In the novel, Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, Simon is
the most powerful character. Although he is peaceful and
shy, Simon closely resembles the role of Christ in many of
his ways. He tries to show the boys there is no monster on
the island except the fears that the boys have created in their
minds. During a meeting, Simon shares what he believes is
the truth by saying the beast, "Is only us." When he makes
this announcement, he is ridiculed by the boys, "The laughter
beat him cruelly and he shrank away defenseless to his seat."
This is an uncanny parallel to the misunderstanding that
Christ had to deal with. Later in the story the savage hunters
are chasing a pig. Once they kill the pig, they put its head on
a stick and Simon experiences an epiphany in which he
comes to understand the truth of his theory. As Simon
rushes to the campfire, "Stumbling through the thick sand,"
to tell his discovery to the boys, he is hit in the side with a
spear, his prophecy rejected and the word he wished to
spread ignored. Simon falls to the ground and dies. The
description of his death, the manner in which he died, and
the cause for which he died are remarkably similar to the
circumstances of Christ’s life and ultimate demise. The major
difference is that Christ died on the cross, while Simon was
speared. However, a reader familiar with the Bible may
recall that Christ was stabbed in the side with a spear before
his crucifixion.
A Link to the Outside World
In the novel, Lord of the Flies written by William Golding, a
large spiral shaped sea shell, known as a conch shell,
became crucial for society developed by the surviving boys.
Similarly, in Greek mythology Triton, the son of Neptune,
uses the conch shell to stir or calm the seas. Here, Ralph,
following the instructions of Piggy, uses the shell to subdue
and control the animal spirits of the boys. Living on a small,
unnamed island, with no adult figures, the conch shell
became their symbol of authority. The influence of the conch
kept the children’s hopes of being rescued going, for it
reminded them of the order there was in the world where
they had come from. It seemed to be the only link to the
world of order and civilization. Events that went along with
the finding of the conch shell started with Ralph being named
the chief of the island because he was the first boy to blow
First, Mill establishes the foundation of his theory by addressing how we should seek happiness in our lives. He says, “The happiness which forms the utilitarian standard of what is right in conduct is not the agent’s
In the debate with the critics of utilitarianism Mill clarifies the principle of utility, which implies general happiness. General happiness requires no...
At Simon’s murder the boys, “Leapt on to the beast, screamed, struck, bit and tore.”
Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, at Ajaccio, in Corsica. His parents were Charles Marie Bonaparte and Marie-Letizia Ramolino who also lived in Corsica.. Although Corsica was Napoleon's home most of his schooling was conducted in France. On December 15, 1778, at the age of nine, Napoleon left Ajaccio to go and study the French Language at a school in Brienne. Later, at the age of sixteen, Napoleon decided to enter the artillery so that maybe his brains and industry would balance his lack of outward advantages. On October 28, 1785 he joined the LA Fere located in Valence. A little over ten years later he decided to get married to Joshephine de Beauharnais from Martinique in the Indies. After many years of marriage, Napoleon realized that his wife was getting older and he had no heirs, so in 1809 he divorced her to look for a younger bride. In 1810 he met and married Archduchess, Marie Louise the eighteen-year-old daughter of Emperor Francis I of Austria. During their marriage Napoleon and his new wife conceived one child, a boy also named Napoleon.
Ralph shows what the boys need by the way he handles the then. Jack considers the boys lower to him, meanwhile, Ralph treats...
John Stuart Mill argues that the rightness or wrongness of an action, or type of action, is a function of the goodness or badness of its consequences, where good consequences are ones that maximize the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. In this essay I will evaluate the essential features of Mill’s ethical theory, how that utilitarianism gives wrong answers to moral questions and partiality are damaging to Utilitarianism.
Mill understands the Utilitarian principle to the full of it 's extent, he also understands why a person would disregard the theory, and there goes on to unravel the seemingly missing puzzle pieces to connect the theory completely, and correctly. His argurment reflects that of his own thoughts and opinions on the philosophy of the overall good of the population, concerning what is considered good by the measurement of happiness and pleasure. This in turn is where the second term for Utilitarianims comes from, as it is call the Greatest Happiness Principle. In his text, Mr. Mill states that this principle "holds that actiosn are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness" (96). Following this idea, he explains that happiness holds the absence of pain and the reverse of that, there holds the "privation of pleasure" (Mill 96). John Mill says that this is exactly what happiness and pleasure consist of. What is considered controversial on this particular theory is the simplicty of the definind words. The greatest happiness principle concerns happiness and pleasure, to the simple or closed minded this sounds degrading to humans or anyone who believes in it. John Mill argues for this principle and against the simple minded people that would judge the Epicureans for practicing
Humans are intricate. They have built civilizations and invented the concept of society, moving accordingly from savage primal instincts to disciplined behaviour. William Golding, however, does not praise humanity in his pessimistic novel, Lord of The Flies, which tells the story of a group of British schoolboys who are stranded on an uninhabited tropical island without any adults – a dystopia. Golding evidently expresses three views of humanity in this novel. He suggests that, without the rules and restrictions on which societies and civilizations are built, humans are intrinsically selfish, impulsive and violent.
