Lord of the Flies
Through my reading of Lord of the Flies, I have concluded that the subject of the novel is adulthood. The focus of this novel is on peoples desire for a more civilized and structured society. In this novel, adulthood does not represent a state of existence, but life that seems to exist as rational and structured. At the beginning of the novel after the reader is introduced to Piggy and Ralph, they discover the beautiful conch, resting in the weeds of the shoreline. Piggy says, “We can use it to call the others.
Have a meeting. They’ll come when they hear us. (p.12)”, gleaming with pride. This quote illustrates the adult imbedded in him, drawn from the influence of society. Living under the influence of leadership and politics, the suggestion of holding a meeting was instinctive and automatic. Piggy drew upon his lifelong experiences gained from his parents and other adult influences and applied it to a situation. Piggy decided that the situation lacked the order and structure that he was accustomed to.
After the boys gathered into a mock assembly by the sounding of the conch, one yelled “A chief! A chief! (p.18)” in desperation for leadership in the midst of an awfully boisterous crowd. “Lets have a vote, (p.18)” yelled another. The boys were not accustomed to a society that was ungoverned as it was in the adult word. They wanted to recreate that structure to maintain that sense of order in the group of boys. Ralph won the vote for chief in account of his image. The boys’ saw that “there was a stillness about Ralph as he sat that marked him out (p.19)” and they sensed a certain hint of adulthood in his manner that they relied on at home. Under the constant leadership of adults, a child grows acquainted to their temperament and the boys saw this in Ralph.
“With a convulsion of the mind, Ralph discovered dirt and decay. (p.82)” At home, the boys were raised with and became habituated to proper European mannerisms and dress passed down to them from parent and other adult mentors. To act upon these mannerisms and proper dress became second nature when around adults, though on the island, they had lost that adult influence. Suddenly, “Ralph was struck with this new mood of comprehension (p.82)” that he had lost that visible image of being proper that he had been raised with for so long.
To begin, survival is the key in every ones mindset. You only live once as most people say. However, with Jack and Ralph and the rest of the boys, they all seemed that all hope was lost. They had been stranded in the island for months, hoping that one day, someone will find them and return them home. Ralph was the most panicked person in the group simply because he hadn’t cut his hair and it was growing. He also did not shower at all, and he did not shave or eat as much simply due to the lack of surviving. He had given up on the hope for rescue, until in chapter 12, he, along with Jack and the rest of the boys, were saved by an officer which saw the destruction and the vicious bodies of the ...
"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." (Buddha) Is man basically good or is man basically evil? In the popular novel, Lord of the Flies, William Goldings shows that man is basically evil, but that man can overcome those instincts if he tries. Simon, Ralph, and Piggy are prime examples of keeping their good character. In each of them there is a desire to do good. They show throughout the novel that it is possible, even when surrounded by evil, to put aside desires and keep good morals.
Often in our lives other people affect us in both negative and positive ways. In the case of Lord of the Flies, the kids influence one another while on the island, in mostly negative ways. These influences cause for mental changes in the brain. Most of the time, mental changes affect physical changes. However, in some rare occasions it is the other way around. While on the island the boys go through numerous physical and mental changes. Although mental changes are somewhat more significant than physical changes, physical changes are still very much apparent and can sometimes cause for mental change.
The main theme of Lord of the Flies is that moral nature is not instinctive in mankind. There is a capacity for evil in all people, and their morality is superficial. Nonetheless, it is this moral integrity that must continue in order for a person to be ethical, for society to be maintained, and to keep society from falling in on itself. Society holds everyone together. Without the rules and the structure, evil in everyone becomes more prominent, and ideals, values, and basics of right and wrong are forgotten. Without society's rigid rules, chaos and savagery come to light. There are also a number of secondary themes in the book such as: people will abuse power when it is not earned; people will degrade others to heighten their own sense of security; the fear of the unknown is powerful; it can make you turn to insight or hysteria. All of the themes are shown using symbolism.
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.
