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Goldings view on human nature lord of the flies
William goldings view of lord of the flies
Goldings view on human nature lord of the flies
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One of the best aspects of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies was the portrayal of characters. Golding used the main characters of his novel to reveal the characteristics he believed were vital to human nature. Each character developed as the story went on, and each of the main characters represented one aspect of human nature. For example, Piggy represented intelligence, Ralph represented reason, Jack represented violence and savagery and Simon represented intuitiveness and kindness. In this way, Golding reveals his ideas about the natural instinct of human nature. Although each boy portrays one trait above others, they all prove to possess each trait to some extent. Golding has shown the reader the aspects he believes to be common in human …show more content…
The first time the reader is introduced to Jack, he appears to be jealous of Ralph due to his role as chief. Straight away, Golding is revealing the envious, violent aspects of Jack the reader will be exposed to later in the novel. Jack seems eager to begin hunting, although at first he struggles to kill a pig. This shows Jack trying to un-learn everything society has taught him. Eventually, he is able to kill one, and returns excited about his achievement. This is when the chant: “Kill the pig! Cut her throat! Spill her blood!” is first used. At this time, Jack was meant to be keeping the fire going, and because he didn't the fire went out and a boat passed by the island without noticing them. Ralph is distraught, however Jack believes the situation turned out well, as he was able to kill something, showing his selfishness and disregard for the wellbeing of the rest of the tribe. He giggles and jumps about as him and his hunters retell the story of the hunt, and tell them how there was so much blood. This is the start of Jack’s descent into savagery. Jack becomes bloodthirsty, and enjoys killing. He becomes obsessed with …show more content…
Aside from Piggy and Ralph, Simon works the hardest out of all the boys, and was the only one who would help Ralph finish the huts. It is revealed that he has a subconscious sense of the fact that the beast is not what they think, which is shown when he hallucinates and the “Lord of the Flies” says to him, “Fancy thinking the beast is something you could hunt and kill!” Obviously, the pig’s head on a stick was not actually telling him these things, which means the ideas came from Simon himself. This realisation displays the importance of contemplation in difficult times. At the beginning, Simon says he thinks the Beast could exist, but that “maybe it’s only us.” He is implying that the boys themselves are the Beast, although he struggles to articulate this. Simon is also very kind and forgiving, which is another element common in every person. He is the only boy to show any kindness to Piggy right from the start, and has no ill-intent towards anyone. Simon is selfless, and holds Ralph especially to a higher importance than himself, saying, “you’ll get back to where you came from.” This implies that Simon himself will not get back, but that it’s better that Ralph does as he is more important. The Beast represents the fear of the boys, as well as the selfishness and savagery the boys begin to value more the longer they stay on the island. Simon is further from this idea of the Beast than any other boy on the island, and this is why
Simon, the wisest, calmest, and maturest of all the boys, is off by himself “talking” to a pig, perhaps going crazy. All others are sitting around the fire relaxing, ignoring the fact that one of the the wisest men of all has himself begun to lose sanity, possibly symbolic of the condition of people on the island. Of course, readers know, by the description of the bulging clouds, that the sky will soon break and, symbolically, something terrible within the plot will soon happen. Indeed, the entire novel has built to this point, as readers have observed the downward spiral of morality amidst the moral characters and increased savagery. Simon has observed this, and perhaps because he tends to take in everything inwardly, his depression over the gradual decline in the children on the island has caused him to become somewhat senile. Simon continues his “conversation” with the pig whom he calls “the lord of the flies” (“Beelzebub” in Hebrew, meaning “the devil”), and it is as if he is being tempted by the devil, or corrupt immorality that has taken over the other children on the island. However, he is able to be triumphant over the temptations, and staggers back down to the island to inform the other children that the beast on the island is
Simon appreciates how peaceful and beautiful the island is , but as he journeys deeper he finds The Lord of the Flies (the boars head) impaled at its center, the main symbol of how the innocence of childhood has been corrupted by fear and savagery. When Ralph is first introduced, he is acting like a child, splashing in the water, and laughing. He tells Piggy that his father, a naval commander, will rescue him. Ralph repeats his belief in their rescue throughout the novel, shifting his hope that his own father will discover them. To the more realistic idea that a passing ship will be attracted by the signal fire on the island. By the end of the novel, he has lost hope in the boys' rescue altogether. Notice how he goes from being optimistic to pessimistic his childhood wishes and fantasies are lost in the savagery and harshness of the jungle.
