Lord of flies
Essay
In the “Lord of Flies'; William Golding does tell us a story about a group of English boys stranded on a Pacific Island, in the literal level but in a more allegorical level he tells a story about corruption of innocence, brutality/savagery and victimisation/prejudice through the characters of Ralph, Jack, Piggy and Simon. Interesting stylistic features such as symbolism and omnipotent narrator make this story more than just a simple story.
Ralph can be seen as a fair head boy, tall, well built and the major character of the novel. In a deeper sense Ralph represents Law, order and authority but not in a tyrannic way, he also represents democracy and justice. It is also through his eyes we see loss of innocence.
“…Ralph wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart…';
In the above quote Ralph cries after piggy is killed.
Jack can be seen as a cruel, ugly, skinny, and the leader of choir at first then the leader of hunters. In a deeper sense Jack represents dictatorship and a primitive hunter. His leadership depends on in the ability to threaten and frighten those under him. His victory over piggy represents the triumph of violence over intellect, his knife represents death and destruction. It is through jack we see Brutality and savagery.
Piggy is a typical obese young boy with brains, but in more he can be seen as a boy with civilised and scientific mind. His scientific mind can be seen when he talks about the beast:
“ I know there isn’t not beast- not with claws and all that…';
It is through Piggy we see victimisation/prejudice.
“Shut up fatty!';(Jack)
“ You let me speak I got the conch…';
In the above quote we see piggy being the victim because of his low class.
Simon is a sensitive, epileptic and religious boy who is wiling to work and is brave in the face of physical danger. He is right about “beast'; but is wrong in underestimating the power of this evil. He discovers in the conversation with lord of flies the even he contains the evil within and it cannot be destroyed physically. Simon the Saint was the only hope for the new society but unfortunately he is mistaken for the beast and killed by the savages including Piggy and Ralph.
‘What I mean is... Maybe it’s only us.’
In this quote Simon shows us his common sense and reasoning.
Piggy was a moral person and an uncorrupted person for his time on the island. he was moral because he believed in guidelines and weighed each decision he made with what the rest of society would say. He was moral because of this and never would he stray from what was moral or good in society so he would be mostly correct. Piggy had very strong ideas. when everyone else was starting out on the island, the rest of the worlds rules were with them. everyone slowly was drawn away from
Advertisements are one of many things that Americans cannot get away from. Every American sees an average of 3,000 advertisements a day; whether it’s on the television, radio, while surfing the internet, or while driving around town. Advertisements try to get consumers to buy their products by getting their attention. Most advertisements don’t have anything to do with the product itself. Every company has a different way of getting the public’s attention, but every advertisement has the same goal - to sell the product. Every advertisement tries to appeal to the audience by using ethos, pathos, and logos, while also focusing on who their audience is and the purpose of the ad. An example of this is a Charmin commercial where there is a bear who gets excited when he gets to use the toilet paper because it is so soft.
Lord of the Flies has several themes that are the key to understanding of literature. Three of the themes of this novel are the fear, courage and lastly survival. Fear has been surrounded throughout the entire novel. With the amount of fear because of an apparent beast, many of the people on the island have changed. Most of the boys have become more violent throughout the novel and have no sense of direction as what to do next. Jack was one of those people who had changed majorly throughout the novel. Courage is one of the most important things to have mentally and physically when you’re stuck in an unknown island. Ralph’s courage in the book became strong when he had lost two of his close companions in Simon and Piggy. Survival is the best theme in this novel simply because of the lack of tools and the laziness of the people throughout the book. These themes show how great and wonderful this book is, and if you read it thoroughly, you will understand the perils and the adventure of Ralph, Jack and the rest of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
On the other hand, Golding tries to show the evil within man through Jack. Jack is a character in which he almost symbolizes cruel political leaders, such as Castro, Hussein, Hitler, etc. He is the leader of the hunters, the first time they find a pig, Jack stops, and couldn't kill the pig. That revealed how Jack was civilized, yet later on he would kill the pig without hesitation. "'We've got to have rules and obey them. After all, we're not savages. We're English, and the English are best at everything.
Simon is the morally good boy. His selflessness and goodness comes from within. He is kind to the little boys, and helps the outcasts. For example, when none of the boys want to give Piggy meat from the first pig, Simon steps up and takes him meat. "Simon…wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy…"(p.74) While everyone else is cruel to the young ones, he helps the "lil'uns" grab meat from the trees when they can't reach. "Simon found for them the fruit they could not reach, pulled off the choicest…passed them back to the endless, outstretched hands." (p.56) Simon helps those whom no one else is kind to, perhaps remembering that he was looked down upon once. He realizes what it's like to be scorned and to be the "little one", so he tries to make it less miserable for the outcasts by being kind to them. He wants to always help others, so when he discovers the beast is inside of everyone, not external, as they had imagined, he instantly runs down the mountain to tell him. He helps others even to the point of death.
The piece I chose to do my literary analysis on was the article, The Truth About Invasive Species, written by Alan Burdick. The article states that invasive species are all around us, but the area with the most prominent amount is the suburbs of Miami. It goes into detail about how abundant invasive species are in this area. Most people who would see a strange animal in their lawn or area would be bemused, however for the people of Southern Florida, this is a recurring scene. Burdick states that “virtually everyone in the South Florida, including Hardwick, has a neighbor with a backyard menagerie of lucrative critters on hold for resale”. Burdick describes both how an invasive species is introduced into an ecosystem, and the impact the have on other species upon their arrival.
