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Symbolic meaning in Lord of the Flies
Symbolic meaning in Lord of the Flies
Human nature essay topics
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On further exploring the interesting topic of humans being essentially bad, William Golding, a Nobel prize winner in literature and the author of Lord of the Flies, tells a tale about British boys crashing on an island while part of the British evacuation program. These boys show that humans are essentially bad. Specifically, this is a young boy named Roger. In this novel, Roger quickly makes his way into the spot of evil character by kicking over sand castles and murdering Piggy, a sweet, tubby boy. The death of another boy named Simon, also gives off the vibe of humans being essentially bad. Simon is torn apart by the other boys’, using only their teeth and hands. Simon’s blood soaks into the sand, meaning a lot of blood. Now if the topic is brought back to history, Adolf Hitler is a perfect example of people being essentially bad. Hitler murdered about six million …show more content…
Simon is the first boy to actually die. He dies because the other boys ripped him apart with their hands and teeth: “There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws” (Golding 153). As the boys’ get more uncivilized, they do more daring things. When the boys spilt apart, two leaders happen to arise. Jack is the leader of the second group and he convinces them the beast that can take on many forms. Unfortunately, Simon “becomes” one of these forms and gets killed. A second example of the death of Simon would be what type of beast he is: “Even in the rain they could see how small a beast it was; and already its blood was staining the sand” (Golding 153). The definition of beast is “an animal, especially a large or dangerous four-footed one or a beast can be an inhumanly cruel, violent, or depraved person” (Webster’s dictionary). Simon is not large or four-footed, nor is he cruel and violent. Simon is ripped apart for no reason. Now, if history gets involved, Adolph Hitler is an amazing example of humans being essentially
Imagine a life that is detached from civilization and free from any socially imposed morals. In the story Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys is faced with this situation, and there is a perpetual conflict between the boys who are trying to maintain order and those whose violent instincts take over. Despite Ralph’s efforts to maintain order on the island and get the boys rescued, the boys, including Ralph himself, resort to violent and primitive behavior, and this is what causes Simon’s death. Whereas the other boys on the island lose their moral principles once savagery takes over, Simon retains his morals and does nice things such as helping the younger boys find food. In Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the speck of intrinsic morality and perceptive reasoning on the island, and unlike the other boys, he demonstrates morality as a way of life rather than a socially-imposed concept that is to be quickly lost in the wake of uncertainty.
For all their differences the Lord of the Flies and Simon have one singular trait in common; they both know what the pig’s head really means for the boys on the island. At first glance, the Lord of the Flies is just a pig’s head on a stick, however it is so much more than that. The moment Jack and his hunter’s kill that pig, a part of them is lost forever and this lost part is their moral sense of right and wrong (149).
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.
When Simon goes to the pig, Simon starts hallucinating and thinks the pig is speaking to him and it takes on the voice of a male. Meanwhile the hunters are naked, painted and people are losing their identity. Everyone is starting to think that it would be fun to be a savage. The Lord of the Flies says to Simon that everyone is gonna become savage and kill him. Simon loses consciousness, but then later wakes up and he realizes he needs to tell everyone that there is no beast. When Simon gets to where they all are, they all crowd around Simon and start chanting. Simon screamed out about the beast but this is what happened “the beast struggled forward, broke the ring and fell over the steep edge of the rock to the sand by the water. At once the crowd surged after it, poured down the rock, leapt onto the beast, screamed, struck, bit, tore. There were no words, and no movements but the tearing of teeth and claws.” (Golding 153)
Lord of the Flies: Final Essay Exam. Are the defects of society traced back to the defects of human nature? The defects of society, and how it relates to the defects of human nature, can be explained with the savagery that drives the defects of society and the same savagery that drives the defects of human nature. In this story, Lord of the Flies, Golding shows the id, ego, and superego within the characters in the book. Golding represents the id with Jack, whereas the id says “I want, and I want it now,” and Jack constantly wants and needs power, and wants his way in every situation.
At Simon’s murder the boys, “Leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit and tore.”
