was shot down, leaving the boys stranded on an island they know nothing of. Ralph, later on the leader of the boys, and with the help of
By using symbolism to develop the story, Golding shows his readers that the island is a place of evil and changes the boys from civil to savage. The end of Golding’s story shows the order and organization on the island dying along with Piggy and Simon, causing chaos and destruction to Ralph and the others. Even after many years, Golding’s book still holds the same message, the human nature is the same in everyone and chaos and destruction can be caused by this human nature even in the most peaceful
It’s one of the most famous stories to ever exist, the story of how two people changed what defines us as humans. It’s the story of Adam, Eve, a serpent, and the unbecoming of mankind, the Fall of Man. This iconic account has been the premise for many works over the centuries. Today, Lord of the Flies by William Golding is considered one of the most influential novels of our time, not only for its adventurous story of stranded boys on a lost island, but also because of its allegorical tale of the true fault in man’s soul. William Golding leans heavily upon the Biblical account of the Fall of Man to highlight man’s depravity in his novel, Lord of the Flies.
The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is tale of a group of young boys who become stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes. Intertwined in this classic novel are many themes, most that relate to the inherent evil that exists in all human beings and the malicious nature of mankind. In The Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the boys' gradual transformation from being civilized, well-mannered people to savage, ritualistic beasts.
In the Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses characters to convey the main idea of his novel. The story begins with a war, and a plane carrying several young boys, who are being evacuated, is shot down from the sky. There are no adult survivors; however; the boys were brought together by Ralph blowing on the conch shell. They formed a tribe to stay alive. Slowly the stability and the sense of safety in the group started to deteriorate, similar to the downfall of societies during World War II. They are not only hunting animals now, but they are killing each other like savages in order to stay alive. This action of killing is like Hitler during World War II and his persecution of Jews during the Holocaust.
The title, Lord of the Flies, refers to the pig’s head that was placed on a spear and worshiped by the young boys on the island. In other words, the boys have chosen to believe in a fake deity, much like the people of Israel, who built golden calves to worship. And along with these fake gods comes along sacrifices, such as the head was for the beast as Jack stated, “This head is for the beast. It’s a gift” (137). Additionally, the lord of the flies is also known as Beelzebub, an Egyptian god that was linked with the 4th plague, as one of the ten plagues God sent over Egypt through Moses. To further suggest a biblical allusion, Beelzebub is deemed a demon within The Bible and is one of the many vividly described embodiments of evil within the book: “At least Simon gave up and looked back; saw the white teeth and dim eyes, the blood – and his gaze was held by that ancient, inescapable recognition” (138). Golding effectively uses the lord of the flies as a biblical allusion because he is able to exploit the underlying tone of subtle evil that begins to surface within the boys, through their worship of a disgusting thing. However, the allusion loses its power if the readers were unacquainted with The...
...religious allegory. He depicts a story in which the boys are stranded on an island and need to fend for themselves. However, instead of focusing on rescue and building a fire, the boys ultimately shift their priorities to hunting and killing. They turn a once beautiful and majestic island into a place of terror and evil. Additionally, they maul and kill their only hope of ever changing, Simon. Lord of the Flies is reminiscent of the television series “Lost.” Just like in Golding’s world, “Lost” is staged on a remote far away island after a plane crash. However, these people are not children. They are adults, which makes the story even more chilling. These adults eventually succumb to murderous acts and violence, further proving the point Golding sets out to make. Humans are inherently evil, and without any system to keep them in line, they will destroy the world.
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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In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, the beast gives the children a sense of fear throughout the story. It also shows that it is one of the children's top priorities, as they hunt for it and try to protect themselves from it. The children use the beast to work together, but as the novel progresses the group goes through a separation. The beast is an important role in the novel, having many forms of concepts about it. In the novel Lord of the Flies by William Golding, the concept of the beast as a whole is used as fear, reality, and evil.
The novel that I am going to talk about is Lord of the Flies by
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.