The novel Lord of the Flies was full of challenges that the boys overcame in order to survive. Conflicts within themselves, with nature and with each other constantly test the children’s ability to endure. Struggles against the natural elements of the island, rival groups or fear of the unknown continually appear throughout the story. Some of the boys on the island did not survive the quarrels that they faced. They perished because they were lacking something that the surviving boys did not. The survivors had a natural primal instinct or a physical or mental advantage over the boys who did not make it. ‘Only the strong survive’ is an important element that runs through the novel Lord of the Flies because in order to survive the boys must turn to their primitive instincts of physical strength and savagery.
Human nature has been debated for centuries, everyone coming up with their own theories, pulling their sources from religious texts, wars, experiments, or daily life. William Golding and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, born in very different times and countries were very opposite in their views compared to one another. William Golding believed that human nature was immoral and evil, and there has been evidence of this all the way to the beginning of human society. Without laws or moral boundaries, humans would plunder, steal, and murder to their hearts content, delighting in their new found freedom to let go of social philosophies imposed upon them. Rousseau, however, believed that human nature was naturally just and moral, and it was society’s laws that made them immoral. Social norms and laws create limitation and superfluous need, and it is within those boundaries that humans become enslaved to “moral inequality.” Without laws and social norms, humans will revert back to their natural goodness. It is the polar opposite of Golding’s belief. Golding’s philosophy, however, is more in line to my own, as in my opinion, Rousseau’s belief is a rather naïve outlook on life.
He tries to keep a democracy, but Jack's aggressive nature does not allow it to last very long. Ralph is probably the most likable person in the book, because of his good nature and his handsome looks, "His size and attractive appearance". Ralph means "counsel" in the Anglo- Saxon language, and he's the one who calls all the meetings by blowing the conch, and he's chosen as the leader. The conch is seen as a powerful symbol, and he holds it. Ralph does not specialize in any area of human behaviour, except maybe for having common sense (building shelters, climbing the mountain to see if it is an island) and Jack can be seen as his opposite.
In the novel, "Lord of the Flies," a group of British boys are left on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere. Throughout the novel, they have conflicts between civilization and savagery, good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, and reason vs. impulse. What would it be like if the boys were replaced by a group of girls? Would they behave the same way they did in the novel? I believe that the girls would act in the same behavior as the boys in all ways because, everyone is installed with evil inside them which is their natural instinct, also because in life there is always a power struggle in all manners, and the outcome with the girls would be similar-since both sexes would plan on getting rescued.
Piggy’s leadership in the novel is portrayed as knowledgeable but lacks confidence from time to time. Piggy is shown to be a potential leader because of his wisdom. He portrays knowledge from time to time, for example, “We can use this to call the others. Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us-” (12). This exhibits his knowledge of the art of survival. Even though in the novel, Piggy is shown as the weak link, his wisdom out powers his flaws. Although Piggy has lots of wisdom which makes him a potential leader, he lacks confidence. “Piggy opened his mouth to speak, caught Jack’s eye and shut it again.” (42) This proves that Piggy lacks confidence because he is afraid to express his thoughts. He would rather not contribute to a conversation than be laughed at his ideas. However Piggy does see the importance of having priorities. Specifically, when he says, “How can you expect to be rescued if you don’t put first things first and act proper.” (45) The quote proves that Piggy prioritizes the needs of his pee...
Abortion has so many different view points on the topic, some positive some negative. Roe verse Wade played a huge part in the decision making process on abortion. Everyone has their own opinions about abortion but the opinion concerning when life begins had a significant effect on a person’s views concerning whether they are for or against abortion. The studies of long term effects from abortion on women are traumatic and devastating. They can include mental, physical, and emotional problems after an abortion.
According to pro-life arguments, some of the reasons people are against abortion is because they view abortion as murder because life begins at conception, which means unborn babies are human beings from the beginning. Another argument is that the fetus can feel pain during an abortion and there are plenty of arguments against abortion regarding religion. The abortion is murder opinion is a popular one, individuals justify it by saying the fetus and mother are two different individuals; with that being said, the mother should not have a choice to abort the baby, because it is a separate being. Although science shows the fetus develops features fairly early in the pregnancy that make it seem more human, the fetus is still inside the woman’s body and what she wants to do with that fetus should be her choice.
Stanley Milgram, a social psychologist, conducted an experiment in 1963 about human obedience that was deemed as one of the most controversial social psychology experiments ever (Blass). Ian Parker, a writer for the New Yorker and Human Sciences, and Diana Baumrind, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley, responded to Stanley Milgram’s experiment. These articles represent how the scientific community reviews and scrutinizes each other’s work to authenticate experiment results. Baumrind focuses on the moral and ethical dilemma while, Parker focuses more on the experiment’s actual application.
There are so many different viewpoints on abortion, it isn’t even funny. Someone could say that abortion is morally acceptable because a woman was raped or the pregnancy could interfere with her health. Other people might say that it is murder and immorally unacceptable because the child obviously does not have a say in the abortion. The problem with abortions is that there is no real conclusion to the problem, whether it is legal or illegal. And this argument is only getting worse and worse.