Characters are used in literature as symbols to represent mankind's different “faces”. Everyone in both fictional and real societies have civil orderly sides, as well as an instinctual hunger for power. Both of these traits together make us human, but imbalance of these traits in some people can alter our being. These traits are necessary for our survival, but too much can create toxic environments. In the novel Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses symbols to tell the reader more about human traits and provides a platform that shows the interactions between people with different balances of traits; Golding then shows the possible outcome of the conflict these traits create. Three main characters that stand out and represent the civility and hunger for power of humans are Piggy, Jack, and Ralph. Each can be seen as a symbol for different behaviors and traits that humans show, as well as the different mixes of civil and instinctual. The characters symbolize the different traits, instinctual power and calming civil nature, and how the different balances can affect a persons actions, behaviors, and interactions with others.
Throughout the story, the fear the boys have of the beast becomes incredibly strong. This ends up driving the boys apart, as seen when Jack organizes a feast for the boys to try to get people to join his tribe, separate from Ralph: “‘I gave you food,’ said Jack, ‘and my hunters will protect you from the beast. Who will join my tribe?’”(172). Everyone is afraid of the beast at this point, and Jack uses this fear to urge people to join his group of hunters. The fear of the beast in turn because a driving factor of the group tearing apart, leaving Ralph against angry savages by the end of the book. The beast therefore is a cause of the boy’s opening up to their inner savagery. The reason for this is explained when Jack gives the beast a physical being when he puts the head of one of the pigs he killed, and Simon, in an hallucination, hears it speak: “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?”(164). The pig’s head, or the Lord of the Flies, is a physical manifestation of the beast in Simon’s hallucination, and it explicitly states it is part of Simon. In other words, the beast is representative of the savagery and evil within humans, not a monster roaming the island. The only fear the boys have had is fear of what is within: their inherent evil. This idea is perpetuated when all the boys go to Jack’s tribe’s feast, and end up doing a pig dance, when an unsuspecting Simon comes stumbling into the area the boys are doing their dance in: “‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’...The beast was on its knees in the center, its arms folded over its face… At once the crowd surged after it, poured down
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.
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.
Although there are many interpretations of Golding’s Lord of the Flies, one of the most important is one that involves an examination of Freudian ideas. The main characters personify Sigmund Freud’s theory of the divisions of the human mind; thus, Jack, Ralph, Piggy and Simon are metaphors for the id, ego, and the super-ego of Freudian psychology, respectively. The inclusion of psychological concepts in this literary work distinguish it as a commentary on human nature, beyond labels of “adventure” or “coming of age” novel. Many readers are left in shock upon reading Golding’s masterpiece because of the children’s loss of innocence, but most fail to consider
Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding in 1954 about a group of young British boys who have been stranded alone together on an island with no adults. During the novel the diverse group of boys struggle to create structure within a society that they constructed by themselves. Golding uses many unique literary devices including characterization, imagery, symbolism and many more. The three main characters, Ralph, Piggy, and Jack are each representative of the three main literary devices, ethos, logos, and pathos. Beyond the characterization the novel stands out because of Golding’s dramatic use of objective symbolism, throughout the novel he uses symbols like the conch, fire, and Piggy’s glasses to represent how power has evolved and to show how civilized or uncivilized the boys are acting. It is almost inarguable that the entire novel is one big allegory in itself, the way that Golding portrays the development of savagery among the boys is a clear representation of how society was changing during the time the novel was published. Golding is writing during
Lord of the Flies provides one with a clear understanding of Golding's view of human nature. Whether this view is right or wrong is a point to be debated. This image Golding paints for the reader, that of humans being inherently bad, is a perspective not all people share. Lord of the Flies is but an abstract tool of Golding's to construct the idea of the inherent evil of human nature in the minds of his readers. To construct this idea of the inherent evil, Golding employs the symbolism of Simon, Ralph, the hunt and the island.