There were some moral problems that Mill ran into with his principle. One of the first problems was that actions are right to promote happiness, but wrong as they sometimes tend to produce unhappiness. By moving a victim from a mangled car would be the noble thing to do but what if pulling him from the wreck meant killing him. He intended to produce a happy outcome, but in the end he created an unhappy situation. Utilitarianism declares that men can live just as well without happiness. Mill says yes, but men do not conduct their lives, always seeking happiness. Happiness does not always mean total bliss.
Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica just as France conquered it. At age ten, Napoleon was sent to military school outside Paris. At sixteen, he graduated and became a lieutenant in the artillery. When the French revolution broke out, Napoleon sided with the new government. Along with the help of his army, he dissolved the revolutionary government and made himself emperor. Saying he was saving the Revolution, Napoleon established a new government that stressed equality. Through his prowess, Napoleon greatly enlarged the French Empire. Though he ran...
In the end, he was trying more to tell the boys what he knew, but they just thought he was weird. He told Ralph, 'You'll get back alright.';(111) Ralph's response was only that he thought Simon was 'batty.'; In another instance, he went to tell the others that he found out what the beast really was (the parachutist), but got caught in their bestial dance. They heard him 'crying something about a body on the hill,'; (152) but it was too late. In the darkness, he had been mistaken for the beast and was killed.
Thus, the simple calculation of the “greatest amount of happiness” (MacKinnon, 2012, p. 55) to be experienced by the greatest number of people, proved difficult to accept by the opponents of utilitarianism. This writer, for one, would argue that although happiness was touted by the utilitarian as the intrinsic good to be desired, the mode and object of happiness varied and viewed differently by individuals. As Mill elucidated
The main idea behind the utilitarianism is that all actions are done to bring about the maximum amount of happiness. One could argue that often times what brings happiness for one person can hurt another person. However, Mill’s idea focuses on the maximum happiness of the world at large and not just that of a specific person. Mill’s utilitarianism does not include happiness of a person that results in a general decrease of the happiness of society as a whole. Therefore an action can be labeled as right if it promotes general happiness of a society and wrong if it reverses the happiness of a society. What brings about happiness is pleasure and what reverses happiness is pain.
John Stuart Mill, in his Utilitarianism, turns morality into a practical problem. His moral theory is designed to help one evaluate his moral principles and senisibilites and be able to ajudicate conflictions in moral conflicts. Mill postulates that actions are right so far as they tend to promote happiness and minimize pain. This theory manifests itself as an impartial promotion of happiness. Morally "right" actions are ones which promote the greatest happiness for the greatest number number of people and reduce pain. Utilitarian moral theories need to be coupled with theories of well-being, so that we can point to what is being maximized through the moral theory's operation. Mill's moral theory is no different. Three theories of well-being must be considered, one of which fits Mill's moral theory most appropriately. Experientialism, or hedonism, is a theory of well-being that advocates an unwavering pursuit of pleasure through desireable experiences. The theory is a mental state account which stipulates that a person's life is going well insofar as they are having pleasurable experiences and what Experientialist call "desireable consciousness." We strive to have experiences in which we can arrive at the mental state of "desireable consciousness." The Desire Theory postulates that a person's life is going well to the extent that his desires are fulfilled, regardless of the content of those desires. There is no hierarchy of desires in this account; Desire Theorists see no difference between a desire to throw a piece of trash into a wastebasket yards away and desire to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Lastly is the Substantive Goods Theory which, when compared with the requirements and goa...
...d shots and Alan’s hand had gotten hit. The boys were back inside and the police called and told them that Doctor Curt had arrived. Doctor Curt spoke to the boys and told them that the first shot had been an accident; and that he had read the paper and it looked fine, so they could come out. The kids all walked out, they dropped their guns and were handcuffed, except for Zach who went to his mother and got his medication.