Circumstances which occur in particular are when Ralph mindlessly attacks Robert and foolishly joins into the dance. Having had a taste of meat, the pack of boys decide to hunt once again. As stated previously, things go awry as the group reenacts the hunting of the pig. Robert becomes the mock pig and the once noble Ralph is overcome with the “desire to squeeze and hurt” (Golding, 115). The boy appears eager to harm his fellow friend because it is a quality and want ingrained in him from birth. Subsequently, the celebratory dance turns into a cannibalistic murder. The seemingly innocent dance takes a dark spin as Simon enters the circle, unknowingly becoming the substitute pig. Ralph begins to feel the pull of evil once again, this time “thick, urgent, [and] blind” (Golding 152). The once pure boy has tainted his hands with the cruel ways of humanity and murdered. In brief, Golding has depicted a more accurate picture of mankind and given his audience a glimpse of their barbaric
A group of kids got stuck on an island after their plane got shot down and they all have many different personalities. Being stuck on an island usually brings out the worst of people.But, there were two characters in novel, “The Lord of The Flies” that had good morals. These two characters were Ralph and Simon. Ralph and Simon weren’t intimidated by not having any adults around, instead, they tried to bring out the best of themselves and not take part in any horseplay the rest of the boys did.
As Jack hunts his “frustration seemed bolting and nearly mad” which shines in his slowly deranging eyes (Golding 67). In Lord Of The Flies by William Golding, stranded boys struggle to find order and civilization on an island with no other humans. After their plane crash lands, a few boys, such as Ralph and Piggy, are quick to set up standard rules. But, not everyone agrees that rules and rescue are what is most important. Jack, a boy who cares more about hunting, disrupts the goodness and order that remains in the boys. When a simulated hunting influenced and led by Jack goes awry, the boys kill Simon. The now deceased Simon is the purest and kindest of the boys. Jack leads the elimination of the only good left on their island. Whether it is his intention to kill him or not, Jack should be held responsible for Simon’s demise because he leads the group to kill him, regardless of his age.
Importance of Leadership Leadership is something that stands out in people. In a group, people tend to look for the strongest person to follow. However, the strongest person may not be the best choice to follow. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, Ralph and Jack each have leadership qualities. Jack is probably the stronger of the two; however, Ralph is a better leader.
In spite of Simon’s good influence, the boys fell into chaos and destroyed parts of the island, which only became worse in his absence. The boys went on a path of destruction of all that is good and pure due to the fact that evil cannot thrive in the presence of good, were there was “black smoke before the burning wreckage of the island”and “the other little boys began to shake and sob too. ”(202) Not only did they leave the island broken but they destroyed themselves as well. The boys unintentionally ripped their innocence from themselves.
During Simon’s death they are chanting and showing their savage nature. They are so savage that they see Simon as the beast. Ironically, Simon understands how the beast is actually the boys themselves. The beast that scares all the boys are themselves because they are the ones doing the savage acts and killing each other. “The sticks fell and the mouth of the new circle crunched and screamed” (Golding 152).
Bullies, while they might be horrible, turn out to be harmless when confronted, just like Simon when he confronted the Beast. In the end, even though he failed to inform the other boys of it, Simon through his use of spiritual power was able to recognize the truth. He stood strong against evil, even though it consumed the island after his death. People can look to him as an example of how to act in real life. And to be honest, Simon is an important character in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, not just for all this, but because he is what every person should wish to be.
In the beginning, Simon was described as a 'skinny, vivid little boy…,'; (Golding 24) showing that he was undersized and possibly weaker than the others. He stuck around Ralph for a while, went exploring with him and Jack, and even helped him build the shelters. It was not long before he began to wander off by himself to that little place among the creepers. The other boys thought he was 'queer….funny.'; (55) because he was an outcast and rather strange.
As the boys killed Simon, they had let out their savage urges and acted in a cannibalistic manner. Even after the death of Simon Jack and his tribe did not feel any penitence to what they had done, killing them had become second nature. The circle became a horseshoe. A thing crawling out of the forest. It came darkly, uncertainly.