Violence In Lord Of The Flies Coping Essay

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The Success Rate of Violence in Coping Humans use many different types of coping mechanisms when in tough situations and environments. William Golding’s, Lord of the Flies, demonstrates several of these and their ultimate outcomes. From the Lord of the Flies one can draw that the more cruel and savage a person is betters their likelihood of survival in a harsh environment or world. This is exemplified through Simon and his non-violent acts, Piggy who vacillates his morals, and Jack who fully embraces his own savagery. Simon copes by going to his, “happy place”, a small opening in the jungle filled with butterflies and greenery. He listens to the sounds of the jungle and is easily categorized as an introvert. Simon is also extremely self-aware. He is the first to discover of the real evil on …show more content…

His coping mechanism can be explained in terms of selective denial and violent acts. From the beginning he quickly ignores the severity of their situation asking Ralph, “ When’ll your dad rescue us?” (Golding 7) . He just assumes an adult will be there as soon as possible. And later on, After Simon was murdered by the boy’s, he say’s, “It was an accident” (Golding 140). Even though he participated in the whole thing. The denial of his own savagery is what sets back his own coping. Before his death he gives a hypocritical speech asking the boys of Jack’s tribe, “ Which is better- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill? [...] Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?” (Golding 162). By asking which is better he is implying that he has never hunted or killed when in fact he has done just those things. And while he survives longer than Simon with his denial and fierce use of logic, his denial of his own cruelty is where he is lost. Using Piggy as an example we can conclude that denial and logic is again the wrong way to cope and is unsuccessful in helping one

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