Lord Of The Flies Comparison Essay

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In the novel The Lord of the flies, William Golding illustrates the decline from innocence to savagery through a group of young boys. In the early chapters of The Lord of the Flies, the boys strive to maintain order. Throughout the book however, the organized civilization Ralph, Piggy, and Simon work diligently towards rapidly crumbles into pure, unadulterated, savagery. The book emphasized the idea that all humans have the potential for savagery, even the seemingly pure children of the book. The decline of all civilized behavior in these boys represents how easily all order can dissolve into chaos. The book’s antagonist, Jack, is the epitome of the evil present in us all. Conversely, the book’s protagonist, Ralph, and his only true ally, Piggy, both struggle to stifle their inner …show more content…

Golding uses his characters not only to convey the themes of the book through the plot of the book, but through the principals, ideas, and aspects of society they each represent. Piggy, for example, represents the intellectual aspects of society (science, reason, innovation, and order). Piggy’s goal in the boys’ makeshift civilization is focused around law and order. Piggy would often sit and think of new ideas to help the boys to prosper, rather than try to take a physical stance or go and proactively work towards prosperity for the boys. This is due to the fact that Piggy has obviously been bullied his entire life, and feels like he is rarely listened to. Piggy is incredibly wise, but his wisdom is often kept to himself. Perhaps, if Piggy had spoken up for himself and others more often, and not just allow the others to degrade him, he could have made more of an impact, but it is doubtful that Jack would have ever allowed Piggy to have any sort of an influence. Piggy was put into an impossible situation by his past, but he never worked to rise from the ashes of his

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