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
Since the creation of the United States of America, immigrants from all backgrounds have sought refuge, a home and a life in this country of prosperity and opportunity. The opportunity of freedom to exercise natural rights is a large pull factor that causes many people to come to America. Others come because it is a country where one can prosper. Prosperity of people in a country, however, is a more challenging phenomenon to explain than opportunity. Immigrants seek economic, social and educational as well as cultural prosperity. The question of how to gain such prosperity is a difficult one to answer. Some immigrants come to America, cast off their past identity and attempt to find a new, less foreign one. By assimilating to American culture with this new identity, they start a long and treacherous journey to seek prosperity in a land vastly different from the one they once called home. Many will gain educational, economic and social prosperity, but never gain cultural prosperity. Assimilating to American culture so hastily, some immigrants are never able to explore and keep up with their cultural backgrounds. Their families grow up and became Americans, never cognizant of their given up ethnic identities. Those immigrants, however, who are able to gain cultural prosperity through the help of other immigrants of their respective background, become integrated into American society while keeping their ethnic identity. This is the sort of opportunity that the United States of America has provided new arrivals since its founding. Although many immigrants become overwhelmed with American culture and assimilate into it, those who contribute to a working ethnic society are able to dela...
Throughout The Lord of the Flies, the author shows how different Simon is from the rest of the savages on the island. He is much more innocent and pure than the others and has a religious demeanor. Light, very commonly a symbol of holiness and purity, is used quite often during Simon’s “funeral”. In the last four paragraphs of chapter nine, “A view to a death”, Golding makes clear the use of light imagery to suggest the apotheosis of Simon.
The introduced to clothing early on in the novel. Ralph feels overwhelmed by the heat of the island so he removes his clothing, “He became conscious of the weight of clothes, kicked his shoes off fiercely, and ripped off each stocking with its elastic garter in a single movement” (10). Arriving on the island, the boys realized there are no adults to correct their behavior. For the boys, no adults means no rule enforcers. Ralph removing his clothing so quickly in the novel represents that the lack of clothing is directly related to the lack of order. Removing clothing, regardless of the high temperature, in not a common occurrence. More than likely, if adults were on the island, Ralph would not have removed his garments. By removing his clothing, this shows his disregard to order. Later, Ralph blows the conch to call an assembly, and the boys arrive uniformed, “-or more or less dressed, in school uniforms, grey, blue, fawn, jacketed, or jerseyed. There were badges, mottoes even, stripes of color in stockings and pullovers”(18). Golding does not just state that the boys are wearing uniforms. Instead he describes the uniform in depth which signifies its importance. In society, uniforms signify order and structure. By the boys arriving o...
Immigrants from every part of the world traveled to America bringing their culture, values, skills, and knowledge to America providing the necessary elements of becoming a diverse nation. Even those who were unskilled provided great contributions to America’s growth. People migrated to the United States as it was known to be the land of opportunity. People came here for jobs, better education, better government, stable economy and many more reasons. With the increase of laborers, many unwanted job positions were taken, and that helped with the growth of
Sex relates to the biology of a person, as opposed to their sociology and psychology. The sex/gender argument is one that can be talked about for a life time, and researchers may never get to a direct answer. Carpenter wants the two to be differenti...
When considering gender and sex, a layman’s idea of these terms might be very different than a sociologist’s. There is an important distinction: sex, in terms of being “male” or “female,” is purely the physical biological characteristic differences – primarily anatomical differences. (There are also rare cases of “intersexual” individuals as outlined in the Navarro article, “When Gender Isn’t a Given”.) Gender, on the other hand, is an often misconstrued concept that is commonly mistaken as synonymous with sex. A non-sociologist might surmise the following, “men act masculine and women act feminine, therefore, it must follow that gender is inherent to sex,” however, this is not necessarily the case.
In life, all living things are classified as male or female, depending on their physiology and their psychology. Females are supposed to act as feminine as possible and males are supposed to act as masculine as possible; though most males and females act in between. Men sometimes cry and females sometimes hit. Humans are naturenurtural, so distinguishing biology from gender is difficult in many cases. Gender describes the male and female characteristics that a society puts forth. Gender emerges from the combination of our bodies, cultures and individual experiences. (Fuentes p.182). Media, parents, peers, and siblings, whether conscious or unconscious, help in the shaping of our gender. Though biological differences influence gender, many other factors have a greater influence on the person’s acquiring of gender.
The relationship between sex and gender can be argued in many different lights. All of which complicated lights. Each individual beholds a sexual identity and a gender identity, with the argument of perceiving these identities however way they wish to perceive them. However, the impact of gender on our identities and on our bodies and how they play out is often taken for granted in various ways. Gender issues continue to be a hugely important topic within contemporary modern society. I intend to help the reader understand that femininities and masculinities is a social constructed concept and whether the binary categories of “male” and “female” are adequate concepts for understanding and organising contemporary social life with discussing the experiences of individuals and groups who have resisted these labels and forged new identities.