William Shakespeare states, in one of his famous plays, Hamlet, that “We know what we are, but not what we maybe,” (4.5. ). The author suggests the idea of the human’s true self, hiding behind one’s mask, which further leads to the question of human identity. The question “Who am I?” becomes one of the most complex topics in literature and philosophy because no one yet finds the answer. This subject inspires different writers such as Phillip K. Dicks, Aldous Huxley, and William Golding to pursue people seek for the unknown. One of the dystopian novels, called Lord of the Flies by William Golding, tells the story of a group of children, on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean during the atomic bomb war. By choosing the character between
While they agree that the beast is not a traditional monster, it is Simon’s philosophical understanding that allows him to fully realize the meaning of the beast. At the assembly, Ralph plans to discuss the beast, hoping to bring the fear to an end. Simon suggests that the boys themselves are the beast. Later, when Simon encounters the “Lord of the Flies” in a hallucination, the reader learns the extent of his understanding. The Lord of the Flies mocks Simon by saying, “Fancy you thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and kill...You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you?”(128). Simon realizes that there is something within humans that can cause them to act savagely. However, at the assembly, in an effort to understand what Simon meant about the beast, the boys suggest that the beast could be a ghost. Piggy firmly rejects this idea because he approaches the beast in the same way he handles most situations: logically and scientifically. As Piggy states, “Life… is scientific, that’s what it is…. I know there isn’t no beast- not with claws and all that, I mean- but I know there isn’t no fear either… unless we get afraid of people” (72). Piggy understands fear can have detrimental effects, but he does not yet understand that fear is within every person, and this is the “beast” that can cause people to act without
Jack is the strong willed egomaniac, who is secretly insecure and uses face paint and the fear of the beast for power and control. He represents the unbridled savagery, violence, and desire for power that is existent on the island. Early on, when he loses the election to Ralph he becomes furious, and not soon after on page 23 does he suggest the task for his group “Ralph waved again for silence. “Jack’s in charge of the choir. They can be—what do you want them to be?” “Hunters.”” From this moment on Jack becomes obsessed with hunting, and none of the other things such as the fire, the shelters, or the assemblies, seem to matter, but even though his obsession begins early, it isn’t until later when he realizes his full potential. Sure he hunted the pigs and loved the activity, but it wasn’t until he removed himself and his past values that he began killing. On page 63, Jack decides to paint his face thereby removing his true self from the activity and now he is protected by the mask and is able to fully immerse himself in the hunting and become fond of the killing “A rounded patch of sunlight fell on his face and a brightness appeared in the depths of the water. He looked in astonishment, no longer at himself but at an awesome stranger. He split the water and leapt to his feet, laughing excitedly. Beside the pool his sinewy body held up a mask that drew their eyes and appalled
In chapter 7, Ralph contemplates whilst gazing at the ocean and feels as if the water is barrier barricading any hope of escaping the island. Simon restores faith in Ralph by reassuring that he will return,“You’ll get back to where you came from [. . .] you’ll get back all right” (111). Simon is confident that Ralph will escape and civility within him will survive, unlike the other boys due to their loss of sanity. Simon is implying in a different sense meaning that the boys might get back home, but they will not be the same boys like before. Although Simon smiles at the fact that Ralph will get rescued, his selfless diction foreshadows that he himself will not make it off the island. While the other boys dance around a fire, Simon encounters the sow’s head on a stake— the Lord of the Flies— in the forest. Golding personifies the Lord of the Flies as Simon’s hallucination when he talks with the beast that exists within the boys. The head threatens, “You’re not wanted. Understand? We are going to have some fun on this island [. . .] So don't try [to take] it on [. . .] or else [. . .] we shall do you [. . .] Jack and Roger and Maurice and Robert and Bill and Piggy and Ralph” (144). The Lord of the Flies warns Simon that he should not try to escape the darkness within him and join the fun with the others. It foreshadows that Simon loses his life by the hands of Jack, Roger, and the boys
In the novel, Lord of the Flies, William Golding created an island, which represented a microcosm of the world. The characters in the book had unique and different personalities to simulate the real world. Every kid on the island was different. Each character fell under the artisan, rational, idealist, or guardian temperament. The characters' personalities helped determine their temperament. Two specific characters were Jack and Piggy. Piggy exhibits aspects of the artisan temperament, whereas Jack exhibits aspects of the rational temperament.
In Lord of the Flies, Golding is able to exemplify intelligence, violence, and leadership, through the behaviors, responses, and actions of Piggy, Jack, and Ralph, respectively. Golding provides insight into the delicate touch-and-go basis of human nature, something that to this day has yet to be fully understood.