The Lord of the Flies by William Golding is a novel that revolves around symbolic and metaphorical ideas, characters, and objects, all which signify the themes of the novel. The dead parachutist, the beast and the Lord of the Fies all relate back to a central point. Issues regarding the nature of evil and one’s natural instinct concerning savagery which exists within all humans all connect. Each character in this novel along with various objects exemplifies thematic perceptions throughout this book. During this novel, the author uses these characters and objects to embody and highlight components of the themes explored in the Lord of the
A beast can take on many forms in the eyes of different people, from the darkness under a child’s bed, to the inner demons within each person Author William Golding uses this concept to display different themes in his novel, Lord of the Flies. The character of the “beast” evolves throughout the story to represent intriguing and abstract subjects as the plot progresses. In The Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, the “beast” is initially the boys’ fear, then a representation of war, and ultimately the savagery of human nature. Initially, the “beast” was introduced as a figment of the boys’ imagination, brought about by fear. It was at the first assembly, in which a littlun asked about, “the snake-thing” (Doc B).
This expression of savagery depicts how fear will control the mind and express itself in an unimaginable manner. In chapter 9 of Lord of the Flies, William Golding employs repetition, symbolism, and natural imagery to convey the theme of fear controlling the human mind and inculcates one to act abnormally.
William Golding the author of the allegorical novel The Lord of the Flies writes his novel in a very pessimistic nature about the human race and evil in his work. William believes that the human race is the true evil because humans have the potential and power to do evil through fear. This theme is personified with the idea of the beast during the novel the children are scared of a “beast with claws and sharp teeth” roaming around on the island and the children end up sacrificing a pig as a sacrifice to the beast. The evil Golding is eluding to is not the beast but the actions caused by the boys while they are afraid of the beast. Also in this setting the island was at peace with only true beauty but, then humanity came and committed the first
In Lord of the Flies by William Golding, young boys get stranded on an island with no adults in the midst of a war. The boys were orderly and civilized in the beginning but then as they began killing pigs they slowly became savages and lost their civilization. The boys began turning on each other and the evil within them became present. Golding uses a variety of literary devices including personification, symbols, metaphors, and irony, to project the theme that pure and realistic people in the world can be unheard and destroyed by evil.
William Golding illustrates in Lord of the Flies that humanity needs to have the boundaries of society and civilization to prevent the evil inside us from surfacing. Despite laws and order, humans still have the capacity to exemplify evil. Golding 's experiences as a school teacher, and in the war helped him shape Lord of the Flies. In this novel, Ralph has the ongoing struggle of attempting to enforce rules and build a civilized community. He ultimately fails miserably and everyone, including himself, becomes taken over by their inner savage.
Golding says “The boys broke into shrill, exciting cheering” (41) in the beginning of the novel, then at the end of the novel says, “A great clamor rose among the savages” (164). William Golding who wrote The Lord of the Flies changes his word choice from “boys” to “savages” to emphasize the fact that the boys change into savage creatures. Three symbols represent civilization and change into chaos over the course of the novel. The three symbols representing change are Piggy’s glasses, The fire, and the conch. These figures demonstrate the important theme that the calm civilization will soon break out into disorder.
In William Golding’s classic novel, The Lord of the Flies, Golding demonstrates the dark reality sleeping underneath humanity’s supposedly civil nature. To accomplish this, he follows the struggles of a group of stranded boys, whose paranoid isolation on the island leads to their degradation as a civilization. As one of the castaways, Simon stands as an integral part of the tribe throughout the novel. While his peers turn to savagery, he finds himself changed in a different way--an outcast among his wild peers due to his role as a symbolic Christ-figure. In this way, Golding develops Simon’s character into a religious symbol to highlight the group’s fall from grace, as they turn against the only inherently good and moral character on the island.
Golding's use of symbolism in Lord of the Flies conveys many different meanings to ordinary objects. For example a conch shell represents power and the beast represents the devil. William Golding's Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys that are stranded on an island. The book shows the boy’s changes morally and physically. During the book most of the boys change to savages to gain power.
The book Lord of the Flies by William Golding was written during a time of tragedy, war, and societal defects. These influences of war in society helped to shape the book because during his time close to the war, he witnessed the destruction that man brought into the world outside of the restrictive society. In the book Golding uses a group of young schools boys crashed on a uncharted island, along with tragic events and symbolism, such as The Beast, to portray his theme that the defects in human nature cause the defects found in society. The defects found in society caused by humans are represented by The Beast. The Beast in Lord of the Flies is symbolic of the inner desires of man that disregards the restrictions brought on by society.
Hidden deep inside every one of us there is something very dark. Only in extreme situations will this darkness come out and take over us, especially if we do not understand it. Lord of the Flies is a story about a group of schoolboys who are stranded on an uninhabited island. As they struggle for survival, their fears slowly turn them into savages. Lord of the Flies, a novel by William Golding, uses the pig’s head on a stick (Lord of the Flies) to symbolize the violent human nature that can be found buried in everyone, and how it can only be controlled if someone truly understands it.
In Chapter nine of the “Lord of the Flies”, William Golding utilize animal imagery, natural image, and diction to represent the theme of when you fear an object or a person it can regulate great savagery. Throughout chapter nine it describes the boys in the novel as being afraid of the beast. This causes them to kill one of their own. The beast is the evil inside of a person.
William Golding's The Lord of the Flies is not simply a book about out conflict between individuals. It is, rather, a novel about one's inner being. When the formerly civilized British boys of Golding's novel are stranded on a desert island and must fight for survival, many of them surrender to the "Beast." Yet, contrary to the beliefs of the boys in the novel, the "Beast", or the Lord of the Flies, is not "something you could hunt and kill" (164). Instead, it is a spirit that dwells inside of a soul, slowly reducing one into complete and utter savagery.
In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of British schoolchildren are marooned on an isolated island, but the story soon takes a dark turn when the boys realize that there may be a beast on the island with them. The novel illustrates the need for civilization and the innate evil in humans; however, Simon is seemingly an exception to all of the rules that the author has set. He is in no way evil, and the purity of his soul is unparalleled in any other. Simon appears as a biblical, almost Christ-like figure among the savage and flawed population. His characterization has a immense impact on the story’s overall meaning and purpose, demonstrating many interesting themes that warrant further scrutiny.
The fear within us can contribute to the actions we take, whether it be particularly good or bad. Lord of the Flies shows that this can happen to us all. Lord of the Flies is a book written by WIlliam Golding who shares with us the end of school boys’ innocence and the beginning of savagery within them all. Chapter nine, which holds many details to support Golding and this theme, is about Simon realizing who the “beast” really is and in the heat of the moment the tribe of boys brutally murder Simon when he comes bearing news about such topic. However, chapter nine is so much more than just the plot of a story.
Throughout the novel of Lord of the Flies, William Golding provides a profound insight into human nature. Golding builds on a message that all human beings have natural evil inside them. To emphasize, the innate evil is revealed when there’s lack of civilization. The boys are constantly faced with numerous fears and eventually break up into two different groups. Although the boys believe the beast lives in the jungle, Golding makes it clear that it lurks in their hearts.