Allusions In Lord Of The Flies Research Paper

In general, not many people like to recognize their own flaws. Looking at the darkest aspects of one’s self tends to be very depressing and as a result, many tend to avoid undesirable truth altogether. Therefore, after experiencing an unfortunate childhood and witnessing the terrors of WWII, author William Golding, who actively affirmed in an interview that, “I am… by intellectual conviction a pessimist”, worked to raise awareness of the true darker side of human nature (Dodson 4). Through biblical, literary, and historical allusions in his novel Lord the the Flies, Golding purposefully enlightens reader about his pessimistic worldview. First of all, one of the easiest allusions to identify in Lord of the Flies are the dark allusions to the bible. When William Golding was a child, he was raised to forcefully learn science by an atheist father who strongly believed in rationalism and an abusive mother who shared the similar agnostic beliefs (Carey 12-14). From early on in life, he witnessed the darker side of human nature in his controlling parents and later

Ralph in this novel is presented to be a fair boy with a respectable figure and a charismatic personality (Golding 6). Jack on the other hand is characterized with an inferior description: “he was tall, thin, and bony; and his hair was red beneath the black cap. His face was crumpled and freckled, and ugly without silliness” (Golding 20). As the novel progresses an enmity develops between the two characters over the subject of power and then towards the end, Jack finally resolves to kill Ralph (Golding 265). By inferring that this plot contains an allusion to the bible, the characterization of Ralph as a protagonist like Abel and Jack as an antagonist like Cain is created and the dangerous capabilities of humans as a result of